Agricultural Practices, Revolutions, and Models

Intensive vs. Extensive Agricultural Practices

Intensive Agricultural Practices:
- Located near population centers.
- Focus on maximizing agricultural production.
- Require a lot of labor and capital.
- Examples:
  - Plantation Farming: Found in less developed countries.
  - Mixed Crop and Livestock: Found in developed countries; crops are primarily used to feed livestock.
  - Market Gardening: Located in regions with longer growing seasons; fruits and vegetables are picked, processed, and shipped across the country.
Extensive Agricultural Practices:
- Located farther away from population centers.
- Require a lot more land.
- Most work is done by hand.
- Examples:
  - Shifting Cultivation: Often found in developing countries with tropical regions; subsistence agriculture is common.
  - Nomadic Herding: Found in dry, arid climates; farmers move with their animals.
  - Ranching: Uses a lot of land for cattle or sheep to graze; located farther away from urban areas due to land requirements.

Subsistence Agriculture:
- Focuses on feeding the farmer's family or community.
- The goal is not to make a profit.
- Smaller farm sizes.
- More work done by hand.
Commercial Agriculture:
- Focused on generating a profit.
- The goal is to scale up the business.
- Larger farms.
- Uses more technology.

Clustered Settlements:
- Higher population density.
- Homes are packed together in close quarters.
Dispersed Settlements:
- Lower population density.
- Homes and buildings are spaced out.
Linear Settlement Patterns:
- Located along a river, road, or train line.
- Built in a line to connect to a transportation route.

Meets and Bounds:
- Used for short distances.
- Often based on key geographic features in the area.
Long Lots:
- Divide land into narrow parcels.
- Each parcel has connections to a transportation system (road or river).
Township and Range:
- Uses longitude and latitude to create a grid-like system.

Agricultural hearths (e.g., Fertile Crescent, Indus Valley River) show where different crops and animals originated.
Historical events, such as the Columbian Exchange led to the diffusion of different agricultural practices and products around the world.

First Agricultural Revolution (Neolithic Revolution):
- Sedentary agriculture began to take off.
Second Agricultural Revolution (with the Industrial Revolution):
- New technologies were introduced (e.g., seed drill).
- increased food output.
- Greater food surplus.
- Enclosure movement.
- Changed migration patterns and ways of living.
- New globalized economy.
- Led to a population boom.
Green Revolution:
- Introduction of GMOs, hybrid plants, new chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides.
- Revolutionized food production.
- Allowed for higher yielding crops.

Mono Cropping: Growing the same crop each year to increase production; can deplete nutrients in the land.
Mono Culture: Growing one type of crop at a time, switching crops after each harvest.
Economy of Scale: New technology has allowed farmers to scale up their businesses and produce crops at a cheaper rate when producing more quantity.
- Large corporate farms can produce a high amount of food at a relatively low cost, which favors large multinational corporations and agro-businesses over small family farms.

Crops that gain value as production occurs (e.g., wheat being turned into flour, strawberries into jam).

Debates over genetically modified food, chemical fertilizers, and their impacts on the environment, health, and workers.
Rise of:
- Organic Farming: Seeks to remove chemical fertilizers and nonsustainable practices.
- Local Food Movements: Counter food deserts.
- Free Trade Movements
- Urban Farming
- Community Supported Agriculture: Counters ethical, health, and environmental concerns in modern agriculture.

In developing countries, women make up a larger percentage of subsistence farmers.
- Part of the informal economy.
- Lower wages and fewer opportunities.
- More likely to be victims of discrimination.
As countries develop, women gain more roles, initially in agricultural fields in urban areas.
Further development leads to more economic, social, and political opportunities for women, moving towards equality.

Relationship between land prices and distance from an urban area or large market.
As distance from the urban area increases, land prices decrease, and land becomes more available, leading to more extensive agricultural practices.
Closer to the urban area, land prices increase, leading to more skyscrapers, higher population density, and intensive agricultural practices.