agricultural ap human

Feedlots/Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs):

animals kept and raised in confined spaces and given hormones and/or antibiotics and/or fattening grains to prepare them for slaughter at a much quicker pace than traditional forms e.g. cattle, swine, poultry. Saves money!

Economies of scale

cost advantages gained by an increased level of production; more cost efficient on a large scale. Ex: agribusiness v. small family farm

Crop Hearths

~8,000 BCE Southwest Asia (Fertile Crescent): barley, wheat, lentil, and olive, oats **earliest crop hearth ~8,000 BCE East Asia: Rice and millet ~6,000 BCE Southeast Asia: Mango, taro, coconut, banana ~4,000 BCE Sub-Saharan Africa: Sorghum (sweetener), yams, millet, and rice ~3,500 BCE Latin America: Central America AND South America: Beans, cotton, potato - most importantly maize (corn) in Mexico

Dairy farming

• A farm devoted chiefly to the production of milk and the manufacture of butter and cheese. Improvements in refrigeration and transportation have expanded the milkshed (the geographic distance milk is delivered) • Intensive/Ext • Found in MDC's and LDC's •Commercial/subsistence • Climate: cold and warm mid latitude • Locations: NE USA, SE Canada, NW Europe, South Asia. India has become world's largest milk producer, USA 2nd and then China and Pakistan • Outputs: milk, cheese, butter • Impacts to environment: feedlots create a lot of waste and are very stinky! • Terms associated with: milkshed

Nomadic Herding

• A form of agriculture based on herding domesticated animals; groups of people continually migrate to find pastures and water. Often trade meat for crops • Extensive • Found in LDC's • Subsistence farming • Climate: arid/semi-arid • Locations: SW Asia, Northern Africa, Central Asia, Mongolia, East Africa, Siberia • Animals: sheep, goats, camels, cows, reindeer, horses • Impacts to environment: overgrazing leads to desertification • Terms associated with: transhumance, pasture, overgrazing, desertification, Sahel

Livestock Ranching

• A form of agriculture in which livestock graze over an extensive area. Sometimes they are sent to feedlots for fattening when they are close to being sold. • Extensive • Found in MDC's • Commercial • Climate: arid/semi-arid (areas too dry for growing crops in large quantities) • Locations: Pampas in Argentina, Southern Brazil, Western North America, Central Asia, Central Australia (Outback), New Zealand, some in Spain/Portugal, China • Animals: cows, sheep, goat • Impacts to environment: overgrazing can lead to desertification • Terms associated with: feedlots, agribusiness, overgrazing

Shifting Cultivation

• A form of agriculture in which people shift activity from one field to another; each field is cleared, burned of the debris and used for crops for relatively few years until the nutrients have been depleted, then left fallow for a relatively long period. Also called Slash and Burn farming. Ownership of fields is usually communal. Large companies are taking over a lot of their land and using it for commercial crops, cattle and logging. • Extensive • Found in LDC's • Subsistence farming • Climate: Tropical • Locations: Latin America and Amazon, Sub-Saharan Africa, SE Asia • Crops: maize (corn), millet, sorghum, yams, vegetables • Impacts to environment: deforestation, decrease in biodiversity • Terms associated with: slash and burn, intercropping, deforestation, fallow

Plantation Agriculture

• A large farm in tropical and subtropical climates that specializes in the production of one or two crops for sale, usually to a more developed country. Owned by people from North America or Europe. Typically labor intensive and exploit the cheap labor in nearby villages and towns. Some of the processing occurs near the fields to reduce transportation costs to the MDC. • Intensive • **Found in LDC's • **Commercial • Climate: Tropical (hot/humid) • Locations: Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, South and SE Asia, (also in the early days of USA) • Crops: coffee, rubber, cocoa/cacao, sugarcane, bananas, tobacco, tea, coconuts, cotton, palm oil • Impacts to environment: reduces biodiversity, deforestation • Terms associated: luxury crops, cash crops, neocolonialism ** Typically commercial farming is found in MDC's

Intensive Farming Practices

• Agriculture that involves greater inputs of capital and paid labor relative to the space being used • Produces greater crop yields per unit of land compared to extensive practices • Land that is expensive or scarce • Near urban centers or densely populated areas • Examples: Market gardening, plantations, mixed crop/livestock, intensive paddy rice farming • Market gardening • Plantation • Mixed crop/livestock

