Agriculture Moooo!

Hunters and Gatherers Before agriculture Hunt Gather Frequent travel Animals Fish Umm…what else? Gather Berries Leaves? Frequent travel .005% of the world population now

Agriculture Deliberate modification of Earth’s surface through cultivation of plants and animals Crop: Any plant cultivated by people Agriculture has many hearths How and why it diffused is undecided by geographers

Agricultural Revolution Climate and technology both played roles in all three revolutions. Revolution means change! (usually abrupt, but not so abrupt with agriculture)

Neolithic Agricultural Revolution People started consciously making a connection between climate and agriculture Animals were domesticated Often referred to as the “Dawn of Civilization” Just after the ice age, 5-7,000 years ago (or longer, according to our textbook) The plow, wheel, numbers and letters were all invented at about the same time.

Second Agricultural Revolution Climate and technology- again! Climate and the improved plow and the horse Beginning 500ish AD – 1200 AD Medieval period or Dark Ages This time usually focuses on the arts, but not the technology that was developing A warmer and drier climate made it possible to grow at higher elevations than ever before The plows now had knives and a moldboard, and horse collars/shoes and nails were invented The term acre was used, indicating the amount one horse or two oxen could plow in a day

Green Revolution Started in Mexico in the 1940s, spread in the 50s and 60s from a grant to help improve agricultural techniques Often attributed to Norman Borlaug By the way- this is not a political thing. We’re not talking about “Going green” Involved selected breeding of high yield plants (plants specifically designed to respond well to agricultural techniques) Created variety of crops Corn yields in the U.S. have almost quadrupled

Agricultural Hearths

Agricultural Hearths

Subsistence and Commercial Ag Based on 5 things: Purpose of farming Percentage of farmers in the labor force Use of machinery Farm size Relationship of farming to other businesses

Subsistence and Commercial Ag MDCs Food mainly produced for sale off the farm Small percent of farmers in the labor force (Less than 5%) Rely on machinery Scientific and technological advances Relatively large farm size Agribusiness – System of commercial farming LDCs Food mainly produced for personal (family) consumption There may be surplus, but that’s not the intent 50% + engaged directly in farming Do most work by hand or with animals Relatively small farm size No need to be close to businesses

Sources http://climate.umn.edu/doc/journal/kuehnast_lecture/l4-txt.htm http://web.missouri.edu/~brente/agrirev.htm http://geography.about.com/od/globalproblemsandissues/a/greenrevolution.htm Our very own textbook 