GEOG 1101 - Exam 4

Commercial Agriculture

Farming primarily for sale, not direct consumption

• More developed countries

Subsistence Agriculture

Self-sufficient agriculture that is

• Small scale

• Low technology

• Emphasizes food for local consumption, not trade

• Less developed countries

Largest Agricultural Producers

1. China – Gross Production Value: $1.4 Trillion

2. India - Gross Production Value: $478.38 Billion; Labor force in agriculture: 42.74%

3. US - Gross Production Value $360.34 Billion; Labor force in agriculture: 1.66%

Agricultural Labor Force

Share of persons of working age who were engaged in any activity to produce goods or provide services for pay or profit in the agricultural sector (agriculture, hunting, forestry, fishing)

• Includes but not limited to:

  • Farmers, research scientists at universities, workers for seed companies, workers for producers of chemicals, lobbyists for industry groups, engineers who design, sell, and repair farm equipment

Agricultural Production v. Agricultural Labor

• United Kingdom: Gross Production Value: 24.6 Billion, Labor force in agriculture: 1.1%

• Malaysia: Gross Production Value; $23.6 Billion, Labor force in agriculture: 11.01%

Shifting in Farming in the US

• Agricultural production is at an all time high

• Labor force in agriculture is at an all time low

• Impacted by the mechanization of farming

Shifts in Farming in the US Cont.

• US currently has 2.05 million farms in operation with average size of 444 acres (average size in 1935 was 135 acres)

• 2.8% are classified as large, and produce 39% of all agricultural goods

• 88.8% are classified as small, and produce 25.8% of all agricultural goods

Agribusiness

The businesses that provide a vast array of goods and services to support the agricultural industry

• Rapid growth was sparked by the commercialization of crop production and new technologies

Economies of Scale

Savings in cost of production that comes from increasing production of a good

Intensive Agricultural Practices

• Applying fertilizers, insecticides, and high-cost inputs to achieve the highest yields possible

• Often occurs closest to cities where land value is higher

• Indoor vertical farms: “plant factories” which rely on growing produce hydroponically, without soil

• Intensive use of technology to streamline processes:

  • Use of AI to support optimal crop yield

  • Robotics

Extensive Agricultural Practices

• Uses less capital and larger areas of land to cultivate what has traditionally been a lower yield

• Typically occurs farther from cities, where land and labor are relatively low

• Crops include, wheat, rice, yams, and potatoes

Modern Agriculture

(Especially in countries like the US and Canada)

• Challenge the traditional conception of extensive farming

• Combine intensive and extensive practices together

Organic Agriculture

Production of crops without the use of synthetic or industrially produced pesticides and fertilizers

• Organic farming practices have helped some farmers extract themselves from major corporate farming interests

• Globally:

  • 69.8 million hectares of land

  • 2.9 million organic farmers

  • Market value of $97 million

• Organic food is sold at highest rates in US, Germany, France, & China

Food Systems

The networks needed to produce and transform food, and ensure it reaches consumers

• Complex networks that include all the inputs and outputs associated with agricultural and food production and consumption

• Food systems can vary substantially from place to place and over time (not static)

• Covers the whole Life Cycle of the Food

Food Systems Quote from US Global Food Security Strategy

“Agriculture and food systems are the intact or whole unit made up of interrelated components of people, behaviors, relationships, and material goods that interact in the production, processing, packaging, transporting, trade, marketing, consumption, and use of food, feed, and fiber through aquaculture, farming, wild fisheries, forestry, and pastoralism. The food and agriculture system operates within and is influenced by social, political, economic, and environmental contexts”

What is a Food System?

