Chapter 10 - Key Issue 3: Where Is Agriculture Distributed?
How are multiple harvests made possible in these less mild regions? Explain
Through crop rotation - rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year to avoid exhausting the soil
How is land owned in a typical village that practices shifting cultivation?
Traditionally, land was owned by the village as a whole rather than separately by each resident Chief of ruling council allocated a patch of land to each family and allowed it to retain the output
The significance of wheat as a crop
Used to make bread flour Can be sold for a higher prices than other grains Has more uses as human food Can be stored relatively easily without spoiling Can be transported a long distance Can be shipped profitably from remote farms to markets
Where does cattle ranching take place today?
60% of cattle grazing today takes place on land leased from the US government
Define rest crop and describe how it relates to crop rotation
A crop, such as clover, that helps restore the field
Pastoral Nomadism
A form of subsistence agriculture based on the herding of domesticated animals
Define cereal grains and describe how it relates to crop rotation
A grass that yields grain for food Could rotate crops between different kinds of cereal grains or between cereal grains and other foods
Plantation
A large commercial farm in a developing country that specializes in one or two crops
Swidden
A patch of land cleared for planting through slashing and burning
What is double-cropping?
A process in which two harvests are obtained per year from one field
What is "sawah"? What is a "paddy"?
A sawah is the flooded field Paddy is the malay word for wet rice
Describe the irony between the amount of land devoted to crops vs. animals and the income generated by each in this region
A typical mixed crop and livestock farm devotes nearly all land area to growing crops but derives more than three-fourths of its income from the sale of animal products, such as beef, milk and eggs
What type of climate is livestock best adapted to? And, where is ranching practiced?
Adapted to semiarid or arid land and is practiced in developed countries where the vegetation is too sparse and the soil too poor to support crops
Why did cattle ranching decline?
After it came into conflict with sedentary agriculture
How do farmers and combine companies make use of the fact that the wheat matures at different times in the spring and winter wheat belts?
Because the planting and harvesting in the two regions occur at different times of the year, the workload can be distributed throughout the year
Describe the conditions of Mediterranean climate and agriculture
Borders sea. Sea winds moisturize air, moderate winter weather and give some relief in summer Hot dry summers (although some relief from sea breezes) Hilly, mountainous lands
What animals are chosen, and where?
Camel is the most highly desired animal in North Africa and Southwest Asia, along with sheep and goats Horse is particularly important in Central Asia
What is "truck farming" and where has it spread in the U.S.?
Commercial gardening and fruit farming, so named because truck was a Middle English word meaning "bartering" or "exchange of commodities"
Where is double-cropping possible? Where is it not?
Common in places that have warm winters, such as southern China and Taiwan, but is relatively rare in India, where most areas have dry winters
Agriculture in communist China today, post-commune
Communes still hold legal title to agricultural land, but villagers sign contracts that entitle them to farm portions of the land as private individuals Chinese farmers may sell to others the right to use the land and to pass on the right to their children
Plantation: Types of Crops
Cotton, sugarcane, coffee, rubber and tobacco Cocoa, jute, bananas, tea, coconuts and palm oil
What is the principal difference between grains grown in "commercial grain farming" regions and grains grown in "mixed crop and livestock" regions?
Crops on a grain farm are grown primarily for consumption by humans rather than by livestock Farms in developing countries also grow crops for human consumption, but the output is directly consumed by the farmers
How does this type of agriculture allow farmers to more evenly "distribute their workload"?
Fields require less attention in the winter than in the spring, when crops are planted and in the fall, when they are harvested Meanwhile, livestock require year-long attention
In what way do modern governments currently threaten pastoral nomadism?
Governments force groups to give up pastoral nomadism because they want the land for other uses
What is meant by "intensive"?
Implies that farmers must work intensively to subsist on a parcel of land
In areas of intensive subsistence agriculture where wet rice is not dominant, what is the major crop?
Wheat
Where is intensive subsistence agriculture practiced? Why there?
In densely populated East, South and Southeast Asia Because the agricultural density is so high, families must produce enough food for their survival from a very small area of land
Where is mixed crop and livestock farming common?
In the United States west of the Appalachians and east of 98º west longitude and in much of Europe from France to Russia
In what type of climate is it usually found?
It is adapted to dry climates where planting crops is impossible
What percentage of the world's people work it?
Less than 5%
Plantation: Regions
Located in the tropics and subtropics, especially in Latin America, Africa and Asia
What three conditions make the southeast U.S. an ideal location for this commercial gardening and fruit farming?
