Unit 5

Shifting Cultivation (slash & burn)

Agricultural system used to clear land to make fields for crops using a cycle of land rotation & fallow periods.

• Fallow period:

  • Leaving a field for 5-10+ years for it to gain fertility.

Nomadic Pastoralism

An agricultural system where the caring & breeding of animals is based on open grazing

• Transhumance - Moving herds on a seasonal basis to new land/water sources

Mediterranean

Focused on cultivating livestock, grain, & a tree or vine crop

• Agroforestry - integration of trees with crops and/or livestock

Intensive Agriculture

Type of agriculture that requires large levels of manual labor or machinery to produce the maximum crop yield; yields a large amount of output per acre through concentrated farming; uses a small amount of land relative to amount of output

Market Gardening

• Small scale production of fruits, vegetables, and flowers as cash crops sold directly to local consumers

• Located in/near market

• Heavy fertilizing is required for successive crops

Mixed Crop/Livestock Systems

• Integrated system based on raising crops to feed livestock and selling the animal products off the farm

• Practiced across Asia

Plantation Agriculture

• Large plot of land that specializes the production of a cash crop

• Company HQs tend to be in North America/ Europe, while plantations are located in LDCs

Extensive agriculture

Small inputs of labor, fertilizers, and/or capital; takes up a large amount of land relative to the output

Settlement Patterns and Survey Methods

Settlement patterns are influenced by land prices, transportation infrastructure, public policy, and social and ecological processes.

Clustered Settlements

• Families live close to one another

• Fields surround houses and barns or farm buildings

• Often known as hamlets or villages

Linear Settlements

• Line of buildings concentrated on a road or river

• Facilitates communication

• Property is in long, narrow strips

Dispersed Settlements

• Farmers live on individual farms

• More isolated from neighbors

• More difficult for communication within community

Metes and Bounds

• Relies on description of land ownership by natural features

• Based on trees, streams, etc.

• Easily contested between land owners due to changing natural environment

Township and Range

• Rectangular land division

• Range is the measurement east to west

• Township is measurement of distance north to south

• Western U.S. was divided this way

Long Lots

• Divides land into narrow parcels

• Stretched from rivers, roads, canals, or any other shared significant location

Before The First Agricultural Revolution

• Most of the earliest humans were nomadic hunter-gatherers living in small groups following animals and collecting fruits, vegetables, and nuts along the way,

• Some groups lived along coasts and got their food from fishing.

During The First Agricultural Revolution (Neolithic Revolution)

• Starting In about 8500 BC in several different hearths, people began to settle in areas and domesticate plants and animals (farming).

• Once faming became more prominent, hunter-gatherer groups began to disappear.

The Columbian Exchange

• The exchange of plants, animals, and diseases between the Americas and the rest of the world.

• Trade between the "Old world" and the "New world" Example of cultural diffusion

• Happened after Christopher Columbus' voyage in 1492

Effects of the Columbian Exchange

• Increased food supply for both the New World and Old World

• New crops, products and animals introduced to both worlds

• Changed the way people lived

• Europeans brought technology to the Americas (ex-new farming methods and the alphabet)

• Increase in population

• Everything became more interconnected

Cons of the Columbian Exchange

• Many diseases such as smallpox, influenza, and malaria were brought to the Americas, who had no immunity to it

• Slavery and exploitation of workers

Second Agricultural Revolution (occurred during the Middle Ages)

• The development of new tech and agricultural practices in Western Europe.

• These new advancements meant more efficient farming and larger yields.

• Effected mostly Europe and North America {no LDCs).

• This was the first-time mechanization was introduced to agriculture.

• Very closely related to the Industrial Revolution,

The Role of the Industrial Revolution

• Started in England {lead to more urbanized cities there).

• Development of new machines and high speed/effective production.

• Lead to rural---urban migration in search of factory/manufacturing jobs. (today many immigrants move to big, successful cities for jobs)

• It effected the textile and agricultural industries drastically.

