AP Human Geography - Unit 5

Sectors of the Economy

  • Second semester of AP Human Geography focuses on the sectors of the economy.

  • Unit 5 (Agriculture): Subsistence agriculture is linked to the primary sector; commercial agriculture connects to all sectors as part of the global food chain.

  • Unit 6 (Urbanization): Connections to services (tertiary, quaternary, and quinary sectors).

First Agricultural Revolution

  • Transition from hunting and gathering to sedentary agriculture.

  • Fertile Crescent (Southwest Asia) is a key hearth area.

  • Intentional crop planting.

  • These hearth areas align with those of cultural geography and urbanization.

  • Pockets of hunting and gathering still exist in Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and eastern Russia.

Seed Agriculture

  • Reproduction of plants through annual seed introduction.

Vegetative Planting

  • Reproduction through roots, stems, buds, and shoots.

  • Sedentary lifestyle: Staying in one place, halting migration patterns.

  • Carl Sauer: Geographer at UC Berkeley, emphasized vegetative planting.

Plant and Animal Domestication

  • Connected to the First Agricultural Revolution.

  • Crops of Southwest Asia: barley, wheat, lentil, oats, and rye.

  • East Asia: rice and soybeans.

  • Central Africa: yams, sorghum, cowpeas, coffee.

  • Latin America: squash, pepper, cotton, maize.

Animal Hearths

  • Southeast Asia, Central Asia, South Asia, Latin America.

  • Southwest Asia: goats, sheep, pigs, dogs.

  • Central Asia: horse.

  • South Asia: cattle, chicken.

  • Latin America: alpaca, llamas.

Columbian Exchange

  • Initiated by Columbus's voyage in 1492.

  • Exchange of agricultural products between the Old World (Europe, Asia, Africa) and the New World (Americas).

Second Agricultural Revolution

  • Connected to the Industrial Revolution and formation of the core.

  • Modern commercial agriculture.

  • Von Thünen model is relevant.

  • Diffusion: Similar to the Industrial Revolution origin in Yemen.

  • Technological evolution (e.g., John Deere tractors).

  • Correlation between farmland area per tractor and commercial agriculture in core countries.

Demographic Transition Model

  • Connection to the Second Agricultural Revolution.

  • Agriculture paired with population studies.

Green Revolution

  • Reference to PBS American Experience documentary on Norman Borlaug.

Subsistence vs. Commercial Agriculture

  • Geographer Durwood Whittlesea classified these categories.

  • Subsistence: farm produce consumed on the farm.

  • Commercial: farm produce sold off the farm.

  • Climate classification (Köppen): A (wet) vs. B (arid).

  • Subsistence: family/community feeding.

  • Commercial: surplus production for market.

  • Subsistence: high percentage of farmers (mostly women) in periphery/semi-periphery countries.

  • Commercial: low percentage of farmers in core countries (e.g., 1-2%).

  • Commercial: advanced machinery.

  • Subsistence: small farms (few acres).

  • Commercial agriculture: large farms (thousand acres).

  • Subsistence: primary economic activity.

  • Commercial: connected to secondary, tertiary, quaternary, and quinary sectors.

Subsistence Agriculture

  • LDCs (Less Developed Countries): Food production for family and community.

  • Women in the informal economy without wages.

Commercial Farming

  • Agribusiness: System in MDCs (More Developed Countries) linked to global supply chains.

  • Loss of prime agricultural land to suburbanization.

Family Farms

  • Decline, especially in MDCs, replaced by large-scale commercial operations.

  • Consolidation of farms leads to fewer but larger farms.

Technology in Agriculture

  • GIS (Geographic Information Systems) and GPS (Global Positioning System) integration.

  • Machinery replacing manual labor (tractors, combines).

  • Transportation infrastructure improvements.

  • Reaping: the process of cutting and gathering crops.

  • Threshing: separating grain from the stalk.

American Agriculture

  • The U.S. is an agricultural powerhouse (the "breadbasket of the world").

  • Corn Belt (Iowa, Indiana).

  • Wheat Belt (western U.S., including eastern Colorado).

Agricultural Workers

  • Subsistence agriculture: More labor, mostly women in the informal economy.

Consolidation of Farms

  • Losses in some states, gains in others (e.g., losses in Kentucky, gains in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas).

  • Net loss of farmers in the U.S. due to technology.

Commodity Chains

  • Farm to table concept.

  • Impacted by tariffs.

  • Starbucks coffee example.

  • Global commodity chain impact on local agriculture.

Von Thünen Model

  • Urban center/market.

  • FRQ identification of rings.

Intensive vs. Extensive Agriculture

Impact of Agricultural Productivity

  • Overuse of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers causes environmental damage and health issues.

  • Sustainability connection.

Global System of Agriculture

  • Coffee Belt: tropics, Southern part of the Northern Hemisphere, close to the Equator in the Southern Hemisphere.

  • U.S. imports billions of pounds of green coffee annually.

  • Increased coffee production at the expense of subsistence farming.

Political Impacts

  • Government subsidies in MDCs provide a competitive advantage.

  • LDCs struggle to compete due to lack of subsidies.

  • Developing countries often don't grow enough food due to export commodities.

  • Colonial infrastructure continues to negatively impact local production.

  • High dependency on a single agricultural commodity increases national economic risks.

Consumer Preferences and Agribusiness

  • Drive growth and trade patterns.

  • Monocropping hurts countries when preferences change.

Consequences of Agricultural Practices

  • Increased use of agricultural chemicals impacts humans and ecosystems.

  • Pesticides cause negative health and environmental effects.

  • Runoff from farm fields contaminates water sources, causing nutrient pollution and dead zones.

  • Deforestation driven by agriculture (crops and grazing).

  • Desertification: land degradation, erosion, and nutrient loss.

  • Salinization: accumulation of salts in the soil.

  • Draining wetlands for cultivation decreases biodiversity.

  • Conservation projects aim to minimize soil disturbance and maximize species diversification.

Shifting Cultivation

  • Causes soil erosion, landslides, and water contamination.

Paddy Rice Terraces

  • Used in East, South, Southwest, and Southeast Asia, the Mediterranean Basin, Africa, and South America.

Globalization of Agriculture

  • Leads to food waste (one-third of the world's food).

  • EthanolEthanol connected to bulk-gaining/bulk-reducing processes.

  • Biodiesel production.

Aquaculture

  • Most growth in Asia.

  • U.S. aquaculture is a multi-billion dollar industry.

  • Most seafood in the U.S. is imported, with a significant portion being farm-raised.

Value Added Agriculture

  • Urban farming and community-supported agriculture (CSA).

  • CSA membership based on shares of the harvest.