APHUG Unit 9 Agriculture

Agriculture

The deliberate effort to modify a portion of Earth's surface through the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock for sustenance or economic gain.

Crop

Grain or fruit gathered from a field as a harvest during a particular season.

% of people in LDC's (Developing) that are farmers

around 42%

% of the World's farmers in LDC's (Developing)

around 90%

Hunter/Gatherer - Type of lifestyle prior to the invention of agriculture

* The method of obtaining food before agriculture (hunting for animals, fishing, gathering plants)
* Small groups (usually less than 50 people) for travelling reasons (traveled often)
* Work divided according to gender

1st Agricultural Revolution

A transition from hunting and gathering societies to sedentary agricultural societies through the domestication of plants and animals that happened about 12,000 years ago.

2nd Agricultural Revolution

Period of technological change from the 1600s to mid-1900s beginning in Western Europe with industrial innovations to replace human labor with machines and to supplement natural fertilizers and pesticides with chemical ones.

4 Crop Hearths

* Southwest Asia: barley, wheat. lentils, and olives
* East Asia: rice and millet
* Sub-Saharan Africa: sorghum, yams, millet, and rice


* Latin America: beans, cotton, potatoes, maize

SW Asia and Animal Hearths

* Thought to have been the hearth for the domestication of the largest number of animals that would prove to be the most important for agriculture between 8000-9000 years ago
* Horses thought to be domesticated in Central Asia, along with cattle, sheep, and goats

Subsistence Agriculture

Agriculture designed primarily to provide food for direct consumption by the farmer and the farmer's family usually found in LDCs

* Larger percentage of farmers in the labor force
* 44% of people involved in agricultural processes

Commercial Agriculture

The production of food primarily for sale off the farm usually found in MDCs

* Bigger farm size
* Heavy use of machinery
* 5% of people involved in agricultural processes

Loss of farmland due to expanding suburbs

US is losing about 3 million acres of farmland because of the expansion of urban areas

Dietary Energy Consumption

The amount of food that an individual consumes.

* Average person needs 1844 calories to survive
* Developing Country: 2,800
* Developed Country: 3,400

Cereal Grain

A grass that yields grain for food

* Grain is the seed from a cereal grass

3 leading cereal grains

Wheat, rice, and maize (corn)

Primary source of protein - Developed vs Developing

* Developed: Meat Products
* Developing: Cereal Grains

Food Security

Physical, social, and economic access at all times to safe and nutritious food sufficient to meet dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

* 10% of the world does not have food security

Undernourishment

Dietary energy consumption that is continuously below the minimum requirement for maintaining a healthy life and carrying out light physical activity.

Intensive Farming

A form of subsistence agriculture in which farmers must expend a relatively large amount of effort to produce the maximum feasible yield from a parcel of land.

* Smaller farms
* High agricultural density
* Practiced in LDCs

Extensive Farming

Agriculture that uses fewer inputs of capital and paid labor relative to the amount of space being used

* Bigger farms
* Practiced in MDCs

Pastoral Nomadism

A form of subsistence agriculture based on the herding of domesticated animals in dry climates.

* Rely on camels, sheep, goats, and horses
* Decreasing because pasture lands are being developed; governments are also giving incentives to tribes or groups of nomads for settling down

Transhumance

The seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pastures.

Shifting Cultivation

A form of subsistence agriculture in which people shift activity from one field to another.

* Southeast Asia: Rice
* South America: Maize (corn) and manioc (cassava)
* Africa: Millet and sorghum

Slash and Burn Agriculture

Farmers clear land for planting by slashing vegetation and burning the debris (slash and burn agriculture)

Fallow Land

Farmers grow crops on a cleared field for only a few years, until soil nutrients are depleted, and then leave it fallow (with nothing planted) for many years so the soil can recover.

Swidden

A patch of land cleared for planting through slashing and burning.

How much of the world's land area shifting cultivation occupies and % of people in the world that participate in shifting cultivation

* 1/4 occupied by shifting cultivation
* only 5% of the world participates

Why was shifting cultivation sustainable in the past?

Supported small villages and populations

Why shifting cultivation is expected to diminish during the twenty-first century.

Declining because of more effective development strategies like logging, cattle ranching, and the cultivation of cash crops

Double Cropping

To grow two or more crops on the same land.

* Practiced in places with warm winters such as southern China and Taiwan

Crop Rotation

The practice of rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year, to avoid exhausting the soil.

