1. Ch. 10 Agriculture
Key Issues 1-4

2. What is agriculture?
Agriculture is the deliberate modification of Earth’s surface through cultivation of plants and rearing of animals to obtains sustenance or economic gain.
Where did agriculture start?
Where does it happen today in MDCs?
In LDCs?

3. Hunter Gatherers Pre-agriculture Small groups (> than 50)
Men hunt/women gather
Daily search for food
Still done by a ¼ million people today (Artic, Africa, Australia, South America
Nomadic, isolated

4. Invention of Agriculture
Vegetative Planting
Seed Planting
Earlier
Reproductions of plants by direct cloning
Began in SE Asia (climate, fishing)
Taro, yam, banana, palm
Dog, pig, chicken
West Africa, South America
Later
Reproduction of plants by planting seeds
Began in India, China, Ethiopia, Mexico and Peru
SouthWest Asia-First to integrate with animal domestication (cattle, sheep, goats)
Cutting stems, dividing roots

6. Vegetative Planting Hearths
Vegetative planting mainly began in SE Asia
Fig. 10-1: There were several main heaths, or centers of origin, for vegetative crops (roots & tubers, etc.), from which the crops diffused to other areas. Carl Sauer suggested that Southeast Asia was a primary hearth.

7. Seed Agriculture Hearths
Important hearths: Ethiopia, South/Central America, China and India
Fig. 10-2: Seed agriculture also originated in several hearths and diffused from those elsewhere.

8. Labor Force in Agriculture
Is this a good thing in terms of development?

9. Classifying Agriculture
Commercial Farming
Subsistence Farming
Off the farm
On the farm
Food for commercial consumption
Sold to food-processing companies
Less than 10% of workers
Rely on machinery (transportation, science, GPS)
Few, large farms
Agribusiness
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Food for family consumption
Consumed on the farm
More than 50% of workers
Rely on people or animals
Many, small farms
Most important distinction: is food consumed on or off the farm???

10. Agriculture in LDCs
Where are agricultural regions in less developed countries?
Shifting Cultivation
Pastoral Nomadism
Intensive Subsistence
Plantation

11. Occupies the largest percentage of the world’s land area
Shifting Cultivation
Subsistence
Climate: Humid, low latitude (hot and rainy)
Characteristics: Slash-and-burn agriculture
Clearing-farming-moving
Depletes soil nutrients
Small, community owned farms
Hand tools and potash
¼ of world’s land to feed less than 5% of population
Difficulties: Limited land, loss of nature, poor soil
Declining—more people, less land
Competition for land
New technology and commercial farming
Debt-for-nature swap
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Occupies the largest percentage of the world’s land area

12. Occupy only their own territory, move with the seasons
Pastoral Nomadism
Subsistence
Climate: Arid and semiarid climate
Characteristics: Herding of domesticated animals
20 % of Earth, 15 million people
Size of the herd matters
Eat more grains than meat
Middle East: camel>goat>sheep
Central Asia: horses
Regular migration and Territoriality, Transhumance
Once thought to be a stage
Difficulties: Government forced resettlement
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Occupy only their own territory, move with the seasons
Known as Transhumance

13. Intensive Subsistence Agriculture
Climate: Varies
Densely populated areas (E, S, and SE Asia)
Characteristics: Small, fragmented plots after generations
High agricultural density
Farming by hand, some animals and tools
Wet rice dominant—South China
Wet Rice Not Dominant—North China
Double Cropping
Difficulties: Reorganization after Communism
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Practiced by the largest percentage of the world’s people…mostly in Asia
Subsistence

14. Plantation Farming Climate: Found in the tropics and subtropics
Commercial…but still in LDCs
Climate: Found in the tropics and subtropics
Characteristics: Commercial Agriculture
Found in LDCs, owned by Europeans or Americans for profit in MDCs
Difficulties: Large farms in sparsely populated areas—must import and provide for workers
Plantations try to make tasks last year round and do most processing on site
LDCs generate money for development by selling export crops

15. Agriculture in MDCs Where are agricultural regions in MDCs?
Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming
Dairy Farming
Grain Farming
Livestock Ranching
Mediterranean Agriculture
Commercial Gardening and Fruit Farming
In MDC’s, we now see less farms, less farmers…because of better efficiency through technology

16. Agribusiness
In the US, farms are integrated into a large food production industry known as agribusiness
Results in large farms
Corporate owning of farms
Heavy use of machinery
Fewer farmers

17. Mixed Crop and Livestock
Location: Corn Belt—Ohio to North Dakota
Characteristics: Most crops are fed to livestock
Livestock supply manure
Reduces variations in income throughout the year
Corn and Soybeans
Difficulties: crop rotation
The first group to integrate seed agri and domestication of animals was SouthWest Asia

18. Dairy Farming Location: NE US, SE Canada, NW Europe
Characteristics: Dairy used to be considered luxury item
Milkshed—ring surrounding a city from which milk can be supplied without spoiling.
Grown from 30 to 300 miles
Farms further away=butter and cheese
Difficulties: Labor intensive, feeding cows in winter—high operating costs, low milk prices
Declining: Higher yield from cows, more mechanized, urbanization, smaller farms not profitable
The further away from the city a dairy farm is, the less likely it is to make fresh milk…what would it make instead?

19. Grain Farming Location: Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma-Winter Wheat Belt
Dakotas, Southern Canada, Montana-Spring Wheat Belt
Characteristics: Grown for consumption by humans, not animals
Wheat-highest value per unit rate, world’s leading export crop
Difficulties: Some firms have fields in both areas to maximize profit vs. costs
Worldwide, China, the US, Russia and India produce the most commercial grain

20. Livestock Ranching
Location: Semiarid/Arid land that can’t support crops
Characteristics: Columbian Exchange
Cattle Drives to Chicago
Barbed wire  fixed location ranching
Difficulties: Ranching is an inefficient use of land, mainly just in Western states
Also in Spain, Portugal, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil
Sheep=New Zealand, Australia, Middle East
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In LDCs, dry lands are used for pastoral nomadism. In MDCs, dry lands are used for ranching.

21. Mediterranean Agriculture
Location: Southern Europe, North Africa, California, Chile, South Africa, Australia
All on the Western coasts
Characteristics: Olives, grapes, fruits, vegetables
Horticulture=The growing of fruits, vegetables and flowers.
Difficulties: losing land to housing and irrigation
These are all countries known for their wine…why?

22. Commercial Gardening and Fruit Farming
Location: US Southeast
Characteristics: Truck Farming= Middle English word for bartering
Apples, asparagus, cherries, lettuce, mushrooms, and tomatoes
Highly efficient: Machines, migrant workers, new seeds
Difficulty: Cost of machinery, immigration issues for workers