Unit 5: Agriculture Flashcards
Boserup’s Thesis
Contradicts Malthusianism. As the population increases, so will technology and innovation ensuring the population will not die due to starvation. Population growth forces an increase in technology in the FARMING industry.
Von Thunen’s Model
An economic model. It suggests a pattern for the types of products that farmers would produce at different positions which is relative to the distance from the market and commerce locations.
What is the goal of Von Thunen’s Model?
To maximize profit
What are three factors that Von Thunen’s Model consider?
Transportation Costs, Price of Land, and Proximity to Market
Which factor is the most important in Von Thunen’s Model?
Proximity to Market
What does the distance reflect in Von Thunen’s Model?
Bid-Rent Curve
How many rings are there in Von Thunen’s Model and how is it determined?
There 4 rings and it is determined by the crop’s transport gradient.
Which items face highest transport rates in Von Thunen’s Model?
Perishable items like fruit and vegetables.
What items have low transport rates in Von Thunen’s Model?
Commodities like grains
What does the first ring consist of in Von Thunen’s Model?
Dairy and Market Gardening because they are perishable and generate HIGHER transport rates.
What does the second ring consist of in Von Thunen’s Model?
Lumber and Forestry
What does the third ring consist of in Von Thunen’s Model?
Mixed Farming of grains and field crops
What does the fourth ring consist of in Von Thunen’s Model?
Extensive grain farming and livestock raising
What are updates to Von Thunen’s Model?
Refrigeration, no longer reliant on forest and lumber for fuel and rings widening + a greater milkshed
What is a milkshed?
An area surrounding the milk source (dairy farm) where milk is supplied without spoiling.
Bid-Rent Theory
A curve that indicates the starting position for each land use relative to the market, and where each land use will end up.
How does the price increase in the Bid-Rent Theory?
Closer distance to the city/market, the higher the price
How does the price decrease in the Bid-Rent Theory?
Farther the distance from the city/market, the cheaper the price
Where does intensive agriculture go in the Bid-Rent theory?
Towards the center of the city
What is intensive agriculture?
Agriculture that requires large quantities of inputs ( labor, capital, agricultural products) per unit of land.
Example of intensive agriculture
Intensive farming practices include market gardening, plantation agriculture, and mixed crop/livestock systems.
Where does extensive agriculture go in the Bid-Rent Theory?
Away from the city
What is extensive agriculture?
Extensive farming is a type of agricultural production that involves the use of relatively low levels of inputs, such as labor, capital, and chemicals, in order to produce crops or livestock.
Example of extensive agriculture?
Large-scale growing of wheat, barley, cooking oils and other grain crops in areas like the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia.
First Agricultural Revolution
The beginning of the domestication of plants and animals, it provided more a more stable food supply and healthier lives.
Second Agricultural Revolution
The time where the Industrial Revolution increased the food supply and support of the population growth.
What are some devices used during the Second Agricultural Revolution?
Seed drill, livestock breeding, mechanized harvesting, and crop rotations
What was an effect due to the Second Agricultural Revolution?
Less labor required in farms, resulting in people moving to urban areas to find places of work (factory jobs)
Third Agricultural Revolution
(AKA Green Revolution) Development of higher-yield and fast growing crops through increased technology, pesticides, chemicals, fertilizer
- Alleviates hunger worldwide
The results of the Third Agricultural Revolution?
Increase in food production, reduction of hunger and famine, lowered food prices in MDCs, and environmental damage
Where did the Blue Revolution take place?
During the Third Agricultural Revolution
What does the Blue Revolution consist of?
Practice of aquaculture, responsible for 50% of the world’s seafood, fastest growing form of food production
What are the effects of the Blue Revolution?
Reduced famine and hunger, fish enclosures causes disease and parasites to spread, harms the ecosystem due to excess fish waste, fish contains high levels of pesticides
What did Carl Sauer argue?
He argued that there were early hearths of domestication of plants and animals
- criticized environmental determinism
What were the agricultural hearths?
Southwest Asia (Fertile Crescent), Indus River Valley, Southeast Asia, and Central America
What was known as the Fertile Crescent?
Southwest Asia
What are the types of agriculture that relies on climate?
