Transcript Chapter 10 - WordPress.com

An Introduction to Human Geography
The Cultural Landscape, 8e
James M. Rubenstein
Chapter 10
Agriculture
PPT by Abe Goldman
Agricultural Origins and Regions
• Origins of agriculture
– Hunters and gatherers
– Invention of agriculture
• Location of agricultural hearths
– Vegetative planting
– Seed agriculture
• Classifying agricultural regions
– Subsistence vs. commercial agriculture
– Mapping agricultural regions
Vegetative Planting Hearths
Fig. 10-1: There were several main hearths, or centers of origin, for vegetative crops
(roots and tubers, etc.), from which the crops diffused to other areas.
Seed Agriculture Hearths
Fig. 10-2: Seed agriculture also originated in several hearths and diffused from those
elsewhere.
Labor Force in Agriculture
Fig. 10-3: A large proportion of workers in most LDCs are in agriculture, while only a small
percentage of workers in MDCs are engaged in agriculture.
Tractors, per Population
Fig. 10-4: Tractors per 1,000 people. Use of machinery is extensive in most MDC
agriculture, but it is much less common in LDCs.
Farmland Loss in Maryland
Fig. 10-1-1: Overlaps of soil quality, environmental and cultural features, and population
growth may show areas of greatest threat of farmland loss in Maryland.
Agriculture in Less Developed
Countries
• Shifting cultivation
– Characteristics of shifting cultivation
– Future of shifting cultivation
• Pastoral nomadism
– Characteristics of pastoral nomadism
– Future of pastoral nomadism
• Intensive subsistence agriculture
– Intensive subsistence with wet rice dominant
– Intensive subsistence with wet rice not dominant
World Climate Regions
Fig. 10-5b: Simplified map of the main world climate regions (see also Fig. 2.2).
Shifting Cultivation
• Low Latitudes: high temps and rainfall
• Slash and Burn
• Live in small villages and grow food on
surrounding land
• Cleared area called: swidden, lading,
milpa,prepared by hand: Animals/ plows rare
• Upland rice (SE) maize and manioc (SA) and
millet and sorghum (Africa). Yams, sugar
Shifting
• Fields appear chaotic/ Intermingled crops
• Traditionally Land owned by village as a
whole: Today may have private
• Occupies ¼ of land area (higher % than all
others/ environmentally sound?
• Less than 5% of population/beginning step
• Land declining; replaced by ranching, logging
and cash crops: can support only a small
population without environmental damage
Pastoral Nomadism
• Herding of domestic animals
• Dry climates: Central/Southwest Asia and
North Africa: may move when too dry grow
crops
• 15 million occupy 20% of land area
• Animals for milk, skins and hair
• Consume mostly grain: Size of herd power
and security:
• Women stay and plant grain at fixed location/
or hire workers or sow grain and return later
Pastoral nomadism
• Camel, sheep, goats: North Africa/
Southwest Asia, Horse: Central Asia
• Strong sense of Territoriality
• Transhumance: seasonal migration of
animals between mountains and lowland
pasture areas
• Stage in evolution or offshoot of sedentary:
domestication by sedentary
• Declining form of agriculture: Government
efforts to resettle nomads want land
Intensive subsistence
• Feeds most people in LDCs
• Farmers work intensively to subsist on a
parcel of land
• East, South and SE Asia abundant labor
• Typical farm small: many own several
fragmented plots: no wasted land
• Most work by hand or animals: little grain
grown to feed animals
Wet Rice dominant
• Planting of rice on dry land in nursery and
then moving seedlings to flooded fields:
Grown in water ¾ of growing period
• Occupies small % of land but is the region’s
most important source of food
• SE China, East India and SE Asia: grown on
flat land but have used terraces
• Double cropping in warm winters rare in India
• All family members involved
Wet rice not dominant
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Climates create limits to rice
Interior India and NE China
Wheat first then Barley
Crop rotation
Communist government tried communes to
organize production by inefficient:
• Today villagers sign contracts entitling them
to farm as private individuals; production
increased
World Rice Production
Fig. 10-6: Asian farmers grow over 90% of the world’s rice. India and China alone
account for over half of world rice production.
