Commercial Agriculture
Introduction; A Global Network; Plantations; Specialized Farming
Introduction
• Commercial agriculture is largely a European
invention
• Colonization and Industrialization key diffusers of
agriculture
• Transportation networks that assisted industrial
growth provided flow of foodstuffs to colonial powers
• Colonies introduced Plantation agriculture- grew
luxury-crops
• Plantations still exist today and affect well-being of
developing countries
The Global Network
• Imperialism & colonialism introduced new products to
imperializing countries
• Agricultural and non-agricultural products became
available
• European population was growing (industrialism);
consumer markets increased
• Transportation between source and market handled
by shipping fleets of colonial powers
• Global pattern of raw materials, manufactured
products & foodstuffs moved between colonies and
colonial powers
Plantations
• Plantations: large land holdings devoted to the production
of a single tropical or subtropical crop for market
• Portuguese were first to establish plantations- 1400s
• Suitable environment & cheap/free labor led colonial
powers to establish plantations
• This practice disrupted traditional subsistence farming,
displaced farmers, took land & created poverty for
indigenous peoples
• Plantations exist today – not owned by colonial powersowned by governments or corporations
• Developing countries need the cash luxury-crops generate
Global Patterns of Commercial
Agriculture
• Cash Crops: Mostly tropical; All crops compete w/ alternatives &
synthetics
– Sugar - Caribbean (wealthy importing countries set tariffs &
quotas)
– Cotton – US, China (NE), Mexico, Brazil, Egypt, India; Ind. Rev.
increased production
– Rubber – Amazon (originated), Congo, SE Asia (>70% today –
mostly due to availability of labor)
• Luxury Crops: tea, coffee, tobacco, …
– Coffee: Ethiopia (originated), Mid & S. Am. (70%); Coffee is 2nd
most valuable traded commodity (petroleum is 1st), most is grown
on large, foreign-owned plantations
– Tea: India, China, Japan (most to Eurasia)
World
Agriculture
Non-tropical Agriculture
• Dairying, fruit & specialized crops – northern latitudes (NE US,
NW Eur.)
• Mixed livestock & crops – humid mid-latitudes (E US, W Eur. &
Russia)
• Commercial grains – drier mid-latitudes
• Livestock ranching – display a Thünian pattern (along
periphery, consumers in core)
• Mediterranean – dry summers; olives, citrus, grapes,… (“wine
country” – high demand/price); US, Chile, S.Afr, Australia
• Rice – US is #1 exporter (mostly subsistence farming in SE
Asia)
• Illegal drugs – mostly periphery to core
Rice and Wheat
• Rice and wheat feed over ½ of world’s pop.
• Crops represent vastly different regions:
– Rice: labor intensive, small plots of land in poorer
countries; rice too costly to farm via commercial
methods; originated in tropical Asia
– Wheat: lends itself to commercial production;
associated w/ western cultures; grown on largescale landholdings w/ mechanized machinery
– Wheat is both a subsistence grain and primary
grain in international trade
Specialized Farming
• Most important element to successful agriculture is
climate
• Mediterranean agriculture is only form of agriculture
that refers to particular climate
• Specialized form of farming dependent on dry
summers
• Crops where this special climate prevails:
– Grapes, olives, certain vegetables
– Demand for these special products leads to high
prices (think expensive wines)
Napa Valley,
California
(Mediterranean
Climate)