Chapter 13 | Patterns and Practices of Agricultural Production

13.1 Agricultural Production Regions

Economic Forces and Agriculture

• Agricultural practices can be influenced by economic factors such as costs of materials, land, and labor; availability of capital; government policies’ and consumer preference.
• Economic forces distinguish subsistence farming from commercial farming.
  • Most subsistence agriculture occurs in rural Africa and parts of Asia and Latin America, where there is less connection to the global market.
  • Many subsistence farmers live in poverty and do not have the economic resources to pay for labor or expensive machinery.
  • Most commercial farming takes place in core or semi-periphery countries.
  • They have the infrastructure needed.
• Infrastructure: The many systems and facilities that a country needs in order to function properly
• Features of commercial farming often include modern equipment, advanced technology, and large areas of land.
  • Commercial farmers maximize their income by purchasing a high level of external inputs.
• Dual agricultural economy: An economy having two agricultural sectors that have different levels of technology and different patterns of demand
  • In these areas, subsistence farms exist next to commercial farms that usually export their goods to core countries.
• In most instances, the costs of materials and labor are relative to the size of the farm.
  • Large-scale farming can be more effective when costs are spread out over a greater area and bulk prices are negotiated.
• Agribusiness: The large-scale system that includes the production, processing, and distribution of agricultural products and equipment
  • The agribusiness system has grown substantially over the last century.
• This growth has caused a massive change in the nature of farming.
  • Before the 20th century, farmers were typically self-sufficient small businesses.
  • As farm machinery, new inputs, GMOs, and other technologies made agriculture more efficient and specialized, farmers have become more dependent on manufacturers, distributors, and marketers.

Technology and Increasing Production

• Modern equipment and innovations allow farmers to create higher yields.
  • Technology has changed the growing season for many crops and improved production.
  • Scientists have combined crops to enhance desired characteristics and improve disease resistance.
  • Hybrid: The product created by breeding different varieties of species to enhance the most favorable characteristics
• One problem that all farmers face is loss of crops to pests.
  • Weeds and other unwanted plants compete for resources and crowd out crops.
  • Insects can destroy entire fields if not regulated.
• Since the 1960s, the use of pesticides, herbicides, and insecticides, has increased considerably and led to higher crop yields.
  • In the last six decades, the average yield of wheat and rice has more than doubled due in large part to the use of pesticides.
  • Pesticides can harm human and environmental health, but they’ve also saved lives through increased food production.
• Advanced farm machinery also increases production by improving efficiency.
• Advances in irrigation have also provided better agricultural conditions, which increases yields.
• It is more difficult for subsistence or family-run commercial farms to access expensive technologies.
  • They generally don’t have the capital needed to invest in these inputs.
• Some smaller farms benefit from jointly owning machinery, but economies of scale are still always greater for corporate farms.
• Because the amount of capital affects how much a farmer can invest in their farm, it determines productivity, and subsequently profit.

Policies and Preferences

• Government policies and consumer demand both greatly influence agricultural practices.
• Most governments around the world intervene in agricultural markets in a few ways.
  • They can provide payments to farmers for growing or not growing certain crops.
  • Place regulations on agricultural imports and exports.
  • Establish price supports in the form of purchasing crops at a fixed price.
• Incentives to produce crops despite a lack of demand have led to excesses.
  • The excesses are used for various things but many are processed.
  • This has led to processed foods being more available than organic ones.
• Governments continue to control the supply of certain crops by enacting quotas.
  • This can seem troublesome but is often done in a farmer’s best interest.
  • Quotas ensure the crop stays at a reasonable price and still provides profit.
• Dietary preference also affects agriculture. Farms produce more of what is in demand.
• While governments can help farmers, it is ultimately consumers who drive the market.

13.2 The Spatial Organization of Agriculture

Family vs. Corporate Control

• The vast majority of farms worldwide are family owned.
  • However, they account for less of the share of the world’s total farmland.
  • Most family subsistence farms are located in the periphery including countries in Asia and Africa.
• While they are small, they collectively produce food for a large portion of the population.
• There are limitations to the estimated data gathered about agriculture worldwide, especially at the regionally and locally.
  • Not all farmers participate in the agricultural census and there are variations in data gathering.
• Data gathered about the U.S. differs from worldwide data.
  • Worldwide, the number of farms has increased since the 1960s, but in the U.S. the number has declined.
• Recent trends are hurting family farms and causing a shift in the spatial organization of agriculture.
• The overall population across the world is shifting away from rural areas and into urban areas.
  • Younger generations see the amount of time and hard work put into farming for a small profit.
  • Fewer people are willing or interested in taking on the challenges that come with farming.
  • The farming population is aging. Farmers who were once prosperous are retiring or dying with no successors.
• Another challenge some farmers face is rising costs.
• When farming costs are greater than the income generated, farmers struggle to remain in agriculture.
  • Vertical integration: The combining of a company's ownership of and control over more than one stage of the production process of goods
  • When a company manages all aspects, it lowers costs, improves efficiency, and increases profit.
• It is difficult for family farms to practice vertical integration, but large, corporate agribusinesses have the capital to do so.

