unit 5 aphug

5.1 intro to agriculture

• Climate is an area’s long-term pattern of weather

• Topography is area’s landforms or features can impact agricultural activities 

• Climate is the main factor that dictates agricultural activities (technologies have helped farmers overcome climate) 

• People have added terracing which are steps into hillsides to provide more arable land 

• Tropical regions: warm, lots of rainfall, shifting cultivation occurs here (slash and burn agriculture), plantations (coffee (produced in less economically developed regions and then exported to higher developed countries for consumption))

• Subtropics: abundant rain, mild temperatures, rice, 

• arif/ semiarid: do no have enough water to grow crops, domesticated animals, nomadic pastoralism (animals are only killed when necessary and traded for needs like grain), livestock ranching ranching (large numbers of animals are raised for slaughter) 

• Warm mid-latitude: similar to subtropics, fruits and vegetables

• Cold mid-latitude: colder in temp., wheat fields (USA and China) 

• Mediterranean: hot, dry summers, mild, wet winters, vine and tree crops (grapes, olives, figs, wheat, lambs, goats (meat and cheese)), California grows similar things but needs more irrigation 

• Extensive Agriculture: fewer inputs of capital and paid labor (less money needed and labor), located farther from populations, lower yield per acre 

• Nomadic pastoralism and livestock ranching, wheat farming, shifting cultivation

• Intensive Agriculture: greater inputs of capital and paid labor (needs more labor or more money), located closer to people, smaller lots, output is higher

• Rice farming, market gardening, plantation agriculture, mixed crop and livestock 

• Double cropping: harvesting twice a year on one plot of land

• Intercropping/ Multi-cropping:  grow two or more crops at the same time on the same field

• Practiced by most people

• Boserup thesis: view that population growth independently forced a conversion from extensive to intensive subsistence agriculture 

AP Classroom: climate change might make the wheat belt move northwards, mid latitude climates tend to support similar climates (like wheat farming in the U.S. and China), sheep production is extensive (due to lots of land use), and poultry production is intensive (because it can be done indoors)

5.2 survey methods and systems

• ⅓ of the earth's surface is devoted to primary economic activities 

• Rural settlements can be classified as clustered or dispersed 

• Clustered settlements are common in europe and many parts of latin america

• Dispersed settlements occurred because the plots of land were claimed by individual pioneer families rather than cohesive groups 

• Land survey patterns include: Metes & Bounds, Township & range, and Long lot

• Metes & Bounds: uses natural features (trees, boulders, streams), metes for short distances, bounds covered larger areas, they result in irregular shaped lands 

• Township & Range: organized land (6 miles long, 6 miles wide), rectangular size (uniformed land use system)(uses calculations to form a more unified state)

• Long lot system: basic unit is a rectangle (10 times longer than it is wide), run perpendicular to a road, river, or canal. This was so every famer had land, water, and access to transportation 

5.3 first agricultural revolution

• 12,000 years ago domestication began to occur 

• First Agricultural Revolution: 10,000 years ago, achieved plant and animal domestication, a.k.a neolithic revolution 

• Permanent communities began to arise 

• People were allowed to be able to specialize in things other than food 

• Where things originated

• Middle east: fertile crescent, domesticated things like wheat, barley, oats, rye, grapes, apples, olives, sheep, goats, cattle, camels 

• East Asia (modern china): rice, soybeans domesticated here

• South Asia: domesticated a form of dry rice, strain of wheat, and cattle

• Southeast Asia: Taro, yams, and bananas were domesticated, sugarcane, pigs, water buffalo, chickens, ducks, geese

• Africa:

• East and west gave peanuts, yams, and coffee

• Central: sorghum 

• Americas: Maize (corn), tomatoes, squash, beans, potatoes, llama, alpaca, guinea pig, turkey

• As these places domesticated things they were able to apply the ideas to their own foods and animals to grow

• Contagious diffusion occurred during this time from hunter-gatherer groups that were near agricultural societies and they were exposed to farming techniques 

