Comprehensive Study Guide on Global Agriculture, Farming Systems, and Classification of Agricultural Societies

In 2023, nearly $1.4\text{ billion}$ people were employed in agrifood systems worldwide (Food and Agriculture Organization).
Employed individuals in agrifood systems represented $43.8\%$ of working women ( $584\text{ million}$ ) and $37.3\%$ of working men ( $804\text{ million}$ ) globally.
In 2023, between $713$ and $757\text{ million}$ people were undernourished globally (Food and Agriculture Organization).
The majority of undernourished people live in Asia, even though the prevalence of undernourishment is highest in Africa (Food and Agriculture Organization).

Global agricultural land reached $4.6\text{ billion}\,ha$ in 2024, accounting for more than one-third of total land area (Food and Agriculture Organization).
Cropland expanded by $92\text{ million}\,ha$ since 2001, while permanent meadows and pastures declined by $238\text{ million}\,ha$ (FAO).

Agricultural societies are classified based on two fundamental criteria:
- The importance of off-farm sales.
- The level of mechanization and technological advancement.
The structural categories of agricultural societies comprise:
- Subsistence: Solely for family sustenance and home consumption; characterized by rudimentary tools and native plants.
- Traditional: Oriented in part for home consumption and in part for off-farm sales.
- Advanced: Specialized, highly capitalized, and oriented toward off-farm sales (industrialized agriculture).

Characterized by near total sufficiency on the part of its members.
Production for exchange is minimal.
Any exchange that occurs is strictly non-commercial.
Each family or close-knit social group relies on itself for its food and other most essential requirements.
Divided into two distinct types:
- Intensive Subsistence Agriculture.
- Extensive Subsistence Agriculture.

Involves large areas of land and minimal labor input per hectare.
Subdivided into two main operational types:
- Nomadic Herding.
- Shifting Cultivation.

Defined as the nomadic yet controlled movement of livestock solely dependent on natural forage.
Animals involved include:
- Sheep
- Camels
- Cattle
- Goats
- Horses
- Yaks
- Reindeer
Livestock species are selected for their hardiness, mobility, and ability to subsist on sparse forage.
Provides key primary products:
- Milk
- Cheese
- Blood
- Meat
- Wool
- Skins for clothing and shelter
- Excrement for fuel
Nomadic movement is tied directly to:
- Sparse and seasonal rainfall
- Cold temperatures
- Varying appearance and exhaustion of forage
Currently in decline due to being at odds with controlled international boarders and private land ownership.

Also referred to by the names: Swidden, Slash and Burn, and Kaingin.
Practiced predominantly in the tropical areas of the world where soils rapidly lose many of their nutrients.
After several harvests, soils become depleted, causing farmers to rotate fields rather than crops to maintain soil productivity.
Incorporates "polyculture," a practice where many different types of crops are planted within a single field.
Key functions and benefits of polyculture:
- Reduces vulnerability to pests and diseases.
- Spreads harvest throughout the year to provide food security.
- Keeps the soil covered by vegetation, thereby reducing the potential for erosion.
Practice retention: Retained only in small parts of the uplands of Southeast Asia in Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, and the Philippines.
Current status: Becoming increasingly less viable.

Involves the intensive cultivation of small landholdings through the expenditure of great amounts of labor per acre.
Geographic distribution: Concentrated in major river valleys and deltas such as the Ganges and the Chang Jian (Yangtze), as well as in smaller valleys close to coasts—level areas featuring fertile alluvial soils.
Primary operational characteristics:
- Large inputs of labor per unit of land.
- Small plot sizes.
- Intensive use of fertilizers (mostly animal manure).
- High crop yields in good years.

Two distinct paths exist for promoting increased food production:
1. Expand land area under cultivation.
2. Increase crop yields from existing farmlands.
Global land availability and constraints:
- $70\%$ of the world's land area is agriculturally unsuitable.
- Of the remaining $30\%$ , most of the area well-suited for farming is already under cultivation but is being lost due to varying factors.
- Only the rainforest of Africa and the Amazon basin of South America retain sizeable areas of potentially farmable lands.

Characteristics of modern commercial agriculture:
- Specialization
- Off-farm sale
- Interdependence of producers and buyers
Intensive Commercial Agriculture development:
- Following World War II (WWII), agriculture in the developed world's market economies turned increasingly to concentrated methods of large-scale production.
- Commercial agriculture involves the use of machinery, chemicals, and irrigation.
- Relies on a restricted range of carefully selected and bred plant varieties and animal breeds.