In-depth Notes on Agriculture and Rural Land-Use

Unit V: Agriculture and Rural Land-Use

Intro to Agriculture and Settlement Patterns

  • Agriculture involves the purposeful cultivation of plants or raising of animals.

  • The type of agriculture is influenced by environmental factors such as climate, elevation, soil, and topography.

  • Climate regions correlate to similar climate patterns influenced by latitude and location; these include tropical, dry, temperate, continental, and polar areas.

Land Survey Patterns

  • Geographers categorize land based on survey patterns:

    • Township and Range: Typical in North America, especially west of the Mississippi, this pattern involves a grid system with unit-block field patterns leading to dispersed farmsteads and occasional villages.

    • Long Lot: Nucleated linear settlements along roads or rivers.

    • Circular Rural Settlements: Ring-like arrangement of houses surrounding a central open space for livestock.

    • Fragmented: Land-holdings allowing farmers various fields dispersed throughout the community.

    • Metes and Bounds: Irregular field patterns based on natural landmarks.

Agricultural Production Regions

  • Types of Agriculture:

    • Subsistence Agriculture: Focused on survival; farmers produce a diverse range of crops/livestock primarily for family consumption, relying more on hand labor than machinery.

    • Commercial Agriculture: Intended for profit; significant reliance on geographic and economic factors and market demands for products.

Agricultural Practices and Diffusion

  • Intensive Agriculture: High effort to maximize output from a given area through chemicals, pesticides, and labor. Examples include plantation agriculture and market gardening.

  • Extensive Agriculture: Lower inputs and investment lead to lesser outputs; often found in peripheral and semi-peripheral regions. Examples are nomadic herding and shifting cultivation.

Rural Settlement Patterns

  • Influences on rural land-use include:

    • Physical Geography: Land features, water sources, and terrain.

    • Cultural Influences: Social and economic factors shaping how communities are established.

  • Settlement Types:

    • Clustered Settlement: Promotes community unity.

    • Dispersed Settlement: Encourages independence and self-sufficiency.

    • Linear Settlement: Facilitates access to transportation and water resources.

Agricultural Theories

  • Bid-Rent Theory: Describes how land costs are determined based on competition among land users; closer proximity to the central business district (CBD) usually results in higher land costs due to demand, particularly by dairy farmers for perishable goods.

  • von Thunen’s Model: Outlines agricultural decisions based on distance from market; features concentric rings for different types of farming, from intensive farming and dairying (closest) to livestock production (farthest).

Agricultural Revolutions

  • First Agricultural Revolution: Transition from nomadic lifestyles to settled farming; marked the beginning of agriculture and domestication of animals.

  • Second Agricultural Revolution: Occurred in the 1700s; introduced new technologies like the seed drill and steel plough, enhancing crop yield and contributing to the Industrial Revolution.

  • Third Agricultural Revolution (Green Revolution): Began in the 20th century; emphasized mechanization, synthetic fertilizers, and high-yield crop varieties, leading to improvements but also challenges such as environmental degradation and displacement of small farmers.

Contemporary Agriculture Challenges

  • Food access issues include:

    • Food Insecurity: Lack of access to healthy food, often prevalent in urban areas facing suburbanization.

    • Food Deserts: Areas where obtaining healthy food is difficult; often linked to socioeconomic factors and geographic location.

  • Environmental impacts include pollution, soil degradation, and biodiversity loss due to intensive farming practices.

  • Ongoing debates regarding sustainable agricultural practices, genetic modification, biotechnology, and equitable food distribution exist within global food systems.