1. The Geography of Agriculture

2. The Geography of Agriculture
Agriculture’s Origins and History
Classifying Agricultural Regions
The Von ThÜnen Model and Location Analysis
The Green Revolution
Genetic Modification of Crops

3. History of Agriculture: Create a flow chart in your notes that shows the progression of Agriculture
Hunter-Gatherers
First Ag. Revolution: The Neolithic Revolution
Domestication of Plants and Animals
Diffusion of Agriculture
Second Ag. Revolution: Agricultural Industrialization
Use of machines
The “Green Revolution”
Hybrids, scientific application of fertilizer, pesticide, and water
Modern Agribusiness
Genetic Engineering of Crops

4. The History of Agriculture.
Hunter Gatherers.
Nomadic society
food is obtained from wild plants and animals

5. 1st Agricultural Revolution. Around 10,000BCE to 2000BCE
Neolithic Revolution
Knowledge of seeds and animal domestication
Diffusion of agriculture

6. 2nd Agricultural Revolution Around 17th to 19th century
Coincides with the Industrial Revolution
Use of machines and steam technology.
Mass production begins.

7. 3rd Agricultural Revolution (1960’s to now)
Use of science!!!
Green Revolution
Pesticides, herbicides
Fertilizer
Hybrids

8. Neolithic Revolution Primary effects: Urbanization
Social stratification
Occupational specialization
Increased population densities
Secondary effects:
Endemic diseases
Famine

9. Origins of Agriculture
Which of these areas are considered cultural hearths?

10. Agricultural Revolutions
Technology allows much greater production (surplus) with less human labor, but often has high social and environmental costs.
Metal plows, Reapers, Cotton Gin
Tractors (Internal Combustion Engine)‏
Combines
Chemical Pesticides/Fertilizers
Hybrid Crops
Genetically-modified Crops

11. Subsistence Agriculture Regions

12. Grain farming…
intensive or extensive? Why?
Labor or capital?

13. Pg. 349 Vegetable garden… intensive or extensive? Why?
Labor or capital?

14. Shifting Cultivation pg. 335-338
Vegetation “slashed” and then burned (slash & burn). Soil remains fertile for 2-3 years. Then people move on.
where: tropical rainforests. Amazon, Central and West Africa, Southeast Asia
Crops: upland rice (S.E. Asia), maize and manioc (S. America), millet and sorghum (Africa)‏
Declining at hands of ranching and logging.

15. Pastoral Nomadism pg
The breeding and herding of domesticated animals for subsistence.
where: arid and semi-arid areas of N. Africa, Middle East, Central Asia
animals: Camel, Goats, Sheep, Cattle
transhumance: seasonal migrations from highlands to lowlands
Most nomads are being pressured into sedentary life as land is used for agriculture or mining.
Bedouin Shepherd
Somali Nomad and Tent

16. Intensive Subsistence Agriculture pg. 339-341
Wet Rice Dominant
where: S.E. Asia, E. India, S.E. China
very labor intensive production of rice, including transfer to sawah, or paddies
most important source of food in Asia
grown on flat, or terraced land
Double cropping (2 crops at once) is used in warm winter areas of S. China and Taiwan
The Fields of Bali
Thai Rice Farmers

18. Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming
Where: Ohio to Dakotas, centered on Iowa; much of Europe from France to Russia
crops: corn (most common), soybeans
In U.S. 80% of product fed to pigs and cattle
Highly inefficient use of natural resources
Pounds of grain to make 1 lb. beef: 10
Gallons of water to make 1 1b wheat: 25
Gallons of water to make 1 1b. beef: 2500

19. Dairy Farming Is milk a luxury?!
Most important commercial agriculture practiced on farms near large urban areas
Expensive: labor intensive, feed cows
Dairy Farm, Wisconsin
Where: near urban areas in N.E. United States, Southeast Canada, N.W. Europe
- Over 90% of cow’s milk is produced in developed countries. Value is added as cheese, yogurt, etc.
Is milk a luxury?!
Milkshed : historically defined by spoilage threat; refrigerated trucks changed this.

20. Grain Farming Where: worldwide, but U.S. and Russia predominant
Crops: wheat
winter wheat: Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma
spring wheat: Dakotas, Montana, southern Canada
Highly mechanized: combines, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, migrate northward in U.S., following the harvest.

22. Livestock Ranching
Where: arid or semi-arid areas of western U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Spain and Portugal.
History: initially open range, now sedentary with transportation changes.
Environmental effects:
1) overgrazing has damaged much of the world’s arid grasslands (< 1% of U.S. remain!)‏
2) destruction of the rainforest is motivated by Brazilian desires for fashionable cattle ranches

23. Mediterranean Agriculture
Where: areas surrounding the Mediterranean, California, Oregon, Chile, South Africa, Australia
Climate has summer dry season. Landscape is mountainous.
Highly valuable crops: olives, grapes, nuts, fruits and vegetables; winter wheat
California: high quality land is being lost to suburbanization; initially offset by irrigation
Pg. 349

24. Commercial Gardening and Fruit Farming
Where: U.S. Southeast, New England, near cities around the world
crops: high profit vegetables and fruits demanded by wealthy urban populations: apples, asparagus, cherries, lettuce, tomatoes, etc.
mechanization: such truck farming is highly mechanized and labor costs are further reduced by the use of cheap immigrant (and illegal) labor.
distribution: situated near urban markets.

25. Plantation Farming pg. 341-342
large scale mono-cropping of profitable products not able to be grown in Europe or U.S.
where: tropical lowland Periphery
crops: cotton, sugar cane, coffee, rubber, cocoa, bananas, tea, coconuts, palm oil.
Where are these things mostly sold? Where are they produced?

