Agriculture
V. Agriculture, Food Production, and Rural Land Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13–17%
A. Development and diffusion of agriculture
1. Neolithic Agricultural Revolution: Between 10,000 and 3000 B.C.E., people in several areas around the earth
developed new agricultural methods and machines, such as the plow pulled by horses or oxen. Also began the slow domestication and development of both crops and animals. The results of these changes made agricultural production much more productive. Food output increased. More land could be farmed by fewer people or in fewer hours. This resulted in greatly improved production and increased the availability of food and increased population.
2. Second Agricultural Revolution: during the same time period as the Industrial Revolution, improved methods of cultivation, harvesting, and storage of farm produce. Resulted in increased population.
3. Green Revolution: the development of higher-yield and fast-growing crops through increased technology, pesticides, and fertilizers transferred from the developed to developing world to alleviate the problem of food supply in those regions.
4. Large-scale commercial agriculture: large scale farming and ranching operations that employ vast land bases, large mechanized equipment, factory-type labor forces, and the latest technology.
agribusiness: businesses that provide the vast array of goods and services that support the agriculture industry.
B. Major agricultural production regions
1. Agricultural systems associated with major bioclimatic zones
World Climates
World Agriculture
2. Variations within major zones and effects of markets
3. Interdependence among regions of food production and consumption
C. Rural land use and settlement patterns
1. Models of agricultural land use, including von Thünen’s model: farming activities into rings around a central market city, with profit-earning capability the determining force in how far a crop locates from the market. Transportation cost and cost of land also contribute to location.
2. Settlement patterns associated with major agriculture types: subsistence: self sufficient agriculture that is small scale and low technology & emphasizes food production for local consumption, not trade. Mostly seen in LDCs.
cash cropping: crops grown for money; more specifically refers to more specialized crops located mainly in or near the tropics (ex. sugar, cotton, rubber, bananas, oranges, etc.)
plantation: a large estate owned by an individual, family, or corporation and organized to produce a cash crop. Almost all were established in or near the tropics - many have been divided into smaller holdings, or reorganized as cooperatives (owned by a group of individuals).
mixed farming: farmers grow crops and raise livestock on the same land with most of the crops fed to the animals rather than people.
monoculture, pastoralism: a form of subsistence agriculture based on the herding of domesticated animals (sheep, goats, etc).
ranching: the commercial grazing of livestock over an extensive area.
forestry: the art and science of cultivating, maintaining, and developing forest.
fishing and aquaculture: the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and aquatic plants.
3. Land use/land cover change: irrigation, desertification: degradation of land because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting
deforestation, wetland destruction, conservation efforts to protect or restore natural land cover, and global impacts
4. Roles of women in agricultural production and farming communities
D. Issues in contemporary commercial agriculture
1. Biotechnology: the use of genetically altered crops and DNA manipulation in order to increase production
including genetically modified organisms (GMO)
2. Spatial organization of industrial agriculture, including the transition in land use to large-scale commercial farming and factors affecting the location of processing facilities
3. Environmental issues: soil degradation, overgrazing, river and aquifer depletion, animal wastes, and extensive fertilizer and pesticide use
4. Organic farming, crop rotation, value-added specialty foods, regional appellations, fair trade, and eat-local-food movements
5. Global food distribution, malnutrition, and famine
