Agriculture and Environment: Consequences & Practices

• Unit 5 of AP Human Geography covers how different climates, environments, and advancements in technology affect food production and agricultural practices