Agricultural Regions in
LDCs
Key issues 2 and 4
Physical Geography …for a
moment
 Tropics, Mid-latitude, High-latitude regions
High Latitudes
Middle latitudes
Low latitudes
Middle latitudes
Polar Regions
Temperate Zones
Tropics
Temperate Zone
Polar Regions
High Latitudes
Four Main Regions
 Shifting cultivation
 Humid, low-latitude, high temp and rainfall
 Pastoral Nomadism
 Dry climates where crops are imposible
 Intensive Subsitence Agriculture
 Densely populated areas – particularly Asia
 Plantation Farming
 Tropics and subtropics
 Specifically Latin America, Africa and Asia
Percent of Labor Force Engaged
in Agriculture
Farmland Per Tractor
Now Compare
Challenges for Subsistence
Farmers
 What is the birth rate like in LDCs?
 Farmers need to consider new farming approaches
 “Population growth influences the distribution of types
of subsistence farming”
–ESTER BOSERUP
 How?
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New farming methods
Land left fallow for shorter periods
Boserups’s five stages to the intensification of farmland –
p. 334
Challenges for Subsistence
Farmers
The International Trade Model of Development (ch. 9)
 “A country can develop economically by concentrating




scarce resources on expansion of its distinctive local
industries.”
Countries should focus on what they can produce for a
higher quality and less price than any other country
Funds made by this can help the country develop in other
ways
In order to do this, LDCs need to use better everything
Sell crops and other stuff to MDCs
Challenges for Subsistence
Farmers
 Drug Crops
 Particularly Latin America and Asia
 They aren’t selling DRUGS, they are selling crops that
can be turned INTO drugs 
 Cocaine and Heroine
 Afghanistan produces about 80% of the world’s opium
 Columbia grows half of the world’s coca leaf
 Most marijuana in the U.S. comes from Mexico
Agricultural Regions in MDCs
Key Issues 3 and 4
Six Main Regions
 Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming
 U.S.
 Corn
 Dairy Farming
 Farms near large urban areas of NE U.S., SE Canada and
Northern Europe
 Grain Farming
 Wheat
 Livestock Ranching
 Mediterranean Agriculture
 Commercial Gardening and Fruit Farming
Corn Production
Milk Production
Wheat Production
Meat Production
Challenges for Commercial
Farmers
 Lets talk about supply and demand!
Challenges for Commercial
Farmers
 Access to markets
 Overproduction
 This is where subsidies come in, but we will talk more about this
later
 Sustainable Agriculture
 An agricultural practice that preserves and enhances
environmental quality
 Lower revenue but lower costs
 Organic farming
 Three principles:
 Sensitive land management
 Limited use of chemicals
 Better integration of crops and livestock