Mediterranean, Plantation, Specialty Crops, Grain Farming
Mediterranean Agriculture
Diverse specialty crops like grapes, avocados, olives, figs, and dates are grown
- ex: California, Western Europe, Chile, and Australia
Plantation Agriculture
Large commercial farms that specializes in one export crop, typically in tropical areas with substantial precipitation
Specialty Crops Agriculture
Includes peanuts, coffee beans, and pineapples, produced usually LESS in MDCs, exported to more MDCS
Grain Farming Agriculture
Focuses on the growing of wheat because the region is too DRY for mixed crop agriculture
What are the types of intensive agriculture?
Market Gardening, Plantation Agriculture, Mixed Crop/Livestock
What is Market Gardening?
Commercial gardening and fruit farming, common is California and Southeastern US
What is Plantation Agriculture?
Large commercial farm specializing in ONE EXPORT crop, found in tropical areas
What is Mixed Crop/ Livestock Agriculture?
Found in Midwestern US, Europe, and Canada, majority of crops raised are fed to livestock
What are the types of extensive agriculture?
Shifting Cultivation, Pastoral Nomadism, Livestock Ranching
What is Shifting Cultivation?
Subsistence agriculture, people shift activity from one field to another until the fertility is lost
What is Pastoral Nomadism?
Subsistence agriculture, practiced in the developing world, people travel from place to place with herds of their domesticated livestock
What is a result of Pastoral Nomadism?
People tend to leave the land once their livestock consume all the greens, resulting in exposure of the soil causing it to lose it’s nutrients and fertility.
What is Transhumance?
The movement of people and livestock due to the changing of seasons and seasonal patterns, low land areas in the winter, highland areas in the summer
What is Livestock Ranching?
Extensive commercial activity, raising livestock over vast geographic spaces commonly located in semi-arid (dry but having slightly more rain) climates like American West
What is commercial agriculture?
Agriculture undertaken in order to generate products for sale off of the farm in order to make a profit
What is subsistence agriculture?
Involves food production mainly for the family. A farmer will grow most everything that the family would consume, and anything leftover will go to the local community rather than to a big market.
Where is intensive commercial agriculture located?
Near urban centers or transportation hubs
Where is intensive subsistence agriculture located?
Near densely populated areas with access to local markets
What are examples of intensive commercial agriculture?
Truck Farming, Market Gardening, Dairy Farming, Mixed Crop/Livestock
What are examples of intensive subsistence agriculture?
Plantation Agriculture OR Farmers who grow a wide VARIETY of crops such as corn, cassava, millet, or yams and raise some livestock
What are the inputs of intensive subsistence farming?
Labor-intensive production on small plots
What are the inputs of intensive commercial agriculture?
Large amounts of labor and machinery, typically on large amounts of land
Where is extensive commercial agriculture located?
Near transportation centers with access to processing centers
Where is extensive subsistence agriculture located?
In sparsely populated areas with access to local markets
What are examples of extensive commercial agriculture?
Livestock ranching; SOME grain farming
What are examples of extensive subsistence agriculture?
Pastoral Nomadism and Shifting Cultivation
What are inputs of extensive commercial agriculture?
MINIMAL amount of labor and machinery on a large expanse of land
What are inputs of extensive subsistence agriculture?
MINIMAL amount of machinery, but SOMETIMES labor-intensive work on a large plot of land that might be owned communally
What are examples of rural settlement patterns?
Clustered Patterns, Dispersed Patterns, Linear Patterns
What is clustered pattern?
A common European method of rural settlement, which residents lived close together in hamlet or village communities with shared services
What is dispersed pattern?
A Northern American method of rural settlement that had farmers live far apart, which supported increasing expansion into the American West
What is linear pattern?
