AP Human Geography
Ch 10: Agriculture Guided Reading
Read page 274 to understand the terms LDC and MDC. Understand how they are roughly distributed by examining the map on page
282 fig. 9-11 (we will be coming back to this concept in more detail).
As you read Ch. 10 compete the following:
What percentage of farmers live in LDCs? ___________ Why do the 3% of farmers who live in MDCs out-produce those farmers in
LDCs? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What is agriculture? _________________________________________________________________________________________
What does it mean to “cultivate” something? _____________________________________________________________________
What is a crop? _____________________________________________________________________________________________
Timeline on the Development of Agriculture:
Prior to 10,000 years ago
Describe how humans lived:
What is domestication?
Crops
Animals (see fig. 10-3)
SE Asia (lecture)
(Neolithic Revolution)
Invention of Agriculture
SW Asia
10,000 years ago: barley, wheat, lentil, olives
(diffuses to Europe/Central Asia?)
12,000 years ago = dog
9 – 8,000 years ago = cattle, hogs, pigs, sheep
(horses = Central Asia)
1st to integrate crop cultivation with
domestication of herd animals.
Yellow River
Central Africa
Latin America
Agricultural Revolution
(lecture)
Selective breeding (lecture)
Four field rotation (p. 323)
Green Revolution (p 335 –
337)
Subsistence vs. Commercial Agriculture (summarize the differences between subsistence and commercial in the chart below)
Subsistence
Commercial
Definition/purpose
Where found?
% in the labor force
Use of machinery
Farm size
Relationship of farming
to other businesses
List types found in LDCs
(detail and characteristics
to follow)
1.
2.
3.
4.
shifting agriculture
pastoral nomadism
intensive wet rice dominant
intensive wet rice not dominant
List types found in MDCs
(details and
characteristics to follow)
In what two ways has population growth lead to the
changes in subsistence agriculture?
5.
plantation
1. mixed crop and livestock
2. dairy farming
3. grain farming
4. livestock ranching
5. Mediterranean
6. Commercial gardening and fruit
How are commercial farmers victims of their own
success?
(skip “Importance of Access to Markets”)
What has caused overproduction?
What are the five basic stages in the intensification of
farmland as population density grows?
Why has demand not increased with falling prices
due to overproduction?
Challenges (begin at page
329)
What problem is faced by governments in LDCs
regarding subsistence agriculture as they are
encouraged to develop by participating in
international trade?
What three methods does the government use to
address the problem of overproduction?
What is sustainable agriculture?
What are the three principle practices of sustainable
agriculture?
To what kind of crop have many subsistence farmers
in LDCs turned because of its lucrative return?
Major Global Agricultural Regions (summarize the information on pages 314 – 329)
Area
Type
Characteristics/Vocabulary
What competing activities are replacing shifting
cultivation in tropical rainforests?
What climate region/biome?
Shifting cultivation
How many people?
Describe slash-and-burn agriculture
swidden:
crops:
land ownership:
Describe how modern technology and governments
threaten the pastoral nomadism lifestyle.
What is it?
Pastoral Nomadism
How do the nomads feed their herds?
What are the four major types of animals?
Describe their pattern of movement.
transhumance:
pasture:
Intensive Subsistence
Plantation
LDCs
To what climate is it best adapted?
What does “intensive” mean (lecture)?
Why do defenders of shifting agriculture say it is
environmentally sound?
Future
Wet rice dominant. Where dominant?
sawah (paddy):
Major regions?
double cropping:
Plot sizes?
Wet rice not dominant. What climate conditions?
How is the work done?
Two most common crops?
Land usage?
What is crop rotation?
What climate regions?
Examples of crops specialized?
Owners?
Labor force?
Crops sold where?
Type
Dairy Farming
Mixed Crop and
Livestock
Area
Characteristics/Vocabulary
Where is this most common?
How are animals and crops integrated?
Advantages:
What are the two most important crops?
Located near what? Why?
What two features of dairy farming have caused
economic difficulties?
What is this area called?
Why has this area expanded?
What % of dairy farming is now conducted in LDCs?
What are examples of grains?
Describe the three main grain production areas in
the United States.
Grain Farming
Which is the most important, why?
Who is the main consumer of grains?
What countries are the world’s largest grain producers?
Livestock Ranching
How is ranching land usage described?
In what areas is it best adapted for?
On whose land do 60% of cattle graze in the United States today?
Where are cattle fattened today?
What other parts of the world have major ranching industries?
Mediterranean
Where does this activity primarily exist?
How is the physical environment similar in these areas?
Who consumes products grown in Mediterranean agriculture?
What is horticulture?
What are the two most important crops?
Commercial
Gardening and Fruit
Farming
MDCs
What two machines have mechanized wheat harvesting?
In what areas of the U.S. does this activity predominate?
What is another name for this activity? Why?
What are some popular items with consumers grown on “truck farms”?