Key Issue 9.3: Where Is Agriculture Distributed?

Why did the hunter-gatherers have few people in each group?

To regulate supply consumption.

What is intensive farming?

Trying to produce as much food as possible from the land, plants and animals available, using much labor.

How many people in the world today still hunt-gather?

250,000 people or less than 0.005% of the world population still hunt and gather. Some groups include the Spinifex/Pila Nguru (Australia's Great Victorian Desert), Sentinelese (India's Andaman Islands), & San (Botswana & Nambia).

What is pastoral nomadism?

A form of subsistence agriculture based on herding domesticated animals.

What is shifting cultivation? Identify the 2 features.

A form of subsistence agriculture in which people shift activity from one field to another; each field is used for crops for relatively few years and left fallow for a relatively long period. Two features include slash-and-burn & farming for few years then moving to allow the soil to recover.

What is slash and burn agriculture?

Burning plains for fertile soil and cleared area.

The US was the leading producer of meat in the late 20th century. What is the current world leader of meat production?

China is the leading producer of meat, followed by the US, then Brazil.

What is agribusiness?

Commercial agriculture characterized by integration of different steps in the food-processing industry, usually through ownership by large corporations (developed countries).

What is truck farming? What do truck farmers grow?

Commercial gardening and fruit farming, so named because truck was a Middle English word meaning bartering or the exchange of commodities. People in developed countries demand crops grown with this method such as apples, asparagus, cherries, lettuce, mushrooms, & tomatoes.

What was the trend for fish production during the past half-century?

Fish production has increased dramatically.

What is double cropping?

Harvesting twice a year from the same field.

What is horticulture?

Horticulture is the culture of plants for food, comfort, and beauty.

What economic difficulties do dairy farmers experience?

Intense labor & winter feed.

What is the Von Thünen model used for?

It's used to help explain the importance of proximity to market in the choice of crops on commercial farms.

To its critics, shifting cultivation is______________________________ in economic development.

at best a preliminary step

What do all Mediterranean areas have in common?

They all border the Mediterranean Sea.

What is specialty farming?

Farmers profitably grow crops that are increasing in demand by consumers, a form of truck farming.

List the 11 main agricultural region identified by Whittlesey & their locations.

-Intensive subsistence, wet-rice dominant: East & South Asia -Intensive subsistence, crops other than rice dominant: East & South Asia -Pastoral nomadism: In drylands of Southwest, Central, & East Asia, & Southwest Africa -Shifting cultivation: In tropical developing countries -Plantation: In sub-tropical & tropical developing countries -Mixed crop & livestock: The integration of crops & livestock. Found in the US Midwest & Central Europe -Dairying: Production of milk & other dairy products. Near northeastern US, southeastern Canada, & northwestern Europe -Grain: In north-central US, south-central Canada, & Eastern Europe -Ranching: In drylands of western North America, southeastern Latin America, Central Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, & South Pacific -Mediterranean: Land surrounding Mediterranean Sea, western US, southern tip of Africa, & Chile -Commercial gardening: In southeastern US & Australia

How is rice properly grown?

1. Prepare the field with animal power. Fields need to be flattened. 2. Flood the field with water (called a Sarah in Indonesia). 3. Grow rice seedlings in nursery & transplant into the flooded field. 4. Harvest with knives.

What is a milk shed?

The area surrounding a city from which milk is supplied without spoiling.

What is ranching and where is it practiced?

The commercial grazing of livestock over an extensive area, usually in semiarid or arid land (Western USA).

What is crop rotation?

The practice of rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year, to avoid exhausting the soil.

What is aquaculture?

The rearing of aquatic animals or the cultivation of aquatic plants for food.

Some pastoral nomads practice transhumance. What is transhumance?

The seasonal migration of livestock between mountains & lowland pasture areas.