AGRICULTURE AND RURAL LAND USE

Key Issue 2

Where are agricultural regions in less developed countries?Topics Today Shifting Cultivation Pastoral nomadism Intensive subsistence agriculture Plantation farming

Classifying Agricultural Regions

LDCs = subsistence agricultureMDCs = commercial agriculture Subsistence vs. commercial agriculture

Subsistence agriculture is the production of food primarily for consumption by the farmer’s family

Commercial agriculture is the production of food primarily for sale off the farm

Practice Purpose Labor force Machinery Farm size Off farm contact

Subsistence agriculture

LDCsPersonal

consumption

On average 55% of workforce engaged in

farming

Human and animal powered tools Very small Occasional surplus sold

Commercial agriculture

MDCs

Grow crops and raise animals

primarily for sale off the farm for

profit

On average 5% of workforce

engaged in farming

Mechanized farm machines, computer

technology and science

Large [US average in 2008 = 418

acres]

agribusiness – farms one part of a large food production industry

including food processing, packaging, sorting,

distributing, and retailing

World Climate Regions

Fig. 10-5b: Simplified map of the main world climate regions (see also Fig. 2.2).

World Agriculture Regions

Shifting Cultivation Farmers rotate the fields they cultivate

to allow the soil to replenish its nutrients, rather than farming the same plot of land over and over.

There are two distinguishing types of this: Slash and Burn agriculture- where farmers

clear land for planting by slashing vegetation and burning the debris.

Rotating field agriculture- where farmers rotate the fields they use so the soil has time to recuperate.

Shifting Cultivation These methods use much land in their farming

process: nearly 25% of the earth’s land Yet it does not produce large quantities of

food for the growing population. Shifting cultivation is being replaced by more

lucrative farming practices such as ranching, logging, and the production of cash crops for the global market.

Including more destructive permanent clearings of rain forests by commercial farm companies.

Subsistence Agriculture Extensive Subsistence Agriculture:

where farmers use a large amount of land to cultivate food for the farmer’s family to eat.

Intensive Subsistence Agriculture: where farmers cultivate small amounts of land very efficiently to produce food for their families.

Pastoralism The breeding and herding of animals to

produce food, shelter, and clothing for survival.

Usually occurs in climates with limited arable land.

Only about 15million people in the modern world are pastoral nomads, living dominantly in the large arid and semiarid belt.

Transhumance: the seasonal migration of

livestock between mountains and lowland areas.

Plantation Farming Plantation agriculture involves large scale

farming operations specializing in one or two high demand crops for export (usually to more developed regions).

Most plantations today exist in low-latitude regions of Africa, Asia, and Latin America and are owned by companies (or individuals) from more-developed countries.

Though advanced technology is integrated into modern plantations the work is sill labor intensive requiring large numbers of seasonal workers.