[Industrial Revolution] New Agricultural Inventions

1. Cotton Gin: separates cotton fibers from seeds.

2. Moldboard Plow: curved metal plate that allows farmers to turn over soil.

3. Seed Drill: places seeds quickly into small holes along the field.

4. Horse Collar: enabled farmers to use horses for labor, which was much more efficient.

4 Course Crop Rotation (4-year process)

• Farmers rotate the types of crops they plant every year to ensure the soil's fertility.

• This avoids a fallow period & increases yields & productivity.

Green Revolution

High-yield seeds, chemicals, mechanization, positive and negative consequences

When and where did The Green Revolution take place?

• Main purpose: to alleviate world hunger, specifically in LDCs

• Lead to a dramatic increase in grain production. between 1965 and 1985. in Asia and Latin America

• Did NOT affect Sub-Saharan Africa

How were chemicals, mechanization, and high-yield seeds used?

• Chemicals: Chemicals (ex.fertilizer) were used to enhance plant growth

• Mechanization: Machines and tools were made to make the process of planting and harvesting easier and quicker

• High-yield seeds: High-yield seeds largely increased the amount of crops produced.

  • Ex: High-yielding seed varieties were exported to India and Pakistan in the 1960s; in less than a decade, wheat production nearly doubled in both countries

Subsistence Agriculture (Found in)

• LDCs, tropical rainforests: Central/South America, Africa, SE Asia→ (Shifting cultivation)

• Dry and desert areas in LDCs: India, North of Fertile Crescent, Northern Europe/Asia → (Pastoralism/Nomadic Herding)

• Asia: Thailand, Vietnam, India & coastal lowlands/river valleys → (Wet rice farming)

• Much of developing world (India, China, parts of Mexico and South America, Sub Saharan Africa) → (Smallholder crop and livestock farming)

Commercial Agriculture (Found in)

• Great Lakes areas, NE of America, Northern Europe → (Commercial dairy farming)

• Southeast of US, Maine, Idaho, Caucasus → (Commercial gardening and specialized crops)

• Northern US, Southern Canada, Europe, Southern Australia → (Commercial grain)

• dry and desert areas: Western North America, Southern South America, Western Europe, Southern Africa, Australia → (Livestock ranching)

• places with Mediterranean climate: North Africa, South Europe, California → (Mediterranean)

• Europe, Russia, Corn Belt of US→ (Mixed crop and livestock farming)

• LDCs in tropical areas: Central and South America, SE Asia, Southern Africa → (Plantation)

Bid-Rent Theory

• As you move close to the market → land becomes more expensive,

• Farther away from market → land is less expensive.

Intensive agriculture

Intensive farmers can pay for the expensive land closer to market bc less land is used→ intensive agriculture is located closer to the market

Extensive agriculture

Extensive farmers can pay for the cheaper land farther from market bs more land is used→ extensive agriculture is located farther from market

Horizontal Integration

Many branches of a company OR many commonly owned companies work together and sell their products

Vertical Integration

One firm controls multiple phases of a commodity chain

Commodity Chain

Linked system of processes; gathers resources, converts into goods, packages, distributes, and sells

• Ex. clothing industry

Decline of Small Family Farms

• Businesses shift from horizontal to vertical integration⤵

  • Complex commodity chains form⤵

    • Companies gain large control over the market⤵

      • Traditional family farms can't compete and close, sending farmers into unemployment

• In the last 10 or so years though movements have started in order to support local farmers, such as the grassroots movement.

Technology’s effect on agriculture

• Technology has increased the carrying capacity of the land, making it so that farmers can grow more on less land.

• Increased the economies of scale - the larger your farm, the more efficient your work will be more profitable + more technology

Von Thunen

Model made in 1826 by J.H. Von Thunen to explain patterns of agricultural processes

• Assumptions in model

  • Market is in the center of an isolated state

  • Land is flat • Farmers transport goods to market in wagon

  • Farmers act to maximize profit

First Ring - Intensive Farming and Dairying []

• Close to city because more perishable, would not spoil before city

• Needed less space for goods like fruits, vegetable-

Second Ring - Forest []

• Timber heavy and expensive to transport over distances

• No longer exists in modern world

Third Ring - Extensive Crops []

• Lighter and lasted longer for farther away travel

• Needed more room for lots of crop

Fourth Ring - Ranching []

• Animals self transport to city, so very cheap

• More land required for animals

Fifth Ring- Wilderness

No agricultural practices because distance from city too large

Bid-Rent Theory

• As you move closer to the market, the land becomes more expensive, and farther away from the market is less expensive

  • Buy less land, for intensive farming (inner rings)

  • Buy more land, for extensive farming (outer rings)

Global commodity chains (Commodity chains on a global scale)

Commodity dependent

Countries are commodity dependent when commodities make up 60% or more of their exports. Sub-Saharan Africa is the most commodity dependent region.

