APHUG Unit 5 Agriculture

Impact of climate for agriculture

Threatens global agriculture through rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and increased extreme weather like floods and droughts. Can reduce crop yields and damage soil health.

Market gardening

Intensive

Small scale farming system in which farmers plant one to a few acres; produce a diverse mixture of crops; for sale in local/regional markets

Truck farming- scaled up version of market gardening with more acreage and less crop diversity

Plantation

Intensive

Large scale farming operations for cash crops such as rice, coffee, and tobacco

In history slaves have been used to run these operations

Mixed crop/livestock

Intensive

An agricultural system where crops and animals are raised on the same farm, creating a symbiotic, sustainable, and productive relationship

• Crops provide feed for livestock, while animal waste fertilizes the soil

Paddy rice farming

Intensive

The cultivation of rice in flooded fields (paddies) producing a staple food for over half the world’s population

Livestock fattening

Intensive

Production practice, often in feedlots, that reduces animal movement to maximize weight gain and improve meat quality over a 90-120 period

Grain agriculture

Intensive

The large-scale cultivation of cereal grasses (such as wheat, rice, corn, and barley) for edible seeds

Dairy farming

Intensive

A specialized agricultural enterprise focused on raising livestock that produce milk (cows, goats, sheep, buffalo)

Shifting cultivation or slash and burn

Extensive

Vegetation is slashed and burned to clear land, with the resulting ash fertilizing the soil for a short period of time before the area becomes a complete dead zone for a long period of time

Nomadic herding or pastoralism

Extensive

System of breeding and rearing herd livestock following seasonal movement of rainfall

Livestock ranching

Extensive

Focused on raising grazing animals like cattle and sheep for meat, dairy, and wool on large often arid tracts of lands

Transhumance

Moving in a vertical pattern on the mountainside

• Up higher in the summer- cooler

• Down lower in the winter- warmer

• For the grass

• Usually ethnic or indigenous people

Settlement patterns

Dispersed- usually in rural, scattered far apart

Linear- usually along a body of water or other transportation route

Clustered- usually in areas of dense population around a CBD

Survey methods

Metes and bounds- system describes property boundaries in terms of lines drawn in a certain direction for a specific distance from clear points of reference

• Positive- reference points were natural features of the land

• Unusually shaped parcels

Township and range- designed to create survey townships of 6 by 6 miles, total 36 square miles

• Positive- land was sold in a controlled and equal manner

• Negative- sequent occupancy

Long-lot survey system- property was divided into a series of adjacent long strips of land stretching back from frontage along a river or lake

• Positive- equal access to waterway and a mix of soils

• Negative- estate land not equally divided with children in British families

First agricultural revolution

Nomadic life to settled farMing

Domestication of plants and animals which led to population growth and permanent settlements

10,000BCE

Agricultural hearths

Center where innovation develops and from which innovations will diffuse

4 regions:

• Southwest Asia, China and Southeast Asia, Africa, the Americas

• Southwest Asia- Fertile Crescent, Indus River valley, wheat and oats

• China and Southeast Asia- potatoes, coconut

• Africa- peanuts, yams, coffee, millet

• South America- llama, alpaca, guinea pig, duck

Second agricultural revolution

Impact- improved methods of cultivation, harvesting and storage of farm produce

Mechanization- seed drill, steel plow, mechanical reaper, tractor, and refrigeration (but in 1867)

Transportation- railroad and shipping canals

Agrichemicals- chemical compounds obtained from petroleum and natural gas for use in agriculture

• Synthetic fertilizer- industrially manufactured chemicals

• Pesticide- used to kill or repel animals or insects

• Herbicide- used to kill or inhibit unwanted plants

Green revolution

Impact- U.S. supported development of high yield seed varieties that increased productivity of cereal crops and tech for transfer to less developed countries

High yield seeds

Positives- increased crop productivity, multicropping, decreased world hunger, more efficient use of agricultural land

Negatives- widening gap between rich and poor, spread through hierarchical diffusion, small farmers leave farms for jobs in cities → labor shortage

• Loss of subsistence farming, plant diversity, genetic variety, food insecurity

• Varied geographic impact

Bid rent theory

Explains how the demand for price of land decreases as its distance from the CBD increases

• Central business district- located at the city’s most accessible point (usually center)

• Intensive agriculture- very close to CBD, almost always dairy because perishable, high prices for smaller plots of land

• Extensive agriculture- farther away from CBD, larger plots of land for cheaper prices, usually ranching and other vegetation

Von thunen model

Combines bid-rent theory with the idea of transportation cost to understand the distribution and intensity of agriculture

Inner to outer- intensive farming and dairying, forest, increasingly extensive field crops, ranching/animal products, wilderness

Underlying assumptions:

• There are no trade connections to the outside world

• 1 central market

• Soil and climate is uniform

• Terrain is flat without rivers

• All farmers located the same distance from the CBD have equal access to the CBD

• All farmers seek to maximize their profits

Know the rings

Family farms vs agribusiness

Family farms- small business that provides crops at a smaller scale, usually passed on through many generations

Agribusiness- large corporation that provides a vast array of goods and services to support the agricultural industry

Commodity chains

Series of links connecting a commodity’s many places of production, distribution, and consumption

Environmental problems

Nutrient pollution- algal blooms and dead zones (sections of bodies of water with very little aquatic life)

Run-off

Soil salinity

Deadlines

Groundwater depletion

Deforestation

Desertification

Contemporary agriculture

Sustainable agriculture- a commitment to satisfying food and textile needs and enhancing farmers’ lives and society as a whole

GMOs- a living organism, including crops and livestock, that is produced through genetic engineering

Aquaculture- the cultivation and harvesting of aquatic organisms under controlled conditions

Urban farming- the practice of growing fruits and vegetables on small lots within the city

Community supported agriculture- a partnership where consumers buy shares of a farm’s harvest in advance

• like a subscription to Netflix

Organic farming- avoiding fertilizers and GMOs

Slow food- movement that resists fast food by preserving the cultural cuisine and the associated food and farming practice

Locavore- people who dedicate themselves to slow food diets and to obtaining as much of their nutrition as possible from local farmers

Value added specialty crop - crop whose physical state has been changed

• Like milk changed into yogurt, cheese, ice cream

Food security vs food insecurity

Security- situation in which all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to food

Insecurity- large numbers of people experience long periods of inadequate diets

• We have enough food - access is the problem

Intensive agriculture

Crop cultivation and livestock rearing systems that use high levels of labor and capital

Examples: plantation, marketing gardening, mixed crop and livestock

Subsistence agriculture

A part of intensive agriculture

Crops for your own use

Commercial agriculture

A part of intensive agriculture

Selling crops for a profit

Extensive agriculture

Crop cultivation and livestock rearing systems that requires little hired labor or money investment

Examples: shifting cultivation, nomadic herding, ranching