AP Human Geography Unit 5

Agriculture

The intentional cultivation of plants or raising animals to produce goods for survival

How does climate affect agriculture?

The farther away from the equator, the shorter the growing season

Tropics are warm throught the year, but vary with percipitation amouts

Mediterrainian climaes are coductive to agriculture in th wiinter, and have dry hot summers, most crops are hardy trees and shrubs

Polar climates are too cold for agriculture, although in some tundra places reeindeer are herded

Arid vs Semiarid

Arid - very dry

Semiarid - minimal precipitation (more than arid climates)

Domestication

Deliberate effort to grow plants and raise animals, making adapt to human demands, and using selective breeding to develop desired characteristics.

Where did domestication first occur?

The Fertile Crescent

The Colombian Exchange

The exchange of gods ad ideas between the Americas, Europe and Africa after Christopher Columbus landed in America.

Impacts of the colombian exchange

Spread Disease, Forced migration of enslaved people, different crops and knowledge spread to new places, Europeans became very rich.

First Agricultural Revolution (when and where?)

When: About 11,000 years ago

Where: Happened in different places across 5 different continents

Key Innovations of the First Agricultural Revolution

People went from foraging to farming, Domestication of the majority of nowadays common farm animals

Impacts of the First Agricultural Revolution

People began to have permanent homes, More food, growing population, people started to do things such as metal work, more complex society

The second agricultural revolution (when and where)

When: Early 1,700’s

Where: Began in Britain, then the Low countries

Key innovations of the second agricultural revolution

Farms went from common (everyone shared the field and farmed for their own food) to individualized, Horse-drawn seed drill, New methods of crop rotation tat helped with yield and soil exhaustion

Impact of the second agricultural revolution

Population boom, more foo, better diets, longer LE

The third agricultural revolution (when and where?)

When: The early 20th century - present day

Where: Occurred first int core countries then scientists brought the advancements to periphery

Key Innovations of the third agricultural revolution

Mechanical to electrical power, synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, GMO’s, new technology

Impacts of the third agricultural revolution

More productive fields

Green Revolution (when and where?)

When: 1950’s and 60’s

Where: First in the US then introduced to areas with low yield and high population (such as Mexico and India)

Key Innovations of the green revolution

New high-yield crop strains

Impacts of the Green Revolution

Higher crop yield, Increase water demand, biodiversity loss, Increased fertilizer and pesticide use

Metes & Bounds

A rural survey method where lines are drawn from clear points of reference, usually resulting in unusually shaped land divisions. This can be found in mid-Atlantic regions.

Long-Lot

A rural survey method where property s divided into s series of adjacent long strips of land stretching back from frontage along a river or lake, resulting in long narrow strips of land.

Where is Long-Lot found?

French and Spanish colonies, Louisiana, Missouri, some great lake states, and along the Rio Grande

Township and Range

A rural survey method where a rectangular grid system is used to divide land typically into 6x6 townships.

Where can Township and Range be found?

The original 13 colonies, area from Ohio to Minnesota, and most land west of Mississippi.

Clustered (nucleated) Settlement Pattern

Houses and farm buildings are near each other with farmland surrounding the settlement.

Clustered (nucleated) Settlement Pattern Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages: Promotes social unity and residents can share resources and expand their land outward

Disadvantages: Can lead to social friction and fields being to far away from the settlement

Dispersed settlement pattern

Houses and buildings are isolated fro one another and all homes in a settlement are distributed over a large area.

Dispersed settlement pattern advantages and disadvantages

Advantages: Easy access to water and/or transportation

Disadvantages: Far end of the fields in far away from homes

Linear Settlement pattern

Houses and buildings extend in a long line that typically follows a land feature

Linear Settlement pattern advantages and disadvantages

Advantages: Easy access to water and/or transportation

Disadvantages: The fair end of the feilds in far away from homes

Subsistence Agriculture

An agricultural practice that provides crops and/or livestock to feed one’s family and close community

Commercial Agriculture

An agricultural practice where farmers grow crops and raise livestock to sell to customers for a profit

The Bid-Rent Theory

A theory that explains how land value determines how a farmer will use the land - either intensively or extensively

Intensive Agriculture

An agricultural practice where farmers use a lot of effort to produce as much yield as possible from an area of land

Extensive Agriculture

An agricultural practice with relatively low inputs and little investment in labor and capital

Monocropping

The cultivation of 1 or 2 crops that are rotated seasonally

Monoculture

Planting 1 crop of raising 1 type of animal annually

Crop Rotation

Varying crops year to year to allow for restoration of nutrients and productivity of soil

Plantation Agriculture

A kind of commercial, intensive agriculture that consists of farming 1 particular crop grown on a large amount of land for markets often distant from the plantation

Where is Plantation Agriculture found?

