1. Agricultural History

2. Why are we studying agriculture?
Over 1/3 of total global land use is for agriculture.
47% of the world’s population lives in rural areas, and most of those people practice agriculture
This is how we survive!

3. Before Agriculture—Hunting and Gathering
Happened before farming was invented
Involved hunting animals and gathering fruit and nuts around your area
Did not allow large societies to develop because couldn’t support large populations

4. First Agricultural Revolution—Neolithic Revolution
Happened about 12,000 years ago
Involved humans domesticating plants and animals (1st farming)
Led to a sedentary lifestyle (staying in one place)
Allowed societies increase their carrying capacity

5. Husbandry and Domestication
To domesticate animals, you select animals that have traits you want, and breed them
Example: If you have a male and a female dog that both don’t bite, you use them to make puppies
Same concept with crops

6. Independent Plant Domestication
“Fertile Crescent”—Iraq, Syria, and Turkey--Wheat
Peru--Potatoes
Central Mexico--Corn
East Africa—Rice and sorghum
“Indus River Valley”—India—Wheat and barley
China--Rice

7. So…
Small scale, subsistence agriculture developed (growing only enough to feed your family)
Labor intensive agriculture—Required high number of hours per acre of harvested crop
Today—small scale market gardening

8. Carl Sauer
Claimed humans developed a sedentary lifestyle through vegetative planting
Thought it started in SE Asia
SE Asia had diverse climates that helped grow multiple crops
Then, vegetative planting diffused to other parts of the world
Was he right?

9. Role of technology in early farming
Several things made farming possible:
Irrigation—Using structures to provide water where farmers needed it
Plow—Allowed easier planting
Terracing—Allowed farming on mountainous terrain

10. 2nd Agricultural Revolution
Industrial Revolution allowed the mechanization of agriculture in the 1700’s-1800’s
Tractors, reapers, threshers, cotton gin, etc
Also, new hybrid crops, fertilizers, and pesticides developed
Capital intensive agriculture —Use machines to grow things, so less human labor

11. Large Scale, Commercialized Agriculture
Making crops to sell, not just to survive
Plantation agriculture—Huge farms worked by low wage laborers for export
Cash crops—Crops that are made for selling, not for eating, like tobacco or cotton

12. 3rd Agricultural Revolution—Green Revolution
Green Revolution--20TH Century
Putting new antibiotics and growth hormones in food to make it grow faster and bigger
Genetically Modified Food—Changing the genetic makeup of plants and animals

13. 3rd Agricultural Revolution—Green Revolution
In 1965, LDC’s, including India, began planting high yield grains (land intensive, like wheat and rice)
High yield per acre
Also used new fertilizer and irrigation
Educated farmers on new, better techniques
Allowed India to feed its population, has not had a major famine since

15. Effects of the Green Revolution

16. Green Revolution problems
Soil depletion due to new, bigger crops devastated some rural farmers
Ecologically, a lack of biodiversity of crops (only grew one crop where they used to grow several)
Pesticides—Contaminate the soil AND WATER SUPPLY

17. Global Degraded Soils

18. Today’s Global Pattern of Agriculture influenced by past colonialism
Today, many LDCs still survive by producing cash crops for export to MDCs that were once their masters.
Colombia – coffee, Guatemala -- bananas, Egypt – cotton, Caribbean and Brazil – sugar, flowers
Main place produce comes from in winter—Chile
Refrigerated trucks! Made it possible to globalize agriculture

19. Organic Agriculture
Food grown without lots of pesticides or genetic engineering
2 main reasons the industry is expanding:
Higher demand (people care more about what they eat, people have more $$$)
People want to take better care of land after Green Revolution

20. Graphic Timeline!
If you have a textbook quiz to make up or want to redo the FRQ on urban geography I just passed out (or if you never did it), you can do that now.
If you do not need to do either of those, you will do a graphic timeline of agricultural history. If you do a good job, you get a free 100 as a classwork grade for kicking butt on all your other assignments.
Your graphic timeline should include:
At least four events
For each event: approximate dates, brief description, and pictures