Introduction to Contemporary

Geography

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Lectures

Chapter 10Food and Agriculture

Amy D'Angelo SUNY Oswego

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Government Subsidies

• The US government has three solutions for the

problem of excess productive capacity.

– Farmers are encouraged to avoid producing

crops that are in excess supply.– The government pays farmers when certain

commodity prices are low.– The government buys surplus production and

sells or donates it to foreign governments.

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Crop Hearths

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Animal Hearths

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Total Consumption of Food

• Humans derive most of their kilocalories through consumption of cereal grain, or simply cereal, which is a grass that yields grain for food.

• The three leading cereal grains—maize (corn in North America), wheat, and rice—together account for nearly 90 percent of all grain production and more than 40 percent of all dietary energy consumed worldwide.

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Dietary Energy by Source

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Protein

Protein by Source

Protein from Meat

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Swine Stock

• As a result of taboos against consuming pork, the number of pigs raised in different regions of the world varies sharply.

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Wine Production

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Dietary Energy Consumption

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Percent Income Spent on Food

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Undernourishment

• Undernourishment is dietary energy consumption that is continuously below the minimum requirement for maintaining a healthy life and carrying out light physical activity.

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Percentage of Farmers in Society

• In developed countries, around 5 percent of workers are engaged directly in farming, compared to around 50 percent in developing countries.

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Rice Production

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Fish Production

• Water-based food is acquired in two ways.

– Fishing (capture of wild fish and seafood)– Aquaculture (cultivation of seafood)

• About two-thirds of the fish caught from the ocean is consumed directly by humans, whereas the remainder is converted to fish meal and fed to poultry and hogs.

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Fishing

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Agricultural Land and Population

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Food Exports and Trade Balance

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Von Thünen Model