Agriculture in Developed
Countries
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Mixed crop and livestock systems
Dairy farming
Grain farming
Livestock ranching
Mediterranean agriculture
Commercial gardening and fruit farming
Plantation farming
Mixed Crop and Livestock
• Common in US and Europe
• Crops fed to animals/fertilizers from
animals
• Nearly all land to growing of crops but ¾
of income from sale of animal products
• Workload all year round: reduces
seasonal variation in income
• Crop rotation/ include fallow
Mixed Crop and Livestock
• Corn most frequent: high yields
• Some of corn consumed as Oil or
margarine
• Most to feed livestock
• Ohio to Dakotas, center Iowa
• Soybeans second mostly used
animal feed but oil used in food
World Corn (Maize) Production
Fig. 10-7: The U.S. and China are the leading producers of corn (maize) in the world.
Much of the corn in both countries is used for animal feed.
Dairy farming
• Important near large urban areas: NE (USA)
SE (Can) NW Europe
• Has become important in South and East
Asia: India has become world’s largest milk
producer
• China and Pakistan have passed Russia
• Russia, Australia, New Zealand
• Dairy must be close to markets perishable:
Important in first ring outside large cities:
milkshed:
Dairy Farming
• Can ship more than 300 miles
• May specialize in other products:
Butter and cheese: Depends on
Transportation: most of milk in
Wisconsin is processed
• New Zealand world’s largest per
capita producer of dairy products
• Sell to wholesalers
World Milk Production
Fig 10-8: Milk production reflects wealth, culture, and environment. It is usually high in
MDCs, especially production per capita, and varies considerably in LDCs.
Dairy Production in the U.S.
Fig. 10-9: Milk production is widely dispersed because of its perishability, but cheese
production is far more concentrated.
Problems for Dairy farmers
• Labor intensive (twice a day)
• Feeding cows in Winter
• Number of farms declined by
2/3 but number of cows by 1/8
Grain Farming
• Grown for consumption by humans
• Sell output to food processors
• Most important wheat: higher price,
more uses, stored easy
• Grown for international trade:
leading export crop
• US and Canada ½ of world’s wheat
exports
Grain Farming regions
• US largest producer of grain
• Only a few countries: Canada,
Argentina, Australia, France
and UK
• Usually areas too dry for mixed
Grain farming
• Winter: KS, CO, OK ripe by
summer
• Spring: DA, MT, Saskatchewan
late summer
• Mechanized, large farms
World Wheat Production
Fig. 10-10: China is the world’s leading wheat producer, but the U.S. and Canada account
for about half of world wheat exports.
Livestock Ranching
• Semiarid to arid land
• Vegetation too sparse or soil
too poor
• Popular culture: dominance
short 1867-1885
Beginning of Cattle Ranching
• Brought by Columbus:
Abundant grazing lands
• Expanded in 1860s: Demand
for beef in East Coast
• Brought to Chicago: cattle
drives from Texas to railhead
The Chisholm Trail
Fig. 10-11: The Chisholm Trail became famous as the main route for cattle drives from
Texas to the railheads in Kansas.
Fixed Location Ranching
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Declined in importance during 1880s conflict
with sedentary agriculture: Range wars:
Gov.sells land to farmers leaving ranchers
with no legal claim
60% of land for Cattle grazing: leased from
government
Ranching generates lower income although
lower costs
Cattle frequently sent to local feed lots along
major highways or railroad
Fixed Location
• Ranching rare in Europe except
in Spain and Portugal
• South America big: Argentina,
South Brazil and Uruguay
• Middle East/New Zealand and
South Africa/Australia: Sheep
Ranching
• Stages: herding over open ranges
• Transformed to fixed farming by dividing
open land into ranches
• Ranching confined to drier lands
compete with other crops
• Become part of the meat-processing
industry
Meat Production on Ranches
Fig. 10-12: Cattle, sheep, and goats are the main meat animals raised on ranches.
