1. Agriculture and Rural Land Use

2. Development and Diffusion of Agriculture
Defining Agriculture
The growing of plants or raising of animals, in order to produce food or sustenance for sale at the marketplace
Another definition:
Deliberate modification of Earth’s surface through cultivation of plants and rearing of animals to obtain sustenance or economic gain
Prior to the domestication of plants, humans were primarily nomadic hunters and gatherers
Today, farms provide humans with the ability to stay stationary and build cities
Today less than 250,000 people in the world are hunters and gatherers
Less than 0.005% of world’s pop
Subsistence vs. Commercial Farming
Subsistence
When a farmer can only grow enough food to feed his/her own family
Often in LDCs
97% of world’s farmers live in LDCs
Commercial
When farmers grow food to be sold in groceries and markets, not just to be eaten by the farmers themselves
Often in MDCs
Increasing worldwide

3. Origins of Agriculture
Geographers believed that humans evolved from hunter and gatherers into stationary farmers
Agricultural innovation occurred in and diffused from multiple hearths
Argued that humans first learned to grow plants in Southeast Asia through vegetative planting
Knowledge diffused North and East
Other vegetative hearths are believed to have emerged through innovation in other places

4. Origins of Agriculture
First Agricultural Revolution
Saw human development of seed agriculture and the use of animals in the farming process about 12,000 years ago
Growth of seed crops replaced hunter/gatherer lifestyle
Humans able to stay in one place, grow population, and start to build communities
Seed planting yields more crops than vegetative planting
Increased the carrying capacity for earth
Believed to have occur independently in several hearths

5. Seed Agricultural Hearths
Diffusion Route
Crop Innovation
Western India
To Southwest Asia
Wheat and barley
Southwest Asia
To Europe, North Africa, and NW India
Integrated seed agriculture with domestication of animals
Northern China
To South Asia and Southeast Asia
Millet
Ethiopia
Remained isolated in Ethiopia
Southern Mexico
Throughout Western Hemisphere
Squash and Corn
Northern Peru
Squash, cotton, beans

6. The Second Agricultural Revolution
After the fall of Rome, farming grew into a feudal village structure
During Middle Ages, most farmers worked their lands to feed themselves and their family in an open-lot system
One in which there was one large plot of community farmland that all villagers farmed to produce a crop to eat
As capitalism grew, feudalism diminished and villages enclosed their farmland
Enclosures gave individual farmers their own plots of farmland
Huge shift in agriculture

7. The Second Agricultural Revolution
Geographers still debate where and when the Second Agricultural Revolution began
All agree its most influential phase coincided with Industrial Revolution
Growing industrial economy and the decline of feudal villages in the 1600s and 1700s caused massive urban migration
This wave caused a great jump in demand for food to be shipped to cities for workers
With new demand came new innovations in farming and transportation technology
Better collars for oxen, use of horse on the farm
New fertilizers, field drainage and irrigation systems, and storage systems
Higher farm outputs also encouraged the population boom that accompanied the Industrial Revolution

8. Subsistence vs. Commercial Farming
Five principal features distinguish commercial agriculture from subsistence agriculture
Purpose of farming
Subsistence= for consumption
Commercial= for sale
% of farmers in the labor force
Subsistence = 50% +
Commercial= 5%
2% in North America
Use of machinery
Subsistence= more farmers, use more manual labor/power and tools
Commercial= small # of farmers, more machines, more new technology
Farm size
Subsistence= small farms
Commercial= large farms, 449 acres
Relationship to farming to other businesses
Subsistence= none
commercial= closely related to other businesses, called Agribusiness

9. Types of Subsistence Farming
Shifting Cultivation
Slash-and-Burn
Intensive
Pastoralism

10. Shifting Cultivation Definition
Subsistence farmers rotate the fields they cultivate in order to let the soil replenish its nutrients
Different than crop rotation because farmer does not change crop type
Farming same crop repeatedly on the same plot of land leaches the soil of nutrients that are needed for health crops
Where is it found?
Often in tropical zones
Especially rain forest in Africa, the Amazon River basin in South America, and throughout Southeast Asia
Topsoil is thin, need to change plot of land frequently
The primary cause of poor soil quality in these regions is the heavy tropical rains that wash away soil nutrients

11. Shifting Cultivation
Slash-and-burn farming a common way that farmers prepare a new plot of land for farming
Definition
A form subsistence agriculture in which the land is cleared by cutting (or slashing) the existing plants on the land, then burning the rest to create a cleared plot of new farmland
Called swidden
Method is a form of extensive subsistence agriculture
Uses a large amount of labor
Slash-and-burn is not dependent on advanced technology
Is dependent on human labor and extensive acreage for crops
Little to no fertilizer used
Often swidden farmers will mix different seeds on the same plot of farmland
Called intertillage
Slash-and-burn farming has caused environmental problems in some areas
Rising population pressure
Can only use land for 3 years or less

