AP Human Geography-Unit 5.2

Grain

- (Commercial grain) farming has very high inputs: fertilizers, pesticides, heavy machinery, processing equipment, etc. The grain is then stored in grain elevators (grain storage facilities) until it is sold

Economic Purpose of Ag

- A central goal of almost all countries is to reach high-income status (high GNI per capita, high standard of living). Agricultural practices play a crucial role in achieving these development goals. - Nearly all countries started off poor, but the countries that have achieved high-income status started with a transition occurring in agriculture - switching from subsistence to commercial farming. Mechanizing. Experimenting. Increasing yields. Reducing hunger and malnutrition among their people. The change in agriculture spurs a shift from predominately primary (agriculture) economic activity, to secondary economic activity (manufacturing), to tertiary economic activities (services). The wealthiest/most developed countries are also leaders in quaternary and quinary economic activities. - Quaternary economic activities include research and development - the generation of new knowledge, techniques, inventions, etc. It also includes consulting (providing advice) such as marketing, financial planning, and developers of information technologies, etc. -Quinary economic activities include the highest levels of decision making and influence - the top executives who make decisions that affect many people - such as government officials (the president, governor, members of congress, Cabinet members, etc.), Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of major multi-national corporations, etc. For example, the 19 current Secretary of the USDA (a Cabinet position) is Sonny Perdue. He has a major influence on government policy that affects farmers in the US and around the world

Grain Futures Act, Commodities Exchange Act, The Dodd-Frank Act

- A commodities future contract is a legally binding agreement for the delivery of a commodity in the future at an agreed-upon price. The contracts are standardized by a futures exchange as to quantity, quality, time and place of delivery. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is the most recent legislation to update this exchange. It was a massive piece of legislation passed in 2010 in response to the economic crisis. It mostly concerns Wall Street (stock market) and mortgage lending. However, it also expanded the Commodities Futures Exchange Commission, which oversees commodities exchanges by encouraging their competitiveness and efficiency, ensuring their integrity, protecting market participants against manipulation, abusive trading practices, fraud, and ensuring the financial integrity. Some of the restrictions of the Dodd-Frank Act were rolled back (reduced) in 2018

Plantation Agriculture

- A form of commercial farming where crops are grown for profit. Large land areas are needed for this type of agriculture. Countries that have plantation agriculture usually experience tropical climate with high annual temperatures and receive high annual rainfall. Cotton, sugarcane, coffee, rubber, and tobacco are among the most important crops grown on plantations. Other plantation crops include of cocoa, jute, bananas, tea, coconuts, and palm oil - Most plantations practice monoculture, so the pros and cons of monoculture also apply to plantations. However, plantations have a few more concerns: plantations are dependent on mechanization or cheap labor. In less developed countries, plantation agriculture propagates (promotes) low wage work environments or slave labor

Organic Farming

- A method of crop and livestock production that involves much more than choosing not to use pesticides, fertilizers, genetically modified organisms, antibiotics and growth hormones. Organic farmers use biological fertilizer (naturally occurring products such as manure or compost) inputs and management practices such as cover cropping and crop rotation to improve soil quality and build organic soil matter. By increasing the amount of organic matter in the soil, organic farmers enhance the soil's ability to absorb water, reducing the impacts of drought and flooding. Improving soil organic matter also helps it to absorb and store carbon and other nutrients need to grow healthy crops, which, in turn, are better able to resist insects and diseases - Organic farming practices reduce pollution, conserve water, reduce soil erosion, increase soil fertility, and use less energy. Farming without pesticides is also better for nearby birds and animals as well as people who live close to farms

Terracing

- A piece of sloped plane that has been cut into a series of successively receding flat surfaces or platforms, which resemble steps, for the purposes of more effective farming. This type of landscaping is therefore called terracing. It is very common in regions where tea and rice - Positives: it expands the available farmland, it's easy to flood for wet rice production (wet rice is both a commercial and subsistence crop) - On the negative side, un-maintained terraces can lead to mudslides, the creation of deep galleys and increased soil erosion, particularly in sandy soils or on extremely steep terrains. Terracing also has been shown to reduce soil quality via the leaching of important nutrients from the soil in some areas (the water washes the nutrients out of the soil)

Biotechnology

- A range of tools, including traditional breeding techniques, that alter living organisms, or parts of organisms, to make or modify products; improve plants or animals; or develop microorganisms for specific agricultural uses - Biotechnology is often used in medicine, but in more recent years has also been applied in agriculture and food sciences. These applications include the development of Genetically Modified Organisms - genes are placed in plants to give that crop a beneficial trait (remember, this is different than selective breeding or crossbreeding). Viruses and bacteria are a common vectors used to insert the new DNA into the plant, but there are also mechanical methods of modifying the genetics of the host plant

Location of Food Processing

- Accessibility - Infrastructure - Transportation - Labor costs - Favorable legal conditions

Global Supply Chain

- Benefits of a global supply chain: 1. Lower Costs. While it's important to factor in things like freight costs and shipping time, the cost savings from purchasing goods from other countries can be significant. . 2. Greater Variety. Different foods grow in different parts of the world. The desire for variety was what inspired the explorers to set off to new locations (i.e., the silk road, the Indian ocean trade routes, European exploration, etc.) 3. Broader Perspective on Business. Businesses that operate in multiple nations learn from each other to improve their practices (more on this in our Industry unit) 4. Higher Volume - more produced 5. International Customers - more markets

Debates of Environmental, cultural, and health impacts of modern ag.

- Biotechnology - Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) - Organic Farming - "Eat Local" movements - Organic Farming

Value-added specialty crops

- Adding value to the agricultural products through: - Processing (milling flour or making jelly) - Marketing (Branding and Advertising) - Using Methods that command a higher price (organic farming) - The USDA defines value-added agriculture as "Value-added" if there is: 1. A change in the physical state or form of the product (such as milling wheat into flour or making strawberries into jam). 2. The production of a product in a manner that enhances its value, as demonstrated through a business plan (such as organically produced products). 3. The physical segregation of an agricultural commodity or product in a manner that results in the enhancement of the value of that commodity or product (such as an identity preserved marketing system [where the geographic location of the production region is basically similar to a brand/perceived as being of a higher quality, such as Burgundy or Champagne, which are specific to certain geographic regions]). 4. As a result of the change in physical state or the manner in which the agricultural commodity or product is produced and segregated, the customer base for the commodity or product is expanded and a greater portion of revenue derived from the marketing, processing or physical segregation is made available to the producer of the commodity or product [this one says that due to marketing (branding and advertising), the product has a perceived higher value and therefore consumers will pay more for it. It may also be a seasonal product - Christmas trees, pumpkins, etc. - where there is a perceived false scarcity (it's only available for a limited time!)

