Key Issue #4: Why does agriculture vary among

regions? • Environmental Factors-

– Climate dictates what can be grown• Middle East- pastoral nomads• Africa- Shifting Cultivation • China- Differences within the country • U.S.- differences among growing and Cattle

farming

– Religious and other environmental factors vary • Pork in Muslim countries• Wine in non Christian states

Economic Issues • Ester Boserup- population growth encourages subsistence

farmers to consider new farming techniques to feed the people – Can be achieved in two ways:

1. Land is left Fallow for shorter periods– Forest Fallow- Land is farmed for 2 years and left

for 20 – Bush Fallow- field is cleared and used for 7 and left

for 10 – Short Fallow- used for 2 and left for 2 – Annual Cropping- used for a couple of months and

then left for a couple; planting of roots and legumes – Multi-cropping- fields are used several times a year

and never left fallow

2. Adopting new farm methods – Plows, manure, terracing, labor, machinery – Problem is LDCs don’t always have $ to obtain these new

technologies

Subsistence Farming & International Trade• Many LDCs have to import machinery, fertilizer, high-

yield seeds, etc. from developed countries• LDCs must produce something they can sell to

developed countries to get funds to obtain these technologies

• MDC will pay higher prices for crops that are out of season or cannot be grown in their climates (ex. coffee & tea)

• More land used for cash crops = less land used for domestic consumption

• $ raised from cash crops goes to feed people who grow them

Africa’s Food Struggle• Threat of famine: Horn of Africa

& the Sahel• Farmers overplant & herd size

increases with rapid pop. Growth

• Overgrazing, deforestation, desertification occur due to overuse of land and increased herd size

• To keep food affordable the gov’t keeps ag. prices low, creating little profit for farmers

• No incentive for increased production due to little profit

Drug crops- Usually distributed by LDC, Why?

– Coca leaf- predominantly found in South America; Columbia, Peru and Bolivia

– Marijuana- Mexico – Opium- Asia; Afghanistan (90%), India, Myanmar, Laos – Cocaine & Heroin are 2 leading dangerous drugs

• Cocaine used most widely in USA• Heroin used most widely in Europe

Food Prices Worldwide• 21st century food prices have more than

doubled

• Consequently agricultural land prices have increased as well

• UN attributes record high prices to 4 factors:– Poor weather– Higher demand (ex. India & China)– Smaller growth in productivity– Use of crops as biofuels

Luckiest Nut

Challenges for Farmers in Developed Countries

Access to markets Distance from the farm to the market influences what is

produced

Overproduction Suffer low incomes b/c they can produce more than

what is needed New seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, equipment, etc. have

enabled farmers to obtain greater yield per area of land Ex. # of dairy cows decreased but milk output

increased Demand is stagnant in MDC b/c low pop. growth

U.S Gov’t polices

• Plant fallow crops like clover to restore nutrients & keep soil erosion down

• Gov’t pays farmers when certain commodity prices are low– Set a target price & pay farmers the difference btw.

the price they receive at market and the target price– Gov’t buys surplus production and sells or donates to

foreign countries– Developed regions like N. America & Europe are

encouraged to produce less, while LDCs struggle to increase food production to match increasing pop.

Von Thunen Model for Agriculture• introduced in The Isolated State by Johann Heinrich

Von Thünen in 1826 to help explain the importance of proximity to market in the choice of crops on commercial farms. A rough schematic is reproduced below:

• The basic premise of von Thünen’s model is that the more perishable and difficult to ship something, the closer it will be to the market.

The Application of Von Thunen Today

• Even though the Von Thunen model was created in a time before factories, highways, and even railroads, it is still an important model in geography.

• The Von Thunen model is an excellent illustration of the balance between land cost and transportation costs.

• As one gets closer to a city, the price of land increases.

• The farmers of the “Isolated State” balance the cost of transportation, land, and profit and produce the most cost-effective product for market.

• Of course, in the real world, things don't happen as they would in a model.

The Green

Revolution in Agriculture

• Green Revolution – The term green revolution refers to the development and

adoption of high yielding cereal grains in the less developed world during the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Very large short term gains in grain output have allowed food supplies to grow faster than populations, until very recently.

• Gains were made by:– Dwarf varieties: plants are bred to allocate

more of their photosynthetic output to grain and less to vegetative parts.

– Planting in closer rows, allowed by herbicides, increases yields.

– Bred to be less sensitive to day length, thus double-cropping is more plausible.

– Very sensitive to inputs of fertilizer and water.

