Chapter 10 Key Issue 3

Where is Agriculture Distributed?

Derwent Whittlesey

• identified 11 main agricultural regions
• 5 important in LDCs
  • pastoral nomadism: in the drylands of Southwest, Central, and East Asia, and North Africa
  • shifting cultivation: in the tropics of Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia
  • intensive subsistence (wet rice dominant): in the large population concentrations of East and South Asia
  • intensive subsistence (other crops dominant): in the large population concentrations of East and South Asia where growing rice is difficult
  • plantation: in the tropics and sub-tropics of Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and South and Southeast Asia
• 6 important in MDCs
  • mixed crop and livestock: in the US Midwest and central Europe
  • dairying: in the population clusters of northeastern US, southeastern Canada, and northwestern Europe
  • grain: in north-central US, south-central Canada, and Eastern Europe
  • ranching: in the drylands of western North America, southeastern Latin America, Central Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the South Pacific
  • mediterranean: in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, western US, south tip of Africa, and Chile
  • commercial gardening: in southeastern US and southeastern Australia

Agriculture in Developing Regions

• most farmers in LDCs produce food for themselves and have little to no surplus

Agricultural Regions and Climate

• agriculture varies sharply between drylands and tropics, even in MDCs
• cultural preferences also influence agriculture
  • ex. hog production is nonexistent in Muslim regions

Pastoral Nomadism

pastoral nomadism: a form of subsistence agriculture based on the herding of domesticated animals

• adapted to dry climates where crops can’t grow
• most nomads are in the belt of [semi]arid land throughout Central and Southwest Asia and North Africa
  • ex. Bedouins of Saudi Arabia and North Africa, Masai of East Africa
• 15 million people are pastoral nomads, but occupy 20% of Earth’s land area
• pastoral nomads survive off of animals; drinking their milk, eating their corpses, using their skins and hair
  • size of herd is important, so animals aren’t usually slaughtered
• ways nomads get grain:
  • trade animal products for grain
  • women and children stay at a fixed spot and farm while everyone else wander
  • hire workers for grain in return for protection
  • may sow grain in flooded areas and come back later
  • remain in one place when rainfall is abundant and migrate during droughts

Choice of Animals

• select types and number of animals by local cultural and physical characteristics
• camels, sheep, and goats are desired in North Africa and Southwest Asia
  • camels
  • go long periods without water
  • carry heavy baggage
  • move rapidly
  • bothered by flies and sleeping sickness
  • have long gestation periods (12 months)
  • goats
  • tough and agile
  • can survive on any type of vegetation
  • require more water
  • sheep
  • slow moving
  • affected by climatic changes
  • require more water
  • picky eaters
• horses are important in Central Asia

Movements of Pastoral Nomads

• groups control a piece of land, depending on wealth and power, and are trying to control an area large enough to survive in
  • only invade in emergency or war
• groups divide into 5-6 family herding groups and move to most likely water source locations

transhumance: seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pasture areas

pasture: grass or other plants grown for feeding grazing animals, as well as land used for grazing

• some animals may pasture in alpine meadows in summer and go back into valleys in winter

The Future of Pastoral Nomadism

• pastoral nomadism was considered a stage in between hunting and gathering and sedentary farmers
• pastoral nomadism is now considered an offshoot of sedentary agriculture
  • it is a way to survive on land where crops are too hard to grow
• used to be important carriers of goods, but are declining due to modern technology and weapons
• nomadism now is confined and their land is used for mining and farming instead

Shifting Cultivation

shifting cultivation: practiced in much of the world’s Tropical, or A, climate regions, which have relatively high temperatures and abundant rainfall

• practiced by 250 million people across 36 million kilometers, in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia
• two distinctive features:
  • clear land for planting by slashing vegetation and burning the debris (slash-and-burn agriculture)
  • grow crops on a cleared field for a few years and leave it fallow for many once nutrients are depleted

The Process of Shifting Cultivation

• cut down trees and burn the debris
• rain washes fresh ashes into the soil, providing nutrients (potassium/potash)

swidden: the cleared area created from slash-and-burn agriculture

• the swidden is prepared with a hoe
• cleared land is used for 3 or less years, and then the nutrients are depleted
  • abundance of weeds depletes nutrients even faster
• the field is left for 6-20 years to regrow naturally

