Upload
maurice-andrews
View
234
Download
3
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Agricultural Hearths
• Origins of both vegetative and seed agriculture
• Mapped out by Carl Sauer
• Sauer believed humans had power over their environment and weren’t simply the product of their environment.
2 Distinct Kinds of Agriculture
• 1. Vegetative Planting– Removing part of the
plant and putting it in the ground to grow a new plant.
– Ex: fruits and berries
• 2. Seed Agriculture– Taking seeds from
existing plants and planting them to produce new plants.
– Most farmers use this method today.
Where did agriculture develop?
• Three Areas of Vegetative Planting– 1. Central America & northwestern South
America– 2. Western Asia– 3. Southeast Asia
Why are these the hearths?
• All three had….– Tropical regions with climates that were good
for growing agricultural products– Large populations to provide a workforce to
domesticate plants and animals native to the region.
Central American & northwestern South American
HEARTH
• Who did it: Aztecs, Maya and Incas
• Plants: Sweet potato, arrowroot, cotton
• Animals: Turkeys, Llamas, Alpacas
Southeast Asian Hearth
• Plants: Root crops such as taro, bananas, palm trees
• Animals: Dogs, pigs, chickens
Seed Hearths
• 1. Central America & parts of Mexico
• 2. Northeast portions of Africa, including Ethiopia
• 3. Northern China
• 4. Northeastern India
• Practices diffused to other areas and are still practiced today.
Northeastern Africa Seed Hearth
• Coffee
• Diffused to Western Africa and then to South America with the slave trade.
• Northern South American countries have prospered from the production of coffee.
Importance of trade routes
• Helped to diffuse the agricultural products we use today.
• Colonialism brought many products to the Western Hemisphere
• Diffusion of agricultural products led to different styles of farming around the world.
• Climate dictates what is grown there.• Ex: Lemons and Oranges don’t grow well in New
England.
Two Types of Farming
• Subsistence• Farmers produce the
food that they need to survive on a daily basis.
• Food is mostly consumed on the farm by the farmer and family.
• Commercial• Farming of products
for sale off the farm• Usually done in more
developed countries• Usually requires use
of machinery
Types of Subsistence Farming
• Shifting Cultivation
• Crop Rotation
• Pastoral Nomadism
• Extensive Subsistence Agriculture
• Intensive Subsistence Agriculture
• Intertillage
Shifting Cultivation
• Moving of farm fields after several years in search of more productive soil after depleting the nutrients from the original field.
• Usually takes place in tropical areas where soil erodes quickly due to moisture
Shifting Cultivation
• Farmer will just leave the old field empty and move to next field
• To clear the next field he will often burn the vegetation there
• This puts nitrogen into the soil, plants love nitrogen
• SLASH AND BURN Agriculture
Slash-and-burn agriculture
• Process leaves scars on land, the dirt left behind after the farmer is done is incapable of growing food.
• It can take decades for the soil to return to normal
• Puts rainforests and other native ecosystems at risk.
• Picture: Slash and Burn from the air
Crop Rotation
• Crop Rotation- planting of different types of crops each year to replenish the soil with nutrients used by the previous crop.
• Ex: Plant corn one year, soybeans the next, and corn again.
• Ex: Planting clover helps to replenish the nitrogen taken out of the soil by previous crops.
Pastoral Nomadism
• Pastoral Nomadism- moving animals on a seasonal basis to areas that have the necessary resources to meet the needs of the herd.
• Usually practiced in arid climates that have little precipitation.
• Ex: Sahara Desert in Northern Africa where nomads take their herds along trade routes.
Extensive Subsistence Agriculture
• Pastoral Nomadism & Shifting Cultivation fit in this category.
• Extensive Subsistence has been criticized for causing soil erosion, water degradation and other environmental problems.
Intensive Subsistence Agriculture
• Intensive Subsistence is a type of agriculture that requires A LOT of work.
• Ex: Wet Rice– Grown in a rice Sawah, requires lots of work
by hand.
Commercial Farming
• Commercial Farming- farming of products for sale OFF the farm
• Practiced in MDCs
• Requires the use of machinery
• Mass production of crops
• Crops are produced at a reduced price and sold at an increased cost, depending on demand.
Mediterranean Agriculture
• Must be practiced in a climate that has a dry summer and a cool, moist winter.
• Crops: Grapes, dates, olives.
Dairy Farming• Mechanized milking of cows, cows are
hooked up to milking machines.
Dairy Farming: Milk Cows per acre by county
Dairy Farming• Usually done
relatively close to a major market.
• Ex: Wisconsin held the title of “dairy state”. It is close to Chicago, Detroit, Milwaukee, & Minneapolis.
• Milk can quickly be shipped to these areas and can be sold before it spoils.
Mixed Livestock with crop production
• Cows, grown for their meat and other products, are fed with crops (corn & soybeans) that are grown on the farm.
• Cows are sold by the pound, so the fatter the cow the more money the farmer gets.
Livestock Ranching
• Done on land that is on the fringe of productive land
• Needs lots of space to allow animals to roam fields without a farmer
Specialized Fruit Production
• Large orchards dedicated to a specific fruit.
• Southwestern & southeastern United States have a lot of this type of farming.
• Ex: Oranges, lemons, limes, peaches, berries and apples.
Plantation Agriculture
• The plantation itself is in an LDC, while the owner of the plantation is in an MDC.
• Ex: Bananas, sugarcane, coffee, and cotton are common plantations.
Truck Farms
• A farm where farmers produce fruits for the market and ship them in trucks.
• Ex: Jolly Green Giant in Minnesota get their veggies from truck farmers
• Many truck farms use migrant labor to keep costs low.
Suitcase Farms
• A farm in which no one resides permanently.
• Worked by migrant workers who come to work on the farm as a job and go home to a residence off farm property.
• Has led to rise of Agribusiness.
Suitcase Farms & Agribusiness
• Agribusiness- mass production of agricultural products.
• Debate between Agribusiness & Family Farms
Grain Farming
• Mass Planting and Harvesting of grain crops (wheat, barley, millet)
• Take up a huge amount of land
• Ex: Great Plains in the United States is one of the largest regions in the world that specializes in the production of grain.