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Chapter 10: Agriculture
The Cultural Landscape:
An Introduction to Human
Geography
Food Production
Providing food in the
United
States and Canada is a vast
industry.
The mechanized, highly
productive American or
Canadian farm contrasts
with
the subsistence farm found
in much of the world.
This sharp contrast in
agricultural practices
constitutes one of the most
fundamental differences
between the more
developed
and less developed countries
of the world.
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Elements of the physical environment, such as climate, soil, and
topography, set limits on agricultural practices
Farmers make choices to modify the environment
Climate patterns influence the crops in a region; local soil
conditions influence crops on an individual farm.
Farmers choose from a variety of agricultural practices, partly
economic and partly cultural.
Varies according to dietary preferences, availability of technology,
and other cultural traditions.
At a global scale, farmers increasingly pursue the most profitable
agriculture.
The Economics of Farming
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Key Issue 1:
Where Did Agriculture Originate
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•
The Origins of Agriculture
Subsistence and Commercial Agriculture
Origins of agriculture
◦ Agriculture = deliberate modification of Earth’s
surface through the cultivation of plants and/or
rearing of animals
◦ Cultivate = “to care for”
◦ Crop = any plant cultivated by people
Origins of agriculture
◦ Before the invention of agriculture, all humans
obtained food needed for survival through hunting for
animals, fishing, or gathering.
◦ Known as Hunter-gatherers



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Small groups, usually fewer than 50 people
Men hunted big game/fish
Women tended children and gathered seasonal food
Perhaps 250,000 remaining today
◦ Invention of agriculture: Combination of a happy
accident and deliberate experiment
 When it began = unclear
 Diffused from many hearths
◦ SW Asia: Earliest crops barley and wheat in
◦ China: Rice
◦ Mexico: Beans, Maize, and Cotton
◦ Peru: Potatoes
◦ SW U.S.: squash and Maize
Crop Hearths
Figure 10-2
Origins of agriculture
◦ Scientists unclear about whether it was
environmental factors, or cultural factors that
promoted agriculture.
◦ Environmentalists offer that the onset of
agriculture coincided with environmental factors
 Climate change
 10,000 years ago was the end of the last ice age
◦ Scientists who focus on cultural factors cite the
instance of humans living in a fixes spot was the
start agriculture
 Permanent settlements with facilities for food
storage (surplus)
Origins of agriculture
◦ Domestication of Plants
 Plants are deliberately planted, protected, cared for
and used by humans
 Genetically distinct from their wild ancestors
because of selective breeding
◦ Plants tend to be bigger than wild species, bearing larger,
more abundant fruit or grain
Origins of agriculture
◦ Domestication of Animals
 Animals domesticated in multiple hearths at various
dates
◦ Inhabitants of SW Asia may have been the first
to integrate the cultivation of crops with animal
domestication
 Animals were used to prepare the soil for planting
and harvesting; in turn were fed part of the crop
 Animal products (milk, eggs, meat, hide) used in
other ways
Animal Hearths
Figure 10-3
Domestication of Animals
DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS
Origins of agriculture
◦ Two Types of Cultivation: According to Carl Sauer
 1st - Vegetative Planting: direct cloning from
existing plants, such as cutting stems and dividing
roots
 2nd - Seed agriculture: Practiced by most farmers
today
Location of First Vegetative Planting
◦ Sauer believes that vegetative planting probably
originated in SE Asia
◦ The region’s diversity of climate and topography
encouraged plants suitable for dividing
◦ Fishing source of food as opposed to hunting and
gathering, which might have led to a more sedentary
life style, enabling them to devote more time to
growing plants
◦ 1st domesticated plants in SE Asia probably included
roots such as the yam, and tree crops such as the
banana and palm
◦ The dog, pig, and chicken were probably domesticated
1st in SE Asia
◦ Other early hearth for vegetative planting may have
emerged independently in W. Africa and NW South
America
Location of First Vegetative Planting
Diffusion of Seed Agriculture
◦ Seed agriculture diffused from SW Asia across
Europe and throughout Africa
◦ Greece, Crete, and Cyprus display the earliest
evidence of seed agriculture in Europe
◦ Seed agriculture also diffused eastward from SW
Asia to NW India and Indus River Plain
◦ Again, various domesticated plants and animals
were brought from SW Asia, although others
arrived in India from different hearths
◦ From the N China hearth, millet diffused to S Asia
and SE Asia
◦ Rice has an unknown hearth
◦ Sauer identified a 3rd independent hearth in
Ethiopia, where millet and sorghum were
domesticated early
Seed Agriculture Hearths

Two independent seed agriculture
hearths originated in the Western
Hemisphere: southern Mexico and
northern Peru.

