Agriculture

and other primary economic activities

Agriculture: the deliberate tending of crops and livestock in order to produce

food and fiber.

Three sectors of economic activity:

1. Primary (agriculture, mining, etc.)

2. Secondary (industry)

3. Tertiary (service)

a. Quaternary

b. Quinary

Early peoples were hungers and gatherers, and by 8000 B.C.E., many had settled down

because they were able to cultivate crops

and domesticate animals

Changes brought about by the Neolithic Revolution

1. increase in reliable food supplies

2. rapid increase in total human population

3. job specialization

4. widening of gender differences

5. development of distinction between settled people and nomads

Carl Sauer: first cultivation was vegetative planting, or planting from existing plants (cutting stems or dividing roots)

Seed agriculture came later. (Sauer, again)

Western India

Northern China

Ethiopia

Diffused elsewhere

Two independent sites in Western hemisphere

Southern Mexico

Northern Peru

Second Agricultural Revolution

Western Europe, 1600s

use of fertilizers

improved collars for draft animals so they could pull heavier loads

Led to Industrial Revolution!

Subsistence agriculture

most prevalent in LDCs and is the production of only enough food to feed the farmer’s family, with little or no surplus to sell.

In LDCs, high percentage of people in subsistence agriculture

Work done with hand tools and animal power

Small farm size

Subsistence farming subregions

Commercial Agriculture

Farmers and ranchers sell all of their output for money and buy family food at stores.

Dominant in more developed countries

Types of Commercial Farming

1. Mixed crop and livestock farming

• U.S. west of the Appalachian mountains

• Europe from France through Russia

• grow both crops, much of which is fed to livestock, and livestock

• practice crop rotation

2. Dairy farming

outlying large urban areas

milkshed—the ring of milk production surrounding a major city

3. Grain farming

from Oklahoma, Kansas & Colorado north into Canada

“World’s breadbasket”

4. Livestock ranching

the commercial grazing of livestock over an extensive area

often in arid or semi-arid regions

5. Mediterranean agriculture

6. Commercial gardening and fruit farming

Southeast U.S.

truck farming

Rely heavily on machinery & fertilizers

Migrant labor

7. Plantation farming

a large farm that specializes in one or two crops

found in Africa, Latin America, Asia

What model is this?

RIGHT!

Von Thunen

Intensive agriculture closest to city

Extensive agriculture farther from city

Patterns of settlement

dispersed

Hamlets

or villages

Housing styles and building materials

Village

definition and size varies by region

dwellings and a few commercial buildings

most people work in primary sector

Village forms

1. round village

East Africa and parts of Europe

2. walled village

3. Grid village

4. Linear Village

5. Cluster village

Land ownership

Primogeniture—the land is passed on to the eldest son

Northern Europe and former British empire countries

Land is divided equally among heirs

Asia, Africa, southern Europe

Survey techniques

1. rectangular survey system

2. Metes and bounds

Natural features are used to mark irregular parcels of land

3. long-lot survey system

narrow parcels that extend from rivers, roads, or canals to give more people access to transportation

Third Agricultural Revolution

began in mid 20th century and is based on new, higher-yielding varieties of crops developed in laboratories and plant nurseries through biotechnology, the use of genetically altered crops in agriculture and DNA manipulation of livestock in order to increase production.

Green Revolution

the use of new higher-yield seeds

the expanded use of fertilizer

Environmental Impacts of Modern Agriculture

1. Erosion

2. Changes in the organic content of soil

Desertification

3. Depletion of natural vegetation

4. Presence of chemicals in soil and ground water

5. Loss of available farmland

How do we ensure future food supplies?

1. Expansion of agricultural land has been the most common way, but there are problems with this method.

11% of world’s land is currently cultivated

most of remaining land is not arable

land has been lost to desertification

land has been lost to urbanization

2. Increase land productivity

3. Identification of new food sources

4. Improved distribution of food

We’re done with

agriculture!