Settlements formed due to the nearby geographical features restricting expansion space, buildings are constructed in a line following a route of transportation like a river or canal
Metes and Bounds
A system that divides land using small points of land, or metes; and larger geographical features, or bounds, as points of reference between territories
Township and Range
A system using numbered township lines and range lines to separate sections of land known as townships, further divided into 36 plots of 1 sq. mile each
Long Lot
A method of dividing land into long, narrow sections which are often started from physical features such as roads, canals, and rivers
Topsoil Loss
Loss of the top fertile layer of soil or depletion through erosion. Extreme issue in areas with fragile soils, steep slopes, or torrential seasonal rains
Desertification
When formerly fertile land become increasingly arid, unproductive, and desert-like usually from over-irrigation or overgrazing
Soil Salination
Process that occurs through over-irrigation in arid climates; water evaporates quickly, leaving silt that makes the soil infertile
What types of land use have environmental effects?
Topsoil Loss, Desertification, Soil Salination
What are the agricultural practices that alter the landscape?
Slash and Burn, Terracing, Irrigation, Overgrazing, Deforestation, Shifting Cultivation, Pastoral Nomadism
Slash and Burn Agriculture
Cultivation that usually exists in tropical areas where vegetation is cut close to the ground and then ignited; producing nutrients for the soil
Terracing
Type of farming in which farmers build a series of steps into the side of hill to harvest crops
Irrigation
The process of diverting water from its natural course or location to aid in the production of crops
Overgrazing
The density of animals is greater than the grasslands; damage to the grasslands will not refresh itself even after animals leave
Deforestation
Removal of large tracts of forest that occurs mostly in Southeast Asia, parts of Africa, and rainforests in South America
Shifting Cultivation
Form of subsistence agriculture in which people shift activity from one field to another until fertility is lost; plots are abandoned, farmers move to new sites
Pastoral Nomadism
Form of subsistence agriculture practiced in developing world where people travel from place to place with their herds of domesticated animals
What are the challenges of contemporary agriculture?
Biotechnology, GMOs, Aquaculture, Food Deserts, Urban Sprawl
Biotechnology
Uses living organism, usually genes, to modify products, to make or modify plants and animals, or develop other microorganisms
Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)
Foods that are mostly products of organisms that have had their genes altered in a laboratory for disease resistance, increased productivity, or nutritional value allowing growers greater control and predictability
Aquaculture
Raising and harvesting fish and other forms of food that live in water under controlled conditions
Food Deserts
Region that lacks sufficient access to healthy, affordable, and quality food; lack food security and have higher risk of obesity
Urban Sprawl
Process of expansive suburban development over large areas spreading out from a city, automobile provides the primary source of transportation
What were some solutions for the challenges of contemporary agriculture?
Community Supported Agriculture, Organic Farming, Fair Trade Movement, Local Food Movements, Sustainable Agriculture
Community Supported Agriculture
A community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so farmland becomes the community farm with the growers and consumers providing mutual support
- sharing the risks and benefits
Organic Farming
The use of crop rotation, natural fertilizers such as manure, and biological pest control to promote healthy, vigorous crops
Fair Trade Movement
Effort to promote higher incomes for producers and for more sustainable farming practices
Local Food Movements
Movements focused on buying locally produced products opposed to products from commercial agriculture
Sustainable Agriculture
Methods that preserve long term productivity of land and minimize pollution
What is the role of woman in subsistence agriculture?
- Make up 70% of overall agriculture
- Tend to children
- Stay at home and take care of the farm
What is the role of women in commercial agriculture?
- Work in management, sales, distribution and research
Columbian Exchange
- widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, and ideas
- between America, West Africa, and Old World in the 15th and 16th century
What was the result of the Columbian Exchange?
Globalization of various plants and animals that were exchanged between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas
Agribusiness
Integration of various steps of production in the food-processing industry; including processing, production, transportation, marketing, research and development
Vertical Integration
Form of corporate organization in which one firm control multiple aspects or phases of a commodity chain
- Tyson Foods, Foster Farms
Commodity Chain
Linked system of processes that gather resources, convert them into goods, package them for distribution, disperse them, and sell them on the market
Horizontal Integration
Form of corporate organization in which several branches of a company or several commonly owned companies work together to sell their products in different markets
Examples of Horizontal Integration
Disney oversees Pixar, Marvel, National Geographic
Economies of Scale
A growth in production of goods or services to create larger and more efficient facilities with lower production and input costs
Feedlots
Places where livestock are concentrated in very small area an raised on hormones and hearty grains that prepare them for slaughter at rapid rates