Since agriculture had multiple
origins means that, from earliest
times, people have produced food in
distinctive ways in different regions.

This diversity derives from a unique
legacy of wild plants, climatic
conditions, and cultural preferences
in each region.

Improved communications in recent
centuries have encouraged the
diffusion of some plants to varied
locations around the world.
Diffusion of Seed Agriculture in
the Western Hemisphere
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
The Second Agricultural Revolution
 Refers to farming technology developed during the
Industrial Revolution in the 17th - 18th centuries
 During the Middle Ages, most farmers worked their land to feed
themselves and their family in an open-lot system
 The enclosure movement in England and began using crop
(field) rotation
 Decline of feudal villages forced many to move to the city in
search of jobs
 Rising urban populations increased demand for food to be shipped
into the cities for workers
 Growth in demand led to new innovations in farming and
transportation that dramatically increased yields, such as tractors
and railroads
Commercial Agriculture emerged as a result
 Planned agricultural communities associated
with communist countries

Commercial and subsistence agriculture
◦ Subsistence = produced mainly for the farm
family’s survival
 Most common in LDCs
◦ Commercial = produced mainly for sale off the
farm
 Most common in MDCs
◦ Five characteristics distinguish commercial from
subsistence agriculture
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Purpose of farming
Percentage of farmers in the labor force
Use of machinery
Farm size
Relationship of farming to other businesses
(1) Purpose of Farming

Commercial Farming
◦ Primary Goal = Profit
◦ Large-scale producers
grow/raise as much as
possible to sell

Subsistence
◦ Farmers grow food to
sustain their families
◦ They do not enter into
the cash economy
◦ Monoculture – raising a
single crop on vast tracts
of land
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
(2) Labor Force in Agriculture
Fig. 10-5: A large proportion of workers in most LDCs are in agriculture, while
only a small percentage of workers in MDCs are engaged in agriculture
(3) Tractors, per Population
Fig. 10-6: Tractors per 1,000 people. Use of machinery is extensive in
most MDC agriculture, but it is much less common in LDCs
(4) Farm Size

The average farm size is relatively large in commercial
agriculture, especially in the United States and Canada.

Commercial agriculture is increasingly dominated by a handful
of large farms.

In the U.S. the largest 4% of farms.. . account for more than
one half of the country’s total output.

One half of U.S. farms generate less than $10,000 a year in
sales.

Large size is partly a consequence of mechanization.

As a result of the large size and the high level of
mechanization, commercial agriculture is an expensive
business.
(5) Relationship of Farming to
Other Business

Commercial farming is closely tied to other
businesses

Commercial farming has been called agribusiness,
integrated into a large food production industry.

Although farmers are less than 2% of the U.S. labor
force, more than 20% of U.S. labor works in food
production related to agribusiness: food processing,
packaging, storing, distributing, and retailing.
Extensive vs. Intensive Agriculture

Extensive – using large amounts of land to
farm with low inputs of labor.