Problems with the Distribution Systems

- Adverse Weather - Land lost to suburbanization

1920's Agricultural Depression

- Ag. depression in 1920s - Rapid rural-to-urban migration - Natural Disasters - the quality of life for many rural households was far lower than for city families - Forty percent of rural homes lacked indoor plumbing or electricity, and many farmers began to envy city life - Many agricultural producers could not make the payments on loans they had taken out for machinery, land, and seed during the war, and banks began to foreclose on them - Over one million farmers had to seek employment in the cities

Farm Regulations

- Agricultural Adjustment act - Subsidies and quotas -A subsidy is a payment made directly to the farmer from the government to help offset the price of production or to compensate the farmer for limiting their yield - A quota is a limit on the yields (telling farmers they can only produce X amount of crop) - Through this Act, the federal government paid some farmers not to plant their fields. The government hoped this would drive crop supply downward in order to increase demand, drive up prices, and improve farm incomes - Some farmers were paid to destroy a portion of their crops - The USDA initiated new food programs (social programs). The Food Stamps program provided surplus food to poor families and School Lunch programs used surpluses to feed children

Negative Consequences of the Green rev.

- Agricultural and water pollution - Soil degradation - Evolution of "super pests" - weeds and bugs that are resistant to any pesticides or herbicides - if they are resistant, they could cause issues of crop failure if they overtake a crop and the farmers are not able to get it under control - Increased exposure to chemicals - Increase of monocropping - High cost and "terminal" seeds - weeds and bugs that are resistant to any pesticides or herbicides - antibiotics such as penicillin came from agricultural research, and overuse of these antibiotics has resulted in several strains of "super bugs" or antibiotic resistant strains of many illnesses, such as strep and MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), a form of staph infection that is resistant to most commonly used antibiotics - increased exposure to chemicals

Export Oriented Agriculture

- Agriculture grown for export -The production of raw materials. In export-oriented agriculture, the raw materials being produced are agricultural products that are meant for export. This is a commercial economic activity, and much of what colonialism was based on. Sometimes you will see it referred to as "colonial system of agriculture". Plantations and export-oriented ag often go hand-in-hand - Benefits is that it brings some money into the country. However, this benefit is diminished if a foreign company owns the plantations as the profits will then also leave the country. Some infrastructure development is also a benefit, but the benefit to the local population is limited as the infrastructure built will be geared toward the export activities and not meant to support the general economic activities of the people - Negatives is that such a practice takes away valuable agriculture land from domestic use (whether it is commercial or subsistence). Since the products are being exported for sale to countries that can pay the higher prices being commanded, there is little of the food being used to feed the own people of the country, who often cannot afford to purchase such a commodity at the price requested. The large farms being used to grow this produce also reduce the amount of land that the locals can use to farm for their own consumption

Plantation

- Agriculture is found mostly in tropical regions as well - tea, sugar, rubber, palm, coffee, banana, and most other crops suitable for this type of agriculture require a tropical climate, making it most likely to take place in tropical regions. Major plantations are found in Brazil, the Caribbean, Central America, pockets in tropical Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Australia. Most plantation crops are destined for export, as well, not domestic consumption

Intensive Commercial

- Agriculture is where you find your market gardens - tomatoes, potatoes, lettuce, strawberries, grapes, etc

Societal effects of Ag Practices

- Changing Diets - Role of Women in ag production - Economic Purpose - Cost of Technology and Seeds

Positives of Extensive Ag

- Less labor required - Low inputs - Little to no alternations to the land needed - There is little labor required to tend to the land (unlike intensive ag, which needs constant tending). Fewer inputs are used in extensive farming as well - there is little need for fertilizers or pesticides for grazing animals; subsistence farmers who use extensive farming practices do not tend to use expensive inputs either

Political Relationships

- Aid: Food aid - given either as actual food items or as cash to buy food - can play a critical role in reducing hunger. By providing emergency food aid, governments, UN agencies and non governmental organizations can save millions of lives when natural disasters or wars threaten people's access to food - Boycotts: a case where a country refuses to trade with or accept imports from another country - Embargos: s a government order that completely restricts commerce with a specified country or the exchange of specific goods. An embargo is usually created as a result of unfavorable political or economic circumstances between nations. For 4 example, the US imposed a near total on North Korea in 1950 (after the Sovietbacked North Korean government invaded the US-backed South Korea). The US also had a several-decades-long embargo against Cuba (also a Cold War legacy) - Sanctions: Trade Sanctions or Economic Sanctions are similar to embargos, but are usually partial bans on trade or targeted toward specific goods or transactions that are meant to coerce the elite or leaders of a country to cooperate with international law/UN resolutions (such as issuing economic sanctions against North Korea as a way to discourage them from continuing their pursuits of nuclear weapons development)

"Eat Local" movements

- Aim to connect food producers and food consumers in the same geographic region, in order to develop more self-reliant and resilient food networks; improve local economies; or to affect the health, environment, community, or society of a particular place - Pros: 1. Contributes to a diverse local economy 2. Strengthen community ties and building regional pride 3. Better tasting, more nutritious food (harvested closer to peak ripeness, which allows it to reach its peak nutritional value and best flavor) 4. Food is not shipped over long distances, which reduces fossil fuel use, thereby reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions - Cons: 1. Less food choices and variety (some foods may not be available locally or depending on season) 2. Questions of if the food is actually healthier - no guarantees that it will be GMO or chemical free 3. Concerns over food safety - smaller farms are less regulated by the government than larger farms, so there may be issues with e. coli, salmonella, and other food-borne 25 diseases 4. Eat local movements may not be suitable for all environments and locations, especially arctic or arid climates, and the harvests may not produce enough food to feed the whole community. 5. In urban areas, farmland is often lost to the spread of the city to make room for population growth, which would affect the harvests

Extensive Agricultural Regions

- An agricultural production system that uses small inputs of labor, fertilizers, and capital, relative to the land area being farmed. Large amounts of land are needed for the relatively small yield that is produced - Commercial extensive agriculture is mostly pasturing/ranching: animals roam over a large area until they are ready to be sold for their products (meat, skin, wool, etc.) - Subsistence commercial agriculture is either nomadic (nomadic hunter (cold regions of the world) or nomadic herders (dry regions of the world)) or is an system of agriculture that requires large amounts of land with low (relative) yield, such as slashand-burn/swidden/shifting cultivation (where the trees are cut, burned, and the land farmed for a few years until it loses its fertility, when a new patch is cleared and burned and the old patch is allowed to return to its natural state. A very large amount of land is required for this practice, but only a small amount is used at a time, which means the yield is very low compared to the total amount of land needed - Remember, slash-and-burn/swidden/shifting cultivation