* Practiced in places with milder climates

Wet Rice

Rice planted on dry land in a nursery and then moved to a deliberately flooded field to promote growth

Wet Rice Not Dominant

Climate discourages farmers from growing wet rice in portions of Asia, especially where summer precipitation levels are too low and winters are too harsh.

Intertillage

The clearing of rows in the field through the use of hoes, rakes, & other manual equipment

Plantation

A large farm in tropical and subtropical climates that specializes in the production of one or two crops for sale, usually to a more developed country.

Horticulture

The growing of fruits, vegetables, flowers and tree crops

Truck Farming

Commercial gardening and fruit farming, so named because truck was a Middle English word meaning bartering or the exchange of commodities.

* Grow produce that is demanded by people in developed countries and tend to be towards urbanized areas

Milkshed

A ring surrounding a city from which milk can be supplied without spoiling.

Ranching

A form of commercial agriculture in which livestock graze over an extensive area.

Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming

Commercial farming characterized by integration of crops and livestock

* Most of the crops are fed to animals rather than consumed directly by humans.

Dairy Farming

A farm that produces milk or milk products, and are usually around big urban areas

Grain Farming

A type of commercial agriculture, is considered extensive and mechanized, that produces mainly wheat.

Livestock Ranching

The raising of domesticated animals for the production of meat and other byproducts such as leather and wool.

Agribusiness

A system of commercial farming found in developed countries

Two issues that influence the choice of crops grown in developing countries

* Subsistence farmers must feed an increasing number of people because of rapid population growth in developing countries
* Farmers who traditionally do subsistence farming are pressured to grow food for export instead of for direct consumption due to the adoption of the international trade approach to development

Drug crops

Crops that can be converted into drugs

Asian Carp and Chicago's Economy

Asian carp is an aggressive and invasive species, constituting 97% of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. The only effective way to keep the carp out is to shut the canals but they play a major role in sustaining Chicago's economy and could devastate their economy if shut down.

Challenges for Farmers in Developed Countries

* Overproduction in commercial farming due to the mass production and efficient technology, farmers have low incomes.
* Importance of access to markets; Distance from the market to farm influences the farmer's choice in crop.

Von Thünen's Model

Model that shows the importance of access to the market and considers which crops to cultivate and what animals to raise based on the market location

* ==Cost of land and Cost of Transporting it to Market==
* **First Ring**: market-oriented garden milk (expensive)
* **Second Ring:** wood/timber for fuel (weight)
* **Third Ring:** crop pasture
* **Fourth Ring:** animal grazing (most space needed)

4 Strategies being employed to distribute food to everyone in the world

* Increasing exports from countries with surplus: in other countries, production wasn't able to keep up with rapid population growth; assistance needed
* Expanding the agricultural land: people think there is still land to use, but it's not arable (cities, flooded, or desert)
* Expanding fishing: people don't eat fish often, but overfishing and unregulated problems with agriculture pose a risk
* Increasing productivity of agricultural land: the green revolution, GMOs

Desertification

Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting.

Aquaculture/Aquafarming

The cultivation of seafood under controlled conditions

Overfishing

The capturing fish faster than they can reproduce

3rd Agricultural Revolution

Currently in progress, the Third Agricultural Revolution has as its principal orientation the development of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO's)

Green Revolution

Rapid diffusion of new agricultural technology, especially new high-yield seeds and fertilizers.

Gene Revolution

Using genetic engineering to develop genetically improved strains of crops and livestock animals.

Genetically Modified (GM) crops and characteristics

* The USA promotes the usage of GMOs in order to increase food supplies and because it supplies benefits such as higher yields, increased nutrition, and more resistance to pests.
* Countries in Africa oppose the usage of GMOs because of health problems, export problems, and having an increased dependence on the United States

Sustainable Agriculture (Organic Farming)

An agricultural practice that preserves and enhances environmental quality

\-3 Principle Practices: sensitive land management (ridge tillage), limited use of chemicals, integrated crop and livestock (free-range, wholesome for animals)

King Corn

Corn is an ingredient that is found in almost every consumable across the globe. Because of this, governments provide farms with subsidies and in return, these farms mass produce corn to supply the demand.

How do our U.S. farm subsidies affect LDC farmers who live halfway around the world?

LDC farmers don't have the support that Americans do, so American exports are pouring into other countries, while LDC's can't compete, so they aren't exporting as much and subsequently aren't earning profit.