5721024

Agriculture
Write this somewhere on your sheet

• Socioeconomic—Social or economic
factors that affect the lives of average,
working people in a country
• (I think this gave a lot of you trouble
on your FRQ’s)
The Three Agricultural Revolutions
• First (Neolithic) Agricultural Revolution (8,000
B.C. in SE Asia and four hearths)
– switch from hunting and gathering to sedentary plant
and animal domestication
• Second Agricultural Revolution (1700s in
Europe)
– new farming and storage abilities increased food
supplies to meet a growing and urbanizing
population
• Third Agricultural Revolution (late 1800s –
1950s in N. America)
– distributed mechanized farming technology and
agricultural chemicals on a global level
Third Agricultural Revolution—1950-present
• New machinery
• tractors for plowing soil
• reapers for cutting crops
• threshers for separating grain
from stalks
• Refrigerated containers!
• Chemically-produced
fertilizers and
pesticides
• Genetically Modified
Foods
• Green Revolution
-
• Refrigerated containers now used to transport

agricultural goods globally
Dunedin, New Zealand

Industrial Agriculture
• As a result of the Third Agricultural
Revolution, food production
became “industrialized”
• Changed
– Who produces food
– How food is produced
– Where food is produced
Who produces food
• 1st--Family farm
– Family farms control most
steps in the food production
process
• Now--Corporate farm under
industrial agriculture
– Large companies called
agribusinesses control most
steps in food production (seed
design, raising animals/growing
plants, processing, packaging,
advertising, and distribution)
How food is produced
– Labor-intensive
• Now--Corporate
farm under
industrial
agriculture
– Food manufactured
in large factories
– Capital-intensive in
all steps (cultivation,
processing,
distribution)
Where food is produced
– Local farms in MDCs
• Now--Corporate farm under
industrial agriculture
– Often produced in LDCs and
exported to MDCs (globalization
of agriculture)
– Small farmers in LDCs now work
for foreign agribusiness
corporations
– Ex. During winter in North
America, Chile is the primary
source of fruits and vegetables
in grocery stores
Neocolonialism
• European powers used colonies
in Africa, Asia, and the
Americas to supply Europe
with raw materials
• Now, most LDCs still survive by
producing cash crops for export
to MDCs that were once their
masters.
– Colombia – coffee, Guatemala --
bananas, Egypt – cotton,
Caribbean and Brazil – sugar,
flowers
Subsistence vs. Commercial
Agriculture
• Five characteristics that distinguish
subsistence agriculture from commercial
agriculture
– Purpose of farming
– Use of machinery
– Percentage of farmers in the labor force
– Farm size
– Where predominant
Purpose of farming
• Subsistence Agriculture • Commercial Agriculture
– provide food for the – Produce products for
farmer’s own family sale off the farm to other
places
Uganda
Use of machinery
– Labor-intensive – Capital-intensive /
mechanized
Farm Size and Scale of production
– Small size – Large size
– Small-scale – Large-scale
Terraced Fields in Malaysia

% of Labor Force in Agriculture, 2005
In LDCs, is the percentage of workers involved in agriculture high or low?
In MDCs, is the percentage of workers involved in agriculture high or low?

