Agricultural and Rural Land Use

Origin of Agriculture

Most experts believe agriculture developed over time

First agriculture is vegetative planting– Cutting off a stem of another plant or dividing roots

of a plant Seed agriculture came next where farming is

done by planting seeds rather than part of the parent plant

Agricultural Hearths: Carl Sauer’s theory says it started in SW Asia the diffused north and east to China and and Japan then west toward SW Asia, Africa and the Mediterranean

Agricultural Revolutions

First Agricultural Revolution, sometimes called the Neolithic Revolution– Involved humans domestication of seeds and

animals 2nd Agricultural Revolution: started in 1880s in North

America with globalization of industrialized agriculture and new technologies that increased food supply like mechanized farm technology and chemical fertilizers

Impact of Industrialization: with the third agricultural revolution, we now produce the raw material then move it to a factory to be changed into something that can be more easily sold at market– Example: milk

Agribusiness: system of food production involving everything from development of seeds to marketing and sale of food products at market

The Green Revolution Began in 1940s as part of third agricultural revolution with

development of hybrid seeds and fertilizers that increased output Started with U.S. funding of charities to increase output in third

world countries Benefits have been huge in battling world hunger

– Grain production increased 45% world wide from 1945-1990– Asia increased rice production by 66% by 1985– India became self-sufficient with rice by 1980s

Negatives of Green Revolution– Reduced number of workers needed on farms– Higher-yield crops are often more susceptible to viruses and

bugs– Farmers in peripheral countries often can’t afford technologies

from the Green Revolution– Environmental problems like pollution and soil contamination

are more common, water resources have been strained

Subsistence Agriculture

Defined: agriculture where farmers grow enough food consume but no surplus – Most commonly seen in peripheral and less developed

countries– Three types: shifting cultivation, intensive subsistence and

pastoralism Shifting cultivation: farmers rotate field to allow soil to replenish

nutrients rather than farming the same types of land over and over– Helps prevent leaching of soil nutrients– Common in tropical zones because of thin topsoil– Many farmers use slash-and-burn agriculture to prepare new

plots of land called swidden– Can cause environmental problems because of large areas

of land necessary– Used on nearly 25% of earths land

Intensive Agriculture

Type of subsistent agriculture Happens when farmers cultivate small

amounts of land very efficiently to produce food for their families

Usually found in regions with high populations because of limited land availability

Rice is dominant intensive subsistence agriculture crop

Many intensive agriculture farmers practice double cropping where they grow more than one crop in a year

Final Subsistence Agriculture

Pastoralism: breeding and herding of animals to produce food, shelter and clothing for survival– Usually practiced in climates with limited arable land– Can be sedentary or nomadic– Usually practice transhumance (the movement of

animal herds to cooler highland areas in summer and to warmer lowland areas in winter)

– Practice is declining world wide Mediterranean Agriculture

– Primarily associated with area around Mediterranean climates because of long, dry summers and cool wet winters

– Usually produces crops like wheat, vine and tree crops, olives and figs

Von Thunens Agricultural Location Theory

Von Thunen was 19th Century German economist who developed theory about where and why agricultural activities would take place around a city's marketplace

Model explains and predicts agricultural use patterns

Basic patterns of Von Thunen– Central marketplace is surrounded by

agricultural activity zones that are in concentric rings representing a different type of agricultural land use

– Moving outward from city’s central marketplace, the farming activities changed from intensive to more extensive

Von Thunen’s Model

Why use von Thunen?

Useful in comparing real situations to his theoretical farming situation-restricted to one variable, transportation costs

Shows the influence of distance as a factor in human location decisions – Settlement patterns in villages vary by culture– In Europe, villages were on hillside to leave

flatlands for farming and near rivers– In Asia and Africa, villages were often round to

protect cattle

Let’s look at if Von Thunen is real!

Rural land use and Settlement patterns Factors Affecting Farm Locations: why do farms end up where they do? Physical factors: obviously, location on earth can be important but humans

can modify the environment with innovations like irrigation, greenhouses, etc.– Soil: evaluated by depth, texture, nutrient composition and acidity– Relief: shape of potential field including slope and altitude, exposure to

sun and access to water– Climate: temperature and rainfall

Political-cultural factors: certain factors can influence like Hindu’s holding cows sacred or Muslims not eating pig– In less-developed countries government usually encourage farmers to

adopt more advanced technology– More-developed countries may pay farmers NOT to grow food

Economic factors: farmers will try to grow crops that produce the most money– Example: coffee in South America– Oft times land rent (price farmer pays for each acre of land) is important

with cheaper land usually located further away from city center

U.S. Agricultural Regions

Global land use patterns

Commercial Farming Defined: farming that produces crops to sell at the market place Mixed crop and livestock: involved growing crops and raising animals

– Farmers use crops to feed animals, animal manure to fertilize crops with the animal products (like eggs or milk) as the primary money producer

– Popular in Europe and North America, usually near large, urban areas

Ranching: commercial grazing or raising of animals on a plot of land on which they graze– Usually requires large amounts of land– Common in North and South America

Dairying: growth of milk-based products for the market place– Farms closer to market place usually produce milk while ones

further from the market typically produce cheese and butter– Most are capital-intensive farms (use machinery) unlike labor-

intensive farms (use human labor)

Global agricultural regions

More Commercial Farming

Large-scale grain production: where grains are grown to be exported to other places for consumption– Most common in Canada, U.S., Argentina, Australia,

France, England and Ukraine– Many farms actually produce grains for animals, not

humans Plantation farming: uses large-scale areas (called plantations

or agricultural estates) that specialize in farming of one or two high-demand crops for export– Introduced by Europeans in tropical zones during colonial

periods– Today, most commonly found in low-latitude areas of

Africa, Asia and Latin America where companies own plantations that are close to coastal areas for easy export

– Coffee, cocoa, sugar common goods produced

Globalization of Farming

Started with colonization and plantation system In modern system, a neocolonial or postcolonial

relationships has developed between former colonies and colonizers with colonies still producing raw products and colonizers manufacturing them

Truck farms: when agricultural goods (example, flowers) are flown in from tropical zones for sell in core countries

Humans in developed world have been forced into agribusiness

Humans in less-developed countries have been forced to sell their lands to MNC and grow food primarily for export

World Food Production per Capita

Graph of agricultural exports

Global Food Availability

Biotechnology

Defined: using living organisms to produce or change plant or animal products

Often used with genetic modification-a form of biotechnology that uses scientific, genetic manipulation of crop and animal products to improve agricultural productivity and products

Creation of modern “superplants” that grow faster and have higher yield

Has moved into animals in recent years to produce more meat

Hunger

Hunger around world is not usually caused by humans ability to grow food but by distribution of food supply and people’s ability to access those food supplies

Under nutrition: lack of sufficient calories or nutrients Famine: mass starvation resulting from prolonged

under nutrition Historically, women have higher rates of under

nutrition Nearly 25,000 people in world die each day because

of under nutrition Currently, biotechnology is looking for more

sustainable yield crops

Desertification and Soil Erosion

Soil erosion is caused when soil is not allowed enough time to recuperate between harvests– It takes 100 to 500 years to naturally regenerate half

an inch of nutrient topsoil with some estimates saying soil erosion destroys 55 billion tons of topsoil each year

Desertification: loss of habitable land to the expansion of deserts– Usually caused by cutting down rainforests like in

Africa and the Sahara because cutting down the trees yields more immediate income than preservation of land

– To fight this, some countries are using debt-for-nature swaps where international debt is forgiven in exchange for preservation of rainforests