Commodity Chains

• The rise of agribusiness has led to complex networks that connect places of production with distribution to consumers.
  • Commodity chain: A network of people, information, processes, and resources that work together to produce, handle, and distribute a commodity or product
• Many people in different regions are involved in producing and distributing agricultural products.
  • Agricultural commodity chains start with inputs tended to by farmers to produce a crop or goods.
  • After cultivation and harvest, the crop is processed, packaged, and then transported to wholesalers and retailers.
  • Eventually, the end result is a finished commodity that is marketed to consumers.
• Successful delivery from the farm to the consumer involves many exchanges that must be considered and planned.
• Factors that influence the agricultural process include the weather, the physical environment, financial markets, labor relations, government policies, and trade.

Pricing and Policies

• The growth in production of crops due to technology leads to greater supply.
• When supply is high, prices go down.
  • At times of high production success, prices can drop so low that production costs are higher than the value of the product.
  • This can be catastrophic for farmers.

Subsidies

• Some solutions to rising costs of production have been governments providing low-cost loans, insurance, and payments.
• Farm subsidy: A form of aid and insurance given by the federal government to certain farmers and agribusinesses
  • These originally started in the U.S. during the Great Depression of the 1930s.
• In theory, subsidies continue to this day to protect all farmers and owners of farmland, but studies show this isn’t the case.
  • Small family operations, the ones that need the help perhaps more than large farms, aren’t getting the money.
  • Instead, the highest producers are benefitting the most.
• One study revealed that the largest 15 percent of farm operations receive 85 percent of subsidies.
• The benefits of the farm subsidies are debatable.
  • Some believe the benefits stimulate the agricultural economy of the U.S., even if they are directed to large producers.
  • Others say the money is just a bonus to operations that are already successful and don’t need assistance.
• The United States government currently pays out about $20 billion each year in farm subsidies.

Tariffs

• Tariff: A tax or duty to be paid on a particular import or export
• Tariffs are used to raise government revenue, or income.
• They are also used to protect domestic industries against foreign competition.
• Tariffs make imported goods more expensive than goods made within the country.
• Tariffs can affect trade between countries and can bring about a trade war, in which countries try to negatively impact each other’s trade.
  • Imposing tariffs and engaging in such a trade war can greatly disrupt commodity chains, lower the price of products, and cause farmers to lose business.

13.3 The Von Thünen’s Model

Rural Land Use Patterns

• Johann Heinrich von Thünen was a German farm owner with an interest in the geography and economics of farming.
  • In 1826, he wrote a book about observations he had made about the spatial patterns of farming practices in his community.
  • He found that types of agriculture took place in different locations around the market.
• Intensive rural practices tended to occur near the market and extensive rural practices emerged further from it.
• von Thünen suggested that farmers decide to cultivate certain crops or animals depending on the distance to the market.
• von Thünen model: A model that suggests that perishability of the product and transport costs to the market each factor into the location of agricultural land use and activity.
• The model has four distinct concentric rings representing different agricultural practices.
• The center is a core representing the market.
• The first ring outside the core represents intensive farming and dairying.
  • Milk products and produce are highly perishable, so it is critical they are produced near the market and sold within a limited time frame.
  • These products also cost more to transport, so their proximity is a cost-saving measure.
  • Despite the land being more expensive, the products have a greater value.
• The next ring represents forests.
  • In the 19th century, timber and firewood were important commodities used for heating, cooking, and building.
  • Producing wood close to the market reduces transportation costs.
• The third ring is devoted to grains and cereal crops.
  • These crops are less perishable and not too heavy, so they can be grown farther from the market.
• Finally, the furthest ring is livestock production.
  • This land is less desirable and therefore cheaper.
  • Farmers can buy large pieces of land for extensive agricultural activities like ranching.
  • At the time, animals were walked to the market, so transportation costs were not high.

Applying Von Thünen Today

• All models are based on assumptions, and no model accounts for every exception or deviation in real-life.
  • Von Thünen made his model based on the realities of the early 19th century.
• Most of his assumptions don’t apply to today’s world.
  • Many cities have multiple centers of business, not just one.
  • An isolated state that has not been influenced by outside factors no longer exists.
• The influence of technology has dramatically altered agricultural systems around the world.
• Government policies have also influenced what crops a farmer grows.
• Despite the enormous changes over time, the model can still be loosely applied to contemporary agriculture.
• One of the most innovating technologies that has improved the transportation of agricultural products is the refrigerated container.
  • The development of this technology has permitted perishable items like eggs and dairy to be produced much farther from markets.
• Fruits and vegetables only grown in certain parts of the world can now be flown to grocery stores in another hemisphere.
• Time-space compression as well as growing demands for food worldwide has expanded the markets available to most producers.
  • Specialty farming thrives in places with particular climates and soil, unlike von Thünen’s assumption that the land was all the same.
  • “Out of season” produce is essentially a thing of the past.