Extensive Farming Practices

• Agriculture that uses fewer inputs of capital and paid labor relative to the amount of space being used • Land is plentiful and costs little • Minimal amount of machinery • Examples: Shifting cultivation, nomadic herding, ranching

3rd Agricultural Revolution/Green Revolution

• Began in mid-20th century with advanced technology and bioengineering. Greatly reduced labor demand. • Green Revolution - development of higher yielding seeds, increased use of chemicals, and mechanized farming. Biggest advances were in rice, corn and wheat. Increased use of fertilizer and pesticides. • Seed hybridization - process of breeding two plants that have desirable characteristics • Ex: 1960's scientists created new strain of rice that was introduced to rice growing countries in Asia • Norman Borlaug is the chief architect of G.R. - helped make Mexico self-sufficient in wheat

Second Agricultural Revolution

• Coincided w/ Industrial Revolution (1700's/1800's); new farm implements (steel plow, cotton gin), much larger farm sizes, new methods of fertilizers/pesticides. Produced more reliable crop harvests. • Enclosure Acts in Britain were laws that enabled landowners to purchase and enclose land that had previously been common among peasant farmers. It forced people off the land and into cities, many working in industry. • 1920 census was the first time in the USA when more people lived in urban areas than rural.

Mixed Crop and Livestock

• Commercial farming characterized by integration of crops and livestock; most of the crops are fed to the livestock rather than consumed directly by humans. The livestock are fattened on the grains for slaughter or fed to dairy cows. Manure is used to fertilize crops. • Intensive • Found in MDC's • Commercial • Climate: Cold and Warm Mid-Latitude • Locations: Midwestern USA and Canada, Central Europe • Crops/animals: corn, soybeans, cows • Impacts to environment: Feedlots - large amount of waste the animals produce can pollute the air, and water supply • Terms associated with: cereal grain, feedlot or CAFO (concentrated animal feeding operations), monocropping, agribusiness, crop rotation

Green Revolution negative Impacts

• Environmental damage (not a sustainable system) • Increase of yields and fertilizers put a strain on the land - led to soil erosion • Intense land use and irrigation drained land of natural nutrients (needing to be supplemented with fertilizers) • Artificial products runoff into wetlands - pollute drinking water, affect ecosystems • Fertilizer application can be harmful to humans • Increased mechanization used more fossil fuels • High cost of seeds/fertilizers hard for poor farmers • Need to buy new seeds each year • Did not reach Sub Saharan Africa - lacked resources to get hybrid seeds/chemicals

Market/commercial gardening and fruit farming

• Farming with a long growing season and humid climate; products were traditionally driven to urban markets and sold (nicknamed truck farming). Today most of the products are sold to companies for canning or freezing • Intensive • Found in MDC's • Commercial • Climate: warm mid latitude • Locations: SE USA (Florida), East coast USA/New England some California, SE Australia. (close to the large markets) • Crops: lettuce, broccoli, apples, oranges, tomatoes, asparagus, mushrooms • Impacts to environment: soil salinization with overirrigation • Terms associated: truck farming, horticulture

Grain farming

• Grain is the harvested seed of grasses such as wheat, oats, corn, dry rice. Grown for human consumption. Around the globe, grains, also called cereals, are the most important staple food. Humans get an average of 48 percent of their calories, or food energy, from grains. Grains are also used to manufacture some cooking oils, fuels, cosmetics, and alcohols. • Extensive/Intensive • Found in MDC's • Commercial • Climate: cold mid latitude - regions too dry for mixed crop agriculture • Locations: North Central USA, South Central Canada, Eastern Europe. **Moving north with climate change. China, India and Russia are world's top wheat producers with USA 4th • Outputs: wheat, corn, rice, oats, barley • Impacts to environment: • Terms associated with: spring wheat (colder regions), winter wheat, Corn Belt, America's breadbasket

Climate

• Long growing seasons near the equator • Growing seasons get shorter move toward the poles • Opposite seasons help provide imported food during winters examples: -mediterranean -Tropical - warm to hot and moist year-round, often with lush vegetation; located near equator Ag types: Shifting cultivation, intensive farming, esp. rice -Arid/semi-arid Ag types: Nomadic herding, ranching

