1. Commercial Agriculture: Subregions

2. Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming
Most Common Form in the US east of Appalachians
Farmers grow crops and raise livestock on the same land
Most money comes from the sale of animal products.
Most practice Crop Rotation

3. Dairy Farming Produce Milk, Butter Cheese
Located in areas outside of urban locations.
Produce Milk, Butter Cheese
Labor Intensive and Expensive

4. What is a milkshed?

5. A Milkshed is the ring of milk production that surrounds a major city.

6. Cincinnati Milkshed

7. Grain Farming Production is largely mechanized
US produces the most grain in the world.
Labor is concentrated in planting and harvesting times.

8. Grain Farming Locations
Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma
Planted in the Autumn, Ripens in the Summer
The United States: Winter Wheat
Palouse Region of Washington, the Dakotas and Montana
Winters too severe for Winter Wheat
The United States: Spring Wheat
Canada, Australia, Argentina, France, and the United Kingdom
Other Countries

9. Livestock Ranching
Def: The commercial grazing of livestock over an extensive area.
Often practiced in arid or semi-arid regions
Includes much of the Western US, and the Pampas (prairie) of Argentina

10. Mediterranean Agriculture
Def: Agriculture located on Western coasts, with mild winters and dry summers.
Grown through horticulture (growing of fruits, vegetables and flowers)
Olives, Grapes, Fruits, Vegetables

11. Commercial Gardening and Fruit Farming
Def: Agriculture that relies on heavy equipment to grow bulk amounts of fruit and vegetables
Also known as “truck farming” because truck means to barter.
Located in Southeast US
Apples, Asparagus, Cherries, Lettuce, Mushrooms, Tomatoes, etc.

12. Plantation Farming
Def: Large farms that specialize in one or two crops.
Found in Latin America, Africa, and Asia
Called “Cash Crops” because they make money for their owners.
Cotton, Sugarcane, Tobacco, Coffee, Rubber

13. Rural Land Use and Settlement Patterns

14. What is a land-use model?

15. A Land Use Model shows the different ways that people use the land that is available to them.

16. What is Von Thunen’s Model?

17. Von Thunen’s Model demonstrated the way that rural land use changed as a person moved outward from the center of a city area.

18. Central City
1. Market Gardening and Dairy
2. Forest
3. Field Crops
4. Animal Grazing

19. Nearest the town, farmers raised perishable products such as garden vegetables and milk.
Market Gardening and Dairy
Towns from Von Thunen’s Day were surrounded by a ring of trees used for construction.
Forest
Crops that are less perishable.
Field Crops
Required a lot of space.
Animal Grazing
Transportation costs became too high for profitability.
Outside of these rings:

20. Thunen’s Model Assumed
Flat Terrain
Uniform Soil
No significant barriers to transportation

21. Long Term Observations of Thunen’s Model
His model is still applicable to Organic Food Growth.
His model is applicable for understanding Broad Patterns of rural land use.
Farmers in areas away from major markets are less likely to grow perishable items.