Unit 5: Agriculture and Rural Land Use

Economics: The study of how a place acquires, manipulates, distributes, and uses scarce resources and services.

Raw Materials: Natural resources in their basic and relatively unusable form

We can take raw materials and turn them into something we can use through the Economic Sectors.

Economic Sectors: Divisions of the economy responsible for getting raw materials, changing them, putting them to use, and providing services.


Economic Sectors:

Primary Sector: The sector that involves the extraction and harvesting of raw materials such as agriculture, fishing, forestry, and mining. This sector is fundamental as it provides the raw materials needed for the other sectors of the economy.

Example: A potato is grown, harvested, and then delivered into the Secondary Sector.


Secondary Sector: The sector that focuses on manufacturing and processing raw materials into finished goods, such as construction, food processing, and textile production. This sector transforms the outputs of the Primary Sector into usable products that can be sold to consumers or other businesses.

Example: A potato, sent from the primary sector, is turned into potato chips, fries, or vodka.


Tertiary Sector: informally called the “Service Sector” This sector uses and distributes manufactured goods for the benefit of customers

Examples: The potato is sold to customers in the form of French fries in different ways.


The next two sectors are subsectors for the tertiary sector:

Quaternary Sector: The sector that has economic activities that deal with research and development, improving a product, and information

Example: A potato is researched and used to develop potatoes that are cost-efficient, healthier, bigger, and better.


Quinary Sector: Economic activities concerned with decision-making and legislature.

Example: A CEO that looks over a potato company, like Heinz.

Types of Countries that can be categorized:

Less Developed Country (Periphery) Countries: Countries that have low Standards of living and inferior infrastructure. Corporations avoid building factories here, as these countries don’t have developed economies.

NIC/Newly Industrialized Country: Countries that have inconsistent infrastructure, but standards of living are generally improving. Corporations want to build factories here because these countries seek to improve their economies. These people are in need of work and aren’t less developed where the materials and area wouldn’t sustain the factory.
- Examples: BRICs (Brazil, India, and China) or BRINCs (Brazil, India, China, and South Africa)

More Developed Country/MDC: Countries that have a higher GDP per capita, highly efficient infrastructure, and high standards of living. These are where the corporations that run factories in NICs are.

Why do people consume different foods?

Food Prices vary because of:
- No major production increases
- Bad Weather
- Crops as Biofuel than food
- High Demand

Cereal Grain: Grass that yields seed
Grain: Seed

Intro to Agriculture:

What is agriculture?
- Agriculture is the deliberate tending of crops and livestock to produce food for sustenance and/or profit

Types of Agriculture in LDCs:
- Intensive: Agriculture performed with a lot of input (labor and/or capital) yielding much production on less land

- Extensive: Agriculture performed with fewer inputs (labor/capital) yielding less production on much land

Subsistence

1. Intensive Subsistence

   1. Two Types:  Wet Rice Dominant Farming & non Wet Rice Dominant (Grain and Root Crops)

   2. Found in large population clusters of Asia. East and South Asia

   3. Yields large amounts of output per acre and is very labor-intensive

   4. Double Cropping – Obtaining two harvests per year from one field.
      

2. Shifting Cultivation (a.k.a. - “slash-and-burn agriculture”, or swidden)

   1. Involves farming large plots of land until nutrients are depleted and then shifting to a new plot and repeating the process

   2. Found in low Latitude Rainforests
      

3. Pastoral Nomadism (a.k.a -”Seminomadism”)

   1. The practice of herding animals from pasture to pasture for grazing

   2. Nomads do not normally eat animals

      1. Animals are a source of: income, labor, milk, status, shelter, and clothing

   3. Transhumance - Seasonal migrations where the flock/herd grazes on hilltops in the summer and then down into the valley in the winter
      

Commercial

Agribusinesses – Large corporations who own and control each step of the food production industry.