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

- Any organism whose genetic material has been altered using biotechnology techniques. The exact definition of a genetically modified organism and what constitutes genetic engineering varies, with the most common being an organism altered in a way that "does not occur naturally by mating and/or basic cross pollination. A wide variety of organisms have been genetically modified (GM), from animals to plants and microorganisms. Genes have been transferred within the same species, across species (creating transgenic organisms) and even across kingdoms (i.e., inserting genes of an animal into a plant). New genes can be introduced, or enhanced, altered or knocked out - Benefits of biotechnology in ag include: improved yield; reduced vulnerability of crops to environmental stresses; improved taste, texture, or appearance of the food; reduced dependence on fertilizers, pesticides, or other chemicals; and the production of vaccines - Negatives of biotechnology in ag include: it is possible that genetically modified crops might not have long-term viability. GMOs or microorganisms could also spread their genetic information into the ecosystem, causing harm such as reduced biodiversity. There are concerns that genetically modified crops may transfer genetic material into natural, unmodified plants. For instance, a crop that is herbicide resistant may transfer some of its traits to a weed, which would result in an herbicide resistant weed

Nomadic Hunters

- Are in the far northern parts of North America and Asia (The tundra regions mostly, with some extending into more temperate climate zones)

Infrastructure-Export processing Zones

- Areas within developing countries that offer incentives and a barrier-free environment to promote economic growth by attracting foreign investment for export-oriented production. Any product that is processed within that zone is duty (tariff) free, and these zones often have special economic or environmental rules that are different from other parts of the country - i.e., foreign workers may be given permission to come work in this zone without much clearance (compared to needing a work visa for work in other parts of the country), or the environmental regulations may be more lax than in other parts of the country

Traceability

- Basically, this policy is that there must be records concerning the supply chain - a retailers must be able to trace a product all the way back to its source. This way, if something bad happens, such as an e-coli or listeria outbreak, inspectors can figure out where in the supply chain the problem occurred. This is how government regulators have been able to trace the outbreak of e-coli found on romaine lettuce to specific farms and found that the fertilizer they were using was not in compliance with regulations

Chemical fertilizers and pesticides

- Chemical fertilizers are synthetic (man-made) substances that provide the necessary nutrients for healthy plant growth and development. Chemical fertilizers combine synthetic forms of the primary macronutrients for plants such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, as well as a variety of micronutrients and additives -organic fertilizers are made from naturally occurring decaying/composted organic matter, such as animal waste and decaying plants and animal - Chemical pesticides are synthetic chemicals used to kill pests, including insects and weeds. Unfortunately, these pesticides often kill the beneficial insects (ladybugs and bees) in addition to the harmful ones such as grasshoppers and bole weevils (which destroy cotton crops) - organic pesticides are natural methods of deterring pests, such as spraying peppermint or tea tree oil to repel bugs - Synthetic products are typically cheaper, and today the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides today is referred to as "conventional farming practices", while "organic farming" is a fairly new movement that has occurred as a push-back to the abundance of chemical use in ag

Pastoral

- Commercial agriculture is much different than subsistence nomadic herding. In commercial pastoral ag, the agricultural products being produced are grazing animals. These operations are much larger and have many more animals and set property limits upon which those animals can graze (compared to open grazing lands and fewer animals with subsistence nomadic herding)

Organization of Modern Commercial Ag

- Corporate farms - Farmer's Cooperatives - Feed lots (for livestock) - Feed lots are used for the efficient raising and finishing of livestock, notably beef cattle, but also pigs, horses, sheep, turkeys, chickens or ducks, prior to slaughter. Feed lots are intensive - they require little land but much investment, including purchasing food for the animals as the animals are not grazing, they are being fed in confined spaces to put on weight so the farmers can get the maximum yield from each animal - Agricultural Industrialization (factory farms) - Vertical Integration - In 1950 the average farm was 213 acres; by 1960 it was 297 acres and growing - Modernization (factory farming), such as the introduction of the mechanical cotton picker and the mechanized processing of peas from vine to freezer, became the goal of many producers and processors in the US's rapidly shifting agricultural economy - Vertical integration is when the same corporation owns multiple steps in the commodity chain

World War II

- During WWII, the USDA was directed to intensify agricultural research efforts to meet the needs of the military - Substitutes for rubber, tropical oils, cork, and other imported products needed for factories were given priority since the Japanese controlled much of the world's supply of tropical agricultural products - USDA scientists also developed better methods of food dehydration in order to supply the troops with nutritious food - Non-food agricultural products were also developed: new glues, plastics, paints, and fabrics were developed from milk, soybeans, cotton, and many other agricultural commodities - Wood building techniques developed by USDA scientists were used in American bombers - The military adopted aerial mapping and photography techniques that had been pioneered 10 by the USDA Forest Service and Soil Conservation Service. After the War, private industry commercialized many of the products developed by USDA researchers - Healthcare also greatly benefited from the research and development of the WWII era: the mass production of penicillin became the most important contribution of agricultural researchers during WWII

Government Polices

- Examples - Bans on Hazardous substances - Restrictions on some chemicals - The Dodd-Frank act - Traceability

Positives of Intensive Ag

- Extremely small yields from relatively small amounts of land - Easier for farmers to "supervise" the land (commercial intensive farms) - Lower food prices make healthier/nutrient dense foods available to more people

Sustainability

- Farming in sustainable ways (meeting society's food and textile needs in the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs) based on an understanding of ecosystem services, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment - Goals: - Reducing Agricultural runoff - Preventing pollution of lakes and rivers - Saving Water - Naturally maintaining soil fertility by recycling nutrients on farm - Enhanching carbon sequestration by soils and perennial vegetation - Difficult to achieve because solutions that solve one issue may create a new issue

Challenges of Feeding a Growing Population

- Food Security - Hunger Crisis - Malnutrition - Famine - Food Deserts

Negatives of Intensive Ag

- Large # of pesticides/fertilizers used may increase pollution - Overcrowding of livestock - Negative impact on the environment (soil degradation, eutrophication, etc.)

Trade Deals

- Free Trade - The United States has free trade agreements with 20 countries. These include 12 bilateral agreements and 2 multilateral agreements (NAFTA and CAFTA-DR). These agreements create opportunities to increase U.S. agricultural sales internationally, stripping away barriers to trade, eliminating tariffs, opening markets and promoting investment and economic growth - Eliminate Tariffs - Export processing zones - Crucial, providing a market for a major share of crop production and a growing share of meat output. In the past 50 years, the value of agricultural exports has exceeded the cost of agricultural imports, generating a trade surplus each year. This is why countries imposing tariffs on agricultural products imported from the US (as reciprocity for USimposed tariffs on manufactured goods - i.e., a trade war) is especially impactful on US farmers. Tariffs raise the prices on imported products in the country that imposes the tariffs (not the cost of producing for the country exporting) as a way to make domestically-produced products (those produced within the country itself) less expensive than imported products. This reduces demand for imported products, and as a result, affects the foreign producers. Grain farmers in the US have been affected by the imposition of tariffs on imported products from China as China responded by taxing imports of grain from the US

