1. World Geog 3202 Chapter 9: Food from the Land

2. Ch 9: Food From the Land
Inputs – are the factors put into a system, such as a farming system (labour , seeds, fertilizer, etc), that are operated upon by the systems processes.

3. Natural Inputs- are natures inputs , into a farming system. ( ex
Natural Inputs- are natures inputs , into a farming system. ( ex. climate , topography, soil etc. )
Human Inputs- are man’s inputs into a farming system. ( ex. labor, seeds, fertilizers, etc.

4. Farm Processes- are procedures or operations performed on farm inputs to produce outputs. ( ploughing, sowing seeds, harvesting, etc.)

5. Outputs – are the products leaving a system, such as a farming system , that result from the system’s processes. ( ex. meat , livestock and crops)

6. Types of Farming Commercial Subsistence Intensive Extensive
Shifting Cultivation
Agribusiness
Nomadic Herding

7. Commercial Farming
farming becomes a commercial activity when farmers produce crops or raise animals primarily for sale to others. (ex. Ferguson’s vegetable farm in Canada)
Factors:
- Size of Farm : large commercial operation

8. Commercial Farming (con’t)
Equipment : technologically advanced operations with a low labour requirement.
Yields: Scientific farming techniques , use of fertilizers and chemicals , and crop rotation all help increase yields.

9. Subsistence Farming
Farming is a subsistence activity when farmers produce just enough food for their own needs . (ex. Kajal’s Rice Farm in Bangladesh)
Factors:
Size of Farm: Subsistence farms tend to be small family- oriented operations.

10. - Equipment: Farms are labour intensive and not suitable for modern farm technology
- Yield: Yields are lower on subsistence farms because farmers tend to produce the same crop year after year, which depletes the soils nutrients.
Definition of yeild: a farming ‘output’ or the seed generation of the plant itself

11. Intensive Farming
when a small amount of land is cultivated with the goal of producing a high yield per unit of land ( ex’s- Rice Farming in Bangladesh and shifting cultivation in Borneo)

12. Extensive Farming
- is when large tracts of land are devoted to producing a crop or raising animals .
( ex. Mixed – Vegetable Farm in Canada.)

13. Shifting Cultivation
Is when a family has three plots of land going at once, one in fallow( ploughed), one growing tubers( manioc and sweet potatoes) and one in full cultivation.
After two or three years on one plot of land , a farmer allows the land to revert back to it’s original state. (takes 20yrs.)

14. Agribusiness
is a self –sufficient farming operation that produces it’s own inputs ( seeds, fertilizers, machinery and so on ), maintains it’s own processing facilities, and determines it’s outputs, which it markets through it’s own marketing division .
It’s a farm corporation !!!

15. Nomadic Herding
is the continual movement of people with their flocks in search of pasture.
Reindeer herders