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AGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURE. Origins of Agriculture. When humans domesticated plants and animals for their use Agriculture - deliberate modification of the earth’s surface through cultivation of plants and rearing of animals to obtain sustenance or economic gain Cultivate - “to care for”

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AGRICULTURE

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  1. AGRICULTURE

  2. Origins of Agriculture • When humans domesticated plants and animals for their use • Agriculture - deliberate modification of the earth’s surface through cultivation of plants and rearing of animals to obtain sustenance or economic gain • Cultivate - “to care for” • Crop - any plant cultivated by people

  3. Hunter Gatherers • Today 250,000 people still survive this way • .005% of human population • Small groups in isolated locations • Arctic, interior of Africa, Australia, and South America

  4. Earliest Plant Cultivation • According to cultural geographer Carl Sauer • Vegetative planting - reproduction of plants by direct cloning from existing plants, such as cutting stems and dividing roots • Seed agriculture - (later) - reproduction of plants through annual planting of seeds that result from sexual fertilization. Practiced today by most farmers.

  5. Agricultural Hearths(vegetative planting) • Southeast Asia • Diverse climate & topography encouraged growth of variety of plants • More sedentary population because relied on fishing more than hunting • Taro, yam, banana, palm • Diffused north and east to China and Japan and west to India, southwest Asia, Africa, and Mediterranean • Dog, pig, & chicken first domesticated animals • West Africa - oil palm and yam • Northwest South America - manioc, sweet potato, arrowroot

  6. First Seed Agriculture(Eastern Hemisphere) • Western India - • diffused to Southwest Asia where wheat and barley were domesticated & where animals were first intergrated with plant agriculture. Cattle, sheep & goats plowed the land & were fed crops. • Diffused to Mediterranean & Europe • Northern China • Millet diffused to Southeast Asia • Ethiopia • Millet and sorghum, did not diffuse widely

  7. First Seed AgricultureWestern Hemisphere • Southern Mexico • Extended into Guatemala and Honduras • Squash and maize (corn) • Northern Peru • Squash, beans, cotton • Llama, alpaca, turkey • Multiple origins of agriculture means that people have always produced food in distinctive ways. Based on climate & cultural preferences

  8. Subsistence produced for consumption work by hand most people work (more than 1/2 of workers are farmers) shifting cultivation nomadic herding intensive subsistence (rice dominant or not rice dominant) plantation agriculture Commercial produced for market (mainly food processors - agribusiness - part of the food production industry) Machines & scientific advances (fertilizer, etc) few laborers (less than 1/10 of workers in MDCs are engaged in farming) livestock & ranching horticulture dairy farming mixed crop grain Mediterranean Forms of Agriculture

  9. World Agricultural Regions • Whittlesey’s map from 1936 • Most widely used • 11 main agricultural regions & 1 where it’s nonexistent (5 regions in LDCs, 6 regions in MDCs) • Sorted practices by climate (2 maps, one of climate regions & Whittlesey’s are similar) • Strong correlation between climate & agriculture (Much of the West is dry and also home to ranching)

  10. Agriculture in LDCs • Shifting cultivation • Pastoral nomadism • Intensive subsistence agriculture • Plantation farming

  11. Shifting Cultivation • Tropics (high temp, high rainfall) • Amazon, Central & West Africa, Southeast Asia • 250 million people • Usually small villages that grow food on surrounding, communal land • Two Hallmarks of Shifting Cultivation • Slash and burn agriculture • Farmers grow crops on a cleared field for only a few years until soil is depleted, then leave fallow so soil can recover

  12. Process of Shifting Cultivation • Cut down trees & brush • Remainder is burned & ashes add nutrients to soil • Swidden (cleared area) • Land is hoed and planted • crops grow for 3 years, then nutrients are depleted and fields are left fallow for 6-20 years.

  13. Shifting Cultivation • Main Crops • SE Asia - rice • S America - maize, manioc • Africa - millet, sorghum • Also: yams, sugarcane, plantains • Families grow for their own needs, so one swidden may contain many crops & look chaotic • Land Ownership • Traditionally, village owns land & allocates parts to families, but changing • 1/4 world’s land area, but less than 5% of people

  14. Future of Shifting Cultivation • Declining in the tropics at 30K sq. mi/yr • Replaced by logging, ranching & cash crops • Critics: “inefficient way to feed many” • Defenders: “most environmental kind of agriculture” • No fertilizer or pesticides • Allow native plants to grow back in fallow years • Protects against erosion, soil damage & unbalanced ecosystems • Loss of shifting cultivation could harm diversity of cultures (agriculture connected to social, religious, and political customs

  15. Pastoral Nomadism • Subsistence ag. based on herding animals • Depend on herds for life, but eat mostly grain • Dry climates, crops impossible • N. Africa, Middle East, central Asia • (Bedouins of Saudi Arabia, Masai of East Africa) • 15m people, on 20% of world’s land area • Declining - gov’ts forcing Nomads to settle because want access to lands for irrigation, mining, oil

  16. Intensive Subsistence Agriculture • Most of Ag in LDCs (needed in densely populated areas) • Small farms, fragmented • Ag density is high (lotsof farmers per unit of land) - land must be very productive • Most done by hand • Waste no land (roads kept narrow to maximizefarmland) • Asia divided: wet rice dom. & not dom.

  17. Intensive Subsistence Ag. Wet Rice Dominant • “wet rice” - practice of planting rice on dry land in nursery & then moving to flooded field to promote growth • Small % of Asia’s agricultural land, but largest source of food for region • Southeast China, East India, Southeast Asia • “sawah” - flooded rice field • Rice harvested by hand. To separate husks (“chaff”) from seeds, the heads are “threshed”- beaten or stomped on. Lighter chaff is “winnowed” - allowed to be blown away by wind. To be eaten, outer “hull” must be removed with mortar and pestle. • Grown on flat land: river valleys and deltas • Population pressure has forced up hillsides: terracing • Double cropping - 2 harvests per year (only in warm climates & alternate with a crop that can be grown in drier months, like wheat.)

  18. Intensive Subsistence Not Rice • Same characteristics as wet rice dom., just different crops (human power, work land intensively, no land wasted) • Low precipitation & harsh winters (can’t grow rice) • Interior India, NE China • Wheat, barley, millet, oats, corn, soy & cash crops like cotton, tobacco, flax • Crop rotation - can get more than one harvest per year by putting different crops in fields

  19. Plantation Farming • Commercial Agriculture (MDCs) found in LDCs, tropics of Africa, Asia, Latin Am. • Large farm specializing in 1 or 2 crops • Cotton, sugarcane, tobacco, bananas, tea • Remote locations • Workers imported & provided with housing, food, social services • Try to spread out work throughout year to make use of labor force. • Many goods processed on plantation (tobacco) - easier to ship

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