Patterns of World Trade

- Global trade systems include agriculture. The food trade is truly global - our foods (and the foods eaten by other people in other places) come from all over the world. The periphery countries of the world (less developed and newly industrialized countries) provide much of the raw materials used to produce the mass-produced and luxury products consumed by the more developed (core) countries. These periphery countries are highly dependent on the core countries to purchase their exports, Just as the core countries are highly dependent on the periphery countries for the supply (at low prices) - However, Core/more developed countries ALSO export large amounts of food - the US exports more than half of what is produced within the country

Bans on hazardous substances

- Government policies will attempt to ban substances that are hazardous to human health - i.e., we don't want a bunch of arsenic in the food we eat, it would kill us. There are many other examples of bans, too many to list here - just know that government policies exist to protect consumers, and not all places in the world have these same bans

3rd Agricultural Revolution

- High-yield seeds - hybrid seeds - Chemical fertilizer and and pesticide - Advanced mechanized farming - Technological advances that had been developed for the war were transitioned to civil society - From chemical technology, inexpensive nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides were created to increase agricultural production - advances in machinery, including gasoline and electric-powered engines, transformed the farm from agrarian to industrial - also known as the Green Revolution is a set of research technology transfer initiatives occurring between 1950 and the late 1960s, that increased agricultural production worldwide, particularly in the developing world, beginning most markedly in the late 1960

High Sky and hybrid seeds

- High-yield seeds are varieties of plants designed to produce the most desirable and highest yield per each plant, particularly for wheat, corn (maize), and rice. - Hybrid seeds are seeds that are cross-bred* to get desirable traits - i.e., seedless grapes and watermelons, tomatoes that can be picked while green (which makes it possible to use machinery to pick tomatoes - the red ripe ones would squish on harvest), etc - downside to hybrid seeds, however, is that they are "terminal" - the seeds (if they exist) cannot be saved to grow new plants with the same traits the next season, so new seeds must be purchased for each planting season - the cost of the investment into the hybrid seed technology to be beyond the reach of the poorest subsistence farmer

State of Agriculture in the U.S in 1860

- In 1860s the average total U.S. population: 31,443,321; farm population: 15,141,000 (est.); farmers 58% of labor force; Number of farms: 2,044,000; average acres: 199 - The Homestead Act offered 160 acres of free land to settlers who would farm it for five years, making the Great Plains (central part of the country) a land of opportunity. Homesteaders rushed to fill the open lands. Homesteading also brought fresh waves of immigrants in pursuit of their dreams. The Great Plains soon became America's breadbasket, with rich soils that produced abundant harvests of wheat and corn - President Abraham Lincoln created the United States Department of Agriculture or USDA was created to "acquire and to diffuse among the people of the United States useful information on subjects connected to agriculture." - The creation of the USDA in 1862 came with government support of science, technology, and education to improve agriculture, which gave American farmers an edge over the rest of the world. Research into new varieties of foodstuffs (such as navel oranges for California and sugar beets for the Midwest), the introduction of early organic insecticides, and fertilizer testing programs were a few of the early USDA projects undertaken to improve agriculture and life in America

The Great Depression

- In 1929, the Stock Market crashed - this event is seen as the start of the period known as the Great Depression, which lasted through the 1930s - Great Depression was compounded for farmers who were also hit by severe drought in the late 1920s through early 1930s - In 1930 the USDA formed a Federal Drought Relief Committee to figure out ways to help the farmers recover - recommended reduced transportation fees (rail rates) for hay, feed, and water and increased road and dam construction in drought areas - Farmers were making about 1/3 of their income compared to in 1929 - This low income was attributed the falling prices to two things: "The first has its origins in such revolutionary developments as the change from horses to motors," and the second, farmers were not adjusting to a "wholly new pattern of production and trade." - To remedy the problem, the USDA tried to teach farmers to balance supply with demand

Mediterranean Agriculture

- In Mediterranean regions, commercial agriculture exists alongside commercial agriculture. Many crops such as wheat, barley and vegetables are raised for domestic consumption, while others like citrus fruits, olives, and grapes are mainly for export. The region is known for orchard-style agriculture (fruit trees, olive trees, grape vines, etc.) as well as grazing animals such as goats and sheep

Commodity Exporters

- Include countries with large deposits of natural resources or large amounts of farmland. Sometimes, the country has a populations too small to use all their own resources. Other times, the export commodity system has been set up through colonialism (historically) or neocolonialism (contemporary). The trade of many commodity exporters is dominated by a single commodity (such as bananas, coffee, sugarcane, etc.). Most least developed countries are reliant on agricultural or mineral exports (even though, according to the map above, the total value of their exports is low when compared to more developed countries) - The colonial system operated on export monopolies (the colonies could only export to their colonizer), and the colonizers spend a great deal of money building the infrastructure to facilitate the production of the commodity, its processing, and export - this infrastructure, however, was meant to benefit the colonizer's economy, not that of the colony. This partial infrastructure development was detrimental to the colonies once they gained their independence

Positive consequences of the Green Rev.

- Increased agricultural yield - Improved food security - Ability to grow crops virtually anywhere - Eliminates need for fallow land - Profitable, large-scale, automated agriculture - the biggest positive of the Green Revolution is the improvement in food security (meaning more people have regular access to the vital amount of calories needed to sustain life), especially in less developed countries

Challenges of Recent Agricultural Innovations

- Innovations - Biotechnology - GMOs - Aquaculture

Irrigation

- Irrigation can completely change the landscape - it makes it possible to farm in arid regions if a water source, such as an aquifer or reservoir are available. Plants need proper nourishment, and in order to get nutrients from the soil, the plant needs to be able to "drink" the water and dissolved nutrients that are in it. In some places, rainfall is sufficient for this to occur, but in others, irrigation is necessary to control the amount of water that fields receive at the right time of the growing season. Irrigation has also expanded the ecumene (land inhabited by humans) into arid and semi-arid regions as agriculture is now possible in those areas. Irrigation is commonly used in places where cash crops are grown. Irrigation has greatly increased production of crops - There are some environmental disadvantages to irrigation, though. • It affects the climate of the region by changing the land cover • It can potentially deplete the water source (especially if drawn from an aquifer or if significant amounts of water are diverted from irrigation upstream) • Excess seepage into the ground raises the water table and might saturate (and drown) crops. This also contributes to salinization of the soil. • Marshes and ponds of standing water can form along the irrigation system, which can host colonies of disease causing parasites, such as mosquitos, which can spread yellow fever or malaria

