unit 6 Flashcards
agriculture
often controlled by environment and climate
cool mid latitudes
wheat, barley, livestock, dairy cows
warm mid latitudes
vegetables, fruit, rice
mediterranean (not just the region)
grapes, olives, dates
grasslands
continental steppe, cattle, ranching, sheep, goats, horses, camels
sub-tropical
rice, cotton, tobacco
tropical
coffee, sugar, tea, cacao, pineapple
modification
humans can modify environment to promote their agriculture
modifying space
clearing or modifying land so crops grow
modifying water
irrigation, old and new strategy to control water if it is sporadic
sporadic water
supplement is not enough
modifying light
artificial lights to aid in photosynthesis
modifying nutrients
humans use fertilizers to help plants grow more quickly
modifying for suitable temperature
greenhouses and other shelters allow plants to grow in places they may not be suited in
cost of land
what can be economically grown, US farms get increasingly big, scale up production so efficiency will compensate for other costs and profits
cost of labor
harvest of planting certain crops has not yet mechanized, so agriculture can be labor intensive
cost of machinery
high upfront costs but more efficiency, can save money in the long run
intensive labor
requires lots of labor and capital, small plots near population centers, high yield per acre (ex: cotton in the past)
extensive labor
requires less labor and capital, larger plots farther away from population centers, low yield per acre (ex: shifting cultivation, livestock farming)
plantation agriculture
labor intensive agriculture in former colonies to grow cash crops (ex: coffee, cacao, sugar, etc.)
mixed crop and livestock
labor intensive, farmers grow crops to fatten livestock (ex: corn and soybeans fed to cattle and pigs on feed lots, they are later slaughtered in meat packing plants)
market gardening
farms that specialize in in fresh fruit and vegetables that are transported to markers (ex: potatoes planted and harvested by immigrant labor)
shifting cultivation
- farmers in tropics control a lot of land, but only use part of it any given year
- rainforests are cleared and burned
- farmers plant multiple crops in a single field
- nutrition of the soil is frequently depleted so farmers leave that section and start again in a different section
nomadic herding
- in arid and semi arid climates farming is not possible
- herders are mobile and follow their animals from pasture to pasture
- frequency of movement means fewer possessions and difficulty in accumulating wealth
ranching
ranch land is unsuitable for farming, ranches are large, cattle and sheep are grazed to sell to markets
rural-use patterns
clustered, dispersed, linear
metes and bounds
boundaries using short distances like an oak tree or longer distances like a river
township and range
grid system where towns are 6 * 6 miles
long lot
farms were long and thin and perpendicular to rivers
clustered settlement
every possible square mile is dedicated to farming, growing rice, buckwheat, and millet (ex: houses in japan’s houses in japan’s farming villages packed tightly together)
clustered settlements are the result of
often a pattern remaining from times when farmland was communal instead of belonging to individual farmers/families,
houses being built close together to leave as much open land as possible for farming, ensures residents have easy access to services provided by the settlement
linear settlement
often next to a geographical feature like a lake shore or a river or following a road, road often exists before the settlement
linear settlements are the result of
- access to a resource, such as a river
- settlement occuring along preexisting waterway or road that is necessary for farmers to transport goods to markets
- in low lying areas of western europe, villages are located along dikes and levees, causing linear pattern
dispersed settlements are the result of
- gov land policies, such as federal land survey system specified how land could be divided and allocated
- individual pioneer families set up their farms on their claimed homesteads
- farms being independently owned and operated, so there is one home surrounded by the land it operates and manages
history of the metes & bounds system
- introduced by the british, adopted by the long eastern seaboard
- the drawing of boundaries was left up to the individual land purchaser
- natural features were used to demarcate irregularly shaped parcels of land
- used geometric calculations, but it was more challenging working with the irregular shapes
history of the township and rang system
- simplified the process of metes and bounds
- basic unit was a 1 square mile section and land was bought and sold in whole, half, or quarter sections
- as a result, almost all of the territory west of the ohio-pennsylvania boundary was eventually surveyed using the township and range system
history of the long lot system
- method used by the french when settling north america
- farmers would build their houses along the river or road
- ensured each farmer had access to transportation, but also prevented
- small number of farmers from monopolizing most accesible lands
- still evident today in louisiana and quebec
- nickname “ribbon farms”
early hearths of plant and animal domestication
fertile crescent (SW asia)
indus river valley
southeast asia
central america
patterns of diffusion resulted in
columbian exchange : a global spread of various plants and animals
second agricultural revolution
new technology and increased food production, linked to british enclosure movement, many poor farmers left for jobs in the cities (industrial revolution)
bidrent theory
- closer land is to a city, the more it costs
- farming takes up a lot of land, so its done far from cities
- has to balance w/ cost of transportation to market, profit farmer will make, and type of food grown
- (ex: vegetables spoil quicky, grown closest to market
grain transports easily, but require more space than vegetables)
von-thunen’s theory
- used to explain rural land use
- emphasizing importance of transportation costs associated w/ distance from market
- regions of specialty farming
- (ex: wine growing regions may grow only grapes)
changes and exceptions to von thunen’s model
- refrigeration : keeping things fresh for longer
-efficient transportation - preservatives
- pesticides
- greenhouses
- urban farming : farming in city
- gmo (genetically modified organisms)
global food trade
- food and other products part of global supply chain
- more developed countries (MDCs) have structural advantages over less developed countries (LDCs)
- ex: infrastructure, tech, wealth, etc.
- politics, environmental change, and war all impact global food chains
agricultural consequences : altered landscapes
- slash and burn (vegetation cut or burned down before new seeds sown)
- terraces and irrigation
- draining wetlands (turning wetlands into fields to grow crops)
- deforestation
agricultural consequences : environment
- soil salinization (salt fields)
- pollution (run off/pesticides)
- desertification (creating desert bc of dry land, cannot grow crops)
agricultural consequences : social effects
- changing diets
- food deserts
- area that has limited access to groceries or fresh food
agricultural consequences : differing economic purpose
food as a necessity vs food an an expression/social status
salt bae or tiktok pasta
