Chapter 10 Agriculture - WordPress.com...Third Agricultural Revolution - Green Revolution Since...
Transcript of Chapter 10 Agriculture - WordPress.com...Third Agricultural Revolution - Green Revolution Since...
Agriculture Key Issues
• Key Issue 1 - Where did agriculture originate?
• Key Issue 2 - Where are agricultural regions in
less developed countries?
• Key Issue 3 - Where are agricultural regions in
more developed countries?
• Key Issue 4 - Why do farmers face economic
difficulties?
Primarily for direct
consumption by a
local population,
usually small scale
and low tech
Subsistence
Agriculture
Primarily for purpose
of selling products for
money, often
monocultures for
economies of scale
Commercial
Agriculture
Key Issue 1 - Where did agriculture originate?
Large-area farms or
ranches
Low inputs of labor &
low output per acre
Extensive Land Use
Small-area farms or
ranches
High inputs of labor &
high output per acre
Intensive Land Use
Rice paddies, southeast ChinaCattle ranch, northeast Colorado
Large amount of human
work is applied per unit
of output
Labor-Intensive
Agriculture
Large amount of capital
(equipment and buildings used to
produce other goods) is applied
per unit of output
Capital-Intensive
Agriculture
Top picture – Labor-intensive corn raising in
central Mexico.
Bottom picture – Corn exported from capital-
intensive U.S. farms to the Mexican market
Subsistence – predominantly low-income regions
Intensive subsistence – subtropical monsoon areas
Shifting cultivation – tropical forests & savannas
Nomadic herding – semiarid and arid lands
Commercial – predominantly high-income regions
Crop farming – more humid climates
Livestock ranching - drylands
Two Types of Cultivation
• Seed Agriculture
– Reproduction of plants
through annual
introduction of seeds,
which result from
sexual fertilization.
• Vegetative Planting
– Which is the
reproduction of plants
by direct cloning from
existing plants such as
cutting stems and
dividing roots.
Probable culture-hearths of agriculture
Invention of farming & domestication of livestock (8,000–
14,000 years ago) + diffusion from several source regions =
shift from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies
First Agricultural Revolution
Second Agricultural Revolution
•Technological changes (starting 1600s in Western Europe;
spread by 1800s to North America)
•Began with new methods: crop rotation, better horse
collars
•Later innovations: replace human labor with machines,
supplement natural fertilizers & pesticides with chemical
Beginnings of
commercialization
of agriculture
(production of
surplus for trade);
enabled widespread
urbanization
Third Agricultural Revolution - Green Revolution
Since 1960s
- hybridized grains for better yields
- greater reliance on synthetic fertilizers
- genetically engineered crops
- vertical integration of ownership (e.g., Cargill, ConAgra, ADM)
- globalization of production
A partial list of ConAgra’s brands
Swiss Miss Hunt’s
Van Camp’s Marie Callender’s
Wesson Hebrew National
Slim Jim Egg Beaters
Rosarita Chef Boyardee
ReddiWip Pam
Peter Pan Orville Redenbacher’s
Healthy Choice Banquet
Third Agricultural Revolution
Benefits
Reduced uncertainties in
agriculture
Greater global exchange
of ag products
Increased yields
Costs
Increased dependence on
fossil fuels
Reliance on chemical
inputs
Less global diversity of
food products
Concentration of
pollutants
“Green Revolution” –1960s -1980s
Rice
plant
Green revolution - Rapid diffusion of new
agricultural technology especially new high
yield seeds and fertilizers
Rice - staple food for 2.5 billion Asians -
provides 2/3 of calories for Asians with rice-
based diets
Green Rev – Raised yields
* Improved rice strains
* Greater use of fertilizer
* Increase use of irrigation
Asia’s rice production grew at annual rates of
3.0% until 1980s
Yield growth rate exceeded high pop. growth
rates of the time
Sources: FAO, IRRI (research
organization devoted to
rice) – part of global CGIAR
effort at improving yields of
staple crops worldwide
Key Issue 2: Where are agricultural
regions in less developed countries.Video: What the world eats
Subsistence Agriculture Commercial Agriculture• Mostly in LDCs
• Mostly in MDCs
SUBSISTENCE
AGRICULTURE
Production of food primarily for consumption
by the farmer’s family. Remains widely
practiced in less-developed, peripheral
countries. Practices: Shifting Cultivation, Intensive Subsistence Agriculture, and Pastoralism
Shifting Cultivation
• Farmers rotate the fields
they cultivate to allow the
soil to replenish its
nutrients.
