Ecological Anthropology: Intensive Agriculture

• Chapter Nine, pages 251-289 in Introduction to Cultural Ecology by Mark Sutton and E.N. Anderson Chapter Nine

Intensive Agriculture

• Large scale complex system of farming and animal husbandry– Significant shift in scale and scope of

agriculture and the relationship between the people of a culture and their environment

Intensive Agriculture: Worldview

• Some intensive agricultural societies develop a worldview that they are not bound by nature, that they are above the natural world and that it can be controlled and conquered– “Flawed” view [epistemology], all cultures are

integrated within their environment and none escape the consequences of their actions unless they relocate or exploit other places through trade or conquest, i.e., [colonization]• [Perception and thinking are active and action

passively follows]

Changes in Scale

• Major difference between horticulture and intensive agriculture is that of scale – Intensive agriculturalists generally:

• Cultivate larger quantities of land

• Focus on fewer species – stable carbohydrate source, usually a tuber (potato) or grain (wheat)

• Rely more on animals and machines for labor

• Have larger populations

• Increase in social complexity – the State

• Incompatible with other food systems, replaces them

• Greater impact on the environment

Intensive Agriculture Techniques

• Irrigation: diversion of water from its naturally occurring source

• Dry farming: performing agriculture without irrigation (84%)

• Supplementation: utilizing to varying degrees, hunting and gathering, horticulture, and pastoralism

Contemporary Industrialized Agriculture

Emerged after WWII in U.S.

and other industrialized countries – Only a few specialized crops predominate, i.e.,corn & soybeans

– Entire ecosystems altered: forests and prairies removed, rivers rerouted, lakes drained, cultures absorbed

– Machines powered by fossil fuel do labor, 3 to 1 total energy loss in terms of input to output calories

– Fertility of fields is maintained by chemical fertilizers

– Hazards to crops controlled by chemical pesticides, fungicides, herbicides [From WWII chemical warfare]

– Large scale storage facilities and complex transportation network

Contemporary Industrialized Agriculture

• Highly productive but also:– Inefficient: takes massive inputs of water,

chemicals, and fossil fuel (increase in cost makes entire system susceptible to collapse)

– Polluting: increases turbidity of water and hypoxia, while decreasing plant and animal habitat and biodiversity

– Non-sustainable: Seen as superior by transnational corporations and Occidental educated elites to traditional agricultural systems, replaced to the peril of long-term economic and environmental sustainability

Case Study: Mountains and Water:The Traditional Agricultural System

Along South Costal China

• The traditional Chinese rice agricultural system:– Flourishes through the interaction of well-watered

mountains, stream feed valleys, and traditional Chinese culture

– Highly productive: feeds 2/3 of China’s population, creates 1/3 of world’s rice and most of its pigs

– Many diverse food sources utilized: i.e.,rice, corn, sweet potatoes, peanuts, seafood, many fruits, and other vegetables

– Sustainable: in place for thousands of years

Case Study: Mountains and Water:The Traditional Agricultural System

Along South Costal China

• Feng Shui (Fŭng Shwāy): means wind and water – A broad system of ideas and practices through which

humans fit into their environment– Land and crop management to maximize the benefits of

wind and water often in consonance with contemporary scientific ecological principles

– Regulates through placement the interaction of landscape alterations, i.e. roads, fields, towns, forests

– Magical and religious persuasion, beliefs of good or evil fortune inhibit, short-term gain at long-term ecological expense, i.e, mountain erosion = “cut the dragons pulse”

Case Study: Mountains and Water:The Traditional Agricultural System

Along South Costal China

• System feeds more people per unit of area than any other on earth

• Labor and environmental knowledge intensively used as opposed to Occident’s use of high-tech machines and knowledge of chemical input

• Chinese government encouraged human labor, now being discouraged as Occidental agriculture is adopted for short-term productively increase with long-term ecological consequences ignored

Case Study: The Maya Agricultural System

• The Maya have lived in a rainforest environment in Mesoamerica for several thousand years (since 4000 B.P.)– For approximately a thousand years (2000-1000

B.P.) the Maya had a complex state-level society with a large population sustained by the practice of intensive agriculture in a rainforest environment

The Maya Intensive Agricultural System

Four major approaches were utilized to create a sustainable intensive agricultural system

1. Agroforestry: a complex system of orchards integrated into the larger forest

2. Terraced gardens: a large number of terraced gardens ringed sloping hillsides

3. Chinampas: a complex system of water gardens were formed with canals running between them

4. Wild species were cultivated through environmental manipulation, i.e., deer, fish, turtles

The Maya Intensive Agricultural System

• The ancient Maya culture and agricultural system eventually collapsed around 1100 B.P– Deforestation– Erosion – Shortening of swidden cycles– Silting of chinampas– Population growth– Warfare– European diseases

Contemporary Yucatec Maya

• On a smaller horticultural scale the present day Maya of the Yucatan Peninsula continue to practice sustainable rainforest agriculture– Effort is underway to record and preserve their

traditional knowledge so sustainable intensive agriculture in a rainforest can be again developed • This includes appreciation of the “passive”

environmental management of ceremonies, such as praying to the rain and forest Gods [sacred unity]