Agriculture and Rural Land Use

1. Agriculture and Rural Land Use Key Issue 2

2. Where are agricultural regions in less developed countries? Topics Today • Shifting Cultivation • Pastoral nomadism • Intensive subsistence agriculture • Plantation farming

3. Classifying Agricultural Regions LDCs = subsistence agriculture MDCs = commercial agriculture • Subsistence vs. commercial agriculture • Subsistence agriculture is the production of food primarily for consumption by the farmer’s family • Commercial agriculture is the production of food primarily for sale off the farm

4. World Climate Regions Fig. 10-5b: Simplified map of the main world climate regions (see also Fig. 2.2).

5. World Agriculture Regions

6. Shifting Cultivation • Farmers rotate the fields they cultivate to allow the soil to replenish its nutrients, rather than farming the same plot of land over and over. • There are two distinguishing types of this: • Slash and Burn agriculture- where farmers clear land for planting by slashing vegetation and burning the debris. • Rotating field agriculture- where farmers rotate the fields they use so the soil has time to recuperate.

7. Shifting Cultivation • These methods use much land in their farming process: nearly 25% of the earth’s land • Yet it does not produce large quantities of food for the growing population. • Shifting cultivation is being replaced by more lucrative farming practices such as ranching, logging, and the production of cash crops for the global market. • Including more destructive permanent clearings of rain forests by commercial farm companies.

8. Subsistence Agriculture • Extensive Subsistence Agriculture: where farmers use a large amount of land to cultivate food for the farmer’s family to eat. • Intensive Subsistence Agriculture: where farmers cultivate small amounts of land very efficiently to produce food for their families.

9. Pastoralism • The breeding and herding of animals to produce food, shelter, and clothing for survival. • Usually occurs in climates with limited arable land. • Only about 15million people in the modern world are pastoral nomads, living dominantly in the large arid and semiarid belt. • Transhumance: the seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland areas.

10. Plantation Farming • Plantation agriculture involves large scale farming operations specializing in one or two high demand crops for export (usually to more developed regions). • Most plantations today exist in low-latitude regions of Africa, Asia, and Latin America and are owned by companies (or individuals) from more-developed countries. • Though advanced technology is integrated into modern plantations the work is sill labor intensive requiring large numbers of seasonal workers.