Ag in developing countries/trad ag Flashcards
What are the three main world farming systems?
3 main farming systems are…
- Settled ag
- Shifting cultivation
- Pastoral nomadism
What are the characteristics of settled agriculture?
Settled agriculture describes land being used continuously with occasional fallow years.
- accounts for 80% of ag land area
- Variable productivity
- Large range of crops
What are the characteristics of shifting cultivation?
- Common in tropical Africa, parts of Asia and the Americas
- Land use follows the pattern of an area being cleared, cultivated for a few years, then abandoned for a new patch until fertility returns, then re-used.
What are the characteristics of pastoral nomadism?
- Families travel with livestock
- 20 million people
- May cultivate crops opportunistically during the rainy season.
- Arid + semi-arid regions
- Sub-Saharan africa, middle east, central asia
What are the three major animal production systems?
- Industrial
- Mixed
- Grazing
What is an industrial animal production system?
Industrial animal systems are those in which animals are detached from the land base of feed supply.
What is a mixed animal production system?
Mixed animal production systems; where livestock rearing and crop cultivation are to a greater or lesser extent integrated components of one farming system
What is a grazing animal prod syst.?
Systems utilizing native grasslands with little or no integration with cropping systems.
World trends in livestock production systems?
Productivity of industrial livestock systems
growing:
– Twice as fast as mixed cropping systems
– Six times as fast as grazing systems
• Production and consumption of livestock
products are shifting away from ruminants
and towards monogastric animals
• Two thirds of the meat consumed in
developing countries is pork and poultry
• Shift implies more demand for grain and more
manure to find a place for
Characteristics of developing country agriculture?
Large numbers of poor tenant farmers working for a
small number of wealthy landlords
Farmers cultivating small areas of land that they
privately own
Large plantations growing crops for export
1/3 of all holdings in developing countries are less than one hectare
• The average size of agricultural holdings is 6.6 ha
- many farmers cultivating small areas of private land
• Small farmers use ~2/3 of the world’s arable land
• ~60% of the developing world’s population participates in agricultural work for sustenance
- Lower yields on average (not always) BUT high yields may not always lead to high profits.
How is farm production calculated?
Farm prod = farm area x yield
Characteristics of developing country agriculture? In umbered points.
- Small family farms
• Exceptions
– Government policy has dramatically interfered e.g.
former Soviet Union
– Plantation crops: bananas, tea, sugarcane, rubber
tend to be produced on large plantations
– Large livestock farms in Latin America - Limited commercialisation
• Small farms in developing countries tend to produce
subsistence crops rather than cash crops
• Limited involvement in markets
• Much less specialisation than in developed countries
• Minimal purchased inputs - Low labour efficiency
• Output per worker or hour of labour
• High yields may be attained, but this may not
translate into high incomes.
4. Constraints to production and profitability • Labour • Land • Capital How might each of these be a constraint? How can each constraint be addressed?
What are some of the features of traditional agriculture
• Minimize risk • Labor intensive • Conserve energy/high net energy yields • Low level of inputs • Maintain natural resources • High level of diversity/complexity. Resemble natural ecosystems. • Stability & resilience
What are the three key types of efficiency? How are they measured?
- Land use efficiency (yield in kg/ha)
- Energy use efficiency (energy ratio)
- Labour use efficiency (kg/hour)
How is the energy ratio determined?
Energy Ratio =
Total E output (kJ/ha) / Total E input (kJ/ha)
How is labour efficiency calculated?
Labour efficiency (kg/hr) = Yield (kg/ha) / Labour input (hr/ha)
What to consider comparing sustainability of developing and developed?
• How might sustainability of the two systems differ?
– Environmental, social, economic
• Sustainability of energy inputs differs: – Human power – Animal power – Fossil fuels – Machinery – Fertiliser
How can developing country
agriculture improve?
- Development and adaptation of new technologies
- Growth in public agricultural research expenditures
- Government stability
- Resolved land tenure
- Better access to inputs
- Infrastructure development
- Extension services/Farmer education
- Loans for capital investment (e.g. kiva.org, micro credit)
What agricultural programmes does
AusAID have?
• Lifting agricultural productivity
– Investment in research (e.g. ACIAR, CGIAR)
– Sustainable resource use
• Improving rural livelihoods
– Developing markets and trade
• Building community resilience
– Community driven programs, social safety
nets, disaster preparedness
– promoting effective policy, governance and
reform.
How to summarise developing country agriculture?
• Agriculture in the developing world is dominated by
small privately owned farms.
• The proportion of livestock of total farm production is
increasing.
• The efficiency of farming systems depends on the
measure used.
• Small farms can be productive on a per hectare
basis, yet not profitable due to size.
What are some of the major developments in modern agriculture and when did they occur?
