Economic and Political influences on agriculture Flashcards
What can influence the food and methods of agriculture?
Economy
Politics
What is an example of where food production has changed?
the changes to food production in Europe since the second world war (1945)
what happened to food production in Europe after the world war?
Europe couldn’t produce enough to feed everyone
What would have happened to Europe without a major change to food availability?
there would be serious food shortages maybe even famine and social and political problems
What helped reduce the food availability problems in Europe?
Food Aid from the USA
What could farmers not afford to do in Europe after the war?
couldn’t afford to invest in more productive methods
weren’t sure if they would be able to pay back loans they would need to take out
What allowed farmers to invest in more productive methods after the war?
GRANTS were made available so farmers could get financial assistance for a wide range of projects to increase food production
What projects were the post-war grants used for?
hedgerow removal to increase field size
purchase of machinery
drainage of wet fields
improved livestock
liming to neutralise acidic soils
What were the impacts of the grants given?
Increased food production
Environmental impacts: hedgerow and wetland removal
What problem did increasing production of farms lead to?
output might exceed demand meaning market price would drop and farmers would lose money despite high yield
What was done to reduce the drop in market price of agricultural goods?
greater financial security was given to farmers by providing a ‘guaranteed market’ with price support system
What would happen if there was a surplus harvest?
The government would buy some of the harvest from farmers to create an artificial shortage and raise price to an agreed level earlier in the year
What would the government do to the surplus harvest when bought?
if possible it would be stored (grain, milk power, cheese and meat)
What would happen to surplus that could not be stored?
was often destroyed
(fruit and vegetables)
What would happen if there was a poor harvest?
shortages in supply could have caused prices to rise
Government could use stored foods
What would the government do to prevent a rise in the price of food?
they would sell just enough food that had been stored from previous years to bring the market price down to agreed level
What was the aim of the Guaranteed market?
create a more financially stability for farmers and consumers and help raise food production
What had happened to food production by the 1970’S?
it had increased to the level where there were more surpluses than shortages in MEDCs
what was the problem with farmers continuing to grow more foods?
the government would keep having to buy there produce because of guaranteed market but it couldn’t be sold due to lack of poor harvests
What problem did the government have with trying to sell surpluses?
finding alternative markets due to competition with other food exporters or lack of consumers to buy product
Why could the surpluses not be sold to other MEDCs?
as they had produced surpluses too
What are some examples of MEDCs?
UK
USA
Canada
Australia
Why couldn’t surpluses be sent to Japan?
as they already imported food from established suppliers like the USA and Australia
What countries needed to food but could not afford the price?
Eastern Europe and the USSR