Mediterranean Agriculture
• Southern Europe, North Africa,
West Asia, California, Chile,
SW South Africa, SW Australia
• Borders a sea, moist and
moderate winters, land hilly, dry
summers; sheep/goats also
Mediterranean Crops
• Horticulture form commercial base
• Two most important cash crops: Olives,
grapes
• 2/3 of the world’s wine in lands near
Mediterranean
• ½ of land to cereals especially wheat for
pasta
• California: more to fruit/vegetable must
compete for irrigation
Commercial Gardening and Fruit
• Predominant in US Southeast: New England
emerging
• Long season, humid and accessible to large
markets: Truck farming/specialty farming
• Crops of developed countries: Apples,
asparagus, cherries, lettuce, mushrooms and
tomatoes
• Most sold to processors for canning or
freezing: Tend to specialize in a few crops
• Migrant workers:
Plantation Farming
• In Tropics and subtropics: Situated
in LDCs owned by Europeans or
North Americans
• Processed at the plantation
• Specialize in one or two crops
• Latin America: coffee, sugar and
bananas
• Asia: rubber and palm oil
Plantation
• Sparsely settled location: import
workers and provide for them
• Spread work throughout the
year
• After Civil War declined in the
US
Economic Issues of Agriculture
• Economic issues of commercial farmers
– Access to markets
– Overproduction
– Sustainable agriculture
• Economic issues of subsistence farmers
– Population growth
– International trade
• Increasing food supply
Issues: Farmers
• Both difficulty generating
income
• Commercial can produce
surplus
• Subsistence barely enough to
survive
Purpose is to sell produce off farm
• Distance from far to market influences
the choice of crops
• Von Thunen:
• Farmer compares two costs: Cost of
land vs cost of transportation
• Specific crops were grown in different
rings around the cities
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.
Von Thunen
• Garden and milk products first ring:
Expensive to deliver and perishable
• Timber next because of weight
• Various crops and pasture
• Animal grazing: Requires lots of space
• Assume land uniform quality
• Not concern with social or gov policies
Overproduction in commercial
farming
• New seeds, fertilizers, pesticides and
technology
• Food supply increased: demand
remains constant: Low population
growth in MDCs
Government policies
• Avoid production of crops already in
excess/ Plant fallow crops to restore
nutrients
• Subsidizes crops when prices low
• Buys surplus production and sell or
donates to foreign government
• Higher in Europe than the US
Sustainable Agriculture
• Typically generate lower revenues but have lower
costs
• Preserves and enhances environmental quality
• Organic: popular but still relies on use of tractors
• Sensitive land management: Ridge tilling: soil
conservation: less cost: less machinery: labor
intensive
• Limited herbicides again labor intensive
• Integrate crops and livestock
Issues for Subsistence
• Must feed more people increasing pop
• Must grow for direct export due to
international trade
Boserup: Increase food by
• Land left fallow for shorter periods
• New farming methods: need additional
labor comes from population growth,
more terraces and irrigation ditiches
Subsistence and International
trade
• Need new agricultural supplies: higher
yield seeds, fertilizer, pesticides:
• Lack of money
• Sell crops to MDCs: Less crops for
domestic consumption
• Division of labor: Men to factories/
women grown crops
Drug crops: Coca leaf: Peru and
Bolivia, Marijuana in Mexico,
Opium in Afghanistan, Myanmar
and Laos
Increase food supply
• Expand land used: marginal areas:
desertification
• Increase productivity of land: Green
Revolution: high yield seeds: must use more
fertilizer and machinery
• Identify new food sources: oceans, develop
higher protein cereals, improving palatability
of rarely consumed foods
• Increase exports from other countries
Desertification Hazard
Fig. 10-14: The most severe desertification hazards are in northern Africa, central
Australia, and the southwestern parts of Africa, Asia, North America,
and South America.
Desertification
Generally semi-arid areas
• Excessive crop planting
• Animal grazing
• Tree cutting
Excessive water
Irrigated water poor drainage
10% of land waterlogged and
excess salinity
Grain Importers and Exporters
Fig. 10-15: Most countries are net importers of grain. The U.S. is the largest net exporter.
Exporter
• Top three export grains are wheat, corn
and rice
• Prior to World War II: West Europe
import:
• 1950: Asia, 1960: Africa and East
Europe, 1970: Latin America,
• 1980: North America major exporter
Exporter
• Largest beneficiary was India
• US exports half of the global corn and ¼
of the wheat
• Thailand now leading rice with Vietnam,
India and China
• France and Canada also major wheat
Importers
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Japan leading
South Korea and Mexico of corn
Egypt and Italy of wheat
Bangladesh, Iran and Philippines of rice
India no longer wheat
China no longer rice
Importers
• Sub-Saharan Africa: 70% too little to
eat
• Production lower than in the 1960s
• Population increases
The Sahel
Fig. 10-16: The Sahel, which is south of the Sahara, frequently faces drought and
food shortages, as does the Horn of Africa.