Download Food Production Notes HSP 3U7 The Settled Life of Farmers

Food Production Notes
HSP 3U7
The Settled Life of Farmers
EXPERTS: Anderson Le, Arany Poobalasingam, Kiranpreet Bhangu, Nidhi Shelat, Nujhat
Ahmed
Key Bolded Terms:
Swidden Farming: An extensive form of horticulture in which the natural vegetation is cut, the
slash is subsequently burned, and crops then are planted among the ashes.
Intensive Agriculture: Large-scale cultivators employing fertilizers, irrigation, equipment, and
draft animals.
In Depth Analysis of the Settled Life of Farmers
Kinship
 Farming requires long and monotonous work
 Becoming a settled farmer: “new way of life”
 Families of farmers lived together: near gardens, etc.
 Task of food production lent itself to a different kind of social organization
 Food production is shared amongst all, therefore making some people “free” to invent and
manufacture the equipment needed for a new sedentary way of life.
 Examples: Harvesting and digging tools, pottery for storage & cooking, clothing made of
woven textiles, housing, etc. à new sedentary living
 The transition to becoming a settled farmer brought significant changes in social structure
 Social relations were egalitarian à similar to food foragers
 Later on, people began to share important resources
 Society became structured Multifamily kinship (ex. Lineages) provides a good way to
handle the distinctive problems of land ownership that arise in food-producing societies.
Horticulture
 Are small communities of gardeners working with simple hand tools and using neither
irrigation nor the plow.
 Usually cultivate several varieties of crops together in small gardens they have cleared by
hand.
 Considered to constitute an extensive form of agriculture
 Typically use a given garden plot for only a few years before abandoning it in favour of a
new one
 Produce for subsistence, rather than to produce a surplus for sale
Politics
 Politics of horticultural communities mostly have reoccurring feasts, where considerable
amounts of produce and other gifts is given to others to gain prestige.
 Gaining the prestige is the basis for gaining political power as leaders, who play important
roles in production, exchange, and resource allocation.
Swidden Farming
 Definition: a form of horticulture in, which natural vegetation is cut, is afterwards burned,
and crops are then, planted among the ashes.
 Mainly used in tropical forests of Mesoamerica, South America, and Southeast Asia
 This method of farming is also known as, “slash and burn”
 The use of fire to clear large areas of forests at once, led to people taking Swidden farming as
being negative
 However, it is very ecologically sophisticated, and is a sustainable method for
subsistence, and food production
 The right conditions are essential in order for this method to remain sustainable: low
population density, and appropriate areas of land
 Also, Swidden farming involves the growth of crops in a smaller area of land, making them
less vulnerable to pests and plant diseases
Intensive agriculture
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large scale cultivators employing fertilizers, irrigation, equipment and draft animals
technologically more complex and alters the landscape and ecology more than horticulture
grows enough food for the farmers as well as other full-time specialists
the surplus can be sold for cash or used up through taxes or rent paid to landowners
landowners and other specialists usually live in substantial towns/cities where political power
is centralized in the hands of a socially elite class of people
 Difficult to make distinction between horticulture and intensive agriculture:
 some groups can be a mixture of both
 e.g. the Hopi of the North American southwest:
 employed irrigation in farming (intensive agriculture)
 produced for their own needs and lived without centralized governments
(horticulture)
 Food foragers have developed several major crop complexes:
 two adapted to seasonal uplands (e.g. dry uplands of southwest Asia cultivate wheat,
barley, fax, rye)
 two adapted to tropical wetlands (e.g. tropical wetlands of southeast Asia cultivate tubers
such as yams and taro)
Pastoralism: The Bakhtiari
By: Mariza Kondi, Radha Patel, Stefanel Patron, Thao Nguyen, Zak Abshir, Karim Dhupalia
Pastoralism
- Pastoralists live in societies that view animal husbandry as the proper way to make a living and
consider movement of all or part of the society a normal and natural way of life.
- Pastoralism is an effective way of life, in places that are too dry, too cold, too steep, or too
rocky for farming.
- Pastoralists are found in arid grasslands that stretch eastward from North Africa through the
Arabian Desert, across the plateau of Iran and into Turkestan and Mongolia.
The Bakhtiari
- One group living in this belt of land is the Bakhtiari, the independent people who live in the
South Zagros Mountains of Western Iran, where they tend herds of goats and fat-filled sheep.
- Some of the Bakhtiari own horses and most own donkeys, which are used for transportation
only. The animals whom their lives revolve around are goats and sheep.
- The harsh, bleak environment dominates the lives of the Bakhtiari, it determines when and
where they move their flocks, the clothes they wear, and the food they eat.
- Twice a year they move. In spring they go from their winter homes in the low lands to their
summer homes in the mountains.
- The trip north is quite dangerous as the mountain snow melts, the mountains are slippery and
often leads to animals and people slipping.
- The nomads have fixed routes and a somewhat definite itinerary.
