Agriculture

1. Agriculture Chap 11 Envs 204

2. Defining  A. Defining Word Agriculture AGRICULTURE – (A.) Deliberate modification of earth's surface by (1) cultivating crops or (2) raising animals (B.)for economic gain or sustenance · · (Breakdown definitions into their constituent parts, this makes it easier to remember them.)

3. Defining B. TWO TYPES 1. Subsistence -- crops produced and consumed on farm 2. Commercial -- surplus produced and traded C. PRODUCTION METHODS • Seed based • Vegetative planting • Animal Husbandry/ Domestication

4. Define D. ORIGINS 1. From Folk customs -- what does this imply???? Think of all the differences between folk and popular customs. 2. Different crops originate in different regions & at different times -- what does this say about the environment? Does this indicate anything about Possiblism ?

5. Define E. DIFFUSION – how does this relate to spread of agriculture - Consider the mechanisms and describe the types Examples: • Wheat to the US • Corn to Nepal

6. USA Cornfield & Wheatfield Nepali Cornfield Examples: Wheat and Corn Where did each come from?

7. 8.1 Where did Agriculture Originate • THE JERICHO STORY (Based on the "folk tale" of Douglas North, Nobel prize laurette formerly with UW Economics Department) http://howardbloom.net/jericho_walls_wide_view.jpg

8. Location • Background -- 6 mi N of Dead Sea, on W side of Jordan River • -- about 250' below sea level • -- based on Biblical accounts (although some historians dispute it) the site of famous battle in 1400BC with Joshua http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPZuWzZvoYQ

9. Aside – General Development in Region http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/ctl/clihis10k.html

10. Early History 9500BC Hunters & Gathers establish camp  1. Climate in general area -- Mediterranean 2. Transition zone between desert and forest 3. Work divided by gender 4. Demographic stage & place on food chain

11. Changing Food Chain Position As a society moves from hunting to agriculture it moves down from near the top of the food chain to a more middle position, since food chains can be thought of as organized in a pyramid fashion the quantity of potential food is much greater at the bottom then at the top. By moving down the food chain through the introduction of agriculture suddenly humans had much, much larger quantities of food. Result, better nutrition and health, greater survival rates, and fewer people devoted to food production.

12. Change Potential What does this mean in regards to • Demographic change • Productivity gains • Economic & cultural development • Ability of a society to create urban areas where people live and work outside of food production • Possibility of popular as opposed to folk customs

13. Food gathering methods Food gathering method -- for wild Barley and later Wheat • Prior to 3500BC no pottery in the area • Select least shatterable wild grains, bundle these into large sheaves and carry them back to their homes, recall that shatterabilitty is how easily the seeds fall off the stem of the grain. By selecting the least shatterable most of the grain arrives intact at the home. More shatterable varieties will fall off along the way. c. Most shatterable thrive -- based on this process of human selection, by taking less shatterable varieties year after year soon this type will begin to disappear, but by accident the more shatterable will be scattered and tramped into the ground at the site of the gathering.

14. 8000BC AGRICULTURE DISCOVERED Alternate Hypotheses 1. At gathering Site: Seeds that fall onto the ground and are stepped on at areas harvested reproduce at a higher rate, sort of a crude form of sowing grain.  2. At Home Site: Based on Animistic Religious practices there is the possibility of grain offerings near the home site, this would begin to create small patches of grain growing in areas they had not previously been found. Again, a very crude way of sowing a new field. 3. Also near the home site: Food will sometimes be discarded. This too could provide for a very crude form of sowing. (think also latrines or garbage mounds)  4. It is impossible to know which if any of these stories/hypotheses is correct. Also, each requires a leap of understanding from accidental scattering and stomping grain in the ground to actually choosing to put it there.

15. SURPLUS RESULTS Suddenly there was more food and available more regularly 1. Demographic impact -- 2. Urban impact -- Jericho 3. Development impact -- think surplus, think productivity gains 4. First great civilizations -- where in the world is Jericho located