Intensive Agriculture (as an ag region)_

• Small farms in places with a high agricultural density (ratio of farmers to arable land) where most of the work is done by hand or with simple equipment. Farmers will waste virtually no land. Is divided into regions where wet rice dominates and where it does not. Wet rice is grown in flooded fields (sawahs) and relies on the heavy summer monsoon rains. •Intensive • Found in LDC's • Subsistence •Climate: often tropical/warm • Locations: East, South and Southeast Asia •Outputs: wet rice •Impacts to environment: altering the landscape through terracing • Terms associated: double cropping, intercropping, terracing, sawah

Mediterranean Agriculture

• The growing of specialized crops in climate/geographic regions resembling the Mediterranean region. Need a lot of labor to pick the fruit. • Intensive • Found in MDC's • Commercial • Climate: Mediterranean climate (warm midlatitude) - A climate marked by warm, dry summers and cool, rainy winters-olives, grapes, and citrus are common crops. Found in SW Europe, California and portions of Chile, Australia and South Africa. • Locations: Southern coast of Europe, North coast of Africa, Pacific coast of USA, Chile, Southern Australia • Outputs: olives, grapes, figs, dates, sheep, goats • Impacts to environment: over irrigation, soil salinization • Terms associated with: horticulture, irrigation, soil salinization

INTENSIVE SUBSISTENCE

• The source of ¾ of food consumed in the developing world. • Most work is done by hand or with animal support due to widely available labor and expense of mechanization. • Due to high agricultural density, average farm is small- but these small farms fill almost all available space • In developing countries, most people produce food for their own consumption (SUBSISTENCE). Surplus may be sold for income, but generating surplus is usually not the primary focus of agricultural activity

Economic effects on food production practices:

• the location of food processing facilities and markets • economies of scale - more efficient production • distribution systems • government policies - subsidies to farmers

Rural Survey Methods

(establishes property boundaries) • Metes and Bounds- -Used geometric calculations to determine plots, but based them around irregular shapes based around physical features -Used in England and by early colonists in New England • Township and Range- -1785 USA switched to this type based on surveying rather than landscape features -Public Land Survey System used geometric calculations to organize land into squares or rectangles • Long Lot- -Long thin lines perpendicular to a river or road -Emphasized value of access to a river for trade and water -Quebec, Louisiana

Rural Settlement Patterns

(how settlements are organized) •Clustered- -groups of homes located near each other in a village or hamlet -common in Europe -farmers spent time walking to and from fields •Dispersed- -a pattern in which farmers homes are spread throughout the countryside (Township and Range) -North America - the governments promoted westward expansion by giving farmers land •Linear-groups of homes located near each other in a village or hamlet

Levels of Economic Activity

**Primary - extracting raw materials Ex: farming, mining, fishing, forestry, raising cattle **Secondary - transforming the raw materials (industry/manufacturing) Ex: food processing plant, paper factory **In developing countries most people work in primary and secondary -Tertiary - providing services to people and businesses Ex: truck driving, retail, real estate, "service industry" -Quaternary - knowledge based sector Ex: research and development, business consulting, financial services, education, public administration, and software development Ex: improving seeds through research -Quinary - highest levels of decision making and includes top officials in various levels of government and business Ex: President of USA, CEO's

Challenges of feeding a global population include:

-Adverse weather: agricultural production can be affected by high temperatures, drought, flooding, storms, freezes -Suburbanization: agricultural production can be affected by the growth of residential areas

Agricultural innovations and debates associated with them:

-Agricultural biotechnology: the use of scientific tools and techniques to modify plants/animals -Genetically modified organisms (GMOs): use genetic engineering techniques to change the DNA of a seed. (different than hybridization where they blend two types). First used in 1970's. They increased drought and pest resistance. -Positive impact of GMOs: greater outputs on smaller pieces of land, less need for chemicals -Negative impact of GMOs: unknown health effects, unknown effects on pollinating insect population -GMO's- • The most widely grown GM crops are soybeans, maize (corn), cotton and canola • GMO's are a controversial issue! • Some countries ban GMO products, especially in Europe -Aquaculture: raising of fish and shellfish in ponds and controlled saltwater hatcheries

Societal effects of agricultural practices:

-Changing diets: - MDCs: continued demand for meat - LDCs: growing demand for meat, as well as convenient, processed foods (western diet) -Economic purpose: - Farmers in LDCs growing cash crops for consumers in MDCs instead of food for local people Ex: Neocolonialism in Africa - Farmers in LDCs growing crops for illegal drugs instead of food crops. In order to bring in foreign currency, some countries engage in the illicit export of crops used to produce narcotics. - Farmers in MDCs and LDCs growing crops for bio-fuel or animal consumption

Columbian Exchange - relocation diffusion

-Columbian exchange, named after Christopher Columbus, was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the Americas, West Africa, and the Old World in the 15th and 16th centuries. -** The Columbian Exchange and Agricultural Revolutions resulted in a global spread of plants and animals. Plants and animals diffused to places with similar climates

MIXED CROP AND LIVESTOCK

-Commercial farming involving the integration of crops and livestock. Most crops are fed to ANIMALS rather than being consumed by humans. Though most land is used for crops, most profits are derived from animals. -CORN is the most important crop on these farms, as it produces high yields of nutritious animal feed. -Typically involves crop rotation- rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year to avoid exhausting the soil.

Food production and consumption are influenced by social movements:

-Community-supported agriculture (CSA): individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the growers and consumers provide mutual support -Fair trade: trade between companies in MDCs and LDCs in which fair prices are paid to the producers -Local-food movements: movement of people who prefer to eat foods which are grown relatively close to the places of sale and preparation -supports local economy and reduces fossil fuel usage -ex. Farmers Market -Dietary shifts: movement from a diet of processed food, meat, fat, and sugar to one that will promote good health, ideal weight, and prevent chronic disease (fruits, vegetables) -**also a shift to eating more processed foods and meats as a country develops

Agricultural practices alter the landscape:

-Deforestation: clearing of forest to make the land available for other uses (agriculture/livestock) Ex: commercial companies in Brazil cut trees to use for grazing -Draining wetlands: drainage for agricultural or other purposes Ex: Everglades -Pastoral nomadism: pasture land that is used for animal grazing; can lead to desertification

Environmental effects of agricultural land use:

-Desertification: process by which fertile land becomes desert as a result of human activity (inappropriate agriculture/overgrazing) -Soil salinization: process by which the amount of salt increases in the soil (happens with irrigation); degrades soil quality -Land cover change: process by which agricultural areas are lost to development

MIXED CROP AND LIVESTOCK

-Feedlot - A plot of land on which livestock are kept in tight quarters and are fattened for market. -Also called CAFO- a concentrated animal feeding operation is an intensive animal feeding operation (AFO) in which over 1000 animal units are confined for over 45 days a year. (An animal unit is the equivalent of 1000 pounds of "live" animal weight.) - The large amount of waste can include gases that pollute the air and liquid wastes that pollute water supply

Challenges of feeding a global population include lack of food access:

-Food desert: geographic area where large grocery stores are scarce or missing and residents have limited access to fresh nutritious foods, typically found in urban, low-income neighborhoods -Food desert: geographic area where large grocery stores are scarce or missing and residents have limited access to fresh nutritious foods, typically found in urban, low-income neighborhoods

Challenges of feeding a global population include problems with distribution systems:

-Global food distribution: global hunger and food insecurity are the result of complex factors including increased demand for grain to be used to feed animals and for bio-fuels (ex: ethanol from corn) -In the USA when you combine land used for animal feed and actual grazing land itself 41% of US land (nearly 800 million acres) is used to feed farm animals. -Food distribution problems: inadequate transportation networks to markets, inability to afford the costs of production and consumption, inadequate number of markets and ways to access those markets

Green Revolution Positive Impacts

-Global food production increased dramatically -Increased yields, reduced hunger, lower death rates -Expanded cultivated areas -Lower food prices -Prevented famine in developing world in 1960's -Successful in Latin America, South Asia, SE Asia and East Asia -Greatly benefited India -Benefited investment corporations and universities

Global

-Global supply chain:a worldwide network to maximize profits in production -Global food distribution: networks that are affected by political relationships, infrastructure, and patterns of world trade. -Globalization - rising food prices in some regions can impact prices globally

Agricultural innovations and debates associated with them:

-Issues with agricultural innovations • Sustainability • Soil and water usage • Reductions in biodiversity • Extensive fertilizer/pesticide use -Pesticide - A chemical intended to kill insects and other organisms that damage crops -Fertilizer - A substance that provides nutrients to help crops grow better

MEDITERRANEAN AGRICULTURE

-Located ALONG SEAS on the WEST COASTS of continents -The growing of specialized crops in climate/geographic regions resembling the Mediterranean region -Based on HORTICULTURE - the growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. OLIVES are an important crop, as are GRAPES used in wine production.

