Review Images #5: Agricultural Geography

Relationship to Agriculture?

As countries develop economically, a smaller percentage of their labor force is engaged in agriculture.

Percent of Population Directly Engaged in Agriculture Is a Key

Development Statistic World = 36% of populationU.S. = <1% of population

Why does the U.S. have such a low percentage of its labor force engaged in agriculture?

What is Agriculture?Raising of crops and livestock to

produce food, feed and fiber

Animal Hearths

What is a hearth? How do things spread from a hearth?

Crop Hearths

What is a hearth? How do things spread from a hearth?

When And Where Did Agriculture Begin?

• Cultivation of root crops– S and SE Asia 14,000 years ago

• 1st Agricultural Revolution– Planned cultivation of seed crops

• SW Asia (Fertile Crescent) 10,000 years ago– Animal domestication

• SW Asia (Fertile Crescent) 8,000 years ago– Made permanent settlements possible– Led to population growth

2nd Agricultural Revolution• 1600s - diffused from Europe• Innovations:

– British Enclosure Movement (from common open fields to individual enclosed fields)

– Mechanization– Crop rotation– Scientific breeding

• Innovations led to agricultural surpluses • Food surpluses freed people to move from farm to

factory, leading to Industrial Revolution

3rd Agricultural Revolution or “Green Revolution”

• Began in mid-1900s - diffused from core to periphery– Genetically modified seeds, chemical fertilizers

and pesticides, irrigation systems– Improved crop yields– Greatest impact in Asia - eradicated famine in

India• Controversial

– Harmful environmental, human, animal effects– Too expensive for many subsistence farmers– Agribusinesses profit

Norman Borlaug “Father of the Green Revolution”

Animation Showing Growth In Ag Outputs 1970-2008

Follow the link to see the animation in motion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Agricultural_value_map_1970-2008.gif

Impact of Colonialism on Agriculture Very Significant

• In colonial regions, Europeans tried to end subsistence ag, promote commercial ag– Monoculture: dependence on one ag commodity

• Europe became a market for imported ag products

• Europe manufactured and sold finished products made from imported raw materials

Types of AgricultureSubsistence: growing for self and family

Shifting cultivation: relocating cultivation areas from year to year Slash and burn: clearing cultivation areas by cutting foliage and burning to replenish nutrients

Commercial: large-scale farming for profit

Plantation: large estates owned by individuals, families or corporations organized to produce cash crops

Subsistence Agriculture Regions

Where is subsistence agriculture most common? Why?

Types of Subsistence Agriculture

Shifting cultivation? Slash and burn? Pastoral nomadism?

Types of Commercial Agriculture

Difference between subsistence and commercial?Mediterranean?

Organic Agriculture

Acres In Organic Agriculture

Von Thunen’s Model - Know It!• 1826 - von Thunen -

German landowner• Assumptions:

– Flat terrain– Consistent soil and conditions– No transportation barriers

• Transportation costs determine location of ag activities– Closest to town, produce

most expensive to transport– Furthest from town, produce

cheapest to transport

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

Agriculture on the Landscape

Regional differences? Why?

Cadastral System (Land Survey System): Metes and Bounds

Cadastral System:Township and Range

Agriculture on the Landscape

Crop circles are actually lands irrigated with center-pivot irrigation systems … big “sprinkers” that rotate in a circle.

Cadastral System: Longlots (Mississippi)

Agriculture on the Landscape

•50% of world population lives in villages and rural areas

•Nucleated (clustered) settlement leaves more land open for agriculture

Global Agricultural Patterns• Determined by climate, soil, agricultural methods,

technology, culture, government, history, economics, and much more …

• Impact of colonialism evident– Cotton, rubber, coffee plantations

• Advances in transportation and refrigeration critical• Large agricultural corporations (agribusinesses) have

HUGE influence on commodity chains• Many issues of concern: fossil fuel usage, illegal drugs,

overfishing, deforestation, erosion, pesticides, herbicides, pollution, antibiotics, growth hormones, etc.

World Climate Map

Relationship between climate and agriculture?

World Agriculture Map

Relationship between climate and agriculture?

Wheat

Tea

Corn (Maize)

Coffee Beans

Cocoa Beans

Rice

Millet

Sorghum

Potato

Cassava

Sugar Beets

Sugar Cane

Tobacco

Fishing and Aquaculture

About two-thirds of the fish caught from the ocean is consumed directly by humans, whereas the remainder is converted to fish meal and fed to poultry

and hogs.

U.S. Crop GeographyLocation Factors To Consider

• Physical geography: climate (temperature & precipitation), soils, landforms, natural vegetation

• Population clusters: Megalopolis, Southern California, Chicago

• Agribusiness decisions: locations of key food processors that are vertically integrated

Corn For Ethanol Means Less Corn For Food

Food for people, food for animals or food for cars?

Fair Trade• Promotes payment of

fair prices and social and environmental standards for exports from periphery to core

• Coffee, chocolate, crafts, etc.

Agribusiness Chain

Tightly organized supply chains and vertical integration

In U.S., fewer farms, but larger farms

Food Deserts

Where? Why there? What difference does it make?

Where? Why there? What difference does it make?

Food Waste

Where? Why there? What difference does it make?

Diet For A More Crowded Planet

As countries develop

economically, consumers are

demanding more meat, poultry, eggs, milk. Challenge will

be to provide it without destroying

the planet.