Often in tropical climates in peripheral and semiperipheral countries in Asia Africa, and the Americas

Market Gardening

A kind of commercial, intensive agriculture that consists of farming that produces fruits, vegetables, and flowers and typically serves a specific market or urban area where farmers can sell to local businesses, farmers markets, or road stands

Where is Market Gardening found?

Common in Europe and near many large US cities

Truck Farming

A kind of market farming that serves markets very distant from the farm

Mediterranean Agriculture

A commercial, intensive agricultural practice that consists of raising hardy trees and shrubs and raising sheep and goats

Where can Mediterranean Agriculture be found?

In Mediterranean climates, southern Europe, Southwest Asia, South Africa, Australia, and California

Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming

A kind of commercial, intensive agriculture where both crops and livestock are raised for profit

2 Kinds of Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming

On-farm: animals are raised on the same farm as the crops

Between farm: 2 farmers share resources

Where can Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming be found?

Common in the US, West Africa, India, North Asia, and Latin America

Dairy Farming

A commercial, intensive practice of raising livestock such as goats or cows to produce dairy products

Where can Dairy Farming be found?

Ideal temperatures are 25-65F, common in North America, North-Western Europe, Eastern Australia, New Zealand

Intensive Subsistence

When land is worked intensively, using lots of human labor to generate high crop yields to sustain the community. This practice is mostly rice farming.

Where can Intensive Subsistence can found?

Peripheral and semiperipheral countries (climate)

Shifting Cultivation

The extensive, subsistence agriculture which consists of growing crops or gazing animals on a piece of land for a year or two, then abandoning that land when soil is depleted

Where can Shifting Cultivation be found?

In areas with high rainfall (tropics) such as the rain forests of South America, Central and West Africa and SE Asia.

Pastoral Nomadism

A types of subsistence, extensive agriculture where farmers move their animals seasonally or as needed to allow the best grazing

Transhumance

The regular movement of herds between pastures with different climates

Where can Pastoral Nomadism be found?

Dry, nonarable lands with low rainfall and harsh conditions such as Mongolia, Russia. China, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia

Livestock Ranching

A commercial, extensive agricultural practice where farms have large open tracts or land for livestock to roam and graze

Where can Livestock Ranching be found?

Semiarid grasslands where crop production is difficult or impossible such as the Western US, the Canadian west, Brazil, or Australia

Grain Farming

A commercial, extensive practice of farming grain products

Where can Grain Farming be found?

Most grain is produced in the US great plains and Canada, grains can be grown in almost any climate.

Von Thunen Model

A model that suggests that the perishability and transport costs is related to the distance from the market

Rings of the Von Thunen Model

Market (center), dairy (r1), forests (r2), grains and cereal crops (r3), ranching and livestock (r4)

Five assumptions of the Von Thunen Model

1. The market is located in an isolated, self-sufficient state without external influences
2. A commercial agricultural system exists where farmers will seek to maximize profits
3. A single, centrally located market is the destination of the farmers produce
4. The land is isotropic (flat and featureless)
5. Only one means of transportation

Agribusiness

Large-scale system of commercial farming that includes the production, processing, and distribution of agricultural products and equipment and involves corporations rather than family-owned small farms

Infrastructure

The many systems and facilities that a country needs to function properly

Dual agricultural economy

An economy having two agricultural sectors that have different levels of technology and different patterns of demand

Vertical integration

The combining of a company’s ownership of and control over more than 1 storage of the production process of goods

Commodity chain

A network of people, information, processes, and resources that work together to produce handle, and distribute a commodity or product

Subsidies

A form of aid and insurance given by the federal government to _ farmers and agribuisness

Tariffs

A tax or duty to be paid on a particular import or export

Global supply chains

A network of people, information, processes, and resources that work together to produce, handle, and distribute goods around the world

Cash crop

A crop produced mainly to be sold and usually exported to larger markets

Commodity dependence

When a country is reliant on the export of a single cash crop

Fair Trade

A global campaign to fix unfair wage practices and protect the ability of farmers to earn a living

How can education and training be an obstacle to women in agriculture?

In some countries women receive training related to subsistence agriculture and how to use that in their role as care providers of the household

How can land rights be an obstacle to women in agriculture?

In many countries women don’t have the right to own land, in these countries women don’t get to make decisions about the farm

How can access to money/credit to women in agriculture?

Lack of land rights affects income, technical problems, and cultural biases can impact access to money

Impacts of empowering rural women in LDC’s

Women make more money, and children therefore get better nutrition and education; Women are leading the ways in sustainable ranching; Community benefits when women spend money; Research shows that women who make an income spend more money on their family then men do

Inter-planting

Planting fast-growing crops alongside slow-growing crops

Sustainable yield

The amount of crops or animals that can be raised without endangered local resources such as soil, irrigation, or groundwater