1. Why Do Farmers Face Economic Difficulties?

2. Not An Easy Life! Too much… too little? Farmers face problems in both LDCs and MDCs Click to watch

3. Farming in LDCs

4. Challenges for Farmers in LDCs: Rising Populations Subsistence farmers must feed an increasing number of people as populations rise in LDCs. Although crop yields have increased, there are more mouths to feed. Rise in population has led to overgrazing (desertification) and overplanting (depletion of arable soil). Population and Food in Africa

5. Esther Boserup’s Theories Boserup believes subsistence farmers intensify crop production by –using new farming methods –leaving land fallow for shorter periods of time

6. Challenges for Farmers in LDCs: Exporting Cash Crops To pay for the seeds, fertilizers, and machinery to grow more crops, LDC farmers grow food for export instead of for their own food. They pay for their supplies with the money from sales. Consumers in developed countries are willing to pay high prices for fruits and vegetables that would otherwise be out of season locally.

7. Kenya: A Division of Labor Women work in subsistence field Men work in commercial (for export) fields

8. Challenges for Farmers in LDCs: Drug Crops Farmers can often make more money growing drugs than growing food crops. NOTE! Drugs are often produced in LDCs, but consumers live in MDCs. Click to learn

9. Rise in Global Food Prices

10. The Economics of Agriculture

12. Farming in MDCs

13. Challenges for Farmers in MDCs: Supply and Demand Commercial farmers suffer from low incomes, because they are capable of producing more food than is demanded by consumers in developed countries. Demand is stagnant in developed countries because of low population growth.

14. A Farmer’s Story Click to watch

15. Challenges for Farmers in MDCs: Overproduction U.S. government has policies that address excess production: encourage farmers to avoid producing crops that are in excess supply. pays farms when certain commodity prices are low. buys surplus production and sells or donates it to foreign governments.

16. 2014 Farm Bill Click to learn

17. Challenges for Farmers in MDCs: Access to Markets Geographers use the von Thünen model to explain the importance of proximity to market in the choice of crops on commercial farms.

18. Switch To Your Handout!

19. von Thunen’s Model: Four Rings Of Agricultural Activity Created by farmer and amateur economist J.H. Von Thünen of Germany. He believed farmers were “economic men.” He had 6 assumptions to make his model work.

20. von Thunen’s Assumptions… 1.The city is located centrally within an "Isolated State" which is self sufficient and has no external influences. 2.The Isolated State is surrounded by an unoccupied wilderness. 3.The land of the State is completely flat and has no rivers or mountains to interrupt the terrain. 4.The soil quality and climate are consistent throughout the State. 5.Farmers in the Isolated State transport their own goods to market via oxcart, across land, directly to the central city. Therefore, there are no roads. 6. Farmers act to maximize profits.

21. A Question of Balance and Profit The farmers of the Isolated State balance the costs of transportation, land, and profit and produce the most cost-effective product for market.

22. Ring One Dairying and intensive farming occur in the ring closest to the city. Since vegetables, fruit, milk and other dairy products need to get to market quickly, they must produced close to the city (REMEMBER- NO refrigerated oxcarts!)

23. San Antonio Milkshed

24. Forest resources (timber and firewood) would be produced for fuel and building materials in the second zone. REMEMBER- Before industrialization (coal power), wood was the fuel for heating and cooking. Wood is very heavy and difficult to transport so it is located as close to the city as possible. Ring Two

25. The third zone consists of extensive fields crops such as grains for bread. Since grains last longer than dairy products and are much lighter than fuel, reducing transport costs, they can be located further from the city. Ring Three

26. Ranching (livestock farming) is located in the final ring surrounding the central city. Animals can be raised far from the city because they are self-transporting. Animals can walk to the central city for sale or for butchering. Ring Four

27. Von Thunen Modified by Physical Bariers

28. Bid rent theory refers to how the price and demand for real estate change as the distance from the central business district (CBD) increases. It states that different land users will compete with one another for land close to the city center. Spoiler Alert! Relates to Bid Rent Theory Location = yield (market price – production cost) – yield, distance from market, transportation costs

29. things don't happen as they would in a model. Von Thunen demonstration But….

30. Predicted… Actual

31. …applying von Thunen’s basic assumptions …von Thunen’s model with Variations in climate factored in--the north is colder than the South.

32. von Thunen Reviews Click to watch Click to read

34. Strategies to Increase the World’s Food Supply Increasing exports from countries with surpluses Expanding the land area used for agriculture Expanding fishing Increasing the productivity of land now used for agriculture

35. Increasing Exports from Countries with Surpluses On a global scale, agricultural products are moving primarily from the Western Hemisphere to the Eastern Hemisphere. U.S. remains the world’s leading exporter of grain but global share has decreased from 18/19% in the 1970s to 10/11% in the 21 st century because of rapid increase in agricultural exports from Latin America and Southeast Asia.

37. Today, few scientists believe that further expansion of agricultural land can feed the growing world population. Farmland in some regions is being abandoned for lack of water. Other land degradation that makes land resemble a desert-like state caused by humans is known as desertification. Expanding Agricultural Land

39. Aquaculture, or aquafarming is the cultivation of seafood under controlled conditions. Human consumption of fish and seas has tripled between 1960 and 2010. Global fish production has increased from approximately 36 to 145 million metric tons. Expanding Fishing Click to watch

40. Aquaculture vs. Fishing

41. Invention and rapid diffusion of more productive agricultural techniques during the 1970s and 1980s is called the green revolution. Introduced new higher-yield seeds Expanded use of fertilizers Green revolution allowed agricultural productivity to outpace population growth with miracle” wheat seeds, rice seeds, and maize seeds. Increasing Productivity: Green Revolution

42. Sustainable agriculture are agricultural practices that preserve and enhance environmental quality. 3 principal practices distinguish sustainable agriculture from conventional agriculture: –Sensitive land management –Limited use of chemicals –Better integration of crops and livestock Sustainable Agriculture

43. Benefits of Sustainable Farming Environmental Preservation Protection of Public Health Creation of good jobs and strong communities. Upholding Animal Welfare Click to listen

44. Sustainable Agriculture Meets Pop Culture! Sustainable agriculture ride and exhibit at Epcot Click to listen

45. Distribution of Organic Farming Note! Not all sustainable agriculture is organic agriculture.

46. Prior to the development of agriculture, people survived by hunting animals, gathering wild vegetation, and fishing. Current agricultural practices vary between developed and developing countries. Everyone needs food to survive. The amount of food and dietary composition of the food vary between developed and developing countries. Key Issue 4 Summary

47. Most people in developing countries are subsistence farmers, growing crops primarily to feed themselves. Commercial farming is primarily practiced in developed countries. Farmers face many challenges to meeting the dietary needs of a rapidly growing population when they are forced to rely on poorer quality land to farm, as a result of land degradation processes and suburban sprawl taking away prime farmland.