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

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