AGRICULTURE Chapter 11

What Is Agriculture, and Where Did Agriculture Begin? The purposeful tending of crops and raising of livestock in order to produce food and fiber

Economic Activities

Primary Economic Sectors Products closest to the ground extractive sector; direct extraction of natural resources from the environment; hunting and gathering, herding, fishing, mining, farming, lumbering,…

Secondary Economic Sector Manufacturing of primary products into new products industrial sector; processes raw materials & transforms them into finished industrial products; almost infinite range of commodities (toys, chemicals, buildings, …)

Tertiary Economic Sector Services, connecting producers to consumers to facilitate trade. Tertiary industries are generally regarded as service industries. However, there are so many different types of services available now that two sub-sectors have developed: Quaternary and Quinary

Quaternary and Quinary Economic Sub-Sector –Quaternary industries are those services that involve the transfer of information and capital. This may be in the form of digital technology, such as internet service providers or Insurance, or consultants, such as accountants or teachers. – Quinary – require a high level of specialized knowledge or skill (scientific research, high-level management) – M7as4CIj8wQfMzdtal-pD2tNvRQG&feature=sharehttp:// M7as4CIj8wQfMzdtal-pD2tNvRQG&feature=share

Hunters & Gatherers

The First Agricultural Revolution South and Southeast Asia: Root crops, up to 14,000 years ago Southwest Asia (the Fertile Crescent): Seed crops, about 10,000 years ago

The Fertile Crescent

Beginning of planned cultivation of seed crops Enlargement of plants from seed selection Generated a surplus of wheat and barley First integration of plant growing and animal raising –Crops to feed livestock –Livestock to help grow crops Animal domestication –Began in Fertile Crescent (c years ago) –Relatively few domestic animals –Continuing efforts at domesticating animals usually not very successful

Modern Hunters-Gatherers Pressure to change in globalized economy Studied and mapped groups –San of Southern Africa –Aboriginals of Australia –Indigenous peoples of Brazil –Groups in Americas, Africa, Asia –Crash Course –Guns, Germs, and Steel

Subsistence Agriculture Strict meaning: Farmers produce enough for themselves and their families and do not enter the cash economy at all Today, usually sell small amounts in the market Characteristics –Land held in common –Surpluses shared with everyone –Personal wealth accumulation restricted –Individual advancement at expense of group limited

Subsistence Agriculture

Shifting Cultivation Shifting fields to find better land Practiced primarily in tropical and subtropical regions Cycle –Clear plot of vegetation –Plant crops –Loss of fertility Loss of decaying vegetation Leaching of nutrients –Abandon plot and begin again in a new location –Terrace farming –

How Did Agriculture Change with Industrialization? Second Agricultural Revolution: A series of innovations, improvements, and techniques used to improve the output of agricultural surpluses –New tools –Advances in livestock breeding –New fertilizers Started before the Industrial Revolution

Variation in products by distance from the town, with livestock raising farthest away Use of land governed by cost of transportation First effort to analyze the spatial character of economic activity Von Thünen Model

Von Thünen Model – 1800s Concentric rings where crops dominate, transportation is a key factor 1 – highly perishable: dairy, fruit 2 – fuel & building material 3 – less perishable; field crops, grains 4 – livestock, ranching (self-transporting) Isolated State Von Thünen Model Assumptions 1.Flat terrain 2.Constant soils & conditions 3.No barriers to transportation to market

Application of Von Thünen Model Chinese village – Land improvement (by adding organic material) close to village – Land degradation (lots of pesticides and fewer conservation tactics) farther from village Wealthy countries –Underlying principles on larger scale –Use of faster, higher capacity transportation –

Third Agriculture Revolution (Green Revolution) Began in U.S. Midwest, then applied to less wealthy countries Invention of high-yield grains, especially rice, with goal of reducing hunger –Increased production of rice –New varieties of wheat and corn –Reduced famines due to crop failure –Most famines today due to political problems –Impact (in terms of hunger) greatest where rice is produced