Crops of Shifting Cultivation

• predominant crops are rice (Southeast Asia), maize/corn and manioc/cassava (South America), and millet and sorghum (Africa)
• yams, sugarcane, plantain, and other vegetables are also grown
• the Kayapo people of the Amazon plant in rings, the last rings containing plants that require more nutrients
• swiddens may contain a large variety of intermingled crops

Ownership and Use of Land in Shifting Cultivation

• traditionally
  • land was owned communally
  • chief would give out patches of land to families
  • individuals could own specific trees
• today
  • private individuals own the land (especially in Latin America)
• occupies 25% of world’s land area (highest percentage of all agriculture)
• 5% of the world’s people practice shifting cultivation

Future of Shifting Cultivation

• shifting cultivation land decreases about 0.2% a year
• tropical forests have been reduced due to support of deforestation
• replaced by logging, cattle ranching, and cash crops
• LDCs view it as inefficient
• critics believe it should be replaced by more sophisticated agricultural techniques
• defenders believe other forms of agriculture damage soil, cause severe erosion, and upset ecosystems
• destruction of rainforests contribute to global warming
• a change in agriculture would disrupt activities of daily life of people there

Intensive Subsistence with Wet Rice Dominant

intensive subsistence agriculture: main form of agriculture in LDCs, with intense work from the farmer

Characteristics of Intensive Subsistence Farming

• most Asian farmers need to survive off of a small piece of land
• most work is done by hand or with animals
  • lack of funds to buy equipment
• little to no land is wasted
  • irregular pieces of land are still used
  • paths and roads are narrow to increase arable land space
  • livestock don’t graze and little grain is grown for them

wet rice: rice planted on dry land in a nursery and then moved as seedlings to a flooded field to promote growth

• China and India account for 50% of the world’s rice production
  • more than 90% is produced in East, South, and Southeast Asia
• dominant in southeastern China, East India, and Southeast Asia

Cultivation of Wet Rice

four steps:

• field preparation
  • use a plow drawn by buffalo or oxen
• flooding
  • plowed land is flooded with water (from rainfall, river overflow, or irrigation)
  • dikes and canals are repaired
  • field is called a sawah, incorrectly called a paddy by North Americans and Europeans
• transplanting
  • rice is grown for 1 month in a dry nursery
  • moved to the sawah for 3/4 of the growing period
• harvesting
  • seperate the husks [chaffs] by beating them on the ground or treading on them [threshing]
  • light chaff is blown by the wind [winnowed]
  • the outer covering [hull] is removed for consumption
• most growing takes place in river valleys, delta, or terraced on hillsides

double cropping: obtaining two harvests per year from one field

• double cropping is common in place with warm winters (southern China, Taiwain)
• uncommon in dry winters (India)

Intensive Subsistence with Wet Rice not Dominant

• wet rice can’t be grown in areas with too little rain or too harsh winters
• wheat and barley are the most important crops
• some other crops are millet, oats, corn, sorghum, and soybeans
• cash crops such as cotton, flax, hemp, and tobacco, are grown for profit
• double harvests may occur due to crop rotation (the practice of rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year to avoid exhausting the soil)
• communes in China
  • private individuals hold little agricultural land after the Communist Revolution
  • communes were several villages combined together
  • the government hoped productivity would go up, but it actually went down
• post-communes
  • villagers are able to own portions of land as private individuals and have the right to sell it
  • reorganization of infrastructure was difficult
  • production increased

Plantation Farming

plantation: a large commercial farm in a LDC that specializes in one or two crops

• mainly located in the [sub]tropics of Latin America, Africa, and Asia
• owned by MDCs
• plants are grown to be sold in MDCs
• common crops include cotton, sugarcane, coffee, rubber, tobacco, cocoa, jute, bananas, tea, coconuts, and palm oil
• provide workers with food, housing, and social services
• production increased due to Industrial Revolution (cotton gin)
• production declined after Civil War when the slave laborers were taken away

Agriculture in Developed Regions

• most agriculture in MDCs still depends on climate
• commercial farming grows crops and animals primarily for sale
  • products are sold to large food-processing companies rather than individuals

agribusiness: the system of commercial farming found in developed countries

Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming

• most common in the US west of the Appalachians and in much of Europe from France to Russia