Comparative advantage

-Naturally occurring beneficial conditions that would prompt farmers to plant different crops than predicted by model -Physical features which impact transportation affect Van Thunen's model. The model assumes land was an isotropic plain, and there was one market. Here we see the effect of a river, which can be used for transport. ** Regions of specialty farming don't always conform to rings Ex: citrus farming in Florida ** As technology increased so has possible distance from markets Ex: Refrigeration of milk/flowers/fruit Ex: Use alternate sources for fuel so forest doesn't need to be close now

Challenges for Farmers in Developed Countries

-Overproduction: Because efficient practices are so widely adopted, commercial farmers produce far more than is actually needed- leading to low prices. -The US Gov't Responds to OVERPORDUCTION in 3 ways: • Encouraging (paying) farmers not to grow overproduced crops • Subsidizing farmers when commodity prices are low • Buying surpluses and selling/giving them to other countries

Environmental effects of agricultural land use:

-Pollution: process by which soil is contaminated by chemicals -Conservation efforts of agricultural land: improve soil structure to protect against erosion and nutrient losses **Sustainable agriculture: farming methods that are profitable, good for rural communities, and environmentally sound (for long-term production).

Bid Rent Theory

-Position of land used is relative to market location and the farmer's willingness to pay for the land. Each line on the graph reflects the farmers willingness to pay for land at various distances from the market.

COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE

-Production of food for sale off the farm. Large-scale, expensive, and technology-intensive, commercial agriculture is primarily practiced in the developed world. Often uses -monocropping -the cultivation of a single crop in a given area. -monoculture -the cultivation of the same crop in the same field, year after year.

SHIFTING CULTIVATION

-Relatively brief use of cleared land (a few seasons), followed by several years of laying FALLOW (left unsown) to regenerate soil nutrients Intertillage/intercropping - Growing two or more different crops at the same time on a plot of land. Helps make efficient use of the land -Deforestation **In some tropical places like the Amazon commercial agriculture companies are taking over native land and cutting down and burning the trees for pasture land.

Commodity chain

-Series of links connecting the many places of production and distribution and resulting in a commodity (product) that is then exchanged on the world market. -activities involved in the creation of a product: design, production of raw materials, manufacturing and assembly, distribution -Many LDCs have a high dependency on a single agricultural commodity; this is dangerous if there is a climate or economical crisis. -Commodity dependency: highly dependent on one or more export commodities Ex: coffee in Haiti, tea in Sri Lanka, bananas in Costa Rica, sugar in Cuba, cotton in Somalia, cocoa beans in Ghana

Agricultural practices alter the landscape

-Slash and burn (shifting cultivation): clearing an area in a tropical forest for planting by burning the vegetation and then doing it again a few years later; reduces biodiversity -Terraces: flat steps are created on the sides of hills to create more land for farming -Irrigation: artificial application of water to land for the facilitation of agriculture

Animal Domestication Hearths

-Southwest Asia is credited with domesticating many of the most important stock animals around 8,000 years ago, including cattle, goats, pigs, and sheep. -HORSES were domesticated in Central Asia, their modern diffusion largely follows the diffusion of the IndoEuropean language family. This lends support to Gimbutas' Nomadic Warrior Hypothesis. -DOGS were first domesticated around 12,000 years ago in Asia- predating the agricultural revolution. They may have been used for hunting and security.

