2. Agriculture
Chapter 11

3. What is Agriculture and Where did Agriculture Begin?

4. Agriculture
Agriculture – the purposeful tending of crops and raising of livestock in order to produce food and fiber.

5. Economic Activities Primary economic activities
- products closest to the ground
examples: agriculture, ranching, fishing, forestry, mining
Secondary economic activities
- Manufacturing of primary products into new products
examples: toys, ships, processed foods, chemicals, buildings
Tertiary economic activities
service industry – connecting producers to consumers to facilitate trade
examples: bankers, lawyers, doctors, teachers, nurses, salespeople…
Quaternary and Quinary economic activities
- Specialized services
- those people concerned with information or the exchange of money or goods (quaternary) and those tied into research and higher education (quinary)

6. The First Agricultural Revolution
Where did plant domestication begin?
South and Southeast Asia
early domestication of root crops, up to 14,000 years ago.
Southwest Asia (the Fertile Crescent)
early domestication of seed crops, about 10,000 years ago.

7. World Areas of Agricultural Innovations
Fig. 11.4
p. 334
Carl Sauer identified 11 areas where agricultural innovations occurred.

8. Chief Source Regions of Important Crop Plant Domestications
Table 11.1 p.335

9. The First Agricultural Revolution
Where did animal domestication begin?
Fertile Crescent
began about 8,000 years ago

10. The Fertile Crescent –
Where the planned cultivation of seed crops began.
- because of seed selection, plants got bigger over time
- generated a surplus of wheat and barley
- first integration of plant growing and animal raising
(used crops to feed livestock, used livestock to
help grow crops)

11. Animal Domestication –
Nairobi, Kenya- trying to domesticate wild gazelles
Animal Domestication –
- Relatively few animals have been domesticated—only about 40 species
Attempts at domestication continue, but most fail
Only five important domesticated animals in the world—cow, sheep, goat, pig, and horse
Jared Diamond Guns, Germs, and Steel

12. Subsistence Agriculture
Agriculture in which people grow only enough food to survive.
- farmers often hold land in common---surpluses are shared by all members of the community, accumulation of personal wealth is restricted
Subsistence farming allowed people to settle in one location permanently (become sedentary) rather than migrating seasonally

13. Intensive and Extensive farming
Intensive subsistence agriculture refers to subsistence agriculture that supports a large number of people on a relatively small parcel of land (i.e., high physiological density). The primary example of intensive subsistence agriculture would be rice growing, such as that found in East, South and Southeast Asia.
Extensive subsistence agriculture, on the other hand, is that which requires a lot of land to support relatively few people (i.e., low physiological density). Examples of this type include shifting cultivation/swidden agriculture (or slash and burn) and pastoral nomadism

14. Intensive and Extensive farming
Not as labor intensive
Ex: using machinery to clear large plots of land
Intensive
Very labor intensive farming
Ex: clearing land through manual labor using simple tools

15. World Regions of Primarily Subsistence Agriculture
On this map, India and China are not shaded because farmers sell some produce at markets; in equatorial Africa and South America, subsistence farming allows little excess and thus little produce sold at markets.

16. Slash-and-burn agriculture
In order to clear land
Slash (cut down) current crops on land
Burn whatever is left
Ashes provide nutrients to soil
Plant another crop
Farm until the land is no longer fertile because of nutrient depletion
Move (shift) to another plot of land

17. Swidden
Swidden is a term used to describe the land that is prepared for agriculture by using the slash-and- burn method.

18. Shifting Cultivation 1. Clearing 2. farming 3. Moving
Example: Slash-and-burn agriculture
2. farming
Until the land is no longer fertile because of nutrient depletion
3. Moving
(shifting) to another plot of land
* Used most widely throughout the world *

19. Shifting Cultivation (cont.)
Was sustainable in the past…
Smaller populations
More available land
Lower physiologic/nutritional/agricultural density
Expected to diminish during the 21st century…
Technological advancements (fertilizers, hybrid seeds, pesticides) leads to increased food quantity
Expanding/growing population leads to less available land and reduced soil fertility
Commercial agriculture is very profitable and efficient
Government/environmental policies put restrictions on land rights or usage and limit the carbon dioxide emissions

20. Pastoralism and Transhumance
Pastoralism is a form of subsistence agriculture in which animals are herded in a seasonal migratory pattern
There are nearly 200 million pastoralists in the world
Breed and herd cattle, goats, sheep, camels, and reindeer
Found in arid, marginal lands, such as deserts and steppes, where rainfall is sufficient for grasses, but not for other forms of agriculture
When the livestock are moving as a group according to seasonal patterns, this is transhumance.

21. Crop Rotation and Intertillage
Crop Rotation: When the farmer uses the same plot of land for different crops depending on the season.
Ex: a farmer plants wheat in a field one year, soy beans in the same field the following year, and then wheat again.
Helps makes the best use out of the small lands that farmers have around the world.
Intertillage refers to planting between the rows of crops. This is a common practice in the tropics. They plant taller, stronger crops in between the rows of lower, fragile crops to protect the fragile crops from downpours.

22. How did Agriculture Change with Industrialization?

23. Second Agricultural Revolution
A series of innovations, improvements, and techniques used to improve the output of agricultural surpluses (started before the industrial revolution).
eg. seed drill
advances in livestock breeding
new fertilizers
occurred over centuries and continued through 1800’s---most sources reference the beginning around the 17th century

24. Von Thunen Model Von Thunen Model
What farmers produce varies by distance from the town, with livestock raising farthest from town.
Cost of transportation governs use of land.
First effort to analyze the spatial character of economic activity.

25. Application of Von Thunen Model
Geographer Lee Liu studied the spatial pattern of agriculture production in China.
Found:
- farmers living in a village farm the lands close to the village and far away intensively
- methods varied spatially – resulting in land improvement (by adding organic material) close to village and land degradation (lots of pesticides and fewer conservation tactics) farther from village.

26. Third Agriculture Revolution (Green Revolution) beginning in 1930’s
Genetic Engineering
Using alternative energy sources, such as biomass, to convert decaying plant matter into energy used to generate electricity or power engines.
Invention of high-yield grains, especially rice, with goal of reducing hunger.
- increased production of rice
- new varieties in wheat and corn
- reduced famines due to crop failure,
now most famines are due to
political problems
- impact (in terms of hunger) is greatest
where rice is produced

27. Average Daily Calorie Consumption per Capita

28. Opposition to Green Revolution
Opposition argues Green Revolution
has led to:
Increased use of pesticides and herbicides
Soil erosion
Water shortages
Micronutrient deficiencies
Dependency on chemicals for production
Destroy local economies
Not beneficial to developing countries

29. Regional and Local Change (pg. 343)
Geographer Judith Carney finds that changing agricultural practices alter the rural environment and economy and also relations between men and women. In Gambia, international development projects have converted wetlands into irrigated agricultural lands, in order to make production of rice year round.

30. Year Round Rice Production – - lands that used to be used for family subsistence are now used for commercialized farming with revenues going to the men. - women do the work of rice production and see little of the benefit because of the power relations in Gambia