AP Day 44 - Agriculture

1. AP Day 44 - Agriculture

2. Starter • Describe the last full meal that you ate. Label each of the different parts of the meal. • With a partner, try to identify what part of the world each of your food items came from.

3. CNN 10

4. Objective • Identify major centers of domestication of plants and animals and patterns of diffusion in the first (Neolithic) agricultural revolution

5. Key Issue 1: Where Did Agriculture Originate? pp. 308-314

6. What is agriculture? • Agriculture is deliberate modification of Earth’s surface through cultivation of plants and rearing of animals to obtain sustenance or economic gain.

7. HUNTERS AND GATHERERS • Before the invention of agriculture, all humans probably obtained the food they needed for survival through hunting for animals, fishing, or gathering. • Hunters and gatherers lived in small groups of usually 50 or fewer. • Work was divided by gender. • Men – hunted game or fished • Women – collected nuts, berries, & roots • The direction and frequency of migration depended on the movement of game and the seasonal growth of plants at various locations.

8. CONTEMPORARY HUNTING AND GATHERING • Today, perhaps a 250,000 people, or less than 0.005 percent of the world’s population, still survive by hunting and gathering. • Contemporary hunting and gathering societies are isolated groups living on the periphery of world settlement, like the Bushmen of Botswana.

9. INVENTION OF AGRICULTURE • Agriculture originated in multiple hearths around the world. • Southwest Asia – Fertile Crescent • earliest crops – barley & wheat • 10,000 years ago • East Asia • earliest crop - rice • 10,000 years ago

10. INVENTION OF AGRICULTURE • Africa • earliest crop – yams or sorghum • 8,000 years ago • Latin America (4-5,000 yrs. ago) • Mexico: earliest - beans & cotton • Peru: earliest – potato • most important – maize (corn)

11. Fig. 10-1: There were several main hearths, or centers of origin, for vegetative crops from which the crops diffused to other areas.

12. INVENTION OF AGRICULTURE • Animal Domestication • Southwest Asia • hearth for the domestication of the most important animals – cattle, goats, pigs, & sheep (8-9,000 years ago) • domesticated the dog about 12,000 years ago • first to integrate crop cultivation & herd animal domestication – animals prepared the land for planting and were fed from the harvested crop • Central Asia • horse

13. INVENTION OF AGRICULTURE • Why did agriculture originate? • Environmental factors • end of the last ice age caused ice to recede & people, plants, & animals to relocate • Cultural factors • preference for living in a fixed place • How did plant cultivation begin? • accidentally – damaged or discarded food produced new plants • experimentally – purposely dropping berries on the ground to see if new plants would grow…eventually irrigating & fertilizing crops

14. Subsistence vs Commercial Agriculture

15. SUBSISTENCE AND COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE • Five principal features distinguish commercial from subsistence agriculture: 1. purpose of farming 2. percentage of farmers in the labor force 3. use of machinery 4. farm size 5. relationship of farming to other businesses

16. SUBSISTENCE AND COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE 1. Purpose of Farming • Subsistence agriculture is the production of food primarily for consumption by the farmer’s family. • In LDCs, most people produce food for their own consumption. • Commercial agriculture is the production of food primarily for sale off the farm, mainly to food-processing companies.

17. SUBSISTENCE AND COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE 2. Percentage of Farmers in the Labor Force • MDCs – small % (about 2-5%) • American & Canadian farmers are tremendously productive • # of farmers declined since 1940s – not profitable • LDCs – large % (about 50%)

18. Fig. 10-3: A large proportion of workers in most LDCs are in agriculture, while only a small percentage of workers in MDCs are engaged in agriculture.

19. SUBSISTENCE AND COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE 3. Use of Machinery • LDCs – use primitive hand tools & animal labor • MDCs – rely on many machines • Transportation advances have helped move crops and livestock farther and faster. • Scientific advances have led to better fertilizers, pesticides, etc., which produce higher yield crops. • Technologies like GPS & satellite imagery help farmers monitor crops & herds.

20. Fig. 10-4: Tractors per 1,000 people. Use of machinery is extensive in most MDC agriculture, but it is much less common in LDCs.

21. SUBSISTENCE AND COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE 4. Farm Size • The average farm size is relatively large in commercial agriculture. • In the United States the largest 5% of farms account for more than 75% of the country’s total output. • As a result of the large size and the high level of mechanization, commercial agriculture is an expensive business. • prime agricultural land – the most productive farmland

23. SUBSISTENCE AND COMMERCIAL AGRICULTURE 5. Relationship of Farming to Other Businesses • agribusiness – commercial farming that integrates into a large food production industry • 20%+ of U.S. labor works in food production related to agribusiness: • food processing, packaging, storing, distributing, and retailing.

24. Key Issue 2: Why do people eat different foods?

25. WHY DO PEOPLE CONSUME DIFFERENT FOODS? • Diet • Dietary energy consumption is the amount of food that an individual consumes. • Consumption of food varies around the world, both in total amount and source of nutrients, for two reasons. • Level of development • Physical conditions

27. WHY DO PEOPLE CONSUME DIFFERENT FOODS? • Source of Nutrients • Developed and developing regions typically differ most in their primary sources of protein consumed. • Developed Countries • Leading source of protein is meat products. • Beef • Pork • Poultry • Developing Countries • Leading source of protein is cereal grains.