• Biotechnology – Potential Benefits of Genetic

Engineering of Crops– Increased Yields– Increased Nutritional Value in Some

Staple Crops (e.g., Vitamin A added to Rice)

– Strong Political Resistance in Europe and Among Environmentalists Worldwide

– Concerns about Long Term Safety and Risks

• Genetically Modified Organism- 70% of your food today – Tomatoes were the first

• Monsanto- Engineered crops

Who Owns What Food-GMO Companies

Company – 2007Seed sales (US$ millions)

% of global proprietary seed market

Monsanto (US) $4,964m 23%

DuPont (US) $3,300m 15%

Syngenta (Switzerland) $2,018m 9%

Groupe Limagrain (France)

$1,226m 6%

Land O' Lakes (US) $917m 4%

KWS AG (Germany) $702m 3%

Bayer Crop Science (Germany)

$524m 2%

Sakata (Japan) $396m <2%

DLF-Trifolium (Denmark) $391m <2%

Takii (Japan) $347m <2%

Top 10 Total $14,785m67% [of global proprietary seed market]

Monsanto Companies

Agricultural Revolutions

Technology allows much greater production (surplus) with less human labor, but often has high social and environmental costs.

Metal plows, Reapers, Cotton Gin Tractors (Internal Combustion Engine) Combines Chemical Pesticides/Fertilizers Hybrid Crops Genetically-modified Crops

Sustainable Agriculture

• Sustainable agriculture- the ag practice that preserves and enhances environmental quality.

• Three methods are used: more sensitive land management, limited use of chemicals, & integrated crop and livestock – Ridge tillage- the system of planting crops on

ridge tops to lower production costs and conserve soil quality

– Better integration of crops and livestock. – Limited or no herbicides to control weeds

Contemporary Food Consumption

Ethical Issues• Starvation of many prevented, but extra food may

lead to higher birth rates.

• Life expectancy in less developed countries increased by 10 years in less than two decades (43 in 1950’s to 53 in 1970’s).

• Dependency on core countries increased; rich-poor gap increased.

• Wealthy farmers and multinational companies do well, small farmers become wage labourers or unemployed – dependent.

• More at risk? More people malnourished/starving today than in 1950 (but lower as a percentage).

• U.S. spends $10,000,000,000 year on farm subsidies, damaging farmers and markets in LDCs.

Why do people starve?

– Drought/desertification – Warfare

• The army marches on its stomach – Food preferences/ cultural practices

• India – Delivery systems – Issue of credit – Politics

• North Korea

“Our incredible successes as a species are largely derived from this choice, but the biggest threats to our existence stem from the same decision.” Jared Diamond, 1999

Emergence of new human diseases from animal diseases (i.e. smallpox, measles)

• Dense urban populations allow spread/persistence of disease Lower standard of living for many people.

• Archaeological evidence of serious mal-nourishment among early farmers.

• Many modern impoverished and malnourished farmers.• Famine virtually non-existent in hunter-gatherer societies.

Increased susceptibility to plant blights and increased dependence on complex economic systems.

Environmental degradation• topsoil loss (75% in U.S.), desertification, eutrophication, PCBs in

fish, DDT and other pesticides

Agricultural ‘Success’?

Future Challenges• World Population Expected to

Increase to 10-12 Billion Before Stabilizing

• Food Production Already Exerting Extreme Environmental Pressures– 25% of All Greenhouse Gas Release in

U.S. is from Agriculture. That’s more than all transport.

– Much Soil is Already Badly Damaged

• Developed Countries Still Undermining 3rd World Agriculture with Subsidies and Taxes

• The environment – Soil Erosion

• Less then 2% left in the USA

– Desertification • Debt for nature swap

• http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=monk+and+the+square+tomato&FORM=HDRSC3#view=detail&mid=7EAF319E38346BEF2BAD7EAF319E38346BEF2BAD

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIS6P6pnNaA

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnN6FFjZBZQ

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftPxQ2hrrjE&feature=related

• If money was not an issue how would you fix world hunger? – Please be specific

• Would starvation on the planet be a Malthusian theory or Neo-Malthusian theory please defend your answer

• Explain how core countries push periphery countries into illegal activity– How would you prevent this from happening

• Do you agree with GMOs why or why not please defend your answer

• Rubenstein, James- Cultural Landscape; An Introduction to Human Geography

• http://www.glendale.edu/geo/reed/cultural/cultural_lectures.htm• http://www.quia.com/pages/mrsbellaphg.html• Ike Heard-http://geoearth.uncc.edu/people/iheard/1105syllabus.html