• Later moved via relocation diffusion due to people moving and trading 

• Columbian exchange: when columbus came to america he brought disease, crops, people, and ideas between the Americas, West Africa, and the old world 

• When things were relocated they are relocated to geography similar to those of the point of their domestication

• New world crops (potatoes, chili peppers, tomatoes, cacao, maize, and tobacco) were brought from the Americas to Europe, Asia, and Africa 

• Old World crops (sugar cane, coffee, soybeans, oranges, and bananas) were brought to the americas 

• Lots of our ideas and events would have never occurred without the columbian exchange 

5.4 second agricultural revolution

• The second agricultural revolution was a period of technological change, beginning of preindustrial improvements (crop rotation, horse collars), concluded with industrial innovations to replace human labor with machines and to supplement natural fertilizers and pesticides with chemical ones

• It coincided with the industrial revolution 

• Began in britain, netherlands, and denmark and diffused outwards 

• Helped with improvements in storage, irrigation, and transportation 

• Changes: new arable land spaces, farm size increased, less people in agriculture, fertilizers, technology, and crop rotation 

• Fallow land: land cultivated that has been left unseeded for a season or two 

• New technologies: seed drill (planted seeds), steel plow (break up soil), mechanical reaper (harvest grains), tractor (increase efficiency), new fertilizers (increased the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium in soil), better transportation (opening of canals, railroads)

• Farms became larger and production became more efficient, producers began to raise crops that generated the greatest surplus 

• Many people who worked on farms moved to factories after being unemployed

• More food meant less malnutrition, better diets, less death, population growth 

• The population expanded the pool of available workers but also affected the need for basic necessities (water, sanitation, houses)

5.5 Green revolution

•  Currently in it

• GMO’s occurred

• Increased yields 

• Accomplished by high yield seeds, increase of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and increased irrigation projects and mechanization of agriculture

• Impacts of the green revolution

• Higher yields

• Fast growing foods (rice, cereals)

• Increased production per unit area

• GMOs created new properties to plants and animals like better response to fertilizers, resistance to disease, droughts, or pesticides, also the use of plant hybrids and chemicals increased the size and amount of foods produced

• Irrigation projects: dams, irrigation pumps, mechanical dikes 

• Led to larger harvests 

• Farmers had to pay more for new hybrid GM seeds, synthetic fertilizers, chemical pesticides, irrigation infrastructure, and mechanized farm equipment

• The green revolution had the smallest impact on Africa 

• Positives: increased food production, more available food, more profits for farmers

• Negatives: too expensive, impacted environment (pollution), commercial over subsistence, less diversity in crops 

• With the food surpluses we saw food price decline

5.6 Agricultural Production Regions

• Limited farming encourages intensive farming with intercropping to produce high yields

• Subsistence Agriculture: crops or animals are raised for only local or family consumption (people who grow the food are the ones who eat it)

• Production is minimal 

• Not intended for sale at market or to make a profit 

• Located more in peripheral areas and live in isolated communities

• Relies on human labor 

• Declined during the 2nd agricultural revolution and changed more to commercial agriculture 

• Commercial Agriculture: describes large scale farming, use lots of machinery, uses latest technology, and feeds lots of people 

• Farmers have access to lots of capital 

• Farmers can afford the best hybrid and GM seeds as well as chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides 

• Spend money to increase productivity 

• Goal: maximize profit 

• Smaller workforce 

• Food grown on these farms typically reflect monoculture (dependence on a single agricultural commodity)

• The monoculture allows farmers to grow specific foods to sell and make profits from the export of their goods 

• Size of farms: subsistence farms are smaller and commercial farms are bigger

• Commercial farmers want bigger plots so they can grow more food to make more profit 

• Some outliers like shifting cultivation and nomadic pastoralism are forms of subsistence agriculture and require lots of land 

• Market gardening is a form of commercial agriculture where that doesn’t need a lot of land 

