1. Where did agriculture originate?
Ch.10 Agriculture
Where did agriculture originate?

2. Peterson Farm Bros

3. Geography of Agriculture
Why study agriculture?

4. Why study agriculture? Covers over 40% of Earth’s land surface
Food production takes up almost half of the planet's land surface and threatens to consume the fertile land that still remains, scientists warn.
The global impact of farming on the environment is revealed in new maps, which show that 40 percent of the Earth's land is now given over to agriculture.
University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists compiled the maps using satellite images and crop and livestock production data from countries around the world. The team presented their picture of global land use this week at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
"The satellite data tells us where cultivation is occurring with good spatial accuracy, while the census data is able to tell us what is being grown there," said Navin Ramankutty, a land-use researcher with Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Sustainability and the Global Environment (SAGE).
The maps suggest that an area roughly the size of South America is used for crop production, while even more land—7.9 to 8.9 billion acres (3.2 to 3.6 billion hectares)—is being used to raise livestock
And with the world's population growing rapidly, the pressure is on farmers to find new land to cultivate, the study team says.
"How can we continue to produce food from the land while preventing negative environmental consequences, such as deforestation, water pollution, and soil erosion?" Ramankutty said.
Past Picture
The researchers also used past land-use data to create maps showing how agriculture has spread over the centuries. In 1700, for example, just 7 percent of the world's land was used for farming.

5. Why study agriculture?
More than ½ of all families in LDC’s earn living through agriculture

7. What is agriculture? Agriculture does not equal food production
Distinction between agriculture and hunting and gathering - whether or not humans raise the plants and animals or of they grow wild
Forestry and fishing can be forms of agr. if trees are planted (plantation forestry) and fish raised in enclosures (aquaculture)

8. Agriculture What % of the people in this world are farmers?
Principle primary-sector economic activity
Definition: Deliberate modification of Earth’s surface through cultivation of plants and rearing of animals to obtain sustenance or economic gain

9. Origins of Agriculture
Cannot be documented w/ certainty, before recorded history
Hunters & Gatherers:
Lived in small groups (>50)
Gender roles (men-hunt; women-gather)
Frequent travel, seasons, movement of game
250,000 ppl today (.005%); isolation

10. Hunters and Gatherers - Contemporary
Australia
Arctic - Inuit
South America (Paraguay)- Ache’ Hunters
way of life is preserved by many governments, tend to be isolated, provide insight into prehistoric cultures, and where they exist (Arctic, interior of Africa, Australia, South America)
isolated
declining
way of life preserved by many governments
provide insight into prehistoric cultures
Africa - Kalahari Bushmen

11. Invention of Agriculture
Probably an accident (dropped food)
Experimentation
Noneconomic reasons (animals)
2 Types of cultivation – vegetative followed by seed agriculture which is more common today

12. Location of first Vegetative Planting
Probably originated in SE Asia
Fishing led to more sedentary lifestyle
Roots such as taro & yam, tree plants such as banana & palm
Other independent hearths may have been W Africa, NW SA – diffused from there

13. Vegetative Planting Hearths
Fig. 10-1: There were several main hearths, or centers of origin, for vegetative crops (roots and tubers, etc.), from which the crops diffused to other areas.

14. Location of First Seed Agriculture
Also originated in more than one hearth
W India, N China, Ethiopia
Diffused quickly, domestication of wheat & barley – became particularly important thousands of yrs later in European & American civilizations
Integration of seed agr. & domestication of herd animals (cattle, sheep, goats)
Other animal products came later (milk, skins)
Complex pattern of diffusion throughout world of various plants & animals (pg.335)

15. Seed Agriculture Hearths
Fig. 10-2: Seed agriculture also originated in several hearths and diffused from those elsewhere.

16. First Agricultural Revolution - Where?

17. Differences Between Subsistence & Commercial Agriculture
1) Purpose of Farming
LDCs – subsistance farming, for purpose of own consumption
Some surplus may be sold, but not purpose and may not be any surplus some yrs
MDCs – Commercial farming, for purpose of sale off the farm to food-processing companies
- General Mills, Kraft etc.

18. 2) % of Farmers in the Labour Force
MDCs; less than 5% directly involved (Canada & US only 2%)
LDCs; 55%
# of farmers declined drastically in MDCs during 20th century
Push & Pull factors

19. Labour Force in Agriculture
Fig. 10-3: A large proportion of workers in most LDCs are in agriculture, while only a small percentage of workers in MDCs are engaged in agriculture.

20. 3) Use of Machinery
vs. use of people/animals
Small # of farmers in MDC’s can feed many people
Farm machinery 1st produced in 18th century (2nd agricultural revolution)
Transportation improvements move things farther & faster (railroads, highways)
Scientific advances (research)
Electronics & GPS

21. Tractors, per Population
Fig. 10-4: Tractors per 1,000 people. Use of machinery is extensive in most MDC agriculture, but it is much less common in LDCs.

22. 4) Farm Size
Commercial- large (US/Canada), although family owned & operated (98%)
Dominated by a handful of large farms (top 4%, 50%+ total output)
½ of US farms generate >$10,000/yr
Huge impact of mechanization
Fewer farms/farmers, more land devoted to agriculture (13% more than 1900 – peak in 1960)
Urban sprawl

23. 5) Relationship of farming to other business
Commercial farming: Agribusiness
More than 20% of US labour works in field related to agribusiness
Machinery manufacturing, fertilizer production, retailing etc.)
Many aspects of agribusiness are controlled by large corporations

24. Mapping Agricultural Regions
Derwent Whittersey – map
11 main agricultural regions + area where non-existant (5 LDCs, 6 MDCs)
Climate main influence
*Figure 10-5 in textbook
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