Ch10_Agriculture+(1)

USA Rural Land use

• Metes and Bounds = East Coast

• Township and Range = Midwest and parts of West

• Long lots = Louisiana and areas along Mississippi

Agricultural Origins and Regions

• Origins of agriculture

  • Hunters and gatherers

  • Invention of agriculture

• Location of agricultural hearths

  • Vegetative planting

  • Seed agriculture

• Classifying agricultural regions

  • Subsistence vs. commercial agriculture

  • Mapping agricultural regions

Agriculture in Less Developed Countries

• Shifting cultivation/slash and burn (primarily rainforests)

  - Characteristics of shifting cultivation

  - Future of shifting cultivation

  - not sustainable

• Pastoral nomadism

  - Characteristics of pastoral nomadism

  - Future of pastoral nomadism

  - very poor way to make a living

• Extensive - lots of space needed

• Intensive (lots of inputs ferts, ppl, etc) subsistence agriculture

  - Intensive subsistence with wet rice dominant (a staple of humanity)

  - Intensive subsistence with wet rice not dominant

• Plantation farming (coffee, tea, chocolate, fruits) (monocultural mainly in poor countries)

• Dairy farming (commercial) (Space)

• Grain farming (commercial) (Space)

• Livestock ranching (commercial) (Space)

• Mediterranean agriculture (Space)

• Commercial gardening (truck and suitcase farms) SE + E coast (Farmers Market)

Agricultural Origins and Regions:

• Origins of Agriculture: Developed from hunter-gatherer societies; involved the domestication of plants and animals.

• Agricultural Hearths: Key locations where agriculture began, including regions in the Fertile Crescent, China, and Mesoamerica.

• Types of Agriculture:

  • Subsistence Agriculture: Farmers grow food primarily for their own consumption.

  • Commercial Agriculture: Produced for sale in the market.

• Agricultural Regions Classification: Divided into various types based on methods and outputs, such as intensive subsistence, shifting cultivation, and plantation farming.

• Patterns: Mapping agricultural regions helps understand distribution and practices in global agriculture.

Von Thumen Model (38/49)

Shows how distance from a city or market affects the choice of agricultural activity in a uniform landscape and one with a river

City/Dairying - Gotta tend to veggies and dairy,

Forestry- used for fuel and buildings

Crop rotation - needs more space and more valuable outland than inland

1. Marketing gardening (fruits and soft veggies) (city)

2. Dairy (small farms)

3. Livestock fattening/(Lumber) - cattle, pigs, chicken

4. Grains (far away midwest)

5. Ranching (on land that you cannot grow things)

6. Non-agriculture (rocks = doesn’t work)

Economic Issues of Agriculture