• Bid Rent Theory: the land closest to the central point is more valuable because it is more accessible to more people 

• 1st ring: market gardening, dairying

• 2nd ring: firewood and timber

• 3rd ring: extensive farming

• 4th ring: animal farming 

• The closer someone is to the market the more intensively they will use the land and farms are smaller as a result 

5.7 Spatial organization of agriculture

• Agribusiness: commercial agriculture characterized by the integration of different steps in the food- processing industry, usually through ownership by large corporations

• Everything is produced and processed by the same company

• Many agribusinesses benefit from subsidies (government payment that supports a business or market) 

• Many agribusinesses are successful are their efficient transportation systems 

• Commodity chains: series of links connecting a commodity’s places of production, distribution and consumption

• These links benefit larger corporate farms more than smaller family farms 

• These are the processes that get food from the farm to a grocery store

• Commodity chains can get complex 

• Cool chains: system that uses refrigeration and food freezing technologies to keep farm produce fresh in climate controlled environments at every stage of transport from field to retail 

• Economies of Scale: cost advantages that come with larger scale of operations (if you produce a lot of one thing then the average cost of production declines, and overall increasing profits) 

• Smaller farms might join a cooperative, this is where they can share equipment or buy seeds in bulk 

• Feedlots: a plot of land on which livestock are fattened for market 

• As more meat is consumed more cattle need to be raised faster and has caused the rise to confined animal feeding operations (CAFO)

• They have less movement and this makes them gain weight faster 

• More intensive system 

5.8 Von Thünen model

• Von Thünen model: a model that explains the location of agricultural activities in a commercial, profit-making economy. It allocates various farming activities into rings around a central market city, with profit earning capability and the determining force in how far a crop locates from the market 

• Von Thünen noticed as you move away from the town one commodity or crop gave way to another without any visible change in soil, climate, or terrain 

• Rings

• 1st: market gardening & dairy 

• Highly perishable crops 

• Intensive, high levels of output per acre of land 

• Vegetables and dairy because of perishability 

• 2nd: lumber

• Heavy and bulky 

• High transportation costs 

• 3rd: grains & extensive crops

• Lower revenue per acre of land 

• Less bulky and easier to transport without perishing 

• 4th: ranching and livestock 

• Used for animals to graze (for sheep, goats, cows, and other animals)

• Animals could walk to market (lower transportation costs)

• Easier for animals to walk to market and be slaughtered there 

• Why Von Thünen came up with the model 

• Explains the influence of distance to market and influence of transportation cost on the type and intensity of agriculture 

• Transportation costs: he argued that these costs were proportional to the distance from the market (greater the distance from market the higher the cost of transportation)

• Cost of land: land is cheaper the further away you are from a city or main point 

• Cool chains have made it possible for dairy and vegetables to be produced further away from the center 

5.9 Global System of Agriculture

• Global Supply Chain: essentially a commodity chain, but it's organized at the global scale (often by transnational agribusinesses)

• Often products are grown in peripheral countries and harvested using low-cost local labor 

• The processing is often done in periphery or semi-periphery countries before being transported for consumption around the world 

• Commodity dependence: this is where a place depends on the crop they primarily grow as their source of income 

• Luxury crops: non-subsistence crops (tea, cacao, coffee, and tobacco)

• Pros: they are economies of scale, they make lots of profit

• Cons: downturns or crop failure might happen, farmland is used for cash crops instead of food, lots of environmental damage happens (land loses fertility) 

• Food Networks: 

• Political relationships: Governmental decision making can impact the type and quantity of agricultural products and where in the world they go 

• Infrastructure: it changes the ability for agricultural products to move around the world

• These can be things like road, bridges, telecommunication systems that help produce and distribute crops and livestock 

• Infrastructure: the stock of basic facilities and capital equipment needed for the functioning of a country or area 

• World Trade: trade and food have doubled since 1995 

• Some treaties or agreements have helped reduce or eliminate taxes on imported goods that can serve as a barrier to trade 