Nomadic Herding (Pastoral Nomadism)

-Subsistence agriculture based on the herding of domesticated animals. Adopted in dry/arid climates where crop growing is extremely difficult. -Desertification - Process of a dry region becoming drier and losing vegetation primarily because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal overgrazing, and tree cutting. -Overgrazing - excessive grazing which causes damage to grassland -TRANSHUMANCE - the seasonal migration of herds between mountain and lowland pasture grazing locations. -Pasture- grass or other plants grown for grazing animals, as well as land used for grazing

SHIFTING CULTIVATION

-Subsistence agriculture featuring SLASH AND BURN techniques and REGULAR ROTATION of sites. Practiced in TROPICAL regions with thick forest vegetation. Fields are cleared BY HAND, then all debris is set on fire. Ashes from the fire add nutrients to the soil, but it doesn't stay fertile long. -Lands used for shifting cultivation are often communally owned. In some areas- especially South America- lands used for S.C. are being purchased by private landowners.

RANCHING

-The commercial grazing of livestock over an extensive area. Well-suited for semiarid/arid land in areas where vegetation is too sparse and soil too poor to support crops -Today, cattle is part of the larger system of food production providing meat to the national market.

GRAIN FARMING

-The growing of grain crops for sale on the market, to be refined into products that humans consume. -Grain is from the seed of various grasses: wheat, corn, oats, barley, rice, millet *Most important crop grown is wheat -WHEAT is the most important cash cereal. It can be held stable for a long time (silos), and can withstand harsh shipping conditions. Grain farming is highly mechanized. Revolutionized by the REAPER in the 1830s, today COMBINES blend reaping, threshing, and cleaning in a single operation. -Today, both China (#1) and India (#2) produce more wheat than does the United Statesthough both do so with far less mechanization.

MARKET GARDENING

-The growing of highly profitable and in-demand crops, particularly fruit, for sale on the wider market. Also called 'truck farming'- originally dependent on local markets, produce is now distributed widely to faraway markets. -Relies heavily on CHEAP MIGRANT LABOR to pick fruit/vegetables. It saves the company money on labor costs.

INTENSIVE SUBSISTENCE

-The intensive subsistence farming of WET RICE feeds people in regions with significant rainfall, esp. parts of Asia. Many wet rice regions practice DOUBLE CROPPING to maximize yields - plant rice in the wet summer, other crops in the dryer winter -Leads to extensive modification of the landscape. In places too hilly for farming, TERRACES are often constructed. - Helps make use of sloped land - Traps rainwater - Conserves soil run off - Makes it hard to use machinery

PLANTATION AGRICULTURE

-The only type of COMMERCIAL agriculture prevalent in the developing world. CASH CROPS are grown on large estates for sale on the global market. -Cotton, sugar, coffee, rubber, exotic fruit, and other cash crops are the most common crops grown on plantations. -Luxury crop - crops that are non-essential to human survival, such as tea, coffee, tobacco, cocoa, sugarcane, etc. -Plantations are generally owned by Europeans, Americans, or wealthy locals. Locals provide cheap labor, using minimal mechanization. This is an example of Neocolonialism. These LDC's are often still being exploited by MDC's - the MDC's make the money and workers don't get paid much

DAIRY FARMING

-The raising of cows in order to market dairy goods on the market, from fresh milk to 'products' like cheese. -Dairies are usually located near population centers in an area called the MILKSHED, because products are so perishable. -Trans. advances have expanded the sizes of milksheds to about 300 miles -Dairying has diffused from developed countries to L.D.C.s. INDIA is currently the world's largest milk producer today.

Women in Agriculture

-The role of females in food production, distribution and consumption varies in many places depending on the type of production involved - Ex: crops, fruits/vegetables, livestock, fisheries/aquaculture, MDC, LCD **Women are the backbone of the rural economy, especially in the developing world. -Empowering and investing in rural women has been shown to significantly increase productivity, reduce hunger and malnutrition and improve rural livelihoods. -Women provide more unpaid farm labor than men, but the share of women who do so as their primary employment is decreasing. Women's participation in agricultural and nonagricultural self-employment, as well as paid employment, rose over time. These changes could indicate increased economic empowerment of women

Food production and consumption are influenced by social movements:

-Value added foods: foods that have increased in value due to alterations in production, size, shape, appearance, location, and/or convenience -Organic farming: crops produced without the use of synthetic or industrially produced pesticides and fertilizers or genetically engineered seeds -Urban farming: agriculture takes the form of roof-top, balcony, backyard gardening, as well as in vacant lots and parks in an urban area -Maximizing limited space in urban areas -Reclaiming land such as in Detroit