Integration of Crops and Livestock

• most crops are fed to animals
• livestock produce manure to improve soil fertility
• nearly all land is devoted to growing crops, but almost all sales come from animal products
• having both crops and livestock distribute the workload more evenly yearround
• corn/maize is the most common crop in the US due to its higher yield
  • products include oil, margarine
  • most is fed to pigs and cattle
  • Corn Belt (from Ohio, Iowa, and the Dakotas) is most important
• soybeans are the second most common crop to make animal feed

Crop Rotation

• farms are divided into fields and crops are cycled through them
• help maintain the fertility of a field
• two-field crop-rotation
  • cereal grain in Field A and nothing in Field B for one year
  • Field B is planted and Field A is fallow for one year
• four-field system
  • root crops in Field A, cereal in Field B, rest crops in Field C, cereal in Field D for one year
  • crops rotate throughout the field with each year
• cereal grains are used for flour, beer, and straw
• root crops are fed to animals during the winter
• rest crops are used for cattle grazing and restoring nitrogen to the soil

Commercial Gardening and Fruit Farming

• predominant type of agriculture in southeastern US
  • long growing season
  • humid climate
  • accessible to large markets
• often called truck farming
• truck farms grow many fruits and vegetables that consumers demand in MDCs
  • apples, asparagus, cherries, lettuce, mushrooms, tomatoes, etc.
• highly efficient and take full advantage of machines, and are willing to experiment with new varieties
• labor costs are low due to hiring immigrants from Mexico

Dairy Farming

• most important near northeastern US, southeastern Canada, and northwestern Europe, as well as South and East Asia

Regional Distribution of Dairying

• India is the world’s largest milk producer, followed by the US, China, and Pakistan
• dairy farms need to be close to markets due to perishability (the ring around a city from which milk can be supplied without spoiling is a milkshed)
• due to transportation advancements, the milkshed can be further from a city
• the further a milkshed is from the market, the more likely that it will product milk products (butter, cheese) rather than fresh milk

Challenges for Dairy Farmers

• labor intensive
  • milking requires constant attention
• winter feed
  • feeding during the winter may add extra expenses

Grain Farming

• grain farms produce crops mainly for consumption by people rather than animals
  • wheat, corn, oats, barley, rice, millet
• wheat is the most important crop
  • can be used to make bread flour
  • can be stored easily without spoiling
  • can be transported a long distance
• LDCs are starting to grow more wheat
  • China and India produce the most, and the US is behind them
• the McCormick reaper (machine that cuts grain in the field) and the combine (reaps, threshes, and cleans in one operation) have increased wheat production
• some firms may have 2 sets of fields
  • one in the spring wheat belt and one in the winter wheat belt
• large scale grain production in North America is concentrated in
  • the winter wheat belt through Kansas, Colorado, and Oklahoma
  • the spring wheat belt through the Dakotas, Montana, and southern Saskatchewan in Canada
  • the Palouse region of Washington State

Mediterranean Agriculture

• share physical environment
  • borders a sea
  • most on west coasts of continents
  • sea winds moisture and moderate winter temperature
  • summers are hot and dry but sea winds provide relief
  • land is hilly
  • very narrow strips of flat land along the coast
• livestock production is hindered during the summer due to lack of water
• sheep and goats are kept on coastal plains in the winters and transferred to the hills in the summer

horticulture: the growing of fruit vegetables, and flowers

• most crops are grown for human consumption
• a variety of crops are planted within one farming area
• most important cash crops are olives and grapes
  • wine production and olive oil
• wheat is used for pasta and bread
• California has the most horticulture
  • urbanization and scarce water supply may cause this to suffer

Livestock Ranching

ranching: the commercial grazing of livestock over an extensive area

• practiced where vegetation is too sparse and the soil is too poor to support crops

Cattle Ranching in the United States

• Hollywood glamorized ranching
• many moved to Chicago for higher prices
  • cattle were driven by hoof from Texas to the nearest railhead
  • then they were driven in cattle cars
  • most famous route was the Chisholm Trail
• declined in importance after conflict with sedentary agriculture
  • land used for grazing was given to farmers
  • ranchers tried to drive out farmers but eventually were defeated
• some ranches were established where there was no way to grow crops
  • however, due to better crops and irrigation, that land has been converted into farms

Commercial Ranching in Other Regions

• is increasingly in LDCs
• is in Australia (though there’s more sheep than cattle), Spain, Portugal, Argentina, southern Brazil, and Uruguay
  • grew in Argentina due to accessibility to the ocean
• China is the leading meat producer

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