Geography of Agriculture

1. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 9:
Geographies
of Food and
Agriculture
Chapter 9 Lecture
Katie Pratt
Macalester College
© 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.

2. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
Figure: Chapter 9 Opener - Roadside vendors
sell food to Muslims to break fast after
sundown on the first day of the holy month
of Ramadan in Old Dhaka.
Key Concepts
• Agricultural practices
• Agricultural revolutions
• Industrialization of
agriculture
• Biotechnology
• Globalized agriculture
• Agricultural policy
• Agribusiness
• Alternative food movements
• Food and hunger
• The environment and
agriculture

3. © 2016 Pearson Education, Inc.
Figure 9.1 Effect of climate
change on global farming.
Geography and Agriculture
• Study of agriculture has a long tradition in geography.
• Major changes in agriculture worldwide over the last
five decades.
• Agriculture systems face uncertain future.

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Geography and Agriculture
Figure 9.2 Cropland and
pastures cartograms.

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Origins and Change in Agriculture
• Hunting and gathering
• Subsistence agriculture
• Commercial agriculture
Figure 9.3 Areas of plant and animal domestication.

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Origins and Change in Agriculture (cont’d)
Figure 9.4 Global distribution of agriculture.

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Shifting Cultivation
• Crop rotation
• Slash-and-burn
• Swidden
• Intertillage
Figure 9.5 Shifting cultivation.
Figure 9.6 Intertillage.

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Shifting Cultivation (cont’d)
Figure 9.7 Gender division of labor in rice processing in Tamil Nadu, India.

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Intensive Subsistence Agriculture
• Double cropping
Figure 9.8 A terraced rice
field in Bali, Indonesia
is an example of intensive
subsistence agriculture.

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Pastoralism
Apply your knowledge: Compare two dominant forms of subsistence
agriculture. What crops are grown with these methods? Where in the world
are they utilized? What are the advantages of the environment? What are the
challenges for the human population?
• Transhumance
Figure 9.9 Global distribution of pastoralists and hunter-gatherers.

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Culture and Society in Agriculture
• Pastoralism, shifting cultivation, and intensive
agriculture are not simply subsistence activities but
part of a social system as well
Apply your knowledge: How is pastoralism both an agriculture practice and a
sociopolitical system?

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Agricultural Revolution and Industrialization
• First agricultural revolution
Figure 9.10 Animals were important
in the first agricultural revolution.
Figure 9.11 Agricultural fields along
the Nile River, Luxor, Egypt.

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Agricultural Revolution (cont’d)
• Second agricultural revolution
– Dramatic improvements in outputs such as crop and
livestock yields
– Innovations such as improved oxen yokes
– New inputs such as fertilizers and drainage systems
Apply your knowledge: Why was the Industrial Revolution so important to
the second agricultural revolution? How did manufacturing technologies
change agricultural technologies?

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Agricultural Revolutions (cont’d)
• Third agricultural revolution
– Mechanization
– Chemical farming
– Food manufacturing
Figure 9.14 Salmon processing.
Apply your knowledge: Read the labels on at least four different products.
Identify the various processes involved in making them ready for market.
How does the package enhance the attractiveness of the product?

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Agricultural Revolutions (cont’d)
Figure 9.12 Working tractors globally.

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Figure 9.13 Worldwide growth in fertilizer use, 2005-2007.
Agricultural Revolutions (cont’d)

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Industrialization of Agriculture
• Important developments
– Changes in rural labor
– Innovative inputs
– Industrial substitutes
• Green revolution
• Blue revolution
• Aquaculture
• Nontraditional exports
(NTAEs)
• Contract farming
Figure 9.15 Commercial flower production.

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The Green Revolution Then and Now
• Norman Borlaug
• Increased
agricultural outputs
• Critiques:
– Magnified social
inequalities
– Environmental
degradation
– Dependence on fossil
fuels
– Loss of genetic diversity
• Borlaug hypothesis
Figure 9.D Rice paddy, India.
Figure 9.B2 Rice production.

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Biotechnology
• Biorevolution
• Biotechnology
• Biopharming
• Positive and
adverse effects
Figure 9.17 Mothers and children protest GMOs in Quezon City, Philippines.
Apply your knowledge: What are some of the positive effects of biotechnology
on global agriculture?

