HUMAN GEOGRAPHY UNIT 5: AGRICULTURE AND RURAL LAND USE NOTES

• 🌱 AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES (with Real-World Examples)

• Slash-and-Burn Farming: Cutting and burning forests to make room for farmland.
  🔹 Example: Practiced in the Amazon Basin by indigenous communities, but it's contributing to deforestation.

• Terrace Farming: Steps cut into hills/mountains for flat farmland.
  🔹 Example: Used in the Philippines' Banaue Rice Terraces and Andean Highlands of Peru.

• Irrigation: Diverting water to croplands.
  🔹 Example: Israel's drip irrigation tech saves water in arid areas. The U.S. uses center-pivot irrigation in the Midwest.

• Draining of Wetlands: For farmland; often reduces biodiversity.
  🔹 Example: Parts of Florida’s Everglades have been drained for agriculture and urban development.

• Pastoral Nomadism (Transhumance): Seasonal migration with livestock.
  🔹 Example: Practiced in Mongolia and the Sahel region of Africa.

• Intensive Agriculture: High input, small area.
  🔹 Example: Wet rice farming in Southeast Asia (e.g., Vietnam, Thailand).

• Extensive Agriculture: Low input, large area.
  🔹 Example: Cattle ranching in the U.S. Great Plains or sheep herding in Australia.

• Double Cropping: Two harvests per year.
  🔹 Example: Common in southern China (rice in summer, wheat in winter).

• Intercropping: Multiple crops in one field.
  🔹 Example: Used in Sub-Saharan Africa with maize, beans, and squash.

• Crop Rotation: Rotating crops to preserve soil nutrients.
  🔹 Example: Midwestern U.S. farms often rotate corn and soybeans.

• Mechanized Farming: Machines replace human labor.
  🔹 Example: Dominant in U.S. commercial grain farms (e.g., Kansas wheat farms).

• Hydroponics: Plants grown in nutrient-rich water.
  🔹 Example: Common in urban vertical farms in Singapore and greenhouses in the Netherlands.

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• 👩‍🌾 SOCIETAL EFFECTS (with Real-World Examples)

• Changing Diets:
  🔹 Example: In the U.S., there's a rise in demand for organic produce and plant-based proteins.
  🔹 Example: China has increased meat consumption with rising incomes.

• Role of Women in Agriculture:
  🔹 Example: In Sub-Saharan Africa, women make up 60–80% of the agricultural labor force in some regions.

• Food Taboos:
  🔹 Example: Hindus in India avoid beef; Muslims avoid pork.

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• ♻ DEBATES OVER SUSTAINABILITY (with Real-World Examples)

• GMOs:
  🔹 Example: Widespread in U.S. corn and soybean production; banned or restricted in many EU countries.

• Aquaculture:
  🔹 Example: China leads the world in aquaculture; Norway’s salmon farms have faced environmental criticism.

• Organic Farming:
  🔹 Example: Growing rapidly in California, which leads U.S. organic sales.

• Urban Farming:
  🔹 Example: Rooftop gardens in NYC, vertical farms in Japan.

• CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture):
  🔹 Example: Popular in urban U.S. cities like Portland and Austin.

• Fair Trade Movement:
  🔹 Example: Coffee farmers in Ethiopia or banana producers in Costa Rica receive better prices under fair trade.

• Local Food Movements:
  🔹 Example: Farmers markets and farm-to-table restaurants booming in places like San Francisco and Portland.

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• 🍽 CHALLENGES TO FEEDING EVERYONE (with Real-World Examples)

• Food Insecurity:
  🔹 Example: High rates in Yemen, Somalia, and among low-income U.S. households.

• Food Deserts:
  🔹 Example: Found in South Chicago, Detroit, and rural Alabama.

• Adverse Weather:
  🔹 Example: Droughts in California and flooding in Bangladesh threaten crops.

