Agricultural Practices and Economic Forces

Subsistence Agriculture:
- Focused on food production for local consumption.
- Predominantly found in less economically developed regions (e.g., Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia).
- Aims for self-sufficiency, not profit.
Commercial Agriculture:
- Aims for profit maximization and involves production for market sale.
- Large-scale farms, often with hired labor and significant capital investments.
- Mainly located in economically developed regions.

Concept:
- Demand and price of land decrease as distance from the central business district (CBD) increases.
- Intensive Agriculture: High labor/capital relative to land size; located near markets due to perishability of products.
- Extensive Agriculture: Lower labor/capital; located farther from markets due to less perishability.

Large-scale operations can lead to consolidation of small family farms.
Family farms are often unable to compete with the efficiencies of large-scale farms.
Monocropping and reliance on economies of scale characterize large-scale operations.

Commodity Chains:
- Series of links from production to consumption, adding value at each stage.
- Modern agriculture is transformed into complex supply chains dominated by agribusinesses.

Economies of Scale:
- High-volume production reduces costs and increases profits.
- Smaller farms often join cooperatives to compete with large-scale farms.
Carrying Capacity & Technological Advances:
- Technology increases arable land's carrying capacity while industrial inputs (fertilizers, mechanization) boost yields.
- Mechanization enhances efficiency and reduces labor requirements on farms.

The shift towards commercial agriculture globally reflects advancements in technology, changes in consumer demand, and economic globalization, often to the detriment of small family farms.