Intensive – cultivating a small amount of
land very efficiently to maximize crop yield.
◦ Capital-intensive: uses machinery and
requires a large amount of capital (money)
◦ Labor-intensive: uses large amount of
human hands/labor
.
Capital vs. Labor Intensive
Labor
Capital
LDCs
 Low level of
development
 Abundant, cheap
labor
 Lack of educated
farmers
 Less access to global
markets
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

MDCs
Lack of agricultural
workers
Readily available
machinery
Access to global
markets
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Mapping Agricultural Regions
The most widely used map of world agricultural regions was
prepared by geographer Derwent Whittlesey in 1936.
Whittlesey identified 11 main agricultural regions, plus an
area where agriculture was nonexistent.
Whittlesey sorted out agricultural practices primarily by
climate.
Agriculture varies between the drylands and the tropics
within LDCs—as well as between the drylands of less
developed and more developed countries.
Because of the problems with environmental determinism
discussed in Chapter 1, geographers are wary of placing too
much emphasis on the role of climate.
Cultural preferences, discussed in Chapter 4, explain some
agricultural differences in areas of similar climate.
Agriculture and Climate
Figure 10-4
CHANGING MAP

Although Whittlesey’s agricultural classification is
quite elaborate, the regionalization on the basis of
this classification is not something permanent

Due to changing market demands and the
developing agricultural technology, a number of
changes have come in the agricultural pattern of the
world since Whittlesey’s study

Large demands for fruits and vegetables in the urban
areas have resulted in modified land use in many
parts of the world and such factors lend a dynamic
character to agricultural activity
© 2011 Pearson Education, Inc.
Key Issue 2:
Where are Agricultural Regions in LDCs?
Shifting Cultivation
Pastoral Nomadism
Intensive Subsistence Agriculture
Plantation Farming
Figure 10-6
Shifting cultivation
◦ Most prevalent in low-latitude, A-type climates
◦ Two features:
 Land is cleared by slashing and burning debris
◦ Slash-and-burn agriculture
 Land is tended for only a few years at a time
◦ Types of crops grown vary regionally
◦ Traditionally, land is not owned individually
◦ People who practice shifting cultivation generally live in small
villages and grow food on the surrounding land, which the
village controls
The Process of Shifting cultivation
◦ Each year villagers designate an area for planting
◦ They must remove the vegetation that covers the land
◦ Using axes, they cut most of the trees, sparing only those
that are economically useful.
◦ The debris is burned under carefully controlled conditions
◦ Rains wash the ashes into the soil, providing nutrients
 The cleared area is known by a variety of names in different
regions, including swidden.
 The cleared land can support crops only briefly, usually
three years or less
◦ Villagers leave the old site unplanted for many years
◦ They will return to the site, perhaps as few as six years or as
many as twenty years later, to begin the process of clearling
the land again.
The Future of Shifting cultivation
◦ Percentage of land devoted to shifting cultivation is declining
in the tropics a the rate of about 100,000 sq. kilometers
(40,000 sq. miles) or 1 percent a year
◦ The amount of earth’s surface allocated to tropical rain forests
has already been reduced to less than half of its original are
◦ Practices used in other forms of agriculture may damage the
soul, cause severe erosion, and upset balanced ecosystems.
◦ Large scale destruction of the rain forests also may contribute
to global warming
◦ When large numbers of trees are cut, their burning and decay
release large volumes of carbon dioxide
◦ Elimination of shifting cultivation could also upset the
traditional local diversity in the tropics
◦ The activities of shifting cultivation are intertwined with other
social, religious, political, and various folk customs
Pastoral nomadism
(herding domesticated animals)
◦ A form of subsistence agriculture based on the herding
of domesticated animals
◦ The word pastoral refers specifically “sheep herding”
◦ Found primarily in arid and semiarid B-type climates