Predominant in which regions
• Is subsistence agriculture predominant in LDCs or MDCs?
• So where is commercial agriculture predominant?
Land Use
• Extensive activity
– using a large amount of
land to produce crops and
livestock. (inefficient)
• Intensive activity
– using small amounts of
land very efficiently to
produce crops and livestock
(rice, wheat, corn)
intensive subsistence agriculture
• 45% of people of world’s population do this!
• Farmers cultivate small plots of land very
efficiently, but labor-intensive.
• Predominately grow one crop, then exchange
small amounts for other foods
• Wet rice (India, Bangladesh, S & E. China, SE Asia)
• Double cropping—Planting twice in a growing Indonesia
season
• Done in LDCs
• Found in regions with
– high population density
– abundant summer rainfall
• Rice , maize & manioc (S. Am.), millet & sorghum
(Africa)
World Rice Production, 2005
In which two states is most of the world’s rice grown?
shifting cultivation / swidden farming
• Subsistence Agriculture, multiple crops
grown at one time
• Growing crops in an area for a short
period of time, then leaving it “fallow”
(unfarmed)
• In tropical areas, soil is poor (rain washes Guatemala
away nutrients, so farmers adapt by
moving from field to field to allow soil
to replenish its nutrients.
• Environmentally sustainable, but
inefficient--Largest percentage of
world’s total land area (¼), but supports
less than 5% of world’s population
shifting cultivation / swidden farming
• Usually involves slash and burn
agriculture – land cleared by cutting
existing plants, then burn rest,
cultivates for a few years, then
moves on once soil becomes poor.
• Found in LDCs
• Found in hot, humid, low-latitude
climates (tropical and tropical wet)
• Found in areas with low population
density
• W. Africa, central Africa, Amazon
River basin of northern South
America, SE Asia, especially
Indonesia
pastoralism / nomadic herding
• subsistence pattern of agriculture
in which people make their living
by tending herds of animals
• Livestock provide food, clothing,
shelter.
• Different cultures prefer different Iran
animals
• May be sedentary or nomadic
• Done in arid/semi-arid climates
because no arable land
• Done in Northern Africa, SW Asia,
W. China
Intertillage
• Intertillage is the planting
of different crops together
in the same field.
• This is good for
subsistence farmers, but
is not part of the global
food production process.
(not commercial
agriculture)
• Benefits:
– Spreading out food production
over the growing season
– Erosion control
• Problems
• Inefficient
plantation agriculture
• Specialize in one or two high-

demand cash crops that will
usually be exported to MDCs,
(sugar cane, coffee, palms,
coconuts, rubber, cotton)
• Large-scale commercial
agriculture in LDCs.
• Started during imperialism
• Core-periphery model? Coffee, a cash crop of Ethiopia
grain farming
• Includes corn and wheat, some
for humans, others for animals
• Wheat is world’s leading
export crop.
– U.S. & Canadian farms grow ½ of
world’s wheat supply.
• Done in MDCs (capital
intensive)
• Midwestern U.S., North
Europe, Canada
• Requires mild climate
Mediterranean agriculture
• Near Mediterranean
sea and climates with
hot, dry summers and
mild, wet winters
• Wheat, barley, and Vineyard in Portugal
specialty crops (grapes,

olives, figs)
• Mediterranean,
California, Chile, South
Australia, S. Africa
mixed crop and livestock farming
• Most common type of
farm found in MDCs.
• Most crops grown are
fed to animals, especially
maize, because most
income comes from
animal product sales
• MDCs
• Eastern U.S., N. Europe
Cattle feedlot
dairy farming / dairying
• Near urban areas in
northeastern US,
southeast Canada, &
northwest Europe
(MDC’s, capital
intensive)
• Transport/storage
technology, (refrigerated
trucks) let dairy farmers
locate further from
urban market
livestock ranching/cattle grazing
• Mainly cattle and sheep
• Evolution: from semi-nomadic
to small ranches to part of
meat-processing industry, often
in feedlots to increase efficiency
• Semiarid or arid lands.
• western U.S., pampas region of
S. America –Argentina, southern
Brazil, Uruguay(primarily for
export)., west coast of Latin
America & n. Mexico
One Hint, Two Hints
Guess the word with one hint, get two points! Guess the word with
two hints, get one point. BUT, get it wrong, lose a point…
• Subsistence Agriculture • Plantation Agriculture

• Commercial Agriculture • Grain Farming
• Extensive Agriculture • Mediterranean
• Intensive Agriculture Agriculture
• Shifting Cultivation/Swidden • Pastoralism/Nomadic
Farming
Herding
• Terracing
•
• Mixed Crop and Livestock
Intertillage
•
Farming
Double Cropping
• Intensive Subsistence • Dairy Farming
Agriculture • Livestock Farming

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Agriculture

Write this somewhere on your sheet

• Refrigerated containers now used to transport

Dunedin, New Zealand

Terraced Fields in Malaysia

In MDCs, is the percentage of workers involved in agriculture high or low?

• Specialize in one or two high-

specialty crops (grapes,

• Subsistence Agriculture • Plantation Agriculture

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