review images #5: agricultural geography
TRANSCRIPT
Review Images #5: Agricultural Geography
Relationship to Agriculture?
As countries develop economically, a smaller percentage of their labor force is engaged in agriculture.
Percent of Population Directly Engaged in Agriculture Is a Key
Development Statistic World = 36% of populationU.S. = <1% of population
Why does the U.S. have such a low percentage of its labor force engaged in agriculture?
What is Agriculture?Raising of crops and livestock to
produce food, feed and fiber
Animal Hearths
What is a hearth? How do things spread from a hearth?
Crop Hearths
What is a hearth? How do things spread from a hearth?
When And Where Did Agriculture Begin?
• Cultivation of root crops– S and SE Asia 14,000 years ago
• 1st Agricultural Revolution– Planned cultivation of seed crops
• SW Asia (Fertile Crescent) 10,000 years ago– Animal domestication
• SW Asia (Fertile Crescent) 8,000 years ago– Made permanent settlements possible– Led to population growth
2nd Agricultural Revolution• 1600s - diffused from Europe• Innovations:
– British Enclosure Movement (from common open fields to individual enclosed fields)
– Mechanization– Crop rotation– Scientific breeding
• Innovations led to agricultural surpluses • Food surpluses freed people to move from farm to
factory, leading to Industrial Revolution
3rd Agricultural Revolution or “Green Revolution”
• Began in mid-1900s - diffused from core to periphery– Genetically modified seeds, chemical fertilizers
and pesticides, irrigation systems– Improved crop yields– Greatest impact in Asia - eradicated famine in
India• Controversial
– Harmful environmental, human, animal effects– Too expensive for many subsistence farmers– Agribusinesses profit
Norman Borlaug “Father of the Green Revolution”
Animation Showing Growth In Ag Outputs 1970-2008
Follow the link to see the animation in motion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Agricultural_value_map_1970-2008.gif
Impact of Colonialism on Agriculture Very Significant
• In colonial regions, Europeans tried to end subsistence ag, promote commercial ag– Monoculture: dependence on one ag commodity
• Europe became a market for imported ag products
• Europe manufactured and sold finished products made from imported raw materials
Types of AgricultureSubsistence: growing for self and family
Shifting cultivation: relocating cultivation areas from year to year Slash and burn: clearing cultivation areas by cutting foliage and burning to replenish nutrients
Commercial: large-scale farming for profit
Plantation: large estates owned by individuals, families or corporations organized to produce cash crops
Subsistence Agriculture Regions
Where is subsistence agriculture most common? Why?
Types of Subsistence Agriculture
Shifting cultivation? Slash and burn? Pastoral nomadism?
Types of Commercial Agriculture
Difference between subsistence and commercial?Mediterranean?
Organic Agriculture
Acres In Organic Agriculture
Von Thunen’s Model - Know It!• 1826 - von Thunen -
German landowner• Assumptions:
– Flat terrain– Consistent soil and conditions– No transportation barriers
• Transportation costs determine location of ag activities– Closest to town, produce
most expensive to transport– Furthest from town, produce
cheapest to transport
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
Agriculture on the Landscape
Regional differences? Why?
Cadastral System (Land Survey System): Metes and Bounds
Cadastral System:Township and Range
Agriculture on the Landscape
Crop circles are actually lands irrigated with center-pivot irrigation systems … big “sprinkers” that rotate in a circle.
Cadastral System: Longlots (Mississippi)
Agriculture on the Landscape
•50% of world population lives in villages and rural areas
•Nucleated (clustered) settlement leaves more land open for agriculture
Global Agricultural Patterns• Determined by climate, soil, agricultural methods,
technology, culture, government, history, economics, and much more …
• Impact of colonialism evident– Cotton, rubber, coffee plantations
• Advances in transportation and refrigeration critical• Large agricultural corporations (agribusinesses) have
HUGE influence on commodity chains• Many issues of concern: fossil fuel usage, illegal drugs,
overfishing, deforestation, erosion, pesticides, herbicides, pollution, antibiotics, growth hormones, etc.
World Climate Map
Relationship between climate and agriculture?
World Agriculture Map
Relationship between climate and agriculture?
Wheat
Tea
Corn (Maize)
Coffee Beans
Cocoa Beans
Rice
Millet
Sorghum
Potato
Cassava
Sugar Beets
Sugar Cane
Tobacco
Fishing and Aquaculture
About two-thirds of the fish caught from the ocean is consumed directly by humans, whereas the remainder is converted to fish meal and fed to poultry
and hogs.
U.S. Crop GeographyLocation Factors To Consider
• Physical geography: climate (temperature & precipitation), soils, landforms, natural vegetation
• Population clusters: Megalopolis, Southern California, Chicago
• Agribusiness decisions: locations of key food processors that are vertically integrated
Corn For Ethanol Means Less Corn For Food
Food for people, food for animals or food for cars?
Fair Trade• Promotes payment of
fair prices and social and environmental standards for exports from periphery to core
• Coffee, chocolate, crafts, etc.
Agribusiness Chain
Tightly organized supply chains and vertical integration
In U.S., fewer farms, but larger farms
Food Deserts
Where? Why there? What difference does it make?
Where? Why there? What difference does it make?
Food Waste
Where? Why there? What difference does it make?
Diet For A More Crowded Planet
As countries develop
economically, consumers are
demanding more meat, poultry, eggs, milk. Challenge will
be to provide it without destroying
the planet.