Agriculture

1. Agriculture Chapter 11 Dawson 2013

2. Essential Question: What is Agriculture and Where did Agriculture Begin?

3. Agriculture Agriculture – the purposeful tending of crops and raising of livestock in order to produce food and fiber. A crop is any plant cultivated by people Where – (regions) LEDC tend to consume farm products grown there MEDC farmers sell what they produce Why – (space) physical environment sets limits on agriculture Place – local diversity of environmental and cultural conditions farmers select the most valuable agricultural practices

4. Economic Activities • Primary economic activities extracts from the earth (farming, fishing, mining, timber), planting • Secondary economic activities Manufacturing of primary products into new products, corn into Fritos • Tertiary economic activities service industry – connecting producers to consumers, trade • Quaternary exchange of money or goods, selling, banking and finance • Quinary government, universities, research & development, corporate & business headquarters

5. Stuff can be produced using more technology or more labor intensive • core processes usually involved secondary or tertiary • periphery would tend to be primary • US – 1950 1 farmer could produce enough food for 27, 2008 1 farmer could produce enough food for 135 • Greater use of machines • Larger size farms

6. Percent Arable by Country Does the percent of land that is arable in a country determine the agricultural output or the calorie consumption in a country?

7. Average Daily Calorie Consumption per Capita

8. World Areas of Agricultural Innovations Carl Sauer identified 11 areas where agricultural innovations occurred. What do these areas have in common?

9. The First Agricultural Revolution • Where did plant domestication begin? C Sauer • human settlement (perm), edge of forests (fertile), fresh water • South and Southeast Asia • Vegetative planting • early domestication of root crops, up to 14,000 years ago. • Cuttings (cloning) from plants • Southwest Asia (the Fertile Crescent) • early domestication of seed crops, about 10,000 years ago. • Requires selection, sowing, watering, harvesting • Use of emmer wheat and barley selected for size, heartiness, ease of germination • Animal domestication (what attributes) – cow, pig, goat, sheep, horse • Selection from big, herbivorous, land based critters • Dung for fertilizer, draft animals for plows/wagons, consume crops

11. Animal Domestication – - Relatively few animals have been domesticated - Attempts at domestication continue, but most fail

13. Subsistence Agriculture –people can grow only enough food to survive. - farmers often hold land in common, based on kinship • some are sedentary, and some practice shifting cultivation • slash-and-burn (milpa) – ash is fertilizer for swidden, heavy rainfall results in rapid leaching of soil • Land loses fertility after 3-7 yrs, will lie fallow for 7-20 yrs then used again

14. Pastoral nomadism – kinships organize life and culture around maintaining suitable pasture land in marginal areas for domesticated animals • 15 mil use 20% of Earth’s surface N. Africa, Middle. East, Central Asia • Each group has claimed territory, but not always allegiance to a country, • may be transhumance or cyclical • Live off of animal products (hair, blood, milk), will also trade for grain, normally don’t slaughter animals, women may plant sedentary agriculture

15. World Regions of Primarily Subsistence Agriculture On this map, India and China are not shaded because farmers sell some produce at markets; in equatorial Africa and South America, subsistence farming allows little excess and thus little produce sold at markets.

16. Intensive subsistence with wet rice dominant – plant dry then transplant to wet Sawah, raise frogs to eat bugs, insecticides killed bugs

17. Each rice seedling is transplanted by hand

18. Wet rice needs to be grown on flat land, with shortage of good land marginal land (due to slope) may be terraced to increase area of rice production (labor intensive) need low cost labor to do the work

19. Areas that have warm winters may double crop (winter crop is wheat or barley

20. Essential Question: How did Agriculture Change with Industrialization?

21. Second Agriculture Revolution • A series of innovations, improvements, and techniques used to improve the output of agricultural surpluses (started before the industrial revolution). Increased production needed to increase population • New crops (potato, corn) that could use marginal land, double cropping • seed drill, livestock breeding, new fertilizers, transport infrastructure • Government policies (Enclosure laws, large single owner, crop rotation

22. Mixed crop and livestock farming • Mixed commercial farm devotes most land to growing crops but derives 75% income from animal products (beef, milk, eggs) • Year round income from animal products • Crop rotation – fallow field may be pastureland, rests land) • 4 crop system – root crop or soybeans, cereal (corn), rest (clover), cereal • Clover and soybeans renew nutrients

23. Von Thunen Model • First effort to analyze the spatial character of economic activity. • What farmers produce varies by distance from the center of population (town), with livestock raising farthest from town • Value of land (land rent) decreases as distance from center increases) • Highest $ items are grown closest to center, more intensive land use • Further out – less perishable, more bulky • Dairy is now in ring 2 (high cost) • Cost of transportation (in time or money) governs use of land. As distance increases, trans cost is up

24. Application of Von Thunen Model • Geographer Lee Liu studied the spatial pattern of agriculture production in China. Found: - farmers living in a village farm both lands close to the village and far away intensively - methods varied spatially – resulting in land improvement (by adding organic material) close to village and land degradation (lots of pesticides and fewer conservation tactics) farther from village. Land further away has lower value, less intensively farmed, less care used on the land Can be used in areas around large areas of population and can be used on world-wide basis ( high value crops grown closest to population centers)

25. Green Revolution • invention of high-yield grains, especially rice, with goal of reducing hunger. - increased production of rice Disease resistance, shorter growing season, higher yield - new varieties in wheat and corn - reduced famines due to crop failure, now most famines are due to political problems Chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, growing techniques (“dry” farmg) - impact (in terms of hunger) is greatest where rice is produced • Negatives – • Decreased diversity could result in catastrophic failure • Water shortages from irrigation • salt deposit accumulation leads to loss of fertility • Displacement of small farmers as land is consolidated • Increased cost for chemical pesticides, herbicides • Toxic concentrations of pesticides (frogs in India)

