Commercial Agriculture: Mixed Crop & Livestock

Mixed crop and livestock farming is the most common form of commercial agriculture in much of Europe from France to Russia as well as in the United States west of the Appalachians and east of 98° west longitude, beyond which arid conditions limit farming without irrigation.

Features of Mixed Crop & Livestock

The most distinctive characteristic of mixed crop and livestock farming is the integration of crops and livestock. Most of the crops are fed to animals rather than consumed directly by humans. In turn, the livestock supply manure to improve soil fertility to grow more crops. A typical mixed crop and livestock farm devotes nearly all land area to growing crops but derives more than three-fourths of its income from the sale of animal products, such as beef, milk, and eggs. In the United States pigs are often bred directly on the farms, whereas cattle may be brought in to be fattened on corn.

Mixing crops and livestock permits farmers to distribute the workload more evenly through the year. Fields require less attention in the winter than in the spring, when crops are planted, and in the fall, when they are harvested. Meanwhile, livestock require year-round attention. A mix of crops and livestock also reduces seasonal variations in income; most income from crops comes during the harvest season, but livestock products can be sold throughout the year.

In the United States, corn (maize) is the crop most frequently planted in the mixed crop and livestock region because it generates higher yields per area than do other crops. Some of the corn is consumed by people as oil, margarine, and other food products, but most is fed to pigs and cattle. The most important mixed crop and livestock farming region in the United States—extending from Ohio to the Dakotas, with its center in Iowa—is frequently called the Corn Belt because around half the cropland is planted in corn

Maize (Corn) Production, 2016

The United States produces more than 40 percent and China nearly 20 percent of the world’s maize (corn).

Mountain of Harvested Corn

North Platte, Nebraska.

Soybeans have become the second-most-important crop in the U.S. mixed commercial farming region. Like corn, soybeans are mostly used to make animal feed. Tofu (made from soybean milk) is a major food source, especially for people in China and Japan. Soybean oil is widely used in U.S. foods as a hidden ingredient.

Importance of Access to Market

The use of land in developed countries is determined primarily by market forces of supply and demand. The value of the land affects the form of commercial agriculture practiced on it. Agricultural land is lost altogether to some other use if someone buys it for another purpose.

Because the purpose of commercial farming is to sell produce off the farm, the distance from the farm to the market influences the farmer’s choice of crop to plant. Geographers use the von Thünen model to help explain the importance of proximity to market in the choice of crops on commercial farms. Johann Heinrich von Thünen, an estate owner in northern Germany, first proposed the model in 1826, in a book titled The Isolated State. According to this model, which geographers later modified, a commercial farmer initially considers which crops to cultivate and which animals to raise based on market location. In choosing an enterprise, the farmer compares two costs: the cost of the land and the cost of transporting products to market.

Von Thünen based his general model of the spatial arrangement of different crops on his experience as the owner of a large estate in northern Germany during the early nineteenth century. He found that specific crops were grown in different rings around the cities in the area:

First ring. Market-oriented gardens and milk producers were located in the first ring out from the cities. These products are expensive to deliver and must reach the market quickly because they are perishable.

Second ring. The next ring out from the cities contained wood lots, where timber was cut for construction and fuel; closeness to market is important for this commodity because of its weight.

Third ring. The next ring was used for various crops and for pasture; the specific commodity was rotated from one year to the next.

Fourth ring. The outermost ring was devoted exclusively to animal grazing, which requires lots of space.

Von Thünen Model

(a) According to the von Thünen model, in the absence of topographic factors, different types of farming are conducted at different distances from a city, depending on the cost of transportation and the value of the product. (b) von Thünen recognized that his model would be modified by site factors, such as a river in this sketch, which changes the accessibility of different land parcels to the market center. Agricultural uses that seek highly accessible locations need to locate nearer the river.

The model assumed that all land in a study area had similar site characteristics and was of uniform quality, although von Thünen recognized that the model could vary according to topography and other distinctive physical conditions. For example, a river might modify the shape of the rings because transportation costs change when products are shipped by water routes rather than over roads. The model also failed to consider that social customs and government policies influence the attractiveness of plants and animals for a commercial farmer.

illustrates the influence of transportation cost on the profitability of growing wheat. The example in shows that a farmer would make a profit by growing wheat on land located less than 10,000 kilometers from the market. Beyond 10,000 kilometers, wheat is not profitable because the cost of transporting it exceeds the gross profit. These calculations demonstrate that farms located closer to market tend to select crops with higher transportation costs per hectare of output, whereas more distant farms are more likely to select crops that can be transported less expensively.

Transportation in the von Thünen Model

Pause & Reflect 9.3.8

If the price of wheat dropped to $200 per ton, what would be the maximum distance that the wheat could be profitably shipped?

Summary

Where is Agriculture distributed?

• Agriculture can be divided into 11 major regions. Including five subsistence and six commercial regions.

• In subsistence regions, pastoral nomadism is prevalent in drylands, shifting cultivation in tropical forests, and intensive subsitence in regions with high population concentrations.

• In commercial regions, mixed crop and livestock is the most common form of agriculture. Dairy, commercial gardening, grain, Mediterranean and livestock ranching are also important.