Population and the Environment, Agriculture and climate:4.3-4.7 Flashcards
1
Q
What are the three types of farming?
A
- Arable
> farming of crops/cereal - Mixed
> mix of Arable and Pastoral farms - Pastoral
> farming of livestock
2
Q
what are the conditions for arable farming?
A
- requires high quality soil
> farmer founded Tyrell crisps due to a lot of farmable soil in the UK
3
Q
what are the benefits for mixed farming?
A
- commercially sensible as it is flexible in what they sell
> able to fall back on other crops/ livestock - Fife in Scotland
> good quality soil and space to graze
4
Q
What are the benefits for pastoral farming?
A
- doesn’t require high quality soil
> able to raise livestock almost everywhere - Pampas in Argentina
> richest grasslands in the world
> able to raise high quality beef due to space and feeding on Pampas grass
5
Q
what are the four ways of farming?
A
- intensive
- commercial
- subsistence
- extensive
6
Q
what is the goal of intensive farming
A
- aim to produce in places where they don’t normally grow or out of the growing season
- done by creating an environment which still allows in sunlight but stimulated different environments
> use of greenhouses and ploytunnels
7
Q
what is the goal of subsistence farming?
A
- producing enough food to feed yourself and your community
> rarely enough to be sold - uses ancient techniques
> slash and burn - low input and low output
> lowest yield in farming
> harder environmental impact
> unable to change the environment
> more human element - normally in the LIC
> low economy input as there is no product to sell
8
Q
what is the goal of extensive farming?
A
- focus on maintaining the land, not getting profit
> cows in Yorkshire Dales
> lake district
> South Downs - land is not used for any type of farming
> often hard for machinery to reach the areas
> not the correct weather conditions for any more profitable type of farming - low input and low output
- often on the margins of profit
- land
9
Q
what is the goal of commercial farming?
A
- to farm at a large scale
- agribusiness: large scale
> wants a high yield for a high profit - to get the highest yield product is used
> fertilizer
> technology/machinery - normally specialises in one crop
> able to focus all of the machine/effort in finding a market for the one crop - Rural North America
> low population density for a large area for farming
> Canadian Winter Wheat - try to increase inputs to increase the output
> needs money to do this
10
Q
What are inputs in agricultural systems?
A
- physical, human, and economic factors that determine the type of farming in the area
- Human
> labour - physical
> climate
> relief
> soil fertility
> drainage - economic
> seeds
> energy/fuel
11
Q
What are processes in agricultural systems?
A
- activities carried out to turn inputs into outputs
- vary depending on the inputs and technology available
- growing crops, rearing livestock, daily routines, seasonal patters
12
Q
What are outputs in agricultural systems?
A
- products from the farm
> crops
> livestock
13
Q
What are feedbacks in agricultural systems?
A
- reinvestment of profits back into farming
> fertiliser
> increase in land
> better equipment
14
Q
what are the two types of soils?
A
- podsol
- Latosol
15
Q
what are the characteristics of podsol?
A
- found in taiga, south of the tundra
- inherently infertile
- UK highlands have podsol
> used in sheep farming
16
Q
what are the characteristics of latosol?
A
- found in rainforest environment
- 5 degrees north and south of the equator
17
Q
What are problems with using soils for agriculture?
A
- takes thousands of years for soils to be deep and mature enough for agriculture
- according to World Economic Forum in 2012 soil is being lost between 10 and 40 x the rate which it can be replenished
- 40% of soil used for agriculture is either degraded or seriously degraded
- without soil management food production would decline by 30% over the next 30-50 years
18
Q
How does soil erosion occur?
A
- soil erosion is blamed on the removal of natural vegetation cover
- intensified by population pressures such as overgrazing and overcultivation
- reduces fallow periods and deforestation
- deep ploughing up and down slopes
> aid in removal of topsoil by wind and water erosion - use of monocultures
19
Q
How does waterlogging occur?