Slash-and-Burn/shifting cultivation

- Is a farming method that involves the cutting and burning of plants in a forest or woodland to create a field called a swidden. The method begins by cutting down the trees and woody plants in an area (slashing), burning them (burn) to fertilize the soil (ash from burning plants is full of organic material that adds to soil fertility for a short period of time) - Advantages: This method helps to eliminate weeds, insects and other germs effecting the soil. Shifting cultivation allows for farming in areas with dense vegetation, low soil nutrients content, uncontrollable pests - Disadvantages: In shifting cultivation, trees in the forests are cut. This increases soil infertility and leads to soil erosion. Burning the trees also contributes significantly to air pollution; additionally, since the trees have been removed, they are no longer able to act as filters of other air pollutants, which intensifies the issue

Commercial Farming

- Is a large-scale production of crops for sale, intended for widespread distribution to wholesalers or retail outlets. In commercial farming crops such as wheat, maize, tea, coffee, sugarcane, cashew, rubber, banana, cotton are harvested and sold in the world markets - Plantation - Pastoral (Grazing Animals) - Grain - Intensive commercial - Mediterranean Ag

Nomadic Herding

- Is mostly found across the dry span of Northern Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia

Intensive Agricultural Regions

- Is the practice of using large amounts of fertilizer, pesticides, and labor to increase per acre yield of the crop being grown. ... Intensive agriculture can also be used to increase meat or poultry production - Intensive agriculture is sedentary. The farmer uses the same plot of land year after year after year, even if rotating crops. Intensive agriculture can be commercial or subsistence - Commercial intensive agriculture has large capital inputs - machinery, chemicals and soil additives, specialized seeds (hybrids, GMO, etc.), that cost a lot of money - Subsistence intensive agriculture has a lot of labor inputs - tending to the plants for several hours every day, plowing/irrigating with hand tools and draft animals (if available). Much of the labor comes from the family - the mother and children, specifically. The men tend to do the heavy work (plowing and harvesting), but the rest of the year the women and children tend to the crops and are responsible for feeding the family. The oldest boys are often sent to school, while the girls and subsequent 3 boys work the farm. Because of this, women are often hold a wealth of knowledge about farming which they pass on to their daughters

Marshall Plan

- formally titled the Economic Cooperation Act, the Marshall Plan was a major U.S. foreign aid program to rebuild the wartorn countries of the world after World War II.

Influence on Food Production Practices

- Location of food-processing facilities - Economies of scale - Distribution Systems - Government Policies - Processed foods are foods that have been modified from their original agricultural product - most of the food we eat today (with the exception of whole fruits and veggies from the produce section) have been processed in some way

Negatives of Extensive Ag

- Low yield relative to large land requirements - Cannot be used in densely populated areas - Land requirements limit habitats of other species - There is a low yield relative to the amount of land required (this is what makes it extensive). Due to the large land requirements, such forms of agriculture cannot be used in densely populated areas, which pushes the practice into more and more marginalized land (as the population increases, the densely populated areas spread, the land being used for intensive agriculture also spreads, and the farmers using extensive agriculture are pushed further out into the fringes. This is especially the case in tropical regions where farmers use slash-andburn/swidden/shifting cultivation). The amount/size of land required to practice extensive forms of agriculture limit the habitats of other species - i.e., cattle cannot graze in a forest, and one of the leading causes of deforestation today is land/trees being cleared to graze animals

Advanced Mechanized Farming

- Mass production made products more affordable, including the newest (at the time) farm equipment - New technologies were available to mechanize the production of agricultural commodities from the planting of seeds all the way through the commodity chain to the retailers, including the canning or freezing process - Refrigeration technology improved so that "flash freezing" (slices, pieces of the product are arranged in single layers on a conveyor belt then moved through sub-zero temps to freeze the produce very quickly) became the industry standard, and the process preserves the flavor and texture of the product compared to freezing slowly - Farms transformed from family farms to industrialized farms

Agriculture changes the physical landscape

- Modifications include: - Land Cover Change - Slash-and-burn/swidden/shifting cultivation - Deforestation - Terracing - Irrigation - Draining wetlands

Intensive Subsistence

- Mostly found in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The most commonly grown crop on these subsistence farms is wet rice

Extensive Subsistence

- Mostly found in tropical regions and typically includes slash and burn/swidden/shifting cultivation. Remember, this type of agriculture requires a large amount of land because the land loses its fertility very quickly, so the amount of food produced off the total amount of land needed is very low

The U.S in the 1800s-Industrial North

- Northern states began to industrialize and export manufactured goods. As the Northern states industrialized they attracted new immigrants - Increasing social resistance and call for abolition of slavery - More roads and canals in the north

Subsistence Farming

- Occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families. In subsistence agriculture, farm output is targeted to survival and is mostly for local requirements with little or no surplus trade - Nomadic Hunters - Nomadic Herding - Extensive subsistence - Intensive Subsistence

Mediterranean Cropping/Agriculture

- Orchard farming (olives, figs, citrus) - Viticulture (wine growing - grapes) - Cereal (grains) - Vegetable - Simply a form of agriculture, found in a Mediterranean type climate. Started in Asia and Europe, Mediterranean farming has been going on for thousands of years. The four main aspects are orchard farming, viticulture, cereal and vegetable cultivation - Climate is characterized by with warm, dry summers and cool, mild winters. Most of the coastal land around the Mediterranean Sea experience this climate, as well as land on the western coasts of most continents (not Antarctica). You will find Mediterranean agricultural practices being used in most places that experience a Mediterranean climate - In most Mediterranean climate regions, both subsistence and commercial farming can be found, depending on the country in which it is located (i.e., it is less likely to see subsistence farmers working in the Mediterranean region of the US - Southern California, but more likely to be found in the Mediterranean regions of Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, etc.)

Export commodities

- Raw material or agricultural product that is produced and sold primarily for export to another country. Many of the top food exporting countries are More Developed countries. Keep in mind that these countries tend to have a wide variety of exports, from food to highly specialized consumer goods; conversely, the countries showing lower total value of food exports here may be much more dependent on the revenue from those food exports as they make up a greater portion of the economic activity within the country

Farming in the early 1900s

- Research, education, and Mechanization - The 1887 Hatch Act established agricultural experiment stations in connection with Land Grant Universities in each state (universities that receive federal funding for agriculture and mechanics research, such as Texas A&M) - By 1900, machines had drastically reduced the amount of manpower required on farms. This increased productivity freed more Americans to pursue new endeavors in industry and in the arts and sciences - From 1860 to 1900, the population of the US had more than doubled, but the number of farmers did not

Cost of Technology and Seeds

- Seeds are the most important purchase a farmer makes each year - and terminal seeds means they MUST buy them each year. The price increases are a result of genetic engineering as well as the rapid consolidation in the seed industry (mergers and acquisitions as smaller companies join together to create one larger company that controls a bigger share of the market). - The rising costs of inputs (seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and collapsing crop prices in the global market has led to high numbers of farmers to default on loans, which has lead to farmers abandoning their farms and moving to urban 20 areas to increasing suicide rates

Restrictions on some chemicals

- Some chemicals are ok in very small qualities, but not in others. Companies are expected to register and report the existence and measure the amount of these chemicals

