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Von Thünen Model

Von Thünen Model. Von Thünen Model What farmers produce varies by distance from the town, with livestock raising farthest from town. Cost of transportation governs use of land. First effort to analyze the spatial character of economic activity. Von Thünen.

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Von Thünen Model

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  1. Von Thünen Model • Von Thünen Model • What farmers produce varies by distance from the town, with livestock raising farthest from town. • Cost of transportation governs use of land. • First effort to analyze the spatial character of economic activity.

  2. Von Thünen • Johann Heinrich von Thünen (1783-1850) wrote Der Isolierte Staat (The Isolated State) which is the foundation of location theory. • Noted how crops near Rostock, Germany changed with no change in soil-mapped the pattern • With terrain, soils and rainfall the same he created the ringed-pattern • Noted that transportation costs governed land use

  3. Von Thünen Model

  4. Application of Von Thünen Model • Geographer Lee Liu studied the spatial pattern of agriculture production in China. Found: - farmers living in a village farm both lands close to the village and far away intensively - methods varied spatially – resulting in land improvement (by adding organic material) close to village and land degradation (lots of pesticides and fewer conservation tactics) farther from village.

  5. Third Agriculture Revolution(Green Revolution) • invention of high-yield grains, especially rice, with goal of reducing hunger. - increased production of rice - new varieties in wheat and corn - reduced famines due to crop failure, now most famines are due to political problems - impact (in terms of hunger) is greatest where rice is produced

  6. Average Daily Calorie Consumption per Capita

  7. Opposition to Green Revolution • Opposition argues Green Revolution has led to: • vulnerability to pests • Soil erosion • Water shortages • Micronutrient deficiencies • Dependency on chemicals for production such as pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers. • Increased foreign debt

  8. Development of technology and dissemination was largely public or quasi-public sector, international agricultural research centers (IRACs)with R&D in millions of dollars. • Plant breeders’ rights and patents generally not relevant. • Increased monoculture and use of farm chemicals led to marginalization of small farmer, ecological degradation. • From M. Kenney and F Buttel, “Biotechnology; Prospects and Dilemmas for the Third World Development.”

  9. The Next Stage: Bio-Revolution • Proprietary considerations: genes, cells, plants, animals patentable as well as techniques to produce them • Affects potentially all crops; vegetables, fruits, etc. • Includes pesticides, animals products, pharmaceuticals, processed food products, energy, mining, warfare. • Includes all areas, nations, locations, even marginal lands. • Technology is largely in private sector, especially corporations; R&D in billions. • Tissue culture crop propagation produces exact genetic copies; even more vulnerability • Crop substitution replacing Third World exports; herbicide tolerance; increasing chemical use • Unintended consequence: Engineered organisms may affect environment later in unknown ways.

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