Modern Trends in Global
Agriculture
Write this somewhere on your sheet
• Socioeconomic—Social or economic
factors that affect the lives of average,
working people in a country
• (I think this gave a lot of you trouble
on your FRQ’s)
The Three Agricultural Revolutions
• First (Neolithic) Agricultural Revolution
(8,000 B.C. in SE Asia and four hearths)
– switch from hunting and gathering to
sedentary plant and animal domestication
• Second Agricultural Revolution (1700s in
Europe)
– new farming and storage abilities increased
food supplies to meet a growing and
urbanizing population
• Third Agricultural Revolution (late 1800s
– 1950s in N. America)
– distributed mechanized farming technology
and agricultural chemicals on a global level
Third Agricultural Revolution—
1950-present
• New machinery
• tractors for plowing soil
• reapers for cutting crops
• threshers for separating grain
from stalks
• Refrigerated containers!
• Chemically-produced
fertilizers and
pesticides
• Genetically Modified
Foods
• Green Revolution
-
• Refrigerated containers now used to transport
agricultural goods globally
Dunedin, New Zealand
Industrial Agriculture
• As a result of the Third Agricultural
Revolution, food production
became “industrialized”
• Changed
– Who produces food
– How food is produced
– Where food is produced
Who produces food
• 1st--Family farm
– Family farms control most steps
in the food production process
• Now--Corporate farm under
industrial agriculture
– Large companies called
agribusinesses control most
steps in food production (seed
design, raising animals/growing
plants, processing, packaging,
advertising, and distribution)
How food is produced
• 1st--Family farm
– Labor-intensive
• Now--Corporate
farm under
industrial
agriculture
– Food manufactured
in large factories
– Capital-intensive in
all steps (cultivation,
processing,
distribution)
Where food is produced
• 1st--Family farm
– Local farms in MDCs
• Now--Corporate farm under
industrial agriculture
– Often produced in LDCs and
exported to MDCs
(globalization of agriculture)
– Small farmers in LDCs now
work for foreign agribusiness
corporations
– Ex. During winter in North
America, Chile is the primary
source of fruits and
vegetables in grocery stores
Neocolonialism
• European powers used
colonies in Africa, Asia, and
the Americas to supply
Europe with raw materials
• Now, most LDCs still survive
by producing cash crops for
export to MDCs that were
once their masters.
– Colombia – coffee,
Guatemala -- bananas, Egypt
– cotton, Caribbean and
Brazil – sugar, flowers
Subsistence vs. Commercial
Agriculture
• Five characteristics that distinguish
subsistence agriculture from commercial
agriculture
– Purpose of farming
– Use of machinery
– Percentage of farmers in the labor force
– Farm size
– Where predominant
Purpose of farming
• Subsistence Agriculture • Commercial Agriculture
– provide food for the
farmer’s own family
Uganda
– Produce products for
sale off the farm to other
places
Use of machinery
• Subsistence Agriculture • Commercial Agriculture
– Labor-intensive
– Capital-intensive /
mechanized
Farm Size and Scale of production
• Subsistence Agriculture • Commercial Agriculture
– Small size
– Small-scale
Terraced Fields in Malaysia
– Large size
– Large-scale
% of Labor Force in Agriculture, 2005
In LDCs, is the percentage of workers involved in agriculture high or low?
In MDCs, is the percentage of workers involved in agriculture high or low?
Predominant in which regions
• Is subsistence agriculture predominant in LDCs or
MDCs?
• So where is commercial agriculture predominant?
Land Use
• Extensive activity
– using a large amount of
land to produce crops and
livestock. (inefficient)
• Intensive activity
– using small amounts of
land very efficiently to
produce crops and
livestock (rice, wheat,
corn)
intensive subsistence agriculture
• 45% of people of world’s population do this!
• Farmers cultivate small plots of land very
efficiently, but labor-intensive.
