Agriculture

1. Agriculture

2. Agricultural Origins and Regions • Hunters and gatherers • Small groups, nomadic movement based on game/plants • Small groups exist today in the Arctic, Africa, Australia and South America • Invention of agriculture • Plant cultivation evolved from accident and experiment • Two types • Vegetative and Seed

3. Location of agricultural hearths • Vegetative planting • Reproduction through cloning, cutting and splitting roots • Originated in Southeast Asia to China, Japan, India, S.W. Asia, Africa, and Mediterranean • 1st plants were taro, yam, banana and palm • 1st animals were dog, pig, and chicken • Seed agriculture • Planting seeds • W. India, N. China and Ethiopia • S.W Asia was the 1st place to integrate seed agriculture and domestication • Mexico and Peru developed independently (origin of corn and squash)

4. Seed Agriculture Hearths Fig. 10-2: Seed agriculture also originated in several hearths and diffused from those elsewhere.

5. Classifying agricultural regions Subsistence • Practiced in LDC • Personal consumption • Large farmer work force • Use hand tools, little machinery • Small farms Commercial • Practiced in MDC • Produced for sale • Small farmer work force • High level of machinery • Large farms • Large connection to manufacturing sectors

6. Tractors, per Population Fig. 10-4: Tractors per 1,000 people. Use of machinery is extensive in most MDC agriculture, but it is much less common in LDCs.

8. Agriculture in Less Developed Countries • Shifting cultivation • Humid low latitude, Amazon, W. C. Africa, S.E Asia • Characteristics of shifting cultivation • Slash and burn and fallow fields • Plows and animals barely used • Potash (potassium) from burning • Rice, corn, cassava, millet, sorghum, yams, sugarcane, plantain and vegetables • Future of shifting cultivation • Replaced by logging, cattle ranching and cultivation of cash crops • Large scale destruction of rain forest (Bolivia)

9. Pastoral Nomadism • Pastoral nomadism • Characteristics of pastoral nomadism • Animals are used for meat, hides and milk • Animals are selected by local cultural and physical characteristics • Camels, horses, goats, and sheep • Movement is tied to territory • Future of pastoral nomadism • Offshoot of sedentary agriculture • Governments try to resettle groups or provide alternative jobs

10. Intensive subsistence agriculture • Farmers must produce more with less land for more people • Labor intensive and some use of animals, no machines • Intensive subsistence with wet rice dominant • S.E. Asia, China, and E. India • Plowed land is flooded with water and seedlings are transplanted and harvested by hand • Intensive subsistence with wet rice not dominant • Interior India and N.E. China grows wheat instead of rice • Cash crops like cotton, flax, hemp and tobacco are grown • Crop rotation is used to increase yield amount

11. World Rice Production Fig. 10-6: Asian farmers grow over 90% of the world’s rice. India and China alone account for over half of world rice production.

12. Agriculture in Developed Countries • Mixed crop and livestock systems • Integration of crops and livestock (Crops fed to animals) • Reduces seasonal variation in income • Crop rotation for efficient output • Corn and soybeans (corn belt) • Dairy farming • U.S., Canada, Europe, Russia, Australia and New Zealand • Dairy farms must be close to the market • Farms farther away produce dairy products like cheese, butter, dry milk or condensed milk • Labor intensive, lack of profitability

13. World Milk Production Fig 10-8: Milk production reflects wealth, culture, and environment. It is usually high in MDCs, especially production per capita, and varies considerably in LDCs.

14. MDC agriculture con’t • Grain farming • Commercial production, easily shipped worldwide • U.S., Canada, Argentina, Australia, France and U.K. • Winter and spring wheat • Livestock ranching • Animals grown for commercial sale • Beef demand rose through the use of railroads and changed ranching and breeds • Chisholm trail was the cattle route used bring to market • The Code of the West led to Range Wars when the government sold land previously used for grazing

15. World Wheat Production Fig. 10-10: China is the world’s leading wheat producer, but the U.S. and Canada account for about half of world wheat exports.

16. MDC agriculture con’t • Mediterranean agriculture • Mediterranean climate (borders a sea, prevailing seas, moisture and mild winters) • Fruits, vegetables, flowers, olive oil, wine, and grapes • Commercial gardening and fruit farming • U.S. southeast because of climate • Consumer goods of agriculture (apples, cherries and lettuce) • Use of migrant workers keep labor cost down • Plantation farming • Located in LDCs but owned by MDC corporations • Cotton, sugarcane, coffee, rubber, tobacco and tea • Crops are processed on site then shipped

17. Economic Issues of Commercial Farmers • Economic issues of commercial farmers • Access to markets-proximity determines crop choice • Overproduction-brings down prices of crops • Avoid certain crops, farmer assistance and gov’t buys surplus • Sustainable agriculture- land management and integration • Ridge tillage, Round up ready seeds • Integration of crops and livestock to get rid of the middle man (farmer grows food to feed livestock instead of purchasing it)

18. Economic issues of subsistence farmers • Population growth and international trade are issues faced by LDCs • Boserup suggests that LDCs need to consider new farming approaches in order to produce enough food for their population • This is achieved through more efficient agriculture (fallow fields, better machinery and more fertilizer) • Increasing food supply • Expand agricultural land • Increase efficiency on current land • Identify new sources of food • Increase exports so there are funds to purchase food

19. Von Thünen Model Fig. 10-13: Von Thünen’s model shows how distance from a city or market affects the choice of agricultural activity in (a) a uniform landscape and (b) one with a river.