Agriculture
I. Definition, origins, classification
II. Agriculture in LDCs
III. Agriculture in MDCs
I. Definition, origins, classification
• Agriculture:
– Deliberate modification of a portion of earth’s surface
through cultivation of plants or raising animals
– To obtain sustenance (LDCs) or for economic gain
(MDCs)
• Hunting and gathering:
– Small groups, fewer than 50 people
– Today, only ¼ million people still survive by hunting
and gathering
http://www.outbackafrica.nl/Graphics/Botswana/Bu
shmen_kalahari_safari_botswana_reis-1.jpg
• Invention of agriculture
– Accident and deliberate experiment
– Two types of cultivation:
• Vegetative planting: cloning from existing plants
• Seed agriculture: came later, planting of seeds,
practiced by most farmers today
• Hearths: agriculture began in multiple,
independent hearths (points of origin)
(Carl Sauer)
– Vegetative planting
• Southeast Asia
• West Africa
• NW South America
– Seed agriculture
• 3 hearths in the Eastern Hemisphere
– Western India
– Northern China
– Ethiopia
• 2 hearths in Western Hemisphere
– Southern Mexico/Mesoamerica (squash and corn)
– Northern Peru
http://people.cas.sc.edu/ajames/Bing_Symp/1956%
20Photos/Sauer.jpg
The Fertile Crescent
– Mesopotamia,
between the
Tigris and
Euphrates
Rivers
http://online.sfsu.e
du/~patters/culinar
y/media/fertilec.jpg
– Advantages of the Fertile Crescent
• 1. Mediterranean climate
• 2. Numerous edible and productive plants
• 3. Self pollinate, cross pollinate
• 4. Wide range of elevations
• 5. Numerous large animals
• 6. East-west axis
Classifying agricultural regions
• Difference between LDCs (subsistence) and
MDCs (commercial)
• 1. Subsistence agriculture: growing food for
consumption by farmer’s family
• 2. Commercial agriculture: growing food for
sale off the farm (machinery and technology)
Commercial
http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/images/wsci_01_img0
012.jpg
Subsistence
http://www.mchsmuseum.com/images/lettuce.jpg
Today the US is losing farmland
1.2 million acres per year of a total of 1
billion acres
urban expansion
http://blog.kir.com/archives/urban%20sprawl.jpg
Agribusiness
• Commercial farming in the US and other MDCs is called
agribusiness
– Agribusiness includes processing, packaging, storing,
distributing, and retailing; tractor manufacturing, fertilizer
production, seed distribution…
– Farmers are less than 2% of the US labor force
– But 20% of US labor works in food production and service
– Many aspects of agribusiness are controlled by large
corporations
http://ec3.images-
amazon.com/images/P/0141006870.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V62204733_.jpg
II. Agriculture in LDCs
• Shifting cultivation
– Humid low-latitude/tropical zones (high temp and
rainfall), low population density
– 2 types
• Slash-and-burn: clearing land by cutting vegetation and
burning debris (tropical zones)
• Rotation: using a field for a few years, then leaving it fallow
for many years
http://www.luontoon.fi/image.asp?Image=Att4562%5C4562.jpg
• Pastoral nomadism
– A form of subsistence agriculture based on herding
domesticated animals
– Dry climates, where crops can’t grow, low population
density
– Most in arid and semi-arid land in North Africa, the
Middle East, and Central Asia (Eastern Hemisphere)
– Transhumance: seasonal migration of livestock
between mountains (summer) and lowland pastures
(winter)
– Pasture: land used for grazing, and grass or other
plants grown for feeding grazing animals
http://thecia.com.au/reviews/w/images/white-masai-die-weisse-massai-2.jpg
• Intensive subsistence agriculture
– Farmers must work more intensively to subsist on a
parcel of land
– Farms are smaller, so more pressure for productivity
– Practiced in densely populated areas (East, South,
and Southeast Asia)
– Wet rice dominant: mostly in river valleys and deltas,
or in flat or terraced fields
– Wet rice not dominant: climate prevents farmers from
growing wet rice in parts of Asia, where summer