• Predominately grow one crop, then exchange
small amounts for other foods
• Wet rice (India, Bangladesh, S & E. China, SE
Asia)
• Double cropping—Planting twice in a growing
season
• Done in LDCs
• Found in regions with
– high population density
– abundant summer rainfall
• Rice , maize & manioc (S. Am.), millet &
sorghum (Africa)
Indonesia
World Rice Production, 2005
In which two states is most of the world’s rice grown?
shifting cultivation / swidden farming
• Subsistence Agriculture, multiple
crops grown at one time
• Growing crops in an area for a short
period of time, then leaving it “fallow”
(unfarmed)
• In tropical areas, soil is poor (rain
washes away nutrients, so farmers
adapt by moving from field to field to
allow soil to replenish its nutrients.
• Environmentally sustainable, but
inefficient--Largest percentage of
world’s total land area (¼), but
supports less than 5% of world’s
population
Guatemala
shifting cultivation / swidden farming
• Usually involves slash and burn
agriculture – land cleared by
cutting existing plants, then burn
rest, cultivates for a few years,
then moves on once soil becomes
poor.
• Found in LDCs
• Found in hot, humid, low-latitude
climates (tropical and tropical
wet)
• Found in areas with low
population density
• W. Africa, central Africa, Amazon
River basin of northern South
America, SE Asia, especially
Indonesia
pastoralism / nomadic herding
• subsistence pattern of
agriculture in which people
make their living by tending
herds of animals
• Livestock provide food,
clothing, shelter.
• Different cultures prefer
different animals
• May be sedentary or nomadic
• Done in arid/semi-arid climates
because no arable land
• Done in Northern Africa, SW
Asia, W. China
Iran
Intertillage
• Intertillage is the
planting of different
crops together in the
same field.
• This is good for
subsistence farmers,
but is not part of the
global food production
process. (not
commercial agriculture)
• Benefits:
– Spreading out food
production over the growing
season
– Erosion control
• Problems
•
Inefficient
plantation agriculture
• Specialize in one or two highdemand cash crops that will
usually be exported to MDCs,
(sugar cane, coffee, palms,
coconuts, rubber, cotton)
• Large-scale commercial
agriculture in LDCs.
• Started during imperialism
• Core-periphery model?
Coffee, a cash crop of Ethiopia
grain farming
• Includes corn and wheat,
some for humans, others
for animals
• Wheat is world’s leading
export crop.
– U.S. & Canadian farms grow
½ of world’s wheat supply.
• Done in MDCs (capital
intensive)
• Midwestern U.S., North
Europe, Canada
• Requires mild climate
Mediterranean agriculture
• Near Mediterranean
sea and climates with
hot, dry summers and
mild, wet winters
• Wheat, barley, and
specialty crops (grapes,
olives, figs)
• Mediterranean,
California, Chile, South
Australia, S. Africa
Vineyard in Portugal
mixed crop and livestock farming
• Most common type of
farm found in MDCs.
• Most crops grown are
fed to animals,
especially maize,
because most income
comes from animal
product sales
• MDCs
• Eastern U.S., N. Europe
Cattle feedlot
dairy farming / dairying
• Near urban areas in
northeastern US,
southeast Canada, &
northwest Europe
(MDC’s, capital
intensive)
• Transport/storage
technology,
(refrigerated trucks) let
dairy farmers locate
further from urban
market
livestock ranching/cattle grazing
• Mainly cattle and sheep
• Evolution: from seminomadic to small ranches to
part of meat-processing
industry, often in feedlots to
increase efficiency
• Semiarid or arid lands.
• western U.S., pampas region
of S. America –Argentina,
southern Brazil,
Uruguay(primarily for
export)., west coast of Latin
America & n. Mexico
One Hint, Two Hints
Guess the word with one hint, get two points! Guess the word with
two hints, get one point. BUT, get it wrong, lose a point…
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Subsistence Agriculture
Commercial Agriculture
Extensive Agriculture
Intensive Agriculture
Shifting Cultivation/Swidden
Farming
Terracing
Intertillage
Double Cropping
Intensive Subsistence
Agriculture
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Plantation Agriculture
Grain Farming
Mediterranean Agriculture
Pastoralism/Nomadic
Herding
• Mixed Crop and Livestock
Farming
• Dairy Farming
• Livestock Farming