Average Daily Calorie Consumption per Capita

Opposition to Green Revolution Vulnerability to pests Soil erosion Water shortages Micronutrient deficiencies Dependency on chemicals for production Loss of control over seeds Genetically modified (GM) crops

Von Thunen Project

What Imprint Does Agriculture Make on the Cultural Landscape? Cadastral systems Township and Range System (rectangular survey system): Based on a grid system that creates 1-square-mile sections Metes and Bounds Survey: Uses natural features to demarcate irregular parcels of land Long-lot Survey System: Divides land into narrow parcels stretching back from rivers, roads, or canals

Dominant Land Survey Systems in the U.S.

Township and Range System in the U.S. Fig. 1-4: Principal meridians and east-west baselines of the township system. Townships in northwest Mississippi and topographic map of the area.

Rural Settlements –Hamlet = smallest –Functional differentiation: hamlet – offers very few services (gas station, store,…); village – may offer several dozen services –When does a village become a town? Canada – 1,000 residents; US – 2,500; India- 5,000; Japan – up to 30,000 (pop. numbers are not standard) Village forms: Nucleated & Dispersed Linear: e.g. low-lying areas in W. Eur. located on levees Clustered: Japan – need to allocate every available foot of land for farming Round: Africa – central cattle corral

Agricultural Villages

Uygur yurt in Xinjiang Province, China

What Is the Global Pattern of Agriculture and Agribusiness? Commercial agriculture: Large-scale farming and ranching operations that employ vast land bases, large mechanized equipment, factory-type labor forces, and the latest technology Roots in colonial economic system Today, global production made possible by advances in transportation and food storage

World Climates (Köppen Classification System)

World Agriculture

Plantation crops –Ties to governments –Cotton and rubber –Luxury crops Commercial livestock, fruit and grain Mediterranean agriculture Illegal drugs

Global Patterns of Commercial Agriculture –“Cash” Crops: Mostly tropical; All crops compete w/ alternatives & synthetics Sugar - Caribbean (wealthy importing countries set tariffs & quotas) Cotton – US, China (NE), Mexico, Brazil, Egypt, India; Ind. Rev. increased production Rubber – Amazon (originated), Congo, SE Asia (>70% today – mostly due to availability of labor) –Luxury Crops: tea, coffee, tobacco, … Coffee – Ethiopia (originated), Mid & S. Am. (70%); Coffee is 2 nd most valuable traded commodity (petroleum is 1 st ), most is grown on large, foreign-owned plantations Tea – India, China, Japan (most to Eurasia)

Non-tropical Agriculture: Dairying, fruit & specialized crops – northern latitudes (NE US, NW Eur) Mixed livestock & crops – humid mid- latitudes (E. US, W. Eur & Russia) Commercial grains – drier mid-latitudes Livestock ranching – display a Thünian pattern (along periphery, consumers in core) Mediterranean – dry summers; olives, citrus, grapes,… (“wine country” – high demand/price); US, Chile, S. Afr, Aus Rice – US is #1 exporter (mostly subsistence farming in SE Asia) Illegal drugs – mostly periphery to core

Communal agriculture (e.g. China) – collective farms (resulting in the significant displacement of rural people) have mixed results; farming reprivatization is currently under way

Fair Trade Agriculture Fair trade coffee: Shade-grown coffee produced by certified fair-trade farmers, who then sell the coffee directly to coffee importers Guarantees a “fair trade price” Over 500,000 registered farmers Produced in more than 20 countries Often organically grown Purchase commitment by Starbucks and other chains

Agribusiness and the Changing Geography of Agriculture Agribusiness: Businesses that provide a vast array of goods and services to support the agricultural industry Spatial concentration of agricultural activities Relationship to subsistence farming –Privileged large landowners –Government organization of agriculture Impact of markets

Farmland in danger of being suburbanized as cities expand Loss of Productive Farmland

Napa Valley, California (Mediterranean Climate)

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