5.10 Consequences of Agricultural Practices 

• Shifting cultivation: agricultural activities that involve farming a piece of land until the soil becomes infertile and then the cultivation is shifted to another area

• Pastoral nomads are having pressure to find grazing land as other forces affect their ability to graze 

• Less vegetation and degradation of soil which can affect many forms of farming 

• Landscape Change

• Terracing

• Building a series of steps into the side of a hill

• Turns mountains or hills into flat areas that are able to be farmed 

• Irrigation projects

• Process of diverting water from its natural course or location to be applied to crops 

• Water is depleting because of irrigation 

• Irrigation takes water faster than it can be replenished 

• Deforestation

• Trees are being cleared for plantations for monocropping 

• We are seeing the loss of ecosystems and a decline in the diversity of insects, animals, and other organisms 

• Draining wetlands 

• This can increase our regions carrying capacity

• Draining wetlands allows it to be used as arable land 

• These have occurred as farmers try to increase production to feed the large population

• Consequences

• Land cover change

• Uncultivated land like forests transitioning to crop land or pasture for livestock

• Soil salinization makes the soil loses fertility 

• Agriculture has changed diets, women’s roles, and economic purposes

• More women are working in agriculture in less developed regions/ countries 

• We are seeing more plant materials being converted into fuel rather than for human or animal consumption 

Women Rights & Economic Development

• As countries grow in the demographic transition model women start gaining more opportunities 

Informal Economy

• Informal economy: economic activities and jobs that are not regulated or protected by the government

• These can be people like street vendors, domestic work, unregistered small businesses 

Gender Inequality Index (GII)

• This measures reproductive health, empowerment, and labor market participation 

• This helps illustrate the amount of inequality and equality in a country 

• Lower GII = less inequality between genders

• Higher GII = more inequality between genders 

Women, Gender Norms, & Opportunities 

• Many places in Africa still have a high percentage of women in the agricultural workforce 

• Less economically developed countries have more traditional cultural norms and gender roles for women 

• These cultural norms typically limit the amount of opportunities that individuals in a country have 

Women, Agriculture, & India

• ¾ of women in India work in agriculture 

• Many more contribute to it in some way 

Economic Development & Opportunities for Women

• As countries develop there are more changes in the production of goods and services because more people have access to money and capital 

Changes in Agriculture

• More economically developed countries start utilizing machinery (reduces the amount of human labor) 

• This all leads to a lower agricultural density 

• Agricultural density: the amount of farmers / total amount of arable land 

Primary, Secondary, & Tertiary Sectors

• Economic growth also leads to increased urbanization 

• More jobs open in the secondary sector and tertiary sector 

• More people are allowed to participate economically 

• Often we still see women working with agricultural products 

Gender Roles & Stereotypes

• Women are still pushing for equal representation and opportunities in the workforce, political offices, and their own community 

• Many less developed countries have women still working in the informal economy 

Women in Politics

• In less economically developed countries women are less likely to have political representation or even own land 

• As countries develop economically and socially we start to see women gain political and social opportunities in society  

New Opportunities 

• Women can participate more in the formal economy, gain different legal protections, and see land ownership for women increase 

• These countries allow for women to play a more active role in society and this typically leads to the country seeing higher economic growth and a higher standard of living for everyone 

Concerns over Agricultural Practices

• People have been wondering what the impact these practices have on the food we are producing and if there are any consequences that may occur because of the practices 

A New Industrial Food System 

• The new industrial food system has included the rise of feedlots, CAFOS, and large multinational Agribusinesses 

Economies of Scale

• The new agribusinesses are able to achieve economies of scale

• Economies of Scale: as a company grows it is able to reduce the average cost to produce its product (as a company gets larger they have access to more capital, this allows them to scale up production and produce more at a cheaper rate) 

A New Industrial Food System

• More mechanized systems 

• More family farms are struggling to compete in the market, this is because they have higher individual costs with production 