The U.S in the 1800s-Agrarian South

- South's population stagnated - In 1800 half of all Americans lived in the South, but by 1850 only onethird of the population was there - The Southern economy relied on producing and exporting cotton, sugar, rice, tobacco and wheat. also depended heavily on food imported from the upper-Mississippi valley. Production of work intensive cash crops like cotton and tobacco expanded and the Southern economy became increasingly dependent on slave labor to keep the price of its crops competitive. Technological improvements like Eli Whitney's cotton gin also helped increase cotton production and made slavery profitable - growing dependency on slavery in the south for profitable export-oriented agriculture

Post-WWII Agriculture

- Strategies to avoid conditions of the great depression -G.I Bill - Marshall Plan - Updated Agricultural acts - The New Deal era quotas and subsidies were quickly put back into place in order to keep agricultural prices from plummeting - In June 1944, FDR signed the Servicemen's Readjustment Act into law. Commonly known as the G.I. Bill, the act helped military men returning from war go to college, find a job, obtain medical care, buy a home, or start a business or a farm - Congress also updated the Agricultural Adjustments Act that was first implemented in the 1930s - the updates included price stabilization (the government sets the price at which agricultural commodities can be sold, will pay the farmers the difference if the market price is below that value, or will buy the crop from the farmer at the set price). It also was amended to include crops such as cotton, tobacco, and peanuts - yes, today the US has a strategic peanut reserve in case of future shortages

Debates over new innovations

- Sustainability - Soil and Water Usage - Reductions in Biodiversity - Extensive Fertilizer and Pesticide use

Land Cover Change

- Term used to describe the natural vegetation/state of the land or what has been built by humans to replace it (cultural landscape). Converting natural vegetation land cover to agricultural land cover changes the impact of that land on the climate - including emissions of greenhouse gases, absorption of carbon dioxide (which plants convert to oxygen). Land cover change also changes the way the earth absorbs the sun's energy - The earth is not heated by the sun's rays shining in through the atmosphere alone. That is just part of the process. The sun's heat energy reaches the earth in the form of short wave radiation, which easily passes through the earth's atmosphere. Some of this energy is reflected from the earth's surface and returns back through the atmosphere. Some land cover is more reflective than others (i.e., snow has a higher reflective rate than a blacktop parking lot). The reflective qualities of a surface is called the "albedo". The heat energy not reflected is absorbed by the earth's surface and re-radiated out as long wave radiation, which cannot as easily pass through the atmosphere, which in turn warms the air close to the surface of the earth. The albedo of land cover has an effect on surface temperatures and precipitation. Deforested areas are more likely to experience drought because of this complex effect. Urban areas, which have more paved areas, are significantly warmer than the surrounding rural areas, which is known as the "urban heat island" effect (more about this in our urban unit).

Irrigation impact on the Aral Sea

- The Aral Sea disaster is an example of a man-made environmental catastrophe. The Aral Sea is actually a huge lake, located between Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in Central Asia, formerly part of the Soviet Union. In recent decades, much of the water which used to flow into the Aral Sea has been diverted as irrigation for growing crops. As a result, the Aral Sea has shrunk dramatically with nearly two-thirds of the lake vanishing since 1970. The sequence of images above, taken by the Landsat satellite, show the changes in the size of the lake since 1973. Due to the lower volume of water, the concentration of minerals and salts in Aral Sea has risen to the point where most fish can no longer survive, ruining the local fishing industry. The newly exposed lake bottom has become a source of large amounts of airborne dust, lowering the air quality in the region and decreasing crop yields

Conservation efforts

- The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN describes conservation agriculture as "a concept for resource-saving agricultural crop production that strives to achieve acceptable profits together with high and sustained production levels while concurrently conserving the environment" - One way the FAO promotes conservation in agriculture is through "no till" methods, practicing minimum soil disturbance which is essential to maintaining minerals within the soil, stopping erosion, and preventing water loss from occurring within the soil. In the past agriculture has looked at soil tillage as a main process in the introduction of new crops to an area. It was believed that tilling the soil would increase fertility within the soil through mineralization that takes place in the soil. Also tilling of soil can cause severe erosion and crusting which leads to a decrease in soil fertility. Today tillage is seen as destroying organic matter that can be found within the soil cover. No-till farming has caught on as a process that can save soil organic levels for a longer period and still allow the soil to be productive for longer periods - Another way is promoting natural top soil management. The principle of managing the top soil to create a permanent organic soil cover can allow for growth of organisms within the soil structure. This growth will break down the mulch that is left on the soil surface. The breaking 7 down of this mulch will produce a high organic matter level which will act as a fertilizer for the soil surface - A third method is practicing diverse crop rotations or crop interactions. Crop rotation can be used best as a disease control against other preferred crops. This process will helps prevent insects and weeds from taking hold on a field. Rotational crops will act as a natural insecticide and herbicide against specific weeds. Not allowing insects or weeds to establish a pattern will help to eliminate problems with yield reduction and infestations within fields - A third method is practicing diverse crop rotations or crop interactions. Crop rotation can be used best as a disease control against other preferred crops. This process will helps prevent insects and weeds from taking hold on a field. Rotational crops will act as a natural insecticide and herbicide against specific weeds. Not allowing insects or weeds to establish a pattern will help to eliminate problems with yield reduction and infestations within fields

U.S Agriculture during WWI

- The U.S. Food Administration and the United States Department of Agriculture urged American farmers and ranchers to step up production to meet increased demand at home and abroad. Agricultural exports soared and farm prices more than doubled. This boom renewed business interest in farming, and in 1916 President Woodrow Wilson signed the Farm Credit Loan Act to provide long-term loans to farmers. With money for expansion, farmers purchased nearly fifty thousand tractors and put forty million acres of new land into production in 1917. The war effort also saw meat production swell by more than 20 percent

Biotechnology and GMOs

- The area of the world least impacted by these new technologies in agriculture are among the poorest of countries where a high % of people make their living (i.e., provide food for their family) working in agriculture. However, there are significant challenges associated with making these new technologies available where there is existing food insecurity. These challenges have been identified as challenges that need to be addressed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information - 1. Developing appropriate seeds: existing biotechnology applications are not appropriate for conditions in developing countries. These technologies are developed for local conditions where they are developed, and the conditions are different in other places. - 2. Affordability the seeds and technologies must be available at affordable prices for small operation farmers and the poor. If you cannot afford to pay for or maintain a technology or product, it will not be useful, regardless of its potential - 3. Cultural and religious issues: new technologies may be considered as threatening to cultural or religious traditions. For example, GMO seeds with pig or cattle DNA inserted into it may be considered taboo by a Muslim or Hindu, respectively. Societies differ in their perceptions of what is natural and unnatural, acceptable or unacceptable - 4. International agreements and protocols - scientists and lawyers in both MDCs and LDCs need to participate in discussions and negotiations about biodiversity, safety, trade, and intellectual property rights (trademarks and patents). The EU, Korea, and Japan currently have restrictions on the imports of GMOs. Less developed countries may be less likely to adopt GMO crops out of fear that they may lose access to large foreign markets that currently prohibit their import. The map above shows countries that have GMO labeling laws. The darker green, the more restrictive the rules. The blue countries have an outright ban on GMOs