Long growing season and humid climate, and it it is accessible to the large markets of New York, Philadelphia, Washington and other eastern US urban areas
Why do some regions specialize in "milk products" like cheese and butter rather than fluid milk?
Milk products keep fresh longer than milk does and can be safely shipped from remote farms
Most crops in Mediterranean lands are grown for ___ rather than for ___
Most crops in Mediterranean lands are grown for HUMAN CONSUMPTION rather than for ANIMAL FEED
Cons (How is shifting cultivation being replaced?)
Most environmentally sound approach for the tropics Could upset the traditional local diversity of cultures in the tropics
Plantation: Workers
Must import workers and provide them with food, housing and social services
What country is the world's largest producer of dairy products?
New Zealand
What percentage of the world's land area is devoted to shifting cultivation?
Occupies approximately one-fourth of the world's land area
List the two most important cash crops of Mediterranean regions
Olives and grapes
What regions of the world are currently occupied by this practice?
Pastoral nomads live primarily in the large belt of arid and semiarid land that includes Central and Southwest Asia and North Africa
Potash
Potassium fertilizer generated by slash-and-burn burning debris
Give examples of specialty crops
Practiced in southeastern US. Crops include apples, asparagus, cherries, lettuce, mushrooms, tomatoes
Agriculture following the communist revolution, communes
Private individuals have owned little agricultural land in China Instead, the government organized agricultural producers communes, which typically consisted of several villages of several hundred people each Failed because people worked less efficiently for the commune than when working for themselves
Identify the three regions of large-scale grain production in North America
The winter wheat belt through Kansas Colorado and Oklahoma The spring wheat belt through the Dakotas, Montana and southern Saskatchewan in Canada The Palouse region of Washington State
Plantation: Operated by
Europeans or North Americans
Describe territoriality among pastoral nomads
Every group controls a piece of territory and will invade another group's territory only in an emergency or if war is declared The goal of each group is to control a territory large enough to contain the forage and water needed for survival The actual amount of land a group controls depends on its wealth and power
Where is the U.S. Corn Belt, and what crops are grown there?
Extending from Ohio to the Dakotas, with its center in Iowa Around half of the cropland is planted in corn Soybeans have become the second-most-important crop in the US mixed commercial farming region
What problems do dairy farmers currently face?
Face economic difficulties because of declining revenues and rising costs Labor intensive Winter feed
Identify the two distinctive features of shifting cultivation
Farmers clear land for planting by slashing vegetation and burning the debris Farmers grow crops on a cleared field for only a few years, until soil nutrients are depleted and then leave it fallow (with nothing planted) for many years so the soil can recover
Fallow and describe how it relates to crop rotation
Farmland that is left unsown for a period in order to restore its fertility as part of a crop rotation
What were the three U.S. and world stages of ranching?
1. Herding animals over open ranges 2. Fixed farming - dividing open land into ranches. 3. Confined to drier lands
Why did cattle ranching expand in the U.S.?
Demand for beef in East Coast cities
Plantation: Situated In
Developing countries
How do pastoral nomads obtain grain (several ways)?
Raise crops From sedentary subsistence farmers in exchange for animal products Plant crops at a fixed location Hire workers to practice sedentary agriculture in return of grain and protection Sow grain in recently flooded areas and return later in the year to harvest Remain in one place and cultivate the land when rainfall is abundant During periods that are too dry to grow crops, the group can increase the size of the herd and migrate in search of food and water
How long are swiddens used?
Rapid weed growth also contributes to the abandonment of a swidden after a few years
What is "wet rice"?
Refers to rice planted on dry land in a nursery and then moved as seedlings to a flooded field to promote growth
Transhumance
Seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pasture areas
Pros (Arguments against replacing shifting cultivation)
Selling timber to builders and raising beef cattle for fast-food restaurants are more effective development strategies than maintaining shifting cultivation Can support only a small population in an area without causing environmental damage At best, a preliminary step in economic development Should be replaced by more sophisticated agricultural techniques
In what climate does shifting cultivation predominate?
Shifting cultivation is practiced in much of the world's Tropical, or A, climate regions, which have relatively high temperatures and abundant rainfall Especially in the tropical rain forests of Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia
In what different ways is the corn used?
Some of the corn is consumed by people as oil, margarine, and other food products, but most is fed to pigs and cattle
Ranching
The commercial grazing of livestock over an extensive area
Horticulture
The growing of fruits, vegetables and flowers
Milkshed
The ring surrounding a city from which milk can be supplied without spoiling