• Many animals are injected with growth hormones, antibiotics, and are given food such as corn that is not always part of their natural diet to try and increase the size of the animal 

Aquaculture

• This is the rearing of aquatic animals and organisms 

• Often markets focus on a few species of fish for consumption and production 

• The different technologies, tools, and practices increase the cost of startup for the farmers 

Location of Agricultural Practices

• The place where our food is produced is based on the local environment, the cost of production, and the different government policies that are in place 

Agricultural Subsidies

• Agricultural subsidies: a financial incentive or payment that is given by the government to farmers (the goal is to promote the production of certain products or practices)

Government Policies & Agricultural Production

• This causes farms to produce more of a specific product

• These are typically given to areas with more pro-farm policies

• Places that don’t favor farms as much economically typically see less businesses and farms being located there

• This impacts the food production in an country or region

NAFTA, Food, & Migration 

• NAFTA is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico and the United States that eliminated tariffs and trade barriers between the countries 

• This treaty helped the countries because the imports of different crops at low cost helped the countries thrive more 

• It was even cheaper due to the government policies placed by the united states 

• This also affected mexican farmers, which a lot of them lost their jobs due to NAFTA

• Also emigration increased in mexico and immigration increased in the united states

Irrigation & Fresh Water

• Many farms use irrigation systems to quickly and efficiently get water to their crops 

• This helps farmers reduce their dependence on factors they cannot control

• Increased irrigation also led to more water runoff, this can increase the amount of water pollution because of chemicals like fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides

Water Shortages in Arizona & the West

• These irrigation systems drain aquifers and deplete the fresh water in an area 

• Places that have done irrigation for generations are now faced with droughts 

• This reduces their ability to produce their crops 

Biodiversity

• Biodiversity: the variety of living things on a particular area (includes types of animals, plants, and other living organisms)

• If we reduce the amount of biodiversity in an ecosystem we might be putting unique habitats at risk 

• We might also impact other animals and organisms and the area 

• This also might risk changes in the climate or invasive species that could destroy local crops 

Inefficient Agricultural System, infrastructure, & Global Inequality

• Even when our food is ready to ship there are still inefficiencies in the system, like food spoiling and becoming wasted 

• These inefficiencies might be due to the lack of infrastructure that’s needed to quickly and safely get food to the market

• These inefficiencies have caused unequal access to fresh food around the world

Food Desert

• These are urban or rural communities that lack access to affordable, healthy, fresh food (people typically have to travel long distances to reach a grocery store , lack their own personal vehicle, live in an impoverished community, and often rely on fast food restaurants and convenience stores for food)

Urban Sprawl & Agricultural Production

• Problems won’t be going away as more people are moving to urban areas 

• Urban sprawls replace arable land with suburbs, cities, and other settlements which replaces arable land and land that could be used for food 

Community-Support Agriculture (CSA)

• This is a system where consumers directly support local farmers by purchasing shares or subscriptions from the farmer in advance of the growing season

• They agree to buy the product throughout the year 

Food Miles

• This is the distance food is transported from the producer to the consumer 

• The more miles, the more pollution

Urban Farming

• This is the small scare farms in urban and/ or suburban areas that cultivate different agricultural products 

• These might be located in someone's backyard, rooftop, balcony, or a community garden 

• Can help produce fresh food for densely populated areas, help counter food deserts, create green spaces, and offer recreational activities

Organic Farming

• This is farming that focuses on producing food with natural methods without different chemical fertilizers, pesticides, growth hormones, antibiotics, or GMOs

• These farms seek to produce food in environmentally friendly manner that leads to less pollution 

Fair Trade Practices & Products

• These allow consumers to directly purchase from the people who created the product or the farmer who produced the food 

• This helps the farmer get the profit instead of the profit going to a larger company 

Value-Added Crops

• These are agricultural products that have been processed in a way that increases their overall value 

• These are things like jams, cereals, or juices

• These products consist of different crops and agricultural products which come together to make a product that is more valuable than the individual ingredients