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Biotechnology (cont’d)
• Genetically modified organism (GMO)
• Opposition
Figure 9.16 Genetically modified
food labeling laws.

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Biotechnology (cont’d)
Table 9.1 Biorevolution compared with green revolution.

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• Globalized agriculture
• Economy and regulatory
practices are global in
scope
• Trade and financial
organizations
• Decline in some forms
of agriculture, for
example, shifting
cultivation and family
farms
• Subsidies to food
producers
Global Change in Food Production and
Consumption
Figure 9.18 Family farms in decline.

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National and International Agricultural Policy
Figure 9.19 Direct subsidies for animal
products and feed.
Apply your knowledge: What are some reasons different groups would protest
national agricultural policies? Think about how policies are set and the role of the
WTO, and how GMOs might threaten indigenous seed varieties.
• Why have domestic and
international policies?
• Impacts
• World Trade
Organization (WTO)
• Agricultural subsidies

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Organization of the Agro-Food System
Figure 9.20 The food supply chain.
• Agribusiness
• Food supply chain

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• Food regime
• Colonialism and food
exports
• Organic farming
• Conventional farming
Food Regimes and Alternative Food
Movements (cont’d)
Figure 9.21 The world’s
largest cattle feedlot
near Greeley, Colorado.
Figure 9.22 Global flows of fresh fruit.

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Food Regimes and Alternative Food
Movements (cont’d)
Table 9.2 Conventional versus alternative food.

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• Local food
• Food shed
• Food miles
• Urban agriculture
• Food sovereignty
• Food justice
Food Regimes and Alternative Food
Movements (cont’d)
Figure 9.23 Food shed.

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Food Regimes and Alternative Food
Movements (cont’d)
Figure 9.24 Radical wage gap in four food sectors.

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Urban Agriculture
Figure 9.1.1 Urban agriculture around the world.

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Urban Agriculture
Figure 9.1.2 Urban agriculture around the world.

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Urban Agriculture
Figure 9.3.1 Main types of urban farming and their benefits.

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Fast Food
• Product of post-World
War II
• Fast Food Nation by
Eric Schlosser
• Children’s eating habits
• Disease
• Environmental impacts
Figure 9.25 Distance to McDonald’s in the United States.
Apply your knowledge: How many fast food restaurant are in your town?
Research their menu and nutritional value of several popular items. What can
you conclude about the nutritional value of each item and their price?

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Fast Food (cont’d)
Figure 9.27 Fast food production’s impact.Figure 9.26 Obesity on the increase globally.

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Food Deserts
Apply your knowledge: How do rural food deserts differ from urban food deserts?
What are the differences and similarities in the populations who reside in them?
Figure 9.E Food deserts.

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• Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring
• Soil degradation and denudation
The Environment and Agricultural
Industrialization
Figure 9.29 Desertification in China.Figure 9.28 Impact of pesticides on
pollinators.

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The Environment and Agricultural
Industrialization (cont’d)
Table 9.3 Global soil degradation.
Apply your knowledge: Why is soil degradation such a pressing issue for
agriculture?

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Emerging Challenges and Opportunities
• Food and hunger
– Undernutrition
– Malnutrition
– Famine
– Food security
Figure 9.30 Almost one in seven people worldwide is chronically undernourished.
Apply your knowledge: According to figures from Food First there is enough
wheat, rice, and other grains produced to provide every human begin on the
planet with 3,500 calories a day. Given this, why are there more than 900
million hungry people on the planet?

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Hunger and Poverty in the United States
Figure 9.I Black Panther’s Free
Breakfast Program for children.
Figure 9.H Food hardship.

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Emerging Problems
• Land grabs
• Biofuels
Figure 9.32 Land grabbing and
the effect on hunger.
Figure 9.31 Jatropha plantation in India.

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Future Geographies
• Recognizing strengths of both industrialized
agriculture and sustainable, organic methods
• Knowledge of how to manage inputs and
ecosystems
• Continued population increase
• No “one size fits all” solution
Apply your knowledge: Search the Internet for news stories on recent protests
against GMO food. What are the protesters’ concerns? Do you believe their
concerns are justified? Provide scientific evidence to support your argument.