Lec 14 - Population and resources

Question 1

What are the 5 reasons for which agriculture is important

Answer 1

 International trade
- 8.5% of merchandise trade

 Source of national revenue
- contributes 5% to global GDP

 Employment
- in developing countries a big part of employment is provided by the agricultural sector

 Livelihoods
 impact on Environment

Question 2

What are the 3 types of agriculture

Answer 2

subsistence, cash cropping, industrial/commercial

Question 3

describe subsistence agriculture

Answer 3

• Subsistence
  ○ People harvesting food for their own consumption
  ○ Small level of inputs (no fertilizers, pesticides)
  ○ Low tech
  ○ Primarily for households

Question 4

describe cash cropping

Answer 4

• Cash cropping
  ○ Small farmers produce a surplus or specialty
  ○ 1 foot in subsistence, 1 foot in market
  ○ Peasant farmers
  ○ Contributes significantly to total agricultural exports
  ○ Levels of input are highly variable

Question 5

describe industrial/commercial

Answer 5

• Industrial/commercial
  ○ High fossil fuel inputs (fertilizer, gas for machines)
  ○ High yields, all for market
  ○ Mechanized

Question 6

What is diversity in the practice of agriculture driven by?

Answer 6

the environment and the availability of the 3 factors of production (LLK)

Question 7

What is the role of relative factor endowments?

Answer 7

determines what type of agriculture there will be in a specific place

		§ e.g. Prairies
			□ Land abundant, labour scarce, and capital available = highly mechanized farming 
		§ e.g. Amazon
			□ Land abundant, labour scarce, capital scarce = shifting cultivation, slash and burn 
		§ e.g. Java
			□ Land scarce, labour abundant, capital scarce = cultivate in terraces (built using abundant labour in order to maximize land)

Question 8

what is productivity, how does it vary, and what does it depend on

Answer 8

○ Want to get as much out of your land for a given input
○ Huge difference in productivity throughout the world
○ Depends on how people practice agriculture

Question 9

What are the 3 types of agricultural innovation?

Answer 9

 ‘Induced’ innovation
 Agricultural intensification
- Ester Boserup
- Population drives food supply
 Biological innovation in agriculture
- Green revolution
- Biotech revolution

Question 10

Describe induced innovation

Answer 10

• ‘Induced’ innovation
  ○ Induced by relative availability of LLK
  ○ People are very inventive
  ○ Goal is ultimately to increase productivity of land through more efficient use of inputs

Question 11

Describe agricultural intensification

Answer 11

• Agricultural intensification
  ○ Goal is to get more for what you put in
  ○ Increase inputs and efficiency
  ○ Usually done through application of more labor or fertilizer or fallowing practices

Question 12

describe the 2 pathways for agricultural intensification

Answer 12

Ester Boserup’s agricultural transition and Biological innovation in agriculture
Ester Boserup: as populations grow farmers
intensify cultivation
- Shifting cultivation
- Bush fallow
- Short-term fallow
- Permanent cultivation and multicropping

“agricultural transition”: We start with shifting cultivation –> leave land in fallow –> shorten fallow because more mouths to feed –> no fallow –> permanent cultivation by way of fertilizers, etc

Question 13

differ boserup from malthus

Answer 13

Boserup vs Malthus: Malthus argued that food drives population, whereas Boserup argued that population drives food

Question 14

what are the two revolutions of biological innovation in agriculture

Answer 14

the green revolution and the biotech revolution

Question 15

describe the green revolution

Answer 15

§ Green Revolution
□ Scientists found a way to increase yield by 2-3x by adopting a certain package
□ Green revolution package: high yield variation of crops + fertilizer + …
□ Had a huge impact on availability of food, but created inequality
□ Some argue that resilience of agriculture decreased due to this package
□ Much of Africa ate root products. Thus green revolution did not apply to that area. Gates foundation wanted GR for Africa

Question 16

Describe the biotech revolution

Answer 16

□ Make plants more productive, but also more resistant
□ BT corn: corn that contains its own pesticide

Question 17

What are some global trends in agriculture?

Answer 17

• Agricultural output growing faster than population growth
  
  • Change in geography of production
    ○ Contribution of high income countries decreasing
  • Change in agricultural prices
    ○ Decrease in price of agricultural commodities