1. Production

2. Processing

3. Distribution

4. Consumption

Hunger

Living on less than the daily recommended 2100 calories the average person needs to live a healthy life

Chronic Undernourishment

Impedes childhood development, weakens immune systems, undermines social fabric of communities

Causes of Hunger Globally

1. Poverty trap

2. Lack of investment in agriculture infrastructure

3. Climate and weather

4. War and displacement

5. Unstable markets

6. Food waste

Food Insecurity

• When people don’t have enough to eat and don’t know where their next meal will come from

• In the US, 48 million people, including 14 million children, experience food insecurity annually

Food Security (US Department of Agriculture)

• High Food Security

• Medium Food Security

• Low Food Security

• Very Low Food Security

High Food Security

No reported indications of food-access problems or limitations

Medium Food Security

One or two reported indications- typically of anxiety over food sufficiency or shortage of food in the house. There is little or no indication of changes in diets or food intake

Low Food Security

Reports of reduced quality, variety, or desirability of diet. There is little or no indication of reduced food intake

Very Low Food Security

Reports of multiple indications of disrupted eating patterns and reduced food intake

Causes of Global Food Insecurity

1. Varying abilities to balance production & consumption across regions & countries

2. Accelerating conversion of agricultural land to urban uses

3. Increasingly energy-intensive food production methods in a world of shrinking fossil fuel resources

4. Expanding use of food crops for biofuel production

Food Deserts

A small region, area, or neighborhoods with limited access to fresh, nutrient-rich foods

• Distance from nutritional retailers is the main criterion for determining a food desert

• Central point in neighborhood to nearest grocery store, Rural = 10-20 miles to grocery store, Urban = 1 mile to grocery store

Food Deserts Cont.

• Food deserts are often a result of land-use policies that have facilitated the growth of wealthy, white suburbs where large retailers compete

• Same retailers are often reluctant to open stores in low-income neighborhoods & rural areas

  • Low-Income: Less money to spend

  • Rural: Lower population density

Food Deserts with Race & Income

• Food deserts in rural and urban areas are frequently correlated with race and income

• People of low socioeconomic status, in rural and urban areas, spend about 37% more on food

Where Do People Get Food in Food Deserts?

• In food deserts, the primary food retailers tend to be gas stations and convenience stores which offer processed, energy, but nutrient-poor foods

• Food that is accessible is often highly processed and high in calories, sugar, salt, fat, and artificial ingredients

Food Deserts Impact on Health

• Urban areas: Obesity rates increased and rate of fruit and vegetable consumption decreased with increasing distance from grocery store

• Pattern did not hold true in rural areas

  • Rich people can choose to live in rural areas, they will make their own food, there are stronger community’s, usually have cars to travel to markets

Urban Agriculture

Cultivating land or raising livestock in small plots in cities, generally on converted brownfields or on rooftops

• Self-consumption, trade, small-scale retail

• Approach to increase agricultural production in food deserts

Benefits of Urban Agriculture

• Absorb excess rainwater

• Bring healthy

• Local foods into communities

• Reduce urban temperatures

• Strengthen community bonds

Urbanization

The concentration of human populations into discrete areas

• This concentration leads to the transformation of land for residential, commercial, industrial and transportation purposes

What does Urbanization Imply?

Urbanization is NOT simply the population growth of cities and towns

• Implies:

  • Increase in size

  • Changes in economic structure

  • Changes to ways of life and culture

  • Changes to physical structure of urban areas

Cities

No static definition of a city

“An agglomeration of people and buildings clustered together to serve as a center of politics, culture, and economics”

• Globally, most people live in cities

• Access to goods, services, and opportunities not available in rural areas

• Local governments, housing, transportation infrastructure, cultural activities, green spaces…

What do Cities Provide?

• Increased access to goods, services, opportunities

• Governments who can levy taxes and build massive infrastructure systems (subways, bridges, etc.)

