Agricultural Production

Flashcards covering key concepts and terms related to agricultural production, economic forces, spatial organization, and global systems.

What are the economic forces that influence agriculture?

The economic forces that influence agriculture include the cost of materials, land, and labor, the availability of capital, impacts of government policies, and consumer preferences and market demands.

Where does most subsistence agriculture occur?

Subsistence agriculture primarily occurs in rural Africa and parts of Asia and Latin America.

Where does most commercial agriculture take place?

Commercial agriculture mainly takes place in core and semi-peripheral countries.

What is a dual agricultural economy?

A dual agricultural economy refers to two agricultural sectors in the same country or region, with subsistence farms growing food for farmers and commercial operations cultivating crops to sell.

What is agribusiness?

Agribusiness refers to the large-scale system that includes the production, processing, and distribution of agricultural products and equipment.

What factors result in higher yields in agriculture?

Advanced farm machinery, technology, advances in irrigation, improved fertilizers and pesticides, hybrid grains, fruits, and vegetables, and the amount of capital that farmers have to invest in materials, inputs, and technology.

How do government policies impact agricultural practices?

Payments to farmers for growing certain crops, regulations on agricultural imports and exports, price supports, and quotas.

How do consumer preferences affect agricultural production?

Dietary preferences change over time and seasonally and farmers produce more of the products in higher demand.

How do government policies such as farm subsidies, tariffs, and quotas impact both small-scale farmers and large agribusinesses?

Farm subsidies, tariffs, and quotas, can impact small-scale farmers and large agribusinesses through price controls, trade barriers, and financial aid.

Why do subsistence farmers struggle to compete in the global agricultural market?

Infrastructure limitations, lack of capital, and government policies create challenges for small farmers while Commercial agriculture benefits from economies of scale.

What type of farm represents that majority of farms worldwide?

Family farms represent the vast majority of farms worldwide, with 84% of farms being less than 5 acres.

What is the recent history of the number of farms in the United States?

The number of farms has decreased since the 1960s and the number of farms has held steady in recent decades.

What trends are hurting family farms and causing a shift in the spatial organization of agriculture?

Overall population is shifting from rural to urban areas, young people view farming as hard work for small profit, farmers are dying without successors in place, costs are rising, and at times, a supply-heavy market causes prices to fall.

What is vertical integration?

Vertical integration occurs when a company controls more than one stage of the production process.

What is a commodity chain?

A complex network that connects places of production with distribution to consumers.

How does the U.S. government protect farmers?

The U.S. government protects farmers with low-cost loans, insurance, and farm subsidies, or direct payments.

What is a tariff?

A tax or duty on a particular import or export.

How does the decline of family farms impact rural communities and food security?

The decline of family farms impacts rural communities, food security, biodiversity and sustainable agriculture.

How does globalization affect the price of agricultural goods and the stability of farmers' incomes?

Commodity chains, trade agreements, and global supply chains impact food production. And price fluctuations are risks in global markets

What is the Von Thünen model?

Von Thünen model: The perishability of the product and transportation costs to the market factor into a farmer’s decisions regarding agricultural practices.

How can Von Thünen’s model can still be loosely applied to contemporary agriculture?

Refrigerated containers can be transported on trucks, trains, ships, and cargo planes and refrigeration has permitted eggs, dairy, and other perishable items to be produced far from markets. Also Time-space compression due to efficient transportation has expanded markets available to most producers.

What are Global supply chains?

Global supply chains are the same as commodity chains but on a global scale and Increased interdependence of agricultural production and consumption have resulted as global supply chains have become more complex.

How do supply chains of global commodity products work?

Production may start in a peripheral country where low-cost labor is available to grow and harvest crops, or it may start with a commercial producer in the United States or other core country (corn, wheat). Processing and packaging may be in same country as the grower or in another country. The commodity is distributed to markets usually in core locations of the world.

What is commodity dependency?

Some peripheral countries are dependent on a single cash crop. Reliance on a single commodity is risky and unhealthy for an economy.

What does infrastructure consist of?

Communication systems, sewage, water, and electric systems and roads and transportation systems

What are the patterns of world trade?

The amount of agricultural trade is growing and changing every year.

How do food preferences alter patterns of production and consumption?

increasing interest in plant-based foods is creating new demand for the production of vegetable proteins and the fair trade movement is a global campaign to fix unfair wage practices and protect the ability of farmers to earn a living.

Agribusiness

A large-scale system that includes the production, processing, and distribution of agricultural products and equipment.

Cash crop

A crop produced for its commercial value rather than for use by the grower.

Commodity chain

A complex network that connects places of production with distribution to consumers.

Dual agricultural economy

Two agricultural sectors in the same country or region, with subsistence farms growing food for farmers and commercial operations cultivating crops to sell.

Fair trade

Movement whose goal is to help producers in developing countries to get a fair price for their products, reduce poverty, provide for the ethical and sustainable production of goods.

Farm subsidy

Government financial support to farmers.

Global supply chain

A network of activities, people, organizations and resources involved in delivering a product or service from a supplier to a customer.

Hybrid

The result of cross-pollinating two related different varieties of a plant.

Infrastructure

Basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g. buildings, roads, power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.

Tariff

A tax or duty to be paid on a particular class of imports or exports.

Vertical integration

The combination in one firm of two or more stages of production normally operated by separate firms.

Von Thünen model

A model developed in 1826 by German economist and landowner Johann Heinrich von Thünen to explain the forces that control the prices of agricultural products.