agribusiness: agribusiness: an industrialized, corporate form of agriculture controlled by a small number of large corporations A. Production Controls: 1. laws of supply & demand 2. production costs: fuel, fertilizer, labor, transport 3. vertical integration: primary, secondary, tertiary Examples: broiler chickens of specified age & weight cattle fed to exact weight wheat with a minimum protein content popping corn with certain features French fry potatoes for fast food chains like McDonalds Fewer farms, larger farms, more inputs, & more output 1. Contract farming: farmer agrees to grow to spec, buyer pays and provides advice/support. 2. Agribusinesses often from core countries 3. The largest companies are U.S. companies - ConAgra, Delmonte, Green Giant Three US firms - control 61% of the global banana trade Can be helpful to small foreign farmers: advice seeds fertilizers machinery profit Harmful? Deforestation "Once, many companies owned silos in Paraquay," says Angelica Ramirez. "Now they are all Cargill." 1. Type of intensive farming away from city centers Mediterranean agriculture 2.Mediterranean agriculture: - grapes, olives, oranges, figs, some vegetables - California, Chile, andthe Mediterranean! Plantation crops 3.Plantation crops: usually coastal - a foreign crop, foreign money, foreign workers Tea (India/Sri Lanka), Rubber (Malaysia/Indonesia): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKq42J7SaWw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKq42J7SaWw Cacao (Ghana/Nigeria) Cane sugar (the Caribbean/Brazil/Mexico) Coffee (Brazil/Colombia): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYsWECLaakI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYsWECLaakI Bananas (Central America) 1. post-WW II mass production: heavy machinery, chemicals, irrigation truck farms 2.truck farms for highly perishable items livestock-grain farming: 3.livestock-grain farming: 75% of W. Europe & U.S. crops feed livestock! 1. cheaper land, larger farms, distance from city? 2. wheat farming: spring harvest: mid-West & Canada winter harvest: S. America, C. Asia, Australia Wheat farming: #1 extensively farmed crop! 20% of all calories consumed by people von Thnens Rings: 1. concentric land use rings around urban centers 2. as distance from market increases, land value decreases 3. perishable crops closest to city 4. higher the transport cost: lower the rent