Prior to the advent of agriculture

-all humans likely obtained needed food through hunting and gathering. -People practicing hunting & gathering usually lived in groups of 50 or less, and relocated regularly along with changing seasons. Only a quarter million practice this today

Johann von Thunen

-developed an important location theory to express how proximity to market impacts commodities produced. It is used to explain patterns of agricultural production at various scales. -*Emphasizes importance of transportation costs and land value associated with distance from the market . Land value goes down, but transportation costs increase with distance from market. -Because shipping is a major expense, distance to markets greatly affects what commercial farmers choose to grow. **Because of advances in technology companies can expand the locations where crops are grown and utilize lower cost inputs such as lower labor/land/taxation costs

Aquaculture presents issues of its own

-disease and parasites spread easily because of close quarters -disease can spread to wild fish -excess concentration of waste can lower water quality and be dangerous to ocean -escaped fish can be non-native and an invasive species -FISH CONSUMPTION has risen dramatically in recent decades- driven by the developing world- from 27 million metric tons in 1960 to 110 million in 2010. The UN estimates that ¼ of all fish stocks are overfished, and ½ are fully exploited- including all of the most desirable stocks. -The expansion of FISHING is one way to increase food supply without depending on land-based farming. Has grown rapidly- called the Blue Revolution

Derwent Whittlesely

-identified eleven agricultural regions in the world. Well... really there's 12. The last region encompasses places too inhospitable to support significant agriculture.

Agriculture

-is deliberate modification of Earth's surface through cultivation of plants and rearing of animals to obtain sustenance or economic gain. -Origins of this cannot be documented with certainty, because it began before recorded history

Challenges of feeding a global population include:

-lack of food access: Food insecurity: the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food -1 out of every 8 people live without food security! lack of food access: -Food insecurity: the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food lack of food access: -Undernourishment: dietary energy consumption that is continually below the minimum requirement for maintaining a healthy life -The UN estimates that 870 million people suffer from undernourishment- 99% of whom live in the developing world.

Agribusiness

-used to describe commercial farming in the developed world. The family farm is not an isolated activity, but is integrated into a larger food-production industry. Small family farms have been consolidated and turned into large corporate farms. -: the integration of various steps of production in the food-processing industry. It includes large-scale commercial agriculture, but also:processing, production, transporation, marketing, retail, R & D, ect. (large food production industry); **agriculture is gradually being controlled by a small number of large corporations instead of many independent farmers

First Agricultural/Neolithic Revolution

-was when humans first domesticated plants and animals (around 10,000 BC), removing reliance on hunting and gathering. -*Women played a key role in this by collecting plant resources. -ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS: The end of the most recent ice age greatly expanded the ecumene - CULTURAL FACTORS: The desire to establish sedentary communities; the discovery of agriculture (experimentation v. accident), ability to store seed/food -Agriculture developed in multiple hearths around 10,000- 12,000 years ago. It then spread through contagious diffusion.

VAN THUNEN'S MODEL

Center: Urban Area (Market) 1 st Ring: Market-oriented gardens and dairying (perishables) 2 nd Ring: Forest (timber - expensive to transport); used for heating and construction 3 rd Ring: Crops and pasturing (stable for shipping) 4 th Ring: Grazing (requires lots of cheap land), can walk the cattle to market

USE OF MACHINERY

Commercial farming is dependent on expensive technology, while subsistence farming is accomplished through brute force

FARM SIZE

Commercial farms are FAR larger than subsistence farms. Farms in the US average 161 hectares (418 acres); in China, they average just 1 hectare (2.5 acres)

FARMERS IN THE LABOR FORCE

In the developing world, farmers constitute 44% of the labor force, compared to 5% in most developed countries. This also means the percent of people living in rural areas is higher in LDC's. People move to the city as a country develops!

Food Supply in AFRICA

Parts of Africa, like the SAHEL and HORN OF AFRICA, struggle to feed their growing populations, yet they are growing crops for companies owned by people in MDC's and that food is exported to the USA/Europe. This is farming land that could be used for subsistence crops that local people can eat. This is an example of neocolonialism!

SUBSISTENCE AGRICULTURE

The production of food primarily for consumption by the farmer's kin. Small-scale and local, subsistence agriculture is practiced primarily in the developing world