precipitation is low and winters are harsh
http://www.thewonderingeye.co.uk/Images/Large/vietnam_mai_chau_paddy_2.jpg
• Plantation farming
– A form of commercial agriculture in tropics and
subtropics (Latin America, Africa, Asia)
– Mostly in LDCs, but many owned by people in MDCs,
and most products for sale in MDCs
– Plantation: a large farm that specializes in one or two
crops
http://img.alibaba.com/photo/11043440/Coffee___Cardamom_Plantation.jpg
III. Agriculture in MDCs
• Mixed crop and livestock
– Most crops fed to animals
– Crop rotation systems
• Farm split into fields, and each field planted on a planned
cycle, often several years (1 year fallow and cycle is
repeated)
• Different from shifting agriculture in LDCs because LDCs
leave fields fallow for many years and productivity is lower
• 2-field crop rotation system (Northern Europe, 5th century)
– Cereal grain planted in Field A for one year, Field B fallow
• 3-field system (8th century)
– Field 1 planted with a winter cereal, Field 2 a spring cereal,
Field 3 left fallow
• 4-field system (NW Europe, 18th century)
– First year: root crop in Field 1, cereal in Field 2, rest crop in
Field 3, and cereal in Field 4
– Second year: cereal in Field 1, rest crop in 2, cereal in 3, and
root in 4
• Dairy farming
– Dairy used to be consumed on farms or in rural
villages, but in the 19th century demand from urban
residents increased
– Dairy farms locate near urban areas: the ring
surrounding a city from which milk can be supplied
without spoiling is known as the milkshed
• Before the 1840s, milksheds had a radius of less than 30
miles
• Today milk can be transported more than 300 miles
Von Thunen Model
http://www.harpercollege.edu/mhealy/geogres/gif
s/econgeog/vonthunen1.GIF
• Grain farming
– Grain: the seed from various grasses, like wheat,
corn, oats, barley, rice, millet, and others
– Grain is the major crop on most farms
– Different from mixed crop and livestock farming
because crops on a grain farm are grown primarily for
consumption by humans
– Wheat
• Benefits:
– Can be sold for a higher price
– Has more uses than other grains
– Can be stored easily
– Can be transported a long distance
• Grown extensively for international trade and the world’s
leading export crop
• The US and Canada account for half the world’s wheat
exports
– In North America, large-scale grain production is
concentrated in 3 areas:
• 1. Winter-wheat belt (Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma):
planted in fall, harvested in summer
• 2. Spring-wheat belt (Dakotas, Montana, southern
Saskatchewan): planted in spring, harvested in summer
• 3. Palouse region in Washington state
• The result in the US is a staggered harvest, starting in the
south and progressing north
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j270/JohnnyGunn/allwheat1.jpg
• Livestock ranching
– Ranching: the commercial grazing of livestock over
an extensive area (semiarid and arid land in MDCs)
– The only European countries involved in cattle
ranching are Spain and Portugal
– Outside the US: Spain and Portugal, Argentina and
Brazil, and Australia
– Ranching has gone through stages
• Herding of animals over open ranges (seminomadic)
• Fixed farming by dividing land into ranches
• Farms converted to growing crops and ranching confined to
drier lands
• Mediterranean agriculture
– Where?
• Lands that border the Mediterranean Sea in southern
Europe, North Africa, and western Asia
• Also in CA, Chile, South Africa, and Australia
• Every area borders a sea
• Sea winds provide moisture and moderate the winter,
summers are hot and dry
• Land is hilly and mountainous
– Tree crops and horticulture (the growing of fruits,
vegetables, and flowers)
• Olives, grapes, fruit, vegetables, citrus, tree nuts
– Half the land devoted to growing cereals (wheat for
pasta and bread)
http://www.aesu.com/Packages_and_Tours/Classic%20Tuscany/Images/Italy%20-
%20Tuscany%20Rolling%20Hills.jpg