1850 AD Stream powered agricultural machinery
1865 AD
Mendel’s Laws
of Genetics
1866 AD
Drip
irrigation
1885 AD
Bordeaux
fungicide
~1910 AD
Tractor
1900 AD
Crop breeding
1920 AD
Synthetic
fertilisers
1940 AD
Pesticides
1947 AD
Low pressure
irrigation
1950 AD
IPM
1982 AD
GM crops
What were the outcomes of the 1st industrial
revolution?
• Environmental – Systems more complex – Starting to manipulate cycles • N, P (manures) – Increased productivity and efficiency in Europe • Social and economic – Land ownership, capitalism - Transport: carts to steam trains
- Swing riots in 1830s in response to…
• Continued development of agricultural machinery
• Fewer farm workers
• Casual contracts
• Widespread rioting, destruction of threshing machines
What was the effects of the UK enclosure? (1st ind. rev)
• 1750 - 1860 • Acts of parliament – 5000 individual acts, enclosing 28 000 km2 • Enclosed open fields • Ceased right to graze animals on what was once common land • Loss of income • Manufacturing industries • Farm workers taken on at annual Hiring Fairs
essentially about privatisation and industrialisation. Reduced the role of common land and bad for peasants with little land.
What were the key aspects of the 2nd ind. rev?
• ~1870s - 1914
• ~1870s - 1914 • Cheap mass production of steel – Iron wore out too quickly • Chemical industries – Dyes, explosives, fertilisers, bakelite, medicines • Refining • Electricity, telegraph, telephones, lighting • Internal combustion engine • Transport – Ships, cars, planes • Factories: – Mass production using interchangeable parts
How did adoption of agricultural machinery vary by region + what were its regional effects?
• Large farms – Australia, US, Canada, Argentina – Early adoption of new equipment • e.g. John Deere – New land available for clearing
• Smaller farms – Europe – Adoption required: • Farm size to become larger • Employ fewer people. More people moved to city
General history of tractors?
- Cable hauled ploughing engines
- First traction engine 1897 in UK
- Usage increased in 1910s
- First mass produced tractor 1917 Henry Ford
General history of P fertilisers?
• Justus Von Liebig, 1840 (considered founder of organic chemistry) – Bone meal + sulphuric acid • John Bennet Lawes, 1850 – Rock phosphate + sulphuric acid – = Superphosphate • Guano from Pacific islands • Australia 350,000 tonnes – Mostly as DAP (18-46-0)
General history of N fertilisers?
Haber-Bosch process – N gas + H gas (N fixation) ammonium – Commercial production in 1913 in Germany • Types of N fertiliser – Ammonium sulphate (21% N) – Ammonium nitrate (34.5 %N) – Urea (45% N) • 100 MT produced annually
When was Mendel’s work rediscovered?
Mendel wasn’t remembered until 1900, through first published research in 1865
What were the outcomes of the 2nd industrial revolution?
Second industrial revolution
• Specialisation of agricultural production
– Horticulture, livestock, crops
– Expansion of farms
• Vertical division in agricultural production
– Suppliers of equipment, fertilisers, service
– Agricultural producers
– Processing and marketing
• Increased imports of cheap agricultural commodities from
Australia, US to Europe
What was the first wheat crop in Australia?
• 9 acres at Farm Cove in Sydney • 40 acres at ‘Experimental Farm’ near Parramatta – 5.4 t wheat harvested in 1790 – Grain kept for seed
First Tassie crops?
• First cereal production in 1803/04
• More fertile soil, regular rain, English
wheat adapted better than much of mainland.
• Continuous cropping on some
Tasmanian farms for >100 years
• System not sustainable:
– decline in yields, soil fertility, more
weeds. Steady decline until fertiliser advent and mechanisation increases.
Early livestock situation in Tassie?
• First merinos imported from Cape Town in 1797 – Meat production – Good quality wool • Export to Britain • 80 t/yr by 1821 • Local processing • Rapid expansion of graziers into eastern mainland • No fences • Separation of pastoral land and crops
What are the characteristics of developed country agriculture?
- Large family farms or businesses
• Farm sizes are increasing
– More efficient use of both labour and energy
OR
• Corporate agriculture and strong non-agricultural
investment (supermarket chains, food processors
and co-operatives) - Commercialised enterprises
• Increased specialisation; technologically advanced
• Most inputs purchased & all outputs are sold
• Contracts for produce
• Global markets
– Improved transportation and shipping networks
• Capital & other off-farm financial investments
• Minimize risk
– Education, farm advisors, accountants - High labour efficiency
• Output per worker or hour of labour
• Fewer constraints of land, labour and capital - Management and production
• Reduced level of diversity/complexity
• Greater understanding of animal and crop nutrition
• Development of pesticides
• New breeding tools giving high levels of genetic progress
• High energy inputs/outputs - low net energy yields
• High level of inputs
5. General product features • Supermarkets: – No need for many food items to be sourced locally • Consumers demand: – very safe, clean and healthy food – food out of season • Commodities • Strict product specification