• Farmers clear land for
planting through slash-
and-burn practices.
• Farmers grow crops on
a cleared field for only
a few years until soil
nutrients are depleted
• Then leave it fallow.
Pastoral Nomadism
• Pastoral Nomadism– A form of subsistence agriculture
based on herding animals.
• Pastoral nomads depend primarily on animals rather than crops for survival. The animals provide milk, and their skins and hair are used for clothing and tents. They eat mostly grain because animals are a measure of power and prestige. They practice Transhumance.
• Transhumance – The seasonal migration of
livestock between mountainous and lowland pastures.
Intensive Subsistence Agriculture
• Intensive subsistence
agriculture– A form of subsistence
agriculture from which farmers
must expend a relatively large
amount of effort to produce the
maximum feasible yield from a
parcel of land
– Practiced in densely populated
areas in LDC’s
– Most of the work is done by
hand or with animals rather
than with machines – many
workers!
– Rice Video
Rice Production
• Rice is the most important crop in the large population concentrations of East and Southeast Asia.
• Asian farmers grow 90% of the world’s rice.
• Growing rice is a labor intensive operation.
Key Issue 3: Where are agricultural
regions in more developed countries
• The 7 methods of farming typically found in MDC’s are:
– Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming
– Dairy Farming
– Grain Farming
– Livestock Ranching
– Mediterranean agriculture
– Commercial gardening and fruit farming
– Plantation farming
Johann Heinrich Von Thünen• Developed an agricultural
model to explain the locations and costs of agriculture in and around a CBD
• He used mathematics to explain the cost of farming in multiple environments
• R = Y(p − c) − YFm
– R = rent
– p = production costs
– Y = yield
– c = market price
– F = transportation costs
– m = distance to market
Von Thunen: Land Use and Agriculture
• Fallow
– the practice of farming land,
harvesting, tilling (but not planting),
and repeating the cycle
– Half the field is fallowed, the other
half is planted
• CBD
– central business district (town, city,
hearth)
• Three-Field Farming
– Only one third of the field is
fallowed, while the other two parts
are harvested in Spring and Autumn
• Bid rent
– how much someone is willing to pay
for a particular piece of land
Von Thunen Applications
• By analyzing the consumer costs,
production, and geographic
limitations, Von Thunen’s model
could help landowners and
agriculturalists determine
adequate rent for land and
potential profits
• This model is outdated and was
created assuming all land was
similar, climate was fixed, no
roads existed, and technology
would not improve
• This model has been modified to
take physical features into
account
William Alonso
• William Alonso used
Von Thunen’s model
to evaluate the cost
of land in an
agricultural region
(or industrial center)
• The farther away
from the CBD, the
less money people
were willing to pay
due to the limited
access to the CBD
Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming– Mixed crop and livestock farming is common in the U.S. west of
the Appalachians and in much of Europe from France to Russia.
– integration of crops and livestock. Most of the crops are fed to
animals rather than humans.
– nearly all of the land is used for crop growing, but more than
75% the profits come from the sale of animal products
– Crop rotation is actively used in mixed farming
– two of the most frequent are corn and soybean
– In U.S. 80% of grain production is fed to pigs and cattle!
– Highly inefficient use of natural resources
• Pounds of grain to make 1 lb. beef: 10
• Gallons of water to make 1 1b wheat: 25
• Gallons of water to make 1 1b. beef: 2500
• Corn / Soybeans
Dairy Farming• Dairy farming is the most important type of
commercial ag. practiced on farms near the northeast U.S., southeast Canada, and northwest Europe.
• Over 90% of cows milk is produced in Developed countries.
• Dairy farms must be nearer their market areas than other products because their product spoils quickly.
• Milkshed – (MILK)
– The area surrounding a city from which
milk is supplied
– Improvements in transportation have
increased the range of dairy farms, but they
are mainly still located near large urban
areas.
– Those dairy farms that are farther from the
cities tend to sell their product to processors
who make butter, cheese, etc, because these
products keep longer than milk.
Grain FarmingGrain farming is typically done in the
Great Plains states of the U.S. • Wheat is an important crop because it is
highly exportable and is a source of economic and political strength for its largest producers (US, Russia & Canada)
• The U.S. is by far the world’s largest producer of grain.
• Winter wheat –– Wheat planted in the fall and harvested in the
early summer.
– Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado;
• Spring wheat –– Wheat planted in the spring and harvested in
the late summer.
– Dakotas, Montana;
• Palouse region of Washington state is also an important area.
Livestock Ranching• Livestock ranching is the commercial
grazing of livestock over an extensive area.
• Where: arid or semi-arid areas of western U.S., Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Spain and Portugal.
• History: initially open range, now sedentary with transportation changes.
• Environmental effects:
– Overgrazing has damaged much of the world’s arid
grasslands
– Destruction of the rainforest is motivated by
Brazilian desires for fashionable cattle ranches
– Amazon Deforestation
Mediterranean Agriculture
Where: areas surrounding the Mediterranean, California, Oregon, Chile, South Africa, Australia
• Highly valuable crops: olives, grapes, nuts, fruits and vegetables; winter wheat
• Most of the food grown in this style of farming is for human consumption and is typically of high value.
• Horticulture –
– The growing of fruits, vegetables and flowers.
• California: high quality land is being lost to suburbanization; initially offset by irrigation
Commercial Gardening & Fruit Farming
• Where: U.S. Southeast, New
England, near cities around the world
• Crops: high profit vegetables and
fruits demanded by wealthy urban
populations: apples, asparagus,
cherries, lettuce, tomatoes, etc.
• Truck farming
– Commercial gardening and fruit farming,
so named because truck was a Middle
English word meaning bartering or the
exchange of commodities.
– highly mechanized and labor costs are
further reduced by the use of cheap
immigrant (and illegal) labor.
– Apple Farming
Plantation Farming
• Large scale mono-cropping of
profitable products not able to be
grown in Europe or U.S.
– Crops: cotton, sugar cane, coffee, rubber,
cocoa, bananas, tea, coconuts, palm oil.
• Plantation farming is found in the tropics and subtropics.
• Plantation
– A large farm in tropical and subtropical
climates that specializes in the production
of one or two crops for sale, usually to a
more developed country.
– These types are farms are isolated in sparsely settled locations and are thus quite self-sufficient.
Developed Countries Undercut Free Markets in Agriculture
• Farmers in the developed
world are paid an average of
2/3 more than the free market
would provide.
• These subsidies to the world’s
richest farmers directly damage
the agricultural economies of
the poorest nations.
Key Issue 4: Why do Farmers Face
Economic Difficulties?• Economic issues of commercial farmers
– Access to markets
– Overproduction
– Sustainable agriculture
• Economic issues of subsistence farmers
– Population growth
– International trade
• Increasing food supply
Access to Markets • Two economic factors
influence the choice of crops (or livestock) by commercial farmers: – access to markets and
overproduction.
– Because the purpose of commercial farming is to sell produce off the farm, the distance from the farm to the market influences the farmer’s choice of crop to plant.
– Geographers use the von Thünen model to help explain the importance of proximity to market in the choice of crops on commercial farms.
Von Thünen Model
Fig. 10-13: Von Thünen’s model shows how distance from a city or market affects
the choice of agricultural activity in (a) a uniform landscape and (b) one
with a river.
Overproduction in Commercial Farming
• Commercial farmers suffer from low incomes because they produce too much food rather than too little.
• A surplus of food has been produced in part because of widespread adoption of efficient agricultural practices.
• Commercial farmers have dramatically increased the capacity of the land to produce food.
• While the food supply has increased in more developed countries, demand has remained constant, because the market for most products is already saturated.
• Demand is also stagnant for most agricultural products in more developed countries because of low population growth.
U.S. Government Policies
• The U.S. government has three policies to attack the problem of excess productive capacity.
• First, farmers are encouraged to avoid producing crops that are in excess supply.
• The government encourages planting fallow crops.
• Second, the government pays farmers when certain commodity prices are low.
• Third, the government buys surplus production and sells or donates it to foreign governments.
• In addition, low-income Americans receive food stamps in part to stimulate their purchase of additional food.
• The United States spends about $10 billion a year on farm subsidies.
• Government policies point out a fundamental irony in worldwide agricultural patterns.
• In a more developed country such as the United States, farmers are encouraged to grow less food, while less developed countries struggle to increase food production to match the rate of the growth in population.