Unit 5 Agriculture and Rural Land-Use Patterns and Processes

Unit 5: Agriculture and Rural Land-Use Patterns and Processes ● 1rst Agricultural Revolution ○ Neolithic Revolution ○ Domestication of plants and animals ○ Diffusion of agriculture ○ Crop hearths: ■ SW Asia: Barley, wheat, lentil, and olive ■ E Asia: Rice and Millet ○ Columbian Exchange: global exchange of goods, diseases, plants, animals that start with Columbus's exploration of the Americas ■ Crops help with population growth ■ Migration ■ Transfer of European Diseases ■ Native American’s population wiped out ● 2nd Agricultural Revolution: ○ Allows the industrial revolution to begin and grow rapidly ○ Technology brings a surplus of production with less human labor but with high social and environmental costs ● Subsistence vs. Commercial agriculture ○ Subsistence is production of food for the farmer’s family ○ Commercial is the production of food for a global scale ● Undernourishment is dietary energy consumption is lower than the requirement ● Subsistence Farming types ○ Pastoral Nomadism ■ Herding of domesticated animals ■ Arid and semi-arid areas of N. Africa, Middle East, Central Asia ■ Transhumance: Migrations from highlands to lowlands by seasonal ● Shifting Cultivation ○ Clear land for planting by cutting and burning the vegetation ○ Grow crops for a few years until soil nutrients are gone, leave it for many years to let the soil recover ○ Tropical rainforests, Amazon and Central and West Africa ● Intensive Subsistence Agriculture ○ Labor intensive production of rice ○ Major food source is Asia ○ Double cropping is used in warm areas of South China and Taiwan ○ Feeds most of the ¾ of the world’s ppl. who live in developing countries ● Commercial Agriculture ○ Agribusiness ■ Industrialization of agriculture ● Chemical fertilizer, pesticides, herbicides ● Large food production industry ○ Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming ■ Mixture of crops and livestock ■ Most of crops are fed to animals ■ Most of money income comes from animal products ■ Share the workload more evenly through the year ○ Dairy Farming ■ Most important type in the first ring outside the large cities bc of transportation ■ Milkshed: ring surrounding a city from which milk can be provided ○ Commercial Gardening and Fruits ■ Truck farming/ bartering ■ Some are sold fresh but most are sold by can or freeze for large scale ○ Grain Farming ■ Crops are grown for humans ■ Sell their crops to manufacturer’s of food ■ Use of Machine is a lot ■ Based on consumer preferences ■ All of the world, but dominantly in U.S. and Russia ○ Mediterannean Agriculture ■ Borders a sea & on west coasts of continents ● Sea winds give moisture and moderate the winter temps. ■ Have a small but of income from animal products ■ Horticulture: Growing of fruits, vegetables, and flower form the commercial base ■ Medeterannean sea is where olive and grapes are two most important cash crops ○ Live-Stock Agriculture ■ Ranching: Commercial grazing of livestock ■ Developed countries where sol is not fertile and not much vegetation is present ■ A part of meat-processing industry in today’s world ■ Overgrazing damages the world’s grasslands ■ Destructions of the rainforests are urged for cattle ranches ■ Basically damages the environment ● Problems ○ Subsistence Farmers must feed an increasing amount of people ○ Must grow food for export instead of direct consumption because of international trade ○ Commercial Farmers have low income because they can produce a surplus than what is demanded by consumer ○ Von Thunen Model ■ Explaining the importance of the distances to market with the choice of crops on commercial farming on a scale to national and global markets ■ 1rst ring: Perishable Foods (milk, etc.) ■ 2nd Ring: Difficult to transport (wood, etc.) ■ 3rd Ring: Various crops and pasture lands ■ 4th Ring: Spacious lands for animal grazing ○ Strategies to distribute food for everyone: ■ Increasing Exports from countries that have a surplus ● Moving from western to eastern hemisphere ■ Making the land area used for agriculture larger ■ Expanding fishing ● aquafarming/aquaculture: cultivation of seafood under controlled conditions ■ Increase the productivity of land used for agriculture ● Higher-yield seeds ● Increase use of fertilizers 3rd Agricultural Revolution ● Green Revolutions ○ Development of high-yielding varieties of cereal grains, irrigation expansion ● Gene revolution ○ Hormones and antibiotics are provided to animals ○ Genetically modified livestock more for developed countries, but basically the U.S. ○ Goal of reducing hunger ■ New varieties of wheat and corn, increased production of rice ○ Starvation of many prevented but surplus of food means higher birth rates ○ New human diseases from animal diseases ○ Lower standard of living ■ Malnourished farmers ○ Environmental Degradation ● Sustainable Agriculture ○ Practices that keep and enhance environmental quality ○ Sensitive land management ○ Limited Use of Chemicals ○ Better combination of crops and livestocks