Agribusiness

The businesses that are involved in the production and marketing of a farm product

• Ex: the businesses in a commodity chain

GMOs (genetically modified organisms)

Organisms that have had their DNA altered through genetic engineering

• Mainly used to create higher yields and build resistance to pesticides and fertilizers

Monoculture

The growth of a single crop in a field

Consequences of Agricultural Practices

• Biodiversity: a variety of plants and animals

• Field with covered with one crop= low biodiversity.

• Over use of land by

  • Shortening fallow periods

  • Use of pesticides/ fertilizers in soil

  • Overuse of irrigation (drains ground water)

• Salinization: Accumulation of salt in the soil

• Desertification: The shift of usable land to desert like conditions because of humans and/or environment

Clearing Land for Farming Causes

• Land coverage change (use of land and what is covering it changes)

• Deforestation: the clearing of large areas of trees

Contemporary Agriculture

The modern advancements in agriculture used today. (ex.GMOs, pesticides, fertilizers )

Green Revolution

Period from 1980 to present day where the use of biotechnology was introduced to agriculture in order to increase crop yields.

GMOs

Organisms genetically altered to be more appealing to producers and consumers.

• Long term effects aren't known

• Some modifications can cause allergic reactions in consumers.

• Leads to monoculture, as the crops can last through harsher conditions.

Biotech

Improve the quality of the yield of crops and livestock via cross breeding, hybridization, and recently genetic engineering. (Ex: Pest Resistant plants)

Aquaculture

• The farming of aquatic animals or cultivation of aquatic plants for food

• Aquaculture can contaminate water bc waste products stay in the water longer

• Some fish food is contaminated with pesticides and chemicals that are in the feed, also the use of antibiotics and artificial supplements that are given to the fish causes some to say it is unhealthy

How do we feed a global population (that is growing)

• Lack of food access is still an issue

  • Food Insecurity

  • Food Deserts

• Enough food is produced but DISTRIBUTION is an issue

• Weather can lead to adverse conditions for producing crops and cause food insecurity in a given year

• Arable land that could use and often was used for farming is lost to urban sprawl (suburbanization)

Sustainable Agricultre

Farming practices that ca1·efully manage natural resources and protect environmental conditions to help future generations, while maintaining farm profits.

World Trade Organization

Seeks to make trade freer through removal of tariffs and more, that distort the market.

• Domestic subsides= market distortions and prevent free trade in ag1·icultural goods

Organic agriculture

A farming system that promotes sustainable and biodiverse ecosystems by using natural processes rather than synthetic inputs.

• Fastest growing sector of agriculture today

• Australia, Argentina, and BTazil have la1·gest arnas under organic management, however, lai·gest percent (25 % ) of organic land is found in Europe

• Products do not contain any GMOs (the USDA determines if a product can have the organic sticker on the packaging)

Eat local movements

Encouragement of utilization of local products, distribution, and production, which replaces national/international food systems (Ex. Local Farmers Market)

• Pros

  • Less transportation costs

  • Local economy boost

  • F1·esher foods

• Cons

  • Morn expensive local produce

  • Local pollution due to livestock methane and/ or methane

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

A network of individuals, who support one or more local farms, with growers and consumes sharing the risks and benefits of food production

• Pros

  • Save money

  • Support local farms

  • Fresh foods

• Cons

  • Transportation barriers

  • Increased food preparation labor

  • Not all CSAs are profitable

Urban Agriculture

A practice to help improve food security at the household level using vacant lots, rooftops, balconies, or other spaces to grow food

Women in agriculture

Women are approximately 43% of the agricultural workforce overall