26. How does agriculture correlate to development?
In terms of % of population that farms?
Type of farming?
Types of crops/Products produced?
Distribution of end product?
Anything else you can think of?

27. Classifying Agricultural Regions
Commercial Agriculture
Plantation farming
Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming
Dairy Farming
Grain Farming
Livestock Ranching
Mediterranean Agriculture
Truck Farming

28. Commercial Agriculture
Value-Added
Very little of the value of most commercial products comes from the raw materials
“adding value” is the key to high profit margins
(value chain)
Roughly 6% of the price of cereal is the cost of the grain.

29. Classifying Agricultural Regions
Subsistence Agriculture
Shifting Cultivation
Pastoral Nomadism
Intensive Subsistence Agriculture

30. Johann Heinrich von Thünen (1783-1850) prominent nineteenth century economist.
Von Thunen’s theories are the beginning of location economics and analysis (1826)
Factors: Spoilage, weight and distance
Locational Theory : butter
and cheese more common than milk with increasing distance from cities and in West.
Pg. 350

31. Play-doh von Thunen!!!! (Five groups)
Each group gets FIVE colors of Play-doh.
On a blank sheet of paper in the lower right hand corner make a key for each of the 5 rungs of the Von Thunen model (Example: blue=market/urban area, etc.
Use the play-doh to create the rungs for VT.
Using the nine small agricultural pictures in the envelope, stick each agricultural product in the rung of Von Thunen where it belongs.
Discuss as a group WHY you are putting the product there. Is it heavy? Does it spoil quickly? Is it extensive land use? Etc.
When you are finished take a picture with your phone.

32. Von Thunen Model
Spoilage
Weight
Distance
Costs!!! $$$$

34. Boserup: Subsistence Agriculture and Population
“Necessity is the mother of invention”
man/UnitVAgricultural/esterboserup.htm
Intensification of Food Production 4 ways:
Forest Fallow (20 yrs)
Bush Fallow (10 yrs)
Short/ Field Fallow (2 yrs)
Multicropping (never fallow)
Annual Cropping
(fallow for a few months)

35. Does Boserup seem related to another theory?
Population determines agricultural methods.
People will find a way (inventions) to produce more food… this is called intensification.
High population can be an advantage… forces people to invent/ adjust.
Can’t change lifestyle, so we need to change subsistence methods.
Malthus
Agriculture determines population.
People will begin to die off when the food supply can’t keep up.
High population a problem, agriculture can’t keep up.
Deals with food supply and population, not just subsistence agriculture like Boserup.

36. The Green Revolution in Agriculture

37. The Green Revolution in Agriculture
The term green revolution refers to the development and adoption of high yielding cereal grains in the less developed world during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.
Very large short term gains in grain output have allowed food supplies to grow faster than populations, until very recently.
Green Revolution History
Acreage and Yield Trends
Technical Problems
Ethical Issues

38. History of Green Revolution
1960s Hybrid strains of rice, wheat, and corn show great success in S.E. Asia, and Latin America.
1970 Head of Mexican corn program, Borlaug, wins Nobel Peace Prize
1990s Growth in food supply continues, but slows to below the rate of population growth, as the results of unsustainable farming practices take effect.

42. Acreage and Yield Trends: Gains
Dwarf varieties: plants are bred to allocate more of their photosynthetic output to grain and less to vegetative parts.
Planting in closer rows, allowed by herbicides, increases yields.
Bred to be less sensitive to day length, thus double- cropping is more plausible.
Very sensitive to inputs of fertilizer and water so you don’t need as much of either.

43. Problems with the Green Revolution
Heavy Use of Fresh Water > Less available for human consumption.
Dependent on technology and machinery from MDC’s
Heavy Use of Pesticides and Fertilizer
Reduced Genetic Diversity / Increased Blight Vulnerability (plants are “weaker”)
Questionable Overall Sustainability

44. Case Study: India

45. Ethical Issues
Starvation of many prevented, but extra food may lead to higher birth rates.
Life expectancy in less developed countries increased by 10 years in less than two decades (43 in 1950’s to 53 in 1970’s).
Dependency on core countries increased (chemicals and equipment); rich-poor gap increased.
Wealthy farmers and multinational companies do well, small farmers can’t afford to keep up.
U.S. spends $10,000,000,000 year on farm subsidies, damaging farmers and markets in LDCs.

46. Genetically Modified Foods (GMO’s) ****DNA is actually altered.
Read page 354 in text.
Ways foods are “modified”
Taste change.
Resistant to disease.
Resistant to pests.
More product/grow larger.
A GMO is different from a hybrid.
Harvest of Fear
(click on What’s for Dinner and Engineer a Crop)

47. Do we have a right to know?
Do we have a right to know?

48. Agricultural ‘Success’?
“Our incredible successes as a species are largely derived from this choice: agriculture, but the biggest threats to our existence also stem from the same decision.” Jared Diamond, 1999
Emergence of new human diseases from animal diseases (i.e. smallpox, measles)‏
Dense urban populations allow spread/persistence of disease
Lower standard of living for many people.
Archaeological evidence of serious mal-nourishment among early farmers.
Many modern impoverished and malnourished farmers.
Famine virtually non-existent in hunter-gatherer societies.
Increased susceptibility to plant blights and increased dependence on complex economic systems.
Environmental degradation
topsoil erosion (75% in U.S.), desertification,
PCBs (chlorine compounds) in fish, DDT and other pesticides