1. Agriculture & Rural Land
Agriculture: deliberate modification of earth’s surface by cultivating plants & raising animals
Crop: any plant cultivated by man
Origins:
Hunter/Gatherers to settlements (rural)by invention of agriculture
Origins can NOT be determined b/c was before recorded history

2. Crop Hearths

3. Animal Hearths

4. Agriculture & Rural Land
Subsistence Farming: in LDCs & for consumption
Shifting Cultivation (Slash & Burn)
Pastoral Nomadism
Intensive Subsistence: most used in the world
Plantation: 1 or 2 crop specialization fro sale
Commercial Farming: in MDCs & for sale
Mixed Crop & Livestock Farming
Diary Farming
Grain Farming
Livestock Ranching
Mediterranean Agriculture
Commercial Gardening & Fruit Farming

6. Agriculture & Rural Land
Challenges for Farmers
Commercial
Overproduction (market prices)
Land Management (reducing land nutrients, chemicals, etc.)
Subsistence
Produce enough food for growing population
Cultural: adopting new farming methods, growing in new land
Drug Crops

8. Agriculture & Rural Land
Increase Food Supply
Expand land area (problem desertification)
Cultivate the Ocean (problem: over fishing)
Changing Culture: non-traditional food to traditional
Increase Trade
More efficient production
Green Revolution
GMO

9. Food distribution is also more globalized
Green Revolution
From the 1940s-1970s. The father of the Green Revolution Norman Ernest Borlaug.
High-yielding varieties of cereal grains
Expansion of irrigation infrastructure
Modernization of management techniques
Hybridized seed: seed produced by cross-pollinated plants
Synthetic fertilizers
Herbicides: weed killers
Pesticides
Introduction of Western agricultural practices to Asia, Latin America, and Africa
But, expensive and resource intensive
Food distribution is also more globalized

10. Access to markets is important The von Thünen Model (1826)
The choice of crop to grow is related to the proximity to the market

11. This agricultural system which exemplifies adaptation to poor soil quality in rainforest climate regimes, can be sustainable at small scales and large fallow times.
Nomadic herding
Slash and burn
Organic
Commercial
Subsistence

12. This agricultural system which exemplifies adaptation to poor soil quality in rainforest climate regimes, can be sustainable at small scales and large fallow times.
Nomadic herding
Slash and burn
Organic
Commercial
Subsistence
Answer B: constant rain in tropical regimes depletes the soil of it nutrients. Slashing the vegetation and burning it adds nutrients to the soil (for a limited time) so that farmers can grow food. If plots are allowed enough time to fully regenerate before planting again, this is actually a very sustainable system.

13. When farms transition to large-scale, export-oriented agriculture, farm production typically transitions to ______
Specialization in one commodity.
Specialization in variety of seasonally variable foods.
Organic methods.
Intensive forms of labor.
Sustainable forms of pest/weed management.

14. When farms transition to large-scale, export-oriented agriculture, farm production typically transitions to
Specialization in one commodity.
Specialization in variety of seasonally variable foods.
Organic methods.
Intensive forms of labor.
Sustainable forms of pest/weed management.
Answer: A
Large-scale commercial agriculture typically focuses on efficiently growing large volumes of just one food or other agricultural product such as corn, soybeans, or wheat, products that are often, especially in the developing world, produced for export.