1. What Is the Global Pattern of Agriculture and Agribusiness?
Commercial agriculture: Large-scale farming and ranching operations that employ vast land bases, large mechanized equipment, factory-type labor forces, and the latest technology
Roots in colonial economic system
Today, global production made possible by advances in transportation and food storage

2. World Climates (Köppen Classification System)

3. World Agriculture

4. World Agriculture
Definite correlation between the World Climate and Agriculture Maps
Drier lands rely on livestock & ranching
Moister climates marked with grain production

5. Agriculture in LDCs Extensive subsistence agriculture
Shifting cultivation
Pastoral nomadism
Intensive subsistence agriculture
Intensive subsistence with wet rice dominant
Intensive subsistence with wet rice not dominant

6. Extensive Subsistence Agriculture
Qashqai nomads using paved roads to move their animals near Shiraz, Iran.

7. Intensive Subsistence Agriculture
Terraces create flat land for wet (irrigated) rice on hilly land in Indonesia.

8. World Rice Production, 2005
Fig. 10-6: Asian farmers grow over 90% of the world’s rice. India and China alone account for over half of world rice production.

9. Plantation Agriculture
Cash crops are part of the colonial legacy: sugar, bananas, coffee, cocoa, tea, rubber
Goal is to protect these cash crops:
Governments implement quotas & offer subsidies, producers may attempt collective action and multinational corporations at times fight federal governments
At times cash crops are grown instead of food crops

10. Contemporary Cash Crops
Cotton:
Initially produced mostly in India, also Nile Delta, Punjab Region, Sudan, Uganda, Mexico & Brazil (European colonies)
Now production is worldwide (Core countries also)
Now in competition with synthetic fibers
Rubber:
Initially only found in rainforests along equator
As a result of colonization the largest plantations are in SE Asia now
Now in competition with synthetic rubber

11. Luxury Crops
Suitable environment and available labor in colonies led to establishment of plantations that focused on Luxury Crop production
Examples: Tea, Cacao, Coffee, Tobacco
Typically labor wages are very low
Most of what is produced is sent abroad

12. Fair Trade Agriculture
Fair trade coffee: Shade-grown coffee produced by certified fair-trade farmers, who then sell the coffee directly to coffee importers
Guarantees a “fair trade price”
Over 500,000 registered farmers, in more than 20 countries
Often organically grown
Purchase commitment by Starbucks and other chains

13. Illegal Drugs Difficult to map Poppy: Heroin and Opium production
SE & SW Asia, esp. Myanmar (Burma) and Afghanistan
Coca: Cocaine production
Colombia, Peru & Bolivia
Marijuana:
most of what is imported into the US comes from Mexico

14. Agriculture in Developed Countries
Mixed crop and livestock farming
Dairy farming
Grain farming
Livestock ranching
Mediterranean agriculture
Commercial gardening and fruit farming
Access to markets

15. World Milk Production, 2005
Fig 10-8: Milk production reflects wealth, culture, and environment. It is usually high in MDCs, especially production per capita, and varies considerably in LDCs.

16. Milk Production in MDCs & LDCs 1960-2005
Milk production has grown more rapidly in LDCs than in MDCs since the 1960s.

17. Combines on Wheat in Kansas
Combines can reap, thresh, and clean crops like wheat in a single operation.

18. Mediterranean Agriculture
Grapes loaded in vineyards on slopes above the Douro River in northern Portugal

19. Environmental Impacts of Commercial Farming
Overfishing
Overgrazing
Clearing of forests to facilitate agriculture and trade
Leeching of pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics, hormones and fertilizers into groundwater

20. Agribusiness and the Changing Geography of Agriculture
Agribusiness: Businesses that provide a vast array of goods and services to support the agricultural industry
Spatial concentration of agricultural activities
Relationship to subsistence farming
Privileged large landowners
Government organization of agriculture
Impact of markets

21. Poultry Farming

22. Hog Production

23. Loss of Productive Farmland
Farmland in danger of being suburbanized as cities expand

24. Farmland Loss in Maryland