Types of farming
Types of farming
 Extensive arable farming
 Shifting cultivation
 Intensive peasant farming
Extensive arable farmingcommercial farming
 The Prairies and Great
Plains
 Land taken from the
Indians and the North
American bison
 Settled by landhungry Europeans,
often religious or
economic refugees
 Farming methods
practised were rooted
in European farming
Main Characteristics
 Carried out on very large holdings in areas where
population density is low
 High reliance on technology
 Relatively low yields, however, this is compensated for
by the very large areas under production
 Minimal human input, but decisions taken by farmers
are of great importance.
Many successes
 Extensive farming produced a lot of food
 Grain was exported to Europe
 Canada and the United States became prosperous
countries
 Farm prices were high in the first 2 decades of 20th
century
 Main problem was overproduction
Extensive cereal production
 The soils were naturally fertile chernozems
 The farmers didn’t understand the climate,
particularly rainfall variability
 In the 1930’s the disastrous ‘Dust bowl’ was created
due to inappropriate farm techniques
 The soil conservation methods which were
introduced have been copied all over the world
The System
Inputs
•Physical
•Human
•Economic/
Political
Processes
Outputs
•Decisions
made by
farmer or
farmers in
a
cooperative
Crops,
seeds,
foodstuffs
or livestock
•Farm plan
 Income from outputs
exceeds cost of inputs
= PROFIT 
investment in farm
business  growth of
business
 Cost of output = cost
of input = STABILITY
 Cost of input exceeds
cost of output = LOSS
 Lack of investment
 Stagnation and
decline in farm
business
Climate
 Copy the climate graph from the book
Early
th
20
Century
 Drought meant that homesteads did not survive
 Improved agricultural technologies allowed them to
cope




The new steel plough, disc harrow etc
Pumps and windmills
Barbed wire for fences
New strains of fast growing spring
wheat
The Dust Bowl
 In the 1920’s/30’s, there was an increased rate of soil
erosion in the southern part of the Great Plains, which
lead to the area becoming a “dust bowl”.
 Rural depopulation increased and as a result, farm
sizes increased, making them more extensive.
Late
th
20
Century
 Continued rural depopulation lead to ever increasing
steading sizes.
 Dependence on technology increased
 Output soared as new strains of wheat were developed,
and more land was being used for production.
 Irrigation was expanding, allowing more land to be
used for production. Aquifers like Ogallala depleted
rapidly.
 Soil erosion continued to be a problem and the
following strategies were introduced.
Soil conservation measures
 Contour ploughing
 Strip cultivation
 Wind breaks
 Planting or flooding
gullies
 Leaving stubble or
roots of crops in the
fields
Decline post WW2
 Farms became bigger and
small farms consolidated
as agribusiness took over
 Many farmers left the
land for the cities
 Production became
dependant on oil-for
machines, for fertiliser,
for plastics
Agriculture fights back
 New crops grown e.g sunflowers
 Mixed farming traditional communities ( Hutterites are a
religious group originating in 1528 during the
Reformation. Hutterites live communally in rural North
America)
 Organic farming
 Return of natural gazing and bison in some areas
 Processing plants to add value eg. Making pasta
Shifting Cultivation - Introduction
 This type of agriculture involves
the people “shifting” around in
order to grow crops.
 An area of land is cleared by
“slash and burn” techniques, and
then cultivated.
 Once the soils have been
exhausted, the tribe moves on
and repeats the process in
another area of forest.
 Mainly confined to
the humid tropics
 Growing season is
continuous due to
consistent
temperature and
rainfall
 Main problem is the
dense vegetation,
and when cleared,
the poor soils
 These areas have a low population
density (like in extensive
commercial) but for different
reasons...
 The rainforest is very isolated, with
poor communications and a lack of
economic development
 The inability of shifting cultivation
to support a large population.
Techniques simply cannot support
large numbers of people.
 Disease can be an issue, introduced
by white men. Malaria is endemic,
and measles, whooping cough and
chicken pox also infect native
people. Influenza is a major hazard.
The Farming Process
 Human input and the output is relatively small.
 Cultivation is possible all year round due to the climate
(copy climate graph from book).
 Cultivation is done by hand, no machines are used. It
could be thought of as a large scale “garden”.
