Agriculture

Introduction

• Agricultural Geography

• Agricultural Hearth Areas

• Physical and Cultural Factors Influencing Agricultural Production

• Subsistence vs Commercial Agriculture

• Agricultural Trends

Geographer’s Perspective of World Agriculture

• Geographers are interested in the patterns and distribution of agriculture in the world today.–What are the patterns of agriculture

worldwide?–Why are agricultural areas

distributed in the manner that they are?

Agriculture

• Agri - Latin for field• culture - to cultivate

• The expanded definition of Agriculture includes the cultivation of plants and animals

• The goal of agriculture is produce sufficient food supplies

Physical Factors

• Land/Soil (fertility)

• Water (precipitation & rivers)

• Sun ( temperature, evaporation rates)

• Climate

Cultural Factors• Population Distribution• Diet of population

• calorie supply, protein, health

• Living Material• clothes, houses

• Lifestyle/Cultural Tradition• nomadic, sedentary/rain dances

• Economics• cash crops with greatest profit ie. viticulture

• Government/Political Policies• Argentina wheat, Japan rice

Agricultural Hearth Areas

• Indus River in Pakistan

• East China (Huang Ho River)

• Ganges Delta (India and Bangladesh)

• MesoAmerica (Mexico and Central America)

• Andean America (Peru)

• West Africa (Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger)

• Mesopotamia (Iraq)

• Nile River (Egypt)

Agricultural Hearth Areas

• Vegetative Planting - using the roots of one plant and dividing it to produce more

– Southeast Asia– West Africa– Northwestern South

America

• Seed Agriculture – using seeds from plants to produce more plants

– western India– northern China– Ethiopia– Southern Mexico– northwestern South

America

Forms of Agriculture

• Subsistence– produced for

consumption– work by hand– most people work

• shifting agriculture• nomadic herding• rice (intensive

subsistence)• plantation agriculture

• Commercial– produced for market

– mechanized

– few laborers

• livestock & ranching• horticulture• dairy farming• mixed crop• grain• medditeranean

Agricultural Trends

• Hand Labor Mechanization• Small Plots Large corporately

owned holdings• No fertilizers natural fertilizers

chemical fertilizers• Natural Seed Production Hybrid Seeds• Farm to family Farm to processing to

supermarkets• Nature controlled water man controlled water

Methods of Agriculture

• LDCs – low yield, high impact farming– Subsistence or barter systems– Intensive hand labor– Limited knowledge of irrigation, soil, and/or return on

investments

• MDCs – high yield med-high impact farming– Commercial Agriculture– High tech– High yield– Large amounts of land required– For distribution, not consumption

Terrace Farming

• Manipulation of hill/mountainsides for flat surfaces to farm

• Practiced mainly along river valleys

• Causes massive erosion and leaves areas prone to flooding

• Common in East and Southeast Asia– Rice

Shifting Cultivation (Slash and Burn)

• Burning or destroying all natural vegetation and planting crops on the soil

• Produces crops for 1-3 years• Land is vacated and the process is repeated

elsewhere• Destruction of rainforests in South America and

Central Africa (Amazon and Congo respectively)• Occupies ¼ of the world’s land area• Only 5% of the world’s population practice this

Swidden

Heavily Forested Area

Slash and Burn

Planting and Growing Seasons (1-3)

Abandoned Field

20-30 Years

Intensive vs. Extensive

• Intensive Subsistence Farming– Small amounts of land use– High yield– Wet rice, subsistence grain

• Extensive Subsistence Farming– Large amounts of land use– Inefficient– Labor intensive– Shifting cultivation, pastoral nomadism