12. Shifting Cultivation Crops
Southeast Asia
Upland rice
South America
Maize
Manioc (cassava)
Africa
Millet
Sorghum
Also grown in some regions:
Yams, sugarcane, plantain, and vegetables
Traditionally land owned by village not individuals
Changing in South America
Occupies 1/4th of world’s land area
Less than 5% engage in
Requires a LOT of land

13. Shifting Cultivation
Shifting cultivation is being replaced by more money-making farming practices, like cattle- ranching, logging, and production of cash crops to sell in the global marketplace
Instead of the rotating, regenerative methods of shifting cultivation, more destructive forms are being used
Such as permanent clearing of the rain forests by commercial farming companies
Argument whether shifting cultivation is good for LDCs
Supporters argue it is the most environmentally friendly for tropical regions
Critics argue LDCs need to shift to more sophisticated techniques that yield more crops per acre

14. Pastoralism (Nomadism)
Definition
Form of subsistence agriculture involving the breeding and herding of animals to produce food, shelter, and clothing for survival
pastoral refers to sheepherding
Usually practiced in climates with very limited, if any, arable land, such as grasslands, deserts, and steppes
Mongolia, North Africa, Middle East, Central Asia and Central/southern Africa
15 million people, occupy 20% of earth’s land area
Can be sedentary or nomadic
Nomadic pastoralists often practice transhumance
Movement of animal herds to cooler highland areas in the summer and lowland areas in the winter
Like other subsistence agriculture, Pastoralism is declining worldwide
Partly a victim to modern technology
Nomads used to play important role in communications

15. Pastoralism Characteristics of Pastoral Nomads Choice of animals
Depend on animal, not crops for survival
Consume mostly grain
Do not slaughter animals
Size of herd = power/prestige
Often women/children plant limited crops at fixed location
Choice of animals
Camels
Well suited to arid climates
Can carry heavy loads
Sheep
Relatively slow moving
Affected by climatic changes
Require more water, picky eaters
Goats
Need more water than camels
Tough, agile
Can virtually survive on any vegetation
Movements of Pastoral Nomads
Do not wander randomly
Strong sense of territoriality
Goal is to control enough land for animals to forage and get water
Selections of routes based on history and weather

16. Intensive Subsistence Farming
Definition
When a farmer cultivates a small amount of land very efficiently to produce food for the farmer’s family to eat
Usually found in fertile areas that are highly populated
China, India, and Southeast Asia
Make the most of their small plot of land to feed their families, often showing ingenuity in their techniques
= LOTS OF MANUAL LABOR
Terrace-farming in Southeast Asia
Rice is the dominant intensive subsistence agriculture crop in areas such as South China, India, Bangladesh, and Southeast Asia where summer rainfall is abundant
Areas to cold for rice, grains are grown
Such as wheat, corn, and millet
Often intensive farmers practice double-cropping
Planting and harvesting a crop on a field more than once a year
Example: Growing corn in one season and wheat in another

17. Intensive Subsistence with Wet Rice Dominant
Definition
Refers to the practice of planting rice on dry land in a nursery and then moving seedlings to a flooded field to promote growth
Occupies small % of Asia’s agricultural land
Region’s most important source of food
Time-consuming and done by hand
Done best in flat fields
River deltas/valleys
Also terraces
Some places “double-crop”
Grow rice in summer when rainy
Grow grains in winter
Steps to growing rice:
Farmer prepares field for planting
Uses plow with water buffalo
Plowed land then flooded with water
Too much or too little= disaster
Seedlings then transplanted from dry-land to paddy (or sawah)
Plants harvested by hand

19. Intensive with Wet Rice Not Dominant
Climate prevents rice from being grown throughout Asia
Wheat most important crop after rice
Other grains include
Barley
Millet
Oats
Corn
Soybeans
sorghum
Land still used intensively and worked primarily by human power
Some assistance with animals

20. Mediterranean Agriculture
Definition
Primarily associated with the region near the Mediterranean Sea and places with climates that have hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters
CA, Chile, southern South Africa, and South Australia
Mediterranean farming involves wheat, barley, vine and tree corps, and grazing for sheep and goats
Olives, grapes, and figs are staple tree crops on Mediterranean farms
Mediterranean agriculture can be either extensive or intensive, depending on the crop
Wheat= extensive
Olives= intensive
Mediterranean farming is both subsistence and commercial depending on where it is practiced