26. Green Revolution benefits Irrigation – double yields Dwarf varieties – more grains w/o higher mass Chemical pesticides – densely planted field more susceptible to bugs Synthetic fertilizers – huge increase in yields

27. Green Revolution – Impacts Irrigation - aquifer depletion, salinization of soils Dwarf varieties – requires more water chemical pesticides – accidental poisoning, long-term health problems Synthetic fertilizers – use fossil fuels, run-off pollutes rivers

28. Third Ag Revolution genetically modified organisms GMO • characteristics have been purposefully altered by the insertion of • a modified gene or a gene from another organism • used to improve, modify, or remove a specific attribute • Banned in some countries and all of Europe due to fear that • modified seeds will cross breed with unknown consequences • may sell processed GMO (GE) food but not grow them • may lose naturally occurring heritage seeds • 75% of all US processed food is GMO (GE) • 38% of US corn, 80% of US soybeans

29. Regional and Local Change • Much good land in LEDCs is now being used for cash crops export crops (coffee beans, cocoa beans, bananas, cotton, rice) • Subsistence farms pushed to even more marginal lands • Poorest people don’t receive any benefit from using the best land • Carney finds that changing agricultural practices alter the rural environment and economy and also relations between men and women. • Women now spend even more time working in fields • In Gambia, international development projects have converted wetlands into irrigated agricultural lands, to make production of rice year round. • Land that had been used for subsistence is now used for commercial

30. Year Round Rice Production –- lands that used to be used for family subsistence are now used for commercialized farming with revenues going to the men.- women do the work of rice production and see little of the benefit because of the power relations in Gambia

31. Subsistence Agriculture and Population Growth • Ester Boserup – population growth forces increased food production • New farming techniques, increased use of labor, shorter fallow time • 5 stages of agricultural intensification • Forest fallow – (tropical rain forest) swidden cleared for 3 yrs, then left fallow for 20 yrs to regain forest • Bush fallow – (savanna) fields used for 8 yrs, fallow for 10 yrs to grow small trees and bushes • Short fallow – (dry grassland) use for 2 yrs, fallow for 2 yrs to grow grass • Annual cropping – used for ag every year, replant with legumes and roots • Multicropping – used 2 or 3 times per yr, never fallow

32. Small farms in Kenya http://www.pbase.com/bmcmorrow/image/33540055

33. Essential Question: What Imprint does Agriculture make on the Cultural Landscape?

34. Dairy farms located in milkshed • Dairying is most important 2nd ring due to transportation (perishable) • Pre RR, milkshed was <30 miles, today <300 miles • 97% of all Wis milk is processed, 5% of Pa milk is processed • 95% of New Zealand mlk is processed, 50% of UK milk is processed • Non-fresh dairy products produced off of the farm • Grain farming – high value/unit weight so can be grown far from markets • Economy of scale to be profitable • Need for storage – grain silos in every small town next to RR • Fruits and vegetables – truck (trade) farming • Within the 1st ring, need to be close to market because perishable • High trans cost, intensive farming, use of machines • Most specialize in one or two crops

35. Cadastral Systems (How do we divide the land) • Township and Range System – most of US (rectangular survey system) based on grid system of 1 square mile sections. 640 acres was considered largest size for a family to farm • Metes and Bounds Survey uses natural features to demarcate irregular parcels of land. Physical features can change over time • Longlot Survey System divides land into narrow parcels stretching back from rivers, roads, or canals. Used to guarantee that more people have access to most valuable land

36. Dominant Land Survey Patterns in the US (what patterns do you see?)

37. Township and Range – Garden City, Iowa reflects this system. Townships are 6x6 miles and section lines are every 1 mile.1 sq mi set aside to sell with proceeds used to support public education and land grant universities

38. Longlot Survey System – The cultural landscape of Burgandy, France reflects the Longlot Survey system, as land is divided into long, narrow parcels. People live in nucleated villages, land ownership is highly fragmented.

39. Agricultural Villages (today LEDCs)

40. Functional Differentiation within Villages • Cultural landscape of a village reflects: • Social stratification wealth and standing in community (How is material well being reflected in the spaces of a village?) • Differentiation of buildings (What are they used for? How large are they?)

41. Stilt village in Cambodia Buildings look alike, but serve different purposes.

42. Farm in Minnesota each building serves a different purpose

43. Essential Question: What is the Global Pattern of Agriculture and Agribusiness?Nigeria

44. Commercial Agriculture Term used to describe large scale farming and ranching operations that employ vast land bases, large mechanized equipment, factory-type labor forces, and the latest technology.

45. Advances in Transportation and Food Storage - Containerization of seaborne freight traffic - Refrigeration of containers, as they wait transport in Dunedin, New Zealand

46. Agribusiness and the Changing Geography of Agriculture • Commercialization of Crop Production With the development of new agricultural technologies, the production of agriculture has changed. production is now concentrated as farming is turning into manufacturing

47. 33% of world’s grain is used to feed livestock • Additional use for ethanol has increased prices 3X in US • China now raises 50% of all pigs, must import grain to feed them

49. Agriculture and Climate • Climate Regions (based on temperature and precipitation) help determine agriculture production. • Agriculture Regions – drier lands usually have livestock ranching and moister climates usually have grain production.

50. Organic Agriculture • Organic Agriculture – The production of crops without the use of synthetic or industrially produced pesticides and fertilizers or the raising of livestock without hormones, antibiotics, and synthetic feeds. - sales of organic foods on the rise - grown everywhere - demand in wealthier countries