4. Plantation Farming

   1. Commercial farming specializing in “cash crops” (tobacco, cotton, coffee, cocoa)

   2. Often owned by Agribusiness but situated in LDCs where labor is cheap and where certain crops thrive

   3. Plantations often act as self-sufficient communities

5. Mixed Crop –

   1. These Farms raise both crops and livestock. 

      1. The largest share of profits arises from animal products

   2. Use of Crop Rotation – The seasonal rotation of crops from one field to another to replenish nutrients in the soil.

6. Dairy Farming

   1. Expensive operations require a lot of time, energy, and labor.

   2. Located just outside of urban areas

      1. Milkshed - The milk-producing region that surrounds cities. 

7. Grain Farming

   1. Grain – seed from various grasses (corn, barley, wheat, oats rice, etc)

   2. U.S. Greatest Export = corn, wheat, and soybeans.

   3. U.S. Wheat growing belts - winter (Central Plains) – spring (Northwest) – Palouse (Washington) 

8. Livestock Ranching

   1. The commercial grazing of animals over an  area

   2. Often practiced in arid or semi-arid flat land regions: i.e. Pampas (prairie) of Argentina and the US Central Plains

Horticulture - The growing of fruit, vegetables, plants, and flowers. 

• Found primarily in Mediterranean, Commercial gardening and fruit farming

9. Mediterranean

   1. Highly dependent on specific topography and climate to produce specific items (olives, grapes, nuts)

      1. Typically located on hilly coasts with mild winters & summers (30⁰-40⁰ Latitude) 

10. Commercial Gardening & Fruit Farming (a.k.a.: Truck farming, or Specialty farming)

    1. Horticulture farming that relies on scientific and mechanized technology to maximize yield on small plots of land 

    2. Highly dependent on diverse Topography and Climates to produce many varieties of items.

Primarily located along the east coast of the USA where land is at a premium (expensive)


Von Thünen’s Model of Agricultural Land Use

• Von Thünen’s Model - A hypothetical model demonstrating the way that agricultural land use changed as a person moved further from the city/market

• Von Thünen observation - The distance from the city or market determines the types of crops and animals a farmer would likely raise.

  • Two Primary Costs a Farmer is concerned with:

    • Cost of land per acre/hectare

    • Cost of moving products

• Four Farming Rings of Von Thünen’s  Agricultural Land Use Model 

  • First ring -  Market-oriented gardening and Dairy

    • Highly perishable but profitable Crops 

    • Land Costs -

    • Transportation - $ 

  • Second ring - Forestry 

    • Profitable but Bulky because of the high demand for wood

    • Land Cost - $

    • Transportation -

  • Third ring - Rotated crops and for small pasture (Mixed Crop Livestock)

    • Less Perishable crops (grains & legumes)

    • Land Cost -

    • Transportation - $

  • Fourth ring - Animal grazing

    • High Profitability of animals needs lots of cheap land, which offsets the cost of Transportation

    • Land Costs - $

    • Transportation -

  • Beyond the Fourth - Too expensive to farm

• Von Thünen’s Assumptions

  • Flat Terrain/No variations in physical landscape

  • Isolated state with only a single market

    • No barriers to transportation

  • Uniform Soil & Climate

  • Transportation is equally accessible in all directions

• Limitations of the Model

  • Does not account for varied cultural Preferences

  • Does not account for various government Policies

  • Does not account for advances in technology

    • Better transportation infrastructure (Roads, Rail, Airplane, Airports)

    • Better preservation technology (GMOs, Refrigerated vehicles, faster vehicles, etc.)

• The Model's Relevance Today

  • In Developed Countries

    • Land and transportation are still important monetary considerations.

    • Highly relevant for local and organic farming

    • Generally still relevant for dairy & horticulture though at further distances

    • Not relevant for forestry

  • In Developing Countries

    • More applicable than MDCs for commercial farms 

      • because less access to advanced infrastructure and technology  = higher rates of transportation.

    • Not at all applicable to subsistence farms 

      • these reflect physical geography and culture because they are not attempting to turn a profit

  • In General

    • It is applicable for understanding broad patterns of rural land use. Farmers in areas away from major markets are less likely to grow perishable items.

    •  When looking at smaller-scale maps Von Thunen’s patterns generally hold up. (ie. Market Gardening is closer to the large populations)

Why Do Farmers Face Sustainability Challenges?

9.4.1 Explain the Contribution of Expanding Exports to World Food Supply

• Global Food Trade - Increasing

  • Production Trends

    • Exports Increase Economic Viability

    • Imports Increase Food Supply

• Drug Trade  -  Developed Countries generate money through the production and refinement of Drug Crops.