• Suburbanization:
  🔹 Example: Urban sprawl around Atlanta and Dallas has taken over former farmlands.

• Distribution Systems:
  🔹 Example: Poor infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa affects food access.

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• 💸 ECONOMIC CHALLENGES (with Real-World Examples)

• Food Processing Locations:
  🔹 Example: Meatpacking plants in the Midwest near cattle ranches.

• Economies of Scale:
  🔹 Example: Tyson Foods or Monsanto operate large-scale agricultural processing.

• Commodity Dependence:
  🔹 Example: Ivory Coast depends on cocoa exports.

• Government Policies:
  🔹 Example: U.S. corn subsidies encourage overproduction and ethanol.

• Global Supply Chains:
  🔹 Example: COVID-19 disrupted international food trade and exposed supply chain weaknesses.

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• 📍 THEORIES & MODELS (with Real-World Examples)

• Von Thünen Model:
  🔹 Example: Still visible in regions like Germany, but modern transportation has changed it.
  🔹 Urban periphery farming near cities like New York (NJ dairies) fits the model’s core ideas.

• Bid-Rent Theory:
  🔹 Example: High-value crops (like flowers) grown near cities (e.g., Los Angeles) because land is expensive.

• Green Revolution:
  🔹 Example: India’s wheat production boomed in the 1960s with new seeds and irrigation.
  🔹 Criticism: Punjab region now struggles with soil degradation and groundwater depletion.

• Agribusiness:
  🔹 Example: Companies like Cargill, Nestlé, and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) dominate global food production.

🌍 Environmental Determinism vs. Possibilism (Applied to Agriculture)

• Environmental Determinism: The environment shapes agricultural possibilities.
  
  

• Possibilism: Humans adapt with innovation.
  🔹 Example: Israel uses drip irrigation to farm in deserts, showing possibilism.
  
  

✅ Why it's crucial: Helps explain how environment affects or doesn’t limit agriculture. Often connected to sustainability and innovation.

📦 Global Supply Chain & Agribusiness

• Integration of production, processing, and distribution.
  🔹 Example: Dole controls banana farms, packaging, and global shipping from Central America to the U.S.
  ✅ Why it matters: Shows how agriculture is no longer local — it's global and corporatized.
  
  

Rural Land Use Patterns (Clustered, Dispersed, Linear)

• Clustered: Villages in Europe/Asia.
  
  

• Dispersed: U.S. Midwest farms.
  
  

• Linear: Along rivers or roads, like in Québec (French long-lot system).
  ✅ Why it's tested: Often appears in MCQs or FRQs asking about land organization and colonization impacts.
  
  

🧭 Metes and Bounds, Township and Range, Long Lot

• Metes and Bounds: Natural features; Eastern U.S.
  
  

• Township and Range: Grid system in Midwest U.S.
  
  

• Long Lot: French colonial; narrow lots near rivers (e.g., Louisiana, Québec).
  ✅ Why it's crucial: Shows how colonial legacy shapes land ownership and use patterns today.
  
  

🍕 Agricultural Hearths & Diffusion

• Major hearths: Fertile Crescent (wheat), Mesoamerica (maize), East Asia (rice).
  
  

• Diffusion Types:
  
  

  • Relocation: European crops brought to Americas (e.g., wheat, sugarcane).
    
    

  • Expansion: Rice cultivation spread across Asia.
    ✅ Why it's tested: Often used in FRQs on cultural diffusion or crop patterns.
    
    

🌡 Desertification & Land Degradation

• Overfarming and overgrazing reduce productivity.
  🔹 Example: Sahel region in Africa is severely affected.
  ✅ Why it matters: It's a sustainability issue tied to extensive farming and climate change.
  
  

🧾 Subsidies and Tariffs

• Governments support domestic farmers via subsidies.
  🔹 Example: U.S. corn subsidies help compete against cheaper foreign imports.
  ✅ Why it matters: Affects global trade and local economies, often connected to debates on free trade and food security.