Infrastructure

- The basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g. buildings, bridges and roads, rail lines, telecommunications, water systems, power supplies, etc.) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise

Monocropping/monoculture

- The cultivation of a single crop in a given area - this means that an entire plantation may be devoted to only ONE crop -and sometimes the vast majority of agriculture in a given place (especially small countries) may be devoted to growing that one crop. Additionally, countries where monoculture is pervasive have less farm land available to their own farmers to produce food for domestic consumption - this means that the limited land available for subsistence or domestic commercial farmers (not producing food for export) is under even greater pressure - Also happens in more developed countries as large commercial farms are dedicated to producing only one crop - and it's possible that a high percentage of that crop may be the same high-yield variety. This makes the crops vulnerable to harmful pests, extreme weather, or other issues that may damage the entire crop since it is all the same variety (more biodiversity and variety within a given area helps to ensure that at least some of the crop may survive an infestation of harmful pests or a drought -Because of the methods used in monoculture crop cultivation, there are typically high inputs of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, high levels of mechanization (which increases fossil fuel use and pollution), and high levels of water use (agriculture is the biggest use of water in most countries)

Distribution Systems

- The final part of the process is how the product from the production facility to the markets (grocery stores, restaurant supply stores, etc.) and ultimately the consumer. It includes brokers*, wholesalers (companies that purchase large quantities of products from producers and then sell them to retailers), retail stores (grocery stores) and food service (restaurants and cafeterias) - *A broker is a person or firm who arranges transactions between a buyer and a seller for a commission (fee) when the deal is executed.

Global Commodity Chains

- The global commodity chains for agriculture include all the steps from the farmer (and often before - the companies that supply the farmers with seeds and the inputs (fertilizer and pesticide) have commodity chains of their own) to the consumer - there are MANY steps along the process, and each step is a link in the chain - If a single company owns multiple links in the chain, we call that "vertical integration"

Hunger Crisis

- The majority of the world's hungry people live in developing countries, where 12.9 per cent of the population is undernourished. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the highest prevalence of hunger, with the rate increasing from 20.7 per cent in 2014 to 23.2 per cent in 2017 - The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that about 820 million people of the 7.6 billion people in the world, or 10.7%, were suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2016 - The U.N. has declared the global hunger emergency the largest humanitarian crisis since 1945. Across East Africa, the Lake Chad Basin and Yemen, starvation threatens over 20 million people — more than the populations of New York City, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago and Philadelphia combined - Consecutive years of poor rains and harvests have decimated crops across South Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya

A "New Deal"

- The net income of farmers was less than one-third of what it had been in 1929, which meant they earned a lot less money - Discontent grew so much that farmers gathered from the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa, and Nebraska and pledged to protect one another's homes, farms, livestock, and machinery from being taken through foreclosure (where the bank takes back items used as collateral for loans so they can sell it hoping to recover some of the banks money that was loaned out) - "New Deal" - Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR). Many of President Roosevelt's "new deal" programs were designed to help farmers, including: the Agricultural Adjustment Acts, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Farm Security Administration, the Soil Conservation Service and the Rural Electrification Administration - These programs focused on improving farm services, reducing farm surpluses and increasing prices - The goals were to improve the economy and narrow the gap between urban and rural living standards

Deforestation

- The permanent removal of trees to make room for something besides forest. This can include clearing the land for agriculture or grazing, or using the timber for fuel, construction or manufacturing. - Deforestation affects wild animals, plants and humans in at least four distinct ways: via soil erosion, which can lead to clogged waterways and other problems; via water cycle disruption, which can lead to desertification and habitat loss; via greenhouse gas emissions, which contribute to global climate change; and via biodiversity losses, which can lead to extinctions and loss of natural beauty

Desertification

- The process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture. Overgrazing is the major cause of desertification worldwide, which is made worse by increasing demands for meat as a food source. Other factors that cause desertification include urbanization, climate change, overdrafting of groundwater, deforestation, natural disasters and tillage practices in agriculture that place soils more vulnerable to wind

Soil Salinization

- The process by which water-soluble salts accumulate in the soil. Salinization is a resource concern because excess salts hinder the growth of crops by limiting their ability to take up water. Salinization may occur naturally or because of conditions resulting from management practices. All water contains dissolved salts, but some water has a higher salinity (ratio of salt to water). As land is irrigated, the water evaporates, leaving the salts behind. Over time, the salt builds up in the soil. - Salinization is one of the most devastating forms of land degradation threatening food production worldwide, especially in arid and semi-arid climates such as the American West and Southern Australia. In Australia, thanks to a number of factors such as climate change and irrigation practices, an increasing number of landscapes are becoming saline, causing a decreased yield of food grains

Aquaculture

- The rearing of aquatic animals or the cultivation of aquatic plants for food. Aquaculture( or fish farming) makes up over 50% of the world market for fish products. As global populations continue to increase, wild populations of commercially captured fish can no longer support this demand - Benefits of aquaculture include creating wage paying jobs in communities, contribute to scientific knowledge and technology, bring awareness and action for protecting coastal waterways from pollution (especially protecting mollusk and seaweed culture), and farmed fish reduce pressure on wild populations of some species that are suitable for aquaculture - Negatives of aquaculture one of the biggest issues of aquaculture, however, is that some fish need high protein feed- this feed is made by using wild fish stocks to create the feed. In many cases, it takes more than a pound of wild fish to produce the feed needed to farm a pound of farmed fish, such as salmon - High concentrations of fish in a localized area also are at risk of disease, and can amplify and transfer diseases to wild fish populations. Excess nitrogen-rich nutrients from feed and waste can actually increase pollution in coastal waterways, as can pollution from chemicals and antibiotics that are often used. 4 Economically, aquaculture farms compete with local lobstermen and fishermen for the same economic resources. The income is also highly unpredictable to small communities who rely on it due to susceptibility to severe weather, predators, and global competition.