- Sheep and goats are central to Bakhtiari substance. The animals provide milk, cheese, butter,
meat, hides, and wool, which is woven into clothes, tents, storage bags, and other essentials by
the women or sold in towns
- The people also engage in very limited horticulture; they own lands that contain orchards, and
the nomads consume the fruit or sell it to townspeople.
- The men take great pride in their marksmanship and horsemanship, engage in limited hunting
on horseback, but their chief task is the tending of the flocks.
- The women cook, sew, weave, care for the children, and carry fuel and water.
- The Bakhtiari have their own system of justice, including laws and a penal code. They are
governed by tribal leaders, or khans, men who are elected or inherit their office.
- Since men own and control the livestock, women lack control of the economy and are
relegated to the to the domestic sphere.
- Most of the Bakhtiari khans grew wealthy when oil was discovered in their homeland around
the start of the 20th century. Many of them are well educated, having attended Iranian or foreign
universities.
- Despite this, the khans spend much of their lives among their people only.
Jasmin, Vaidehi, Cindy, Alaa, Aperna, Johnathan
Intensive Agriculture and Nonindustrial Cities
 Because of intensification of agriculture, farming communities grew into cities.
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Some individuals began to specialize in activities other than farming
 Craft specialists: carpenters, blacksmiths, sculptors, basket makers, and
stonecutters contributed to city.
 Unlike horticulturalists and pastoralists, city dwellers are indirectly concerned with
adapting to their natural environment.
 Urbanization brings new social order
 People are ranked according to:
1. Their gender
2. Their occupation
3. Their family background
 Urbanization led to several innovations;
1. Inventions: writing, wheel, sail
2. Trade intensified and expanded
3. Metallurgy and other crafts developed
4. Monumental buildings were built by men and slaves in war
Aztec city life
 Aztec empire flourished in Mexico in 16th century
 ex. a highly developed urban society among non-Western peoples
 The foundation of Aztec society – intensive agriculture
 Corn was the principal crop
 Each family cultivated a number of crops (beans, squash, gourds, peppers,
tomatoes, cotton, and tobacco)
 Canals between chinampas facilitated transport and a source of water
 The Aztec people had an increasingly large population and there was a diversification of
labour
 There were skilled artisans such as weavers, potters, painters, sculptors,
silversmiths and feather workers.
 Religion central to Aztec social order, craftspeople manufactured religious artifacts,
clothing, and decorations for buildings and temples.
 Other non-agricultural specialists included warriors, travelling merchants, priests,
and government bureaucracy of nobles.
 The market became an extremely important economic and social institution.
 At Aztec market, barter was primary means of exchange.
 Cacao beans, gold dust, crescent-shaped knives, and copper were used currency.
 People also went to the market to meet others and hear the latest news.
 Aztec social order stratified into 3 classes;
1. Nobles
2. Commoners
3. Serfs
Nobles  operated outside lineage system on the basis of land and serfs.
Commoners divided into lineages they were dependent on for land.
Serfs bound to land and porter employed by merchants as carriers.
Slaves (lowest)  sold themselves for bondage, others captive taken in war.
 Aztecs governed by semi divine king
 King – absolute monarch
 Councillors – advised the king on affairs of state
 Government officials – oversaw various functions;
1. Maintenance of tax system and courts of justice
2. Management of government storehouses
3. Control of military training
 Typical Aztec city was rectangular and reflected the way the land was divided among
lineages.
 Communication among different parts of the city was easy and people could travel either
by land or water.
 A series of canals, with footpaths beside them, ran throughout the city.
Daniel, Henry, Jaskaran, Sach, Terik, Zak
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The Canadian Farm
Immigrants come to prairies and bring own agricultural technique, hoping for a better family life
Agriculture has changed drastically eg. Dependent on complex machinery such as combines on
Saskatchewan farms and family farming shows a sense of culture
Division of Labour based on gender and age: Men ready fields for seeds, care for livestock,
operate farm equipment, women do household chores and prepare meals and children plant and
weed gardens, operate farm equipment before adulthood and either learn from father or mother
based on their gender
Family farms thrived mid-1970’s, but due to low commodity prices, rising expenses and
increasing debt, fears of environmental contamination and ecological disturbance, the amount of
Canadian farms have been declining
In 1976 Canada had 338 552 farms, by 1986 there were 293 089 farms, ten years later there were
276 548
Mechanized Farming
Mechanized Agriculture is a form of intensive agriculture that relies on complex technology
and biotechnology to increase production
Faces challenges not evident in intensive agriculture including the added expense of purchasing
equipment and chemicals, the consumption of large amounts of energy, environmental damage
such as water pollution from pesticides and fertilizer runoff
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Increase in health risks associated with genetically altered foods, however, the production of
genetic enhancement of seeds have increased production
Benefits include larger farms, less human labour and the use of fertilizers, insecticides and
other chemicals to ensure maximum yields
Government agencies in countries such as Canada, who control the purchase of land, marketing
and pricing systems, taxation, quotas, production and subsidization payments reduce the
mechanization agriculturalist’s autonomy