  • Exports Increase Economic Viability for developing countries

    • Coca Leaf/Cocaine- Grown/Refined in Latin America Sold in Anglo-America

    • Poppy Plant/Heroin - Grown/Refined in Asia Purchased in Europe
      
      

9.4.2 Explain Reasons for Loss of Land

• Loss of Land -  

  • Urbanization - as cities grow they expand into Rural Farmland

    • Urban Sprawl

  • Desertification - 

    • Overgrazing drought Prone Land - Sahel

    • Deforestating land to expand Commercial farmland

9.4.3 Describe How Farmers and Scientists have achieved productivity increases.

• Increased Production on Commercial Farms

  • 2nd Ag Revolution

    • Improved Crop Rotation

    • Better Animal Breeding

    • Mechanized Labor

  • 3rd Ag Revolution

    • Miracle Seeds

    • High Yield Fertilizers

    • Pesticides/Herbicides

    • Hormones & Antibiotic increase animal production

• Increased Intensity on Subsistence Farms

  • As Population Grows

    • Developing More intensive Forms (Boserup)

    • Using Less Land More efficiently

      • Double Cropping 

      • Terraced Farms

• The Green Revolution - A period where high yield GMO seeds and more efficient farming methods were introduced to the developing world (see praise vs criticisms at end of notes)
  

9.4.4 Discuss the Debate over GMO Plant Seeds

• GMO (Genetically Modified Organism)

  • GMO - Living plants & animals containing novel combinations of genetic material

    • Pesticide & Herbicide Resistant “Roundup Ready”

  • Positive

    • Higher Yields

    • Expensive to purchase

    • Increased nutrition

    • More Resistant to pests & Weeds

    • Some believe they are better tasting

  • Negative

    • Contain traces of pesticides & herbicides

    • Reduced effectiveness of antibiotics

    • Exportation Problems - Labels

    • Increased  Dependency on Supply Countries
      

Contemporary Agricultural Trends

• Family Farms were the norm 

  • until mid 1900s

• Industrial Agriculture/Agribusiness 

  • beginning in mid 1900s

    • Bigger Farmers

    • Less Farmers

    • More Production/yield

• Sustainable

  • Sustainable/Organic Agriculture 

    • dramatic increase since early 2000s

  • Locally sourced food

    • rapid increase in popularity 2010s

    • locavore

Green Revolution Praise - 

• Nitrogen-based fertilizers increase farm productivity

• Agriculture outpaces population

• Scientists continue to invent new food sources

• Higher productivity reduces dependency on imports in places such as China and India

• New irrigation methods have increased crop yields

• Agribusiness has increased the productivity of cash crops

Green Revolution Criticisms -

• Poor countries struggle to afford the technology required

• Many fishing areas are overfished

• In Sub-Saharan Africa, population is still growing faster than food

• Irrigation has led to serious groundwater depletion

• Increased use of fertilizers often leads to groundwater pollution

• Agribusiness means that land is devoted to raising one crop (monocropping) 
  
  

Rural Settlements Patterns

Concentration

• Dispersed Settlement: Individual dwellings that lie far apart from one another (separated by agricultural fields)

• Clustered/Nucleated Settlement: Individual dwellings located close together (surrounded by agricultural fields

  • Hamlet: extremely small population w/ few buildings

  • Village: slightly larger cluster & typically centered around a larger building

  • Rurl Building Materials

Land Ownership and Survey Systems

1. Primogeniture - The way governments parcel land for future purchase. Surveying the land creates a unique imprint on the cultural Landscape. 

   1. Rectangular Survey System:

      1. Results of the Land Ordinance Act of 1785, which opened the West of the US to land purchases. 

      2. Created a dispersed rectilinear pattern of 6 miles by 6 miles plots of land. 

   2. Metes and Bounds System

      1. Natural Features are used to mark irregular parcels of land

      2. English system (evident on the US East Coast)

   3. Long-Lot Survey System

      1.  Divides land into narrow parcels that extend from rivers, roads or canals. These parcels gave farmers direct access to transportation infrastructure and allowed direct contact with city services. 

      2.  French system (evident where there’s heavy French influence such as Louisiana & old Southern plantation plots, etc.)