 Shifting cultivation is sustainable (although a large
area is needed to make it possible). (see extract from
book p.255)
Successes
 It is best to cultivate gardens for two years, then left to
fallow for 10.
 They can be maintained in continuous cultivation
using simple crop rotation, between maize, soya, bean
and rice.
Maize
Year 1
Rice
Soya
Year 4
Year 2
Bean
Year 3
Changes to Shifting Cultivation
 A change will only be needed when there is a shortage
of forest areas to clear and cultivate or when the
population increases so rapidly, that a great deal more
food will be required.
 In north east Brazil, immigration by ‘colonists’ has
caused problems as they take up areas of land for
holdings along the new road.
 These colonists (who have a lack of knowledge about
the area) bring different ideas, technology and
practices to the area, which may alter the idea of a
sustainable farming strategy that the locals practice.
 Extensive areas of the
rainforest are being cleared
every day, which will
obviously have an effect on
the way of life in shifting
cultivation society.
 Large scale cattle ranches
 Timber and mineral
resources being exploited
 Large scale HEP schemes are
being developed.
Finally...
 Copy figure 8.24 on p. 245
Intensive peasant farming
Kedah State, Malaysia
 Supports dense rural population
 The population is mostly a youthful one, with a
low death rate and long life expectancy.
 Education levels are quite high, and health care
provision is good.
Settlements
 There is a little evidence of rural-urban migration, but
the countryside is still relatively crowded.
 People live in long, linear shaped villages, known as
kampongs. These are found along the raised banks of
rivers
 Sometimes, kampongs may be found on small islands
in the middle of rice fields.
 Copy figure 8.28 on p. 248.
Farming
 Similar climate to rainforest (copy climate graph on p. 250)
 The natural vegetation was rainforest, but the pressure of
population has long since cleared these areas.
 Rice is the main crop, based on irrigation and water control
to produce padi rice
 In January and February, when there is least rainfall,
the rice normally ripens, but as agriculture has become
more intensive, farmers grow 2 rice crops a year.
 This has been made possible by the Muda Irrigation
Project.
 The practices remain the same, but instead of being
subsistence, they are now commercial.
 Copy diagram 8.36 on p. 252
Landscape
 Fields are mostly terraced – created on hillsides to
provide areas to cultivate
 Fields are very small
 Rice is planted under water
 Lack of mechanisation and so a large workforce is
present to harvest the crop by hand
 Oxen are used to draw carts and transport crops
 Embankments are built around fields to hold the water
in
 Irrigation is used to transfer water to fields, is drier
areas
Changes
 More productive and faster maturing rice strains are
used, so allows for 2 crops a year.
 Planting rice seed directly into the flooded padi fields,
rather than transplating seedlings from nursery beds.
 Using tractors instead of animals
 The increased use of chemical fertilisers, rather than
using guano that was collected from limestone caves in
hills.
 Using hired machinery to harvest crop, rather than
using manual labour.
 Spending less time on other farming activities, such as
cattle grazing, as the time or land is not available.
 Some farmers now also have part time jobs in
industrial estates so split their time between that, and
farming.
 As a result, there is a less diverse farming practice in
Kedah state, and a huge focus on rice production
Rice Terraces
The Green Revolution
 This is the time when the changes that have taken
place in Kedah mirrored changes occurring in other
parts of monsoon Asia.
 This involved the development and the use of cereals
that grew in a shorter period of time and had a high
yield. It also involved the use of machinery, irrigation
techniques to allow more crops to be grown and the
use of agro-chemicals, such as fertilisers.
Kedah and the Green Revolution
 Kedah was an ideal location for the Green Revolution;
 It had a favourable climate, relief and soil type for
agriculture to occur
 The farmers were educated and were willing to change
their farming practices
 The infrastructure to distribute the finished product
(rice) was in place, as well as allowing inputs such as
fertilisers into the area.
Problems associated with the
Green Revolution
 Polluted run-off affects fish being bred in the paddy
fields
 Poorer farmers have not always benefited from the
Green Revolution as they lacked the money for the
necessary fertilisers
 Less diversification, more emphasis on rice
 Less community care to make sure everyone's rice was
planted
 Some parts of the developing world do not have
enough food