Role of Women in ag production

- The role of women in agriculture has changes significantly as a country developed economically and agriculture shifts from subsistence to commercial - Women provide a high percentage of unpaid farm labor in LDCs compared to MDCs; however, the % of women who farm as their primary employment (because even if it is unpaid, they are working for a living) has been decreasing in LDCs over the past several decades. On the map above, the darkest shaded countries are the countries with the highest percentage of women working in agriculture - notice the darkest shaded countries are also among the least developed countries of the world - Throughout history (since the first agricultural revolution), inheritance has been typically passed down from father to son. Women, as a result, are less likely to be landholders (owners). Some places even have laws that prevent women from owning property in her own name (it would be her husband's property instead). However, in more recent decades, the number of women who own their own land has increased, though their plots are notably smaller than those of their male counterparts - Men's or Women's crops-less likely now than previously

Changing Diets

- There is also a shift in diets (that contribute to the other two). The progression goes from chronic malnourishment and starvation to an obesity epidemic due to energy-dense Western-style diets (even in low- and middle-income countries such as Bolivia as the cultural practice of the western-style diet diffuses) - Traditional diets are mostly made up of cereals and fiber, and other plant-based foods (fruits and vegetables) - Estimated cost of feeding these families each for a week: $26.39 (Mali) and $31 (Ecuador). The families likely spend hours daily preparing food for the family to eat as none of these foods are processed.

Food Security

- To be food secure means the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food

Responding to Adverse Weather

- Too much rain in a short period of time can cause flooding, which can drown crops. - Too little rain can cause plants to die from dehydration. Too much rain over a period of time (not a flood, but a significant series of rain that occurs over days or weeks) "overwaters" the crops and causes root rot or mold to grow, which destroys the food portion of the plant OR makes it so that the machinery cannot be used to harvest the plants. - A hail storm can destroy a corn, soybean, or other grain crop, especially late in the growing season (the stalks are broken, or whorl damage (damage to the leaf arrangement that effects the growth of the plant) - A freeze (during the growing season) can damage fruits or kill plants And so on and so forth - Large countries have an obvious advantage when it comes to responding to adverse weather - they have enough variety in growing regions and crops that losing one crop they can adjust to cover the loss from other regions or with another variety. Smaller countries, especially landlocked countries, are more vulnerable to these natural occurrences. If their own agricultural production is reduced, there may be a delay in importing alternative sources from other countries

Political Systems

- Trade Agreements/Trade Disputes - Subsidies and quotas - Like all global trade, politics are involved when it comes to the trade of agriculture. Agriculture is particularly hard-hit by fluctuations and global-trade politics, especially grain farming - Domestically (inside the country), farming is affected by a series of farm bills that set quotas and/or subsidies for farmers (payments from the government to the farmers). These farm bills have historically been the subject of many political cartoons

Costs and Regulation of Modern Ag

- U.S department of Agriculture (USDA) - Public Policy - Subsidies and quotas - The USDA, public policies (such as the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 and the updated Farm Bills in the 1940s), and subsidies and quotas have been discussed in other places in these notes - make sure you know what they are and can give examples

Land Lost to Suburbanization

- Urban sprawl is the uncontrolled expansion of an urban area into the surrounding rural areas. The land upon which these new developments are built are lost to farming. First, consider the traffic. As a population increases, the traffic does too. There's a good reason you'll never see a combine tractor driving through midtown Manhattan. - Farmers who are dealing with new developments will face the same issues, and GPS mapping has only made the problem worse. People now take "shortcuts" to avoid traffic, but these are the same roads farmers need to use to transport their massive tractors and semis full of food - Food is a real, necessary resource. Urban sprawl eats the land up in a disorganized, thoughtless manner. Farmers already try and make the most of the land they have, and as the global population continues to increase, that need will only become more necessary. The larger the demand on the farms becomes, the more they need land to expand. If farmers must compete with urban sprawl to keep up with demand, they often have to move farther away from the city, which leads to the same problem of needing to transport food over long distances

Draining Wetlands

- Wetlands restoration - Species-rich habitats performing valuable ecosystem services such as flood protection, water quality enhancement, food chain support and carbon absorption. Worldwide, wetlands have been drained to convert them into agricultural land or industrial and urban areas - Positive side, draining wetlands extends the agricultural (or urban) land available - Today, wetlands degradation and destruction is occurring more rapidly than in any other ecosystem. Wetlands destruction has increased flood and drought damage, nutrient runoff and water pollution, and shoreline erosion, and triggered a decline in wildlife populations

Malnutrition

- a person's body lacks the nutrients necessary to grow and stay healthy. The condition may result from an inadequate or an unbalanced diet. ... People suffer from hunger because they don't get enough food, and hunger can lead to malnutrition over the long term. Starvation is a form of malnutrition. Malnutrition is caused by inadequate food supply or inability of the body to use the nutrients in food, possibly resulting in micronutrient deficiencies, leading to stunting (low height for age), wasting (low weight for height), or underweight (low weight for age)

The Dust Bowl

- a prolonged period of drought, the grassland portions of the US (Great Plains) and Canada (Grand Prairies) started experiencing a series of severe dust storms, which became known as the Dust Bowl - The natural disaster of extreme drought was compounded by human practices, and the seeds of the Dust Bowl may have been sown during the early 1920s - post-World War I recession (falling prices) led farmers to try new mechanized farming techniques as a way to increase profits - the loss of 7 fertile topsoil, which were picked up by wind erosion, leaving the land even more vulnerable to drought and inhospitable for growing crops. As the drought worsened and the winds picked up, the occurrence and severity of the dust storms increased. 1932, 14 of these dust storms, known as black blizzards were reported, and in just one year, the number increased to nearly 40. - It is estimated that approximately two million people became homeless because of the Dust Bowl and the damage it did to their farms, and an estimated 6,500 died as a direct result of the storms (not including those who died later from the lingering impacts of starvation or illness due to malnutrition). Millions of people fled the region, traveling to cities hoping to find jobs in an era of unprecedented unemployment due to the Great Depression

Famine

- a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, inflation, crop failure, population imbalance, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality

Food Deserts

- an area that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food, in contrast with an area with higher access to supermarkets or vegetable shops with fresh foods, which is called a food oasis. Food deserts are most common in impoverished areas of cities with high minority populations (more on food deserts in our Urban unit). The darkest red counties on the map above show the counties in the US where greater than 10% of the population lives in a food desert (defined as no supermarket within walking distance (less than 1 mile) or no car to access a supermarket)

Pollution

- the contamination we release into the environment as a by-product of growing and raising livestock, food crops, animal feed, and biofuel crops - generally divided into two categories: pollution that comes from raising animals and pollution from growing crops including animal feed, human food, and biofuel crops: Agricultural pollution from growing crops from the inputs: Nitrogen-based fertilizers produce greenhouse gases and can contaminate waterways with dangerous pollutants; chemical pesticides with varying toxic effects end up in our air and water or leave residue directly on our food

Economies of Scale

- the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, with cost per unit of output decreasing with increasing scale. Mass production (factory-style production) increases is a way to increase the economy of scale for production. Mass production/economies of scale allow for lower prices on the consumer end, so more people are able to afford the final product, the company is able to sell more of the product, and overall even though they are making less money per unit, they are making more money in total

Environmental Effects of ag land use

-pollution -land cover change - desertification - soil salinization - conservation efforts