◦ Animals are seldom eaten
 The size of the herd indicates power and prestige
◦ Type of animal depends on the region
 For example, camels are favored in North Africa and
Southwest Asia
◦ Transhumance practiced by some pastoral nomads
 Transhumance is the movement of people with their
livestock between fixed summer pastures and winter
pastures. (Vertical Transhumance= higher mountains
in summer, low valleys in winter)
The Future of Pastoral Nomadism
◦ Nomads used to be the most powerful inhabitants of
the dry-lands, but with technology, modern
governments are able to control the range of nomadic
populations more effectively
◦ Government efforts to resettle nomads have been
particularly vigorous in China, Kazakhstan, and several
Middle Eastern countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia,
and Syria
◦ Governments force groups to give up pastoral
nomadism because they want the land for other uses
◦ In the future, pastoral nomadism will be increasingly
confined to areas that cannot be irrigated or lack
valuable raw materials.
Intensive Subsistence Agriculture
◦ Found in areas with high population and
agricultural densities
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
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◦ Agricultural density= the ratio of farmers to arable land
The typical farm is much smaller than elsewhere in
the world
Agricultural density is high in East, South, and
Southeast Asia, families must produce enough food
fore their survival from small tracts of land
Farming practices and traditions are thousands of
years old, in response to local environment and
cultural patterns
To maximize production, little to no land is wasted
◦ Narrow roads to allow for maximum usage of arable land
◦ Intensive with wet rice dominant
◦ Intensive with wet rice not dominant
Intensive with wet rice dominant
◦ Growing rice involves several steps:
◦ 1st: Land is prepared using a plow drawn by water buffalo or
oxen
 Use of a plow drawn by animal power is characteristic that
distinguishes subsistence agriculture from shifting cultivation
◦ 2nd: Plowed land is flooded with water from rainfall, river
overflow, or irrigation
 The flooded field is called a sawah in the Austronesian
language widely spoken in Indonesia, including Java
 Europeans and N. Americans frequently, but
incorrectly, call it a paddy, the Malay world for “wet
rice”
 Wet rice is most easily grown on flat
land, because the plants are submerged
in water much of the time
Intensive with wet rice dominant
◦ Double Cropping
◦ One method of developing additional land suitable for
growing rice is to terrace the hillsides of river valleys
◦ Land is used even more intensively in parts of Asia by
obtaining two harvests per year from one field, a process
known as double cropping
◦ Double cropping is most common in places having warm
winters but is relatively rare in India where most areas have
dry winters
◦ Normally, double cropping involves alternating between wet
rice and wheat, barley, or another dry crop, grown in the
drier winter season.
Intensive with wet rice not dominant
◦ In areas of Asia too dry or too cold in the winter,
other crops are grown
 NE China and interior India are given over to wheat
and other crops
 In most ways the agriculture in dryer regions shares
the same characteristics as the wet rice region:
 Intensive subsistence agriculture through human power aided
by animal power
 In milder regions where wet rice does not dominate,
skilled use of crop rotation can produce other crops
World Rice Production
Figure 10-12: Asian farmers grow over 90% of the world’s rice. India and China alone
.account for over half the world rice production.
Plantation farming
◦ Found in Latin America, Africa, and Asia
◦ Products are grown in LDCs but typically are sold to
MDCs
◦ Plantations specialize in one or two cash crops
 Important crops = coffee, sugarcane, cotton, rubber,
and tobacco
◦ Plantations usually are set up in sparsely settled
regions, so a large labor force needs to be brought
in to work
Key Issue 3:
Where Are Agricultural
Regions in MDCs?
Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming
Dairy Farming
Grain Farming
Livestock Ranching
Mediterranean Agriculture
Commercial Gardening
Fruit Farming
Mixed crop and livestock farming:

Most distinctive characteristic is integration of crops with livestock
◦ Animals help with the work, and part of the crop feeds the animals
 Involves crop rotation: helps maintain the fertility of the soil
because certain crops deplete the soil
 Most important crop rotation area in the U.S. is from Ohio to the
Dakotas
◦ Most land = devoted to crops
 Corn the crop most often grown in rotation with other crops
because it gives the highest/most productive yield
◦ Most profits = derive from the livestock
 Corn and Soy are often fed to animals as well as sold for human
consumption

Dairy farming
◦ Most important commercial agriculture practiced in Urban areas of
NE U.S., SE Canada, and NW Europe
 Regional distribution outside urban areas called the milkshed
◦ Two primary challenges
 Labor-intensive: Cows must be milked 2x a day every day
 Expense of winter feed when they are unable to graze
Corn (Maize) Production
Figure 10-15
Milk Production
Figure 10-17
Agricultural Regions in MDCs

Grain Farming: U.S.= largest commercial producer of grain
◦ Winter Wheat: Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma= planted in fall, survives the
winter snow and is harvested at the beginning of summer
◦ Spring Wheat: Dakotas, Montana, S. Saskatchewan/Canada= planted in
spring, harvested in late summer
◦ Palouse Wheat: Washington State

Livestock ranching: Commercial grazing of livestock over
an extensive area (Cattle and sheep most prevalent)
◦ Commercial ranching in the U.S. and other MDCs (Australia, Brazil,
Argentina)
◦ Practiced in marginal environments , originally in a semi-nomadic
manner (open range eventually led to fixed ranch lands)
◦ Differs from pastoral nomadism in that is part of the meat
processing industry
Agricultural Regions in MDCs

Mediterranean agriculture: originally based in the
Mediterranean area, but has expanded
 Every Mediterranean growing area borders the ocean
 Prevailing sea winds provide moisture for moderate winter
temperatures, and relief in hot, dry summers
 Land is hilly, often plunging steeply towards the sea, leaving
narrow and flat coastal margins
◦ Based on horticulture= the growing of fruits, vegetables and
flowers primarily for human use/consumption
◦ Cash crops in the Mediterranean are grapes and olives

Commercial gardening and fruit farming: mostly in the
SE U.S. due to the long, mild growing season
◦ Truck farms: from the Middle English term “to truck” meaning to
barter or exchange goods
◦ Farmers sell highly demanded fresh produce to local markets in
MDCs
◦ Truck farms are large, highly efficient operations taking full
advantage of machinery
Wheat Production
Figure 10-19
Meat Production
Figure 10-21
Key Issue 4:
Why Do Farmers Face
Economic Difficulties?
Challenges for Commercial Farmers
Challenges for Subsistence Farmers
Strategies to Increase Food Supply
Challenges for commercial farmers
◦ Commercial Farmers are victims of their success
 Agricultural efficiencies have resulted in overproduction
 Demand has remained relatively constant
 As a consequence, incomes for farmers are low
◦ Access to markets is important: The von Thünen model (1826)
◦ The choice of crop to grow is related to the proximity to the
market
Figure 10-24
Challenges for commercial farmers
◦ Overproduction
 U.S. Government has 3 policies to address excess productivity
1. Farmers are encouraged to avoid producing crops that are in
excess supply
2. The government pays farmers when certain commodity prices
are low
3. The government buys surplus production and sells or donates
it to foreign governments
◦ Some commercial farmers are converting to Sustainable
agriculture
 Sensitive land management enhances environmental quality
◦ Ridge Tillage
◦ Limited use of chemicals
 Integrated crop and livestock
◦
◦
◦
◦
Using the correct number, and distribution of animals in an environment
Animal confinement vs. free range
Management of extreme weather conditions (as in draught)
Flexible feeding and marketing: keeping feed costs down by closely
monitoring the health and well being of animals on the farm
Economic Difficulties

Challenges for subsistence farmers
◦ Subsistence farmers must feed and increasing number of
people due to Population growth
 Subsistence farmers increase food supply in two ways:
◦ Adoption of new farming methods
◦ Land is left fallow for shorter periods
◦ Subsistence farmers must now grow crops for export and
International trade
 Farmers need higher yield seeds, fertilizer, pesticides and
machinery
 To purchase what they need, LDCs must produce something
they can sell to MDCs
◦ Tea, Coffee, other crops that can’t be grown in MDCs due to
climate
◦ Drug crops
Drug Trade
Figure 10-27
Strategies to increase food supply
◦ Four strategies employed to increase world food supply
 Expanding agricultural land
◦ Over use, and over producing on land causes a shortage in resources,
particularly water: Desertification is one result (semi arid land degradation)
◦ Urbanization contributes to decrease of farm land
 Increasing productivity of land now used for agriculture
◦ The green revolution: farmers working to achieve greater yields from
existing farmland during the 1970s and 1980s
 Introduction of higher yield seeds
 Expanded use of fertilizers
 Identifying new food sources
◦ Cultivating oceans, developing higher-protein cereals, and improving palatability of
foods
◦ Developing higher protein cereals
◦ Improving palatability of rarely consumed foods
 Soybeans
 Krill
 Increasing trade with other countries
◦ Export food overproduced in one country and send it to another country
Agricultural Land and Population
Figure 10-28
Grain Imports and Exports
Figure 10-32
The End.
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