16. DIFFUSION along trade & migration routes -- the usual story for any new "inventions" of society Fertile Crescent

18. Seed Based Examples

20. Example of Early civilization from agriculture A Lost European Culture, Pulled From Obscurity By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD New York Times,Published: November 30, 2009 Before the glory that was Greece and Rome, even before the first cities of Mesopotamia or temples along the Nile, there lived in the Lower Danube Valley and the Balkan foothills people who were ahead of their time in art, technology and long-distance trade. For 1,500 years, starting earlier than 5000 B.C., they farmed and built sizable towns, a few with as many as 2,000 dwellings. They mastered large-scale copper smelting, the new technology of the age. Their graves held an impressive array of exquisite headdresses and necklaces and, in one cemetery, the earliest major assemblage of gold artifacts to be found anywhere in the world. The striking designs of their pottery speak of the refinement of the culture’s visual language. Until recent discoveries, the most intriguing artifacts were the ubiquitous terracotta “goddess” figurines, originally interpreted as evidence of the spiritual and political power of women in society. …. The story now emerging is of pioneer farmers after about 6200 B.C. moving north into Old Europe from Greece and Macedonia, bringing wheat and barley seeds and domesticated cattle and sheep. Rumyana Kostadinova Ivanova and Marius Amarie LIVING SPACE Artifacts from the Lower Danube Valley and the Balkan foothills are presented in an exhibition, “The Lost World of Old Europe,” at New York University’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World.

21. Cont. Copper, not gold, may have been the main source of Old Europe’s economic success, Dr. Anthony said. As copper smelting developed about 5400 B.C., the Old Europe cultures tapped abundant ores in Bulgaria and what is now Serbia and learned the high-heat technique of extracting pure metallic copper. Smelted copper, cast as axes, hammered into knife blades and coiled in bracelets, became valuable exports. Old Europe copper pieces have been found in graves along the Volga River, 1,200 miles east of Bulgaria. Archaeologists have recovered more than five tons of pieces from Old Europe sites. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jvjhEd83zA

22. Example of Early civilization from agriculture

23. American Center http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/northamerica/cahokia.html

24. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLoqU-IObvs

25. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEcD55aTBdA&feature=related

26. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdUXRmoRKuE

27. 10.2 Diet & 10.3 Hunger • Will leave this for you to read

28. 10.4 Agricultural Regions • A very, very crude overview of agricultural regions through out the world • Note obvious shortcomings of the map • Mississippi Delta indicates “plantation” farming – no longer so though the cotton crop is still important • Japan is listed as “intensive subsistence” should be commercial grain • Even with these shortcomings note the striking relationship of climate to agricultural region

29. 1995 Pattern of Agricultural Activity Note the best, gives a general idea

30. Compare with Agriculture

31. Rural Settlement • Interesting how different patterns occur • When I teach US Geography we look for these variations in the US, especially long lot patterns in Louisiana and near Detroit, MI

32. Rural Settlement • Interesting how different patterns occur • When I teach US Geography we look for these variations in the US, especially long lot patterns in Louisiana and near Detroit, MI

33. 10.5 Subsistence & Commercial • 5 tools for differentiating Commercial from Subsistent Agricultural Regions (How & Why) • purpose of farming • % of farmers in labor force • use of machinery • farm size • relationships of farming to other businesses • read through these sections and be familiar with the major differences of the two farming types for each point

34. Maps • Note how next two maps are basically mirror images • This is a perfect example of what Thomas Homer-Dixon refers to as our (MDCs) “energy slave” economy

35. PEOPLE POWER Percent Labor Force in Agriculture

36. MACHINE POWER Tractors/ 1000 hectors crop land Compare Japan, S. Korea, and China also look at Egypt and Turkey

37. 10.6 Subsistence Regions • Know the four major types of Agricultural that exist in Subsistence Regions and characteristics of each • Out of these four which supports the most people (look at the demographic chapter if necessary) • What typical breakfast food or drink comes from one of these? Is there a relationship to fair trade?

38. What kind Agriculture is this???

39. 10.5 Maps By comparing Figure 10.5.1 on rice production and the earlier 10.2.2 on climate – what type of possibilism can you hypothesize? RICE Note how the scale is logrithmic, what does this tell us about the quantity of rice produced in the US, the world’s largest exporter of rice

40. 10.7 Commercial • Washington State is so diverse that we have all of these types here • Think carefully and describe which type we might find in • Whatcom County (two kinds dominate two others are present) • Lincoln County (next to Spokane) • Near Ellensburg • Near Wenatchee • Where are there vineyards?

41. Types • Grain • Dairying • Ranching • Farm Med. • Garden & Fruit Farming • Mixed Farming

42. MILK Note India

43. Steady increase in Milk production in LDCs

44. WHEAT 4 Major exporters are: US, Canada, Argentina, & Australia But China is largest producer

45. MEAT China has caught up, but still has a much larger population

46. Major Global Crop Producers • Maize • Rice • Milk • Wheat • Meat (all combined)

47. Maize:US & China with Brazil Moving Up http://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?commodity=corn

48. Rice: China & India http://www.geohive.com/charts/ag_rice.aspx

49. Milk: Us and India http://www.milkproduction.com/Library/Editorial-articles/World-Milk-Production/

50. Wheat:EU-27, China, India with US and Russia below http://www.indexmundi.com/agriculture/?commodity=wheat&graph=production