A
- whenever the water table rises to the point of soil saturation and there is not enough oxygen in the pore spaces for plant roots to respire
> anaerobic environment - rainfall exceeds the rate that soil can absorb or the atmosphere can evaporate
- gentle relief restricts throughflow of infiltrating soil water
- relief basins or depressions encourage accumulation of water
- seepage from rivers, canals, and reservoirs infiltrate soils
- soils have an impermeable layer
- excessive irrigation water is used to flood fields
20
Q
how does salinisation occur?
A
- over long periods of time, soil minerals weather and release salts
- salts are deposited via dust and precipitation
- poor drainage leads to water logging
> water table rises which brings dissolves salts to the surface - water evaporated leaving a crust of evaporated salt on the surface
21
Q
what are the three main reasons for soil erosion?
A
- water logging
- salinisation
- structural deterioration
22
Q
How can sufficient precipitation or irrigation decrease salinisation?
A
- the salts are leached out of the soil due to the water
23
Q
How does structural deterioration occur?
A
- the type of rock can change characteristics due to compaction by heavy machinery or salinisation
24
Q
What are the different types of soil managements?
A
- terracing
- contour
- crop rotation and cover crops
- direct drilling
- strip cropping
- selective afforestation with shelter belts
- controlled grazing
- improved drainage
- careful management of irrigation
25
Q
What is soil management?
A
- conservation of the soil by preserving and protecting vegetation cover
> afforestation and reforestation help as their roots hold the soil together and help the reduction of run-off - water management
> prevention of salinisation
26
Q
How did the green revolution change farming?
A
- use of agrochemicals
- use of intensive machinery
- genetically modified crops/hybridization
- sophisticated irrigation system
27
Q
what are the positives of the green revolution?
A
- Philippines developed miracle rice stand which has a 6x increase in yield
- due to genetic modification there have been strands of plants which are more resistant to disease
> maize, cotton, and soy - GM crops in 2013 were being grown in 13% of farms
28
Q
what are the negatives of the green revolution?
A
- new rice strains in the Philippines are more vulnerable to disease
- agrochemicals causing death
> 34,000 deaths due to cancer linked to pesticide spraying in Punjab region - unknown drawbacks of GM crops/ unknown health risks
> banned in commercial farms in the UK
> banned in 40 countries
29
Q
What is Food security?
A
- Food availability
> food is available in sufficient quantities and on a consistent basis
> capacity to bring in food through trade and aid
> stock and production - Food access
> people are able to regularly acquire adequate quantities of food - food utilisation
> consumed food must have positive nutritional impact on people
> though cooking, storage, hygiene, individuals health, water, sanitation, feeding and sharing practices in the household
30
Q
What are the main strategies to ensure food security?
A
- improved agricultural productivity
> reduced hunger and poverty
> higher yields - economic growth
>increases revenue to fund transfers and other programmes - expansion of social protection
> reduced hunger and ensures all members of society have a health diet
> 150 million people are prevented from falling into extreme poverty thanks to social protection according to the FAO
> still 2/3 of the world’s poor still do not have access to the forms of social support
31
Q
How much of the world’s population live in a monsoon climate?
A
- 60%
32
Q
What does farming look like in a monsoon climate?
A
- main crop produce is rice
> due to the water logged soil - land is terraced
- most people are subsistence farmers
> very reliant on the monsoon weather, vulnerable to climate change
33
Q
How much of the earths landmass does the Tundra cover?
A
- 20%
- very few people living in those areas
34
Q
What does farming look like in a Tundra climate?
A
- most of the ground is permafrost, so little arable farming
> only a few weeks where the temperature exceeds 0 degrees - hard to support life, so little pastoral farming
- most people are hunter gatherers with a nomadic lifestyle
> fishing
> may get revenue from tourism
35
Q
What factors influenced the severity of food insecurity in Somalia since 2011?
A
- internal conflict/civil war
- poverty
- drought prevalence and intensity