13.4 Agriculture as a Global System

Agricultural Interdependence

• In today’s global economy, consumers purchase foods from all over the world.
• Agriculture has become globally integrated and organized, often connecting peripheral countries with core countries.
  • No single country produces all of the food its population consumes.
• Global supply chain: A network of people, information, processes, and resources that work together to produce, handle, and distribute goods around the world
  • As these networks have grown more complex, many regions of agricultural production and consumption have become increasingly interdependent.
• Commodity agricultural products are traded through global supply chains.
  • Commodities are highly sought after in global markets.
• The supply chains for some commodities start with production in a peripheral country using low-cost, local labor.
  • Processing and packaging the product, the next step in the supply chain, may occur in the same country or a different one.
  • Finally, the finished commodity is distributed to markets usually in core locations of the world.

Commodity Dependency

• International trade can be vital to a country’s economy, and many rely on exports for financial stability.
• Some peripheral countries struggle with developing and maintaining export economies.
• They may end up becoming dependent on one cash crop.
  • Cash crop: A crop produced mainly to be sold and usually exported to larger markets
  • This dependency on one export can have negative consequences.
  • Alternatively, if the supply of the crop is limited, countries specializing in it can make large profits.
• The specialization of one product creates a reputation and a demand for production.
  • However, the reliance on a single commodity is risky, and it’s unhealthy for an economy.
• Various changes in world markets can disrupt a country’ economy that relies on one export.
  • Infrastructure, political relationships, and world trade patterns all impact the complex food distribution network.

Infrastructure

• Participating in the global agricultural system requires infrastructure to efficiently produce and distribute goods.
• Infrastructure includes communication systems; water, and electric systems; and most importantly, roads and transportation.
• Railroads and waterways are efficient ways to transport agricultural commodities.
  • Most products traded internationally move by sea.
  • Many countries use trains to move goods within the country and to neighboring countries.

Political Relationships

• Supply chains work best when trade partnerships are stable, reciprocal, and understood by all parties.
• Any kind of instability can cause disruptions, but political instability may be the biggest threat.
  • Political instability can affect global supply chains with varying degrees of damage to countries and their economies.

Patterns from the Past

• Global supply chains can trace their roots back to European colonial and imperial networks.
  • European cities became markets for exotic foods from every corner of the world.
  • European powers dictated which crops would be grown on their newly acquired lands, often growing products that had become popular in the markets back home.
• This resulted in patterns of monocropping.
  • Monocropping was also a way a controlling country could monopolize the dependent country’s economy.
• Some former colonies today are still economically tied to the country that once colonized the area.

Patterns of World Trade

• The amount of agricultural trade is both growing and changing every year.
  • Trade in food alone has nearly doubled since 1995.
• This is a result of economic growth in peripheral and semi-peripheral countries that have become more engaged with global markets.
  • Core countries remain leading exporters and importers, but emerging economies have increasing relevance.
• Population growth and income changes are directly related to the growth in agricultural trade.
• Another area of growth for agricultural trade is between peripheral and semi-peripheral countries.

Preferences

• As global agricultural trade increases, consumers gain access to more foods.
  • New foods are introduced to regions and information about different foods spreads.
  • This can influence food preferences and alter the patterns of production and consumption.
• Recent trends are changing what farmers plant and their agricultural practices around the world.
  • The rising interest in plant-based foods is creating new demands for the production of vegetable proteins.
  • This is a result of the trend to eat less meat for health and environmental reasons.
• Modifications in crop production will continue to evolve as trends change.

Fair Trade

• The wages paid to laborers who produce commodity crops are often low.
• Fair trade: A movement that tries to provide farmers and workers in peripheral and semi-peripheral countries with a fair price for their products by providing more equitable trading conditions
  • The movement aims to increase worker wages by paying an above-market fair price.
  • This also limits the damage done to farmers if they face devastating challenges due to conditions outside of their control.
• Early in the fair trade movement, countries talked about the idea of “Trade not aid.”
  • They realized establishing equitable trade relationships between core and peripheral countries was more impactful than sending aid money.
  • To ensure the success of the movement, a labeling system was created to raise consumer awareness.
• To place the fair trade label on a product, the producer must meet a number of requirements.
  • The farm must engage in a democratically operated cooperative
  • Follow basic health, environmental, safety, labor, and human rights regulations
• Products are priced higher both as a result of this certification and because they are often higher quality or organic.
  • Consumers pay more money for fair trade products, supporting the belief that producers should have fair wages and living conditions.
  • As of 2019, more than 1 million small-scale producers are part of the fair trade movement.
• Fair trade products are available everywhere, but in limited quantities.
• Studies are measuring the actual impact of fair trade. Reports show that fair trade relationships are, in fact, benefiting farmers.
  • However, there are reports that even though cooperatives are benefiting, the workers they hire may not be seeing the same level of aid.
• Some critics argue that fair trade practices artificially inflate market prices.
• They also argue that small, individual farmers who need the most assistance are ignored.