Agriculture and Rural Land Usage

Megan, Hannah, Lauren, Ari

13-17% of AP test

Facts• Was the first (of three) agricultural

revolutions• Vegetative planting was first form of

plant cultivation then seed agriculture• Progression of hunting and gathering

societies to settled agricultural ones• Domestication of plants especially food

crops such as wheat, maize, sorghum and rice depending on region. Animals such as sheep and pigs were also dominated.

• Earliest evidence of the revolution appears in Mesopotamia around 10,000 b.c

• Hearths of vegetative planting: Southeast Asia, West Africa, South America

• Hearths of seed agriculture: Western India, North China, and Ethiopia

Effects

• Rise of settled agricultural societies led to creation of cities

• Led to increased birth rates

• Shift in matriarchal and patriarchal roles

• Specialization in technology such as metallurgy increased

• 2nd agricultural revolution that occurred from 18th-19th c.

• First began in the England• Transition to machine based

society increased efficiency of agricultural production

• Inventions included the seed drill, improved iron plow, and the threshing machine

• Agriculture shifted from subsistence to commercial agricultural economy

• Migration from rural to urban areas led to creation of factories that manufactured agricultural goods

• Efficient forms of transportation like the steamship and railway allowed framers to ship goods at a lower cost

Facts Effects

http://www.nationalgeographic.com

http://geography.about.com/library/weekly/aa060297.htm

•It is an isolated agricultural region

•It is homogeneous in soil and climate and has no rivers or mountains to interrupt the terrain (completely flat)

•Agricultural region is served by a single market

•Central place functions to sell and consume agricultural products

•City is centrally located in the isolated state

•Farmers will allocate land to it’s highest and best use (most profitable function)

•Transportation costs are linear and proportional to distance in all directions and all farmers transport their own goods

http://srufaculty.sru.edu/james.hughes/100/100-6/d-6-13.htm

http://people.hofstra.edu/geotrans/eng/ch6en/conc6en/sectornuclei.html

Agricultural systems associated with major bio-climatic zones

This map allows for basic understanding of the link between agriculture and climate zones. But take caution when applying to modern day, a modern version of this map has not been created.

This concept is best displayed in the map by Derwent Whittlesey, shown in Figure 10-5 in your text

book.

•Norman Borlaug (check out http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/20/weekinreview/20martin.html)•Michael Pollan•Agribusiness•Capital-intensive Agriculture•Extensive agriculture ( pastoral nomadism/ shifting cultivation)•Intensive Cultivation•Feed lots•Planned Agricultural economy•Specialty crops•Urban SprawlAnd most of all TRANSHUMANCE!!!

Check out the College Board site for comprehensive Unit overviews. Also see http://wps.prenhall.com/esm_rubenstein_humangeo_8/20/5323/1362726.cw/index.html for quizzes over the chapter (be sure to look at the chapter names rather than number, because this site is for the 8th edition).

• Study!!!• Know agricultural models• Be able to contrast and compare land use

models• Know differences of agricultural practices

of LDCs and MDCs, as well as climate regions

• Be able to describe each agricultural revolution in detail

Helpful Hints

Helpful Websites• http://www.cia.gov/library/publication/the-world-

factbook/geos/as.html• http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/business/

energy-environment/14crop.html• Released FRQ’s on agriculture:

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/public/repository/ap09_frq_human_geography.pdf (particularly question number 3)

• http://www.nass.usda.gov/ for useful statistics

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