Cities Are:

• Centers of news, information, entertainment, sports

• Centers of political and economic power, higher education and technological innovation, artistic achievement and historical records, research and medical advances

Cities & Zones

• Cities have Zones for certain functions

• Centered on the Central Business District (CBD)

• Central City is the older part of a city surrounding the CBD

Suburbs

Outlying, primarily residential areas on the outskirts of a city

Suburbanization

The process by which land outside an urban area, often farm land or small towns, is transformed into a suburb

Urban Models

There are four urban models that describe the layout of many North American cities

• Show common elements of city form

• Highlight the structure of cities and where different functions take place

• Capture a combination of historical, spatial, economic, cultural, and political processes that shape urban areas

The Four Urban Models

1. Burgess Zone Model

2. Hoyt Sector Model

3. Harris-Ullman Multiple Nuclei Model

4. Galactic City Model

Burgess Zone Model

• Comes from the sociologist Ernest Burgess’s study of Chicago in the 1920s

• Divides the city into five concentric zones defined by their functions:

  • Centered around the CBD, Zone of transition: Characterized by residential deterioration and encroachment by business and light manufacturing

  • Zone 3: Ring of closely spaced, modest homes occupied by factory workers

  • Zone 4: Middle-class residences

  • Zone 5: Suburban ring

Hoyt Sector Model

• Developed in 1930s, focused on residential patterns

• Shows how the behaviors of more affluent residents have effects across the urban landscape

• Other versions of the sector model more clearly show the influence of the railroad and Industrialization

The Highway

• Deemphasized the CBD beyond just wanting to get away from industry; led to a whole new lifestyle

• Allowed people to move further away; beginning of the suburbs

Harris-Ullman Multiple Nuclei Model

• Concentric and Sector models did not capture the influence of the automobile

  • This model was developed in the Mid 20^th century

  • Shows that CBD is losing its dominant position as a single nucleus of an urban area

• Auto-centric development: Personal access to cars reshapes cities; rise of true suburbanization

Galactic City Model

• A complex urban area where functions of the city are not centered in one place

• CBD has businesses, while central city has recreational or festival areas

  • Often a ring or “loop” road/highway system around the urban area

  • Suburbs have most amenities needed to decrease interaction with the CBD

  • Super spread-out city

What is the Importance of Homeownership?

Key way that wealth is built in the United States

• Homeowners build wealth as they pay down their mortgage (equity) and as the property increases in value (appreciation)

• Over long periods, this creates significant net worth compared to renters, who do not build equity

• Federal governments policies affected who could and could not buy a home in the 20^th century—a legacy still felt today

Redlining

A discriminatory real estate practice (now illegal) that prevented racial minorities from obtaining loans to purchase homes

More on Redlining

Derives its names from red lines drawn on maps used by real estate agents, developers, and banks to determine “risky” areas for mortgages, which corresponded with minority neighborhoods

• Red = Risky investment, do not give loans; almost always areas with high percentage of racial minorities

• Green = Good investment for a home loan; almost always a fully white neighborhood

Key Take-Aways from Redlining Video

• In the 1930s, the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) was created to facilitate homeownership

• Government guidelines influenced real estate values, where maps were drawn for assessment of financial risk

• Between 1934 and 1962 the federal government underwrote $120 billion of home loans and less than 2% went to non-whites

• Redlining became illegal with the Fair Housing Act of 1968

Gentrification

The renewal or rebuilding of lower income neighborhoods into middle- and upper-class neighborhoods

Gentrification & Suburbanization

• Tied to rapid suburbanization seen in urban models where suburbs attracted wealthier residents

• This left the central city with lower tax revenues, declining infrastructure, underfunded schools, etc

Gentrification & the CBD

• In some cases city governments invest in reviving the CBD

• This can include infrastructure upgrades, such as fixing sewers and sidewalks

• Can also include the creation of waterfront parks, marketplaces, entertainment districts, stadiums

• The renewed area attracts investment where houses are bought at low prices and fixed up

Who is attracted as a result of Gentrification?

Attracts wealthier residents and more investment in other properties that also get fixed up

• Middle Class

How are the preferences of urban residents changing?

The preferences of some urban residents are also changing to favor more dense, walkable neighborhoods, accelerating gentrification

• Raises property values (and thereby property taxes that must be paid) and rents

• Raises the price of nearby amenities

• Causes significant displacement of lower income residents

Culture

A group of belief systems, norms, and values practiced by a people

• Culture is complex

How Can People Be Recognized as a Culture?

People who share common beliefs, norms, values can be recognized as a culture through:

• Calling themselves a culture

• Other people labeling them as a culture

Folk Culture

• Small

• Incorporates a homogeneous population

• Typically rural

• Maintains cultural traits by passing them down through generations

Popular Culture

• Large

• Quickly changes cultural traits

• Incorporates heterogeneous populations

• Typically urban

What Concept is Used Instead of “Folk Culture“

Instead of classifying culture as folk or popular, we use the concept local culture in place of “folk culture”

• Folk culture is limiting and arbitrary

• Requires a list of characteristics and then identifying a culture that meets those characteristics

• It is not how academics design culture that counts; it is how people define themselves that matter

Local & Popular Culture

• Operate in same places and spaces

• Manifest in different ways

• Are constantly being shaped and reshaped

Local Culture

• Group of people in certain places that see themselves as a collective or a community

• Share experiences and traits

• Work to preserve distinct customs to claim uniqueness and distinguish themselves from other

Local Culture Cont.

• Local cultures persist, and in many places the communities thrive, but they face constant pressure from popular culture

• Local cultures choose to accept, reject, or alter the diffusion of popular culture

• May rely on religion, community celebrations, family structures, or lack of interactions with other cultures to maintain their culture

Local Culture Example: Whale Hunts: Makah

• Late 1990s Makah Native Americans in Neah Bay, WA reinstated the whale hunt

• Makah had hunted whales for 2000 years; treaty with US government preserves whaling rights

• 1920 whale hunts were stopped by US government because gray whale had become endangered; removed from endangered list in 1994

• Makah reinstated whale hunt in 1999, speaking about how it connects to traditional culture

• “For the Makah tribe, whale hunting provides a purpose and a discipline which benefits their entire community”

Local Cultures Affect Places

• Establish neighborhoods

• Build churches or community centers

• Hold celebrations, festivals, event

• Express their culture in material and nonmaterial ways

Materials Culture

Things people construct

• Art, houses, clothing, sports, dance, food

Non-Material Culture

Beliefs, practices, aesthetics (what is seen as attractive), values

Popular Culture

• Is everywhere and can change in a matter of days, hours, minutes

• Practiced by a heterogeneous group of people:

  • People of different races, ethnicities, genders, ages

• Includes:

  • Music, dance, clothing and food preferences, religious practices, aesthetic values

Popular Culture Diffused Through

• Transportation, marketing, communication network

• Hierarchical Diffusion

Hierarchical Diffusion

Spread of an idea or innovation from one person or place (hearth) to another person or place based on a hierarchy of connectedness

Are Local & Popular Culture Separate?

• Not completely separate or exclusive

• Example: Henna

  • Carried from centuries-old customs of local cultures to global population culture through popular culture (or social media)

• Local and popular culture impact one another

• Local cultures are sustained, popular culture diffuse and is practiced in unique ways

Cultural Landscape

The visible human imprint on the landscape

• How people have changed and shaped the environment, buildings, signs, fences, statues

What do Cultural Landscapes Reflect

Cultural landscapes reflect the values, norms, and aesthetics of a culture

Example of Cultural Landscape

• Major roadways in North American towns and suburbs

• What is the cultural landscape: Big-box stores, gas stations, strip malls, restaurants, fast food

Placelessness

Loss of uniqueness of place in the cultural landscape; one place looks like the next

Convergence of Cultural Landscapes

Globalization and widespread diffusion of popular culture

• Architectural forms and planning ideas have diffused around the world

• Individual businesses and products are so widespread that they leave a distinctive landscape stamp

• wholesale borrowing of idealized landscape images

Cultural borrowing and mixing are happening all around the world

• Global-local continuum emphasizes that what happens at one scale is not independent of what happens at other scales

• Impact of globalization

• Places are a result of dynamic interactions between local distinctiveness and global popular culture

Cultural Landscapes of Local Cultures

• Landscapes that reflect the local culture

• Provides insights into social structures of local culture

• Reveals a place’s foundation: Schools, houses, churches, cemeteries