Transcript Origins of Agriculture

T3/20/12
+
The Origins of
Agriculture
(Ch. 10.1)
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
+ I. Origins of Agriculture

Agriculture = deliberate modification of Earth’s surface through the
cultivation of plants and/or rearing of animals
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Cultivate = “to care for”
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Crop = any plant cultivated by people
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I.
Origins
of
Agriculture
(cont.)
+
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A. Hunter-gatherers
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Before farming humans obtained food through hunting, fishing, or
gathering plants, berries, nuts, fruits, roots.
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earliest groups of people
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small nomadic tribes (~50 ppl.)
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division of labor by gender
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Men= hunters and fishers
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Women= collectors of berries, nuts, and roots
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Could take hours, could take days
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Perhaps 250,000 remaining today (less than 0.005%)
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Spinifex (Pila Nguru) - Great Victorian Desert in Australia
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Sentinelese - Andaman Islands in India
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Bushmen - Kalihari Desert in Botswana & Namibia
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
I.
Origins
of
Agriculture
(cont.)
+ B. Invention of agriculture

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earliest roots are unclear; diffused from many hearths (map 10-2)
 Southwest Asia= barley, wheat ~ 10,000 years ago
 Lentils and olives
 Central Asia= rice ~ 10,000 years ago along Yangtze River
 Sub-Saharan Africa= Millet and Rice independent of Asia
 Mexico= beans, corn and cotton ~4,000-5,000 years ago
 Peru= Potato, corn ~4,000-5,000 years ago
 Southeast USA= squashes, corn
domestication of animals (map 10-3)
 also differs by place & region
 Southwest Asia= cattle, goats, pigs, sheep, and dogs b/w 8,000
and 9,000 years ago
 Central Asia= horses

Integrating the cultivation of crops with domestication of herd
animals

Southwest Asia= animals used to prepare the land before planting
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Crop
Hearths
+
Figure 10-2
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Animal
Hearths
+
Figure 10-3
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+
II. Subsistence & Commercial
Agriculture

Subsistence = produced mainly for the farm family’s survival
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Commercial = produced mainly for sale off the farm
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Most common in LDCs
Most common in MDCs
Derwent Whittlesley
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research in 1936
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11 regions
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climate vs. culture
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careful to avoid environmental determinism
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culture plays strong role (i.e., pork in Middle East)
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+ Agriculture and Climate
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9
10
+ II. Subsistence & Commercial
Agriculture

Five characteristics distinguish commercial from subsistence agriculture
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A. Purpose of farming
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
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personal vs. mass consumption
B. Percentage of farmers in the labor force
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usually higher in LDC’s, but more land in MDC’s
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MDC= 5% of workers directly engaged
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LDC= 50% of workers directly engaged
C. Use of machinery
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begins in late 18th C.
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Machinery used to be all wood, not all-iron
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Tractors, combines, corn pickers, planters, replace
manual/animal labor
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continues to have impact on efficiency

Science and farming
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
+ II. Subsistence & Commercial
Agriculture

Five characteristics (cont.)
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D. Farm size
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average farms are large in MDC’s
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5% of farms make up 75% of U.S. production
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still 98% of commercial farms are family owned & operated
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steady loss of prime agricultural land due to urban sprawl
E. Relationship of farming to other businesses
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development of agribusiness
farmers only 2% of workers in U.S., but 20% of labor force works
in food production
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+ Agricultural Workers
Figure 10-5
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+ Area of Farmland Per Tractor
Figure 10-6
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.