Food! Glorious food!

Dirt• Agriculture is dependent on dirt, water,

climate, rocks, landforms, and other physical geography

• Dirt and all her friends are needed to make food!

– Huge impact on what grows where, what we eat, when we eat it, and how much a trip to the grocery store costs

Latitude and Landitude

• Climate: prevailing weather

conditions of a region, as

temperature, air pressure, humidity,

precipitation, sunshine, cloudiness,

and winds, throughout the year,

averaged over a series of years

Back to Basics• Latitude lines create climate

patterns

• Notice the tilt of the earth?

– Toward the sun = summer vacation + pool parties

– Away from the sun = PSL, comfy sweaters, scarves• SEASONS!

Special Snowflakes

• The equator (0 degrees)

• Tropic of Cancer/Tropic of Capricorn

(23.5 degrees north and south)

– Tropical zones (the “tropics”) - 2

surrounding the equator

• The Arctic and Antarctic Circles (66.5

degrees north and south)

• Two zones

Latitude & Growing Stuff• latitude = variation in amount of sunlight

at different part of the year

– latitudes you’ll need sunblock year

round

• latitudes = distinct and limited growing

seasons

• latitudes = long growing seasons

Enter the Zones• Polar zones have the most extreme

variation in amount of sun they soak up during summer and winter

• Polar nights: no sunlight throughout the day

• Midnight sun: sun shines bright all night

• Sunlight = photosynthesis

– Where you live has a big impact on your climate and your food!

Majestic Banana-capped Mountains• Landforms also affect climate

• Disruptions mountains cause in air movement can lead to increased dryness, increased precipitation, and everything in between

• Elevation – every 1000 ft it gets 5.4 degrees colder

• cold, the less you can grow

Snow

• Snow affects climate because of its

whiteness

• Sunlight is reflected off of snow

and ice – can’t grow food

• Darker areas (forest floor) absorb

sunlight – lots of stuff growing

Topography• No, the world is NOT flat

• Varying heights of land make it more

challenging to grow stuff and raise animals

• Plains = flat land where growing stuff is

easier

• Mountains = tall landforms that make

growing stuff harder

Club Biome

• Climate + topography = ecosystems

that allow specific living organisms to

thrive in them

• Biome = very large ecosystem

• Harsh biomes (e.g. deserts) require

some adaptations

• Other biomes (e.g. deciduous forests)

allow lots of organism to exist easily

Irrigation: GrubHub for Water• Irrigation can make uninhabitable areas

inhabitable

• CA’s Central Valley: soil is extremely fertile, but no much rain – most areas are desert

• Solution: irrigation – bringing in water from other areas

• Ongoing issues: drought, non-farmers also use water (Hello, wildfires!)

Water Scarcity

• Water scarcity is a big, deadly problem around the world

• Installing, operating, and maintaining the equipment needed to bring water to crops in dry areas makes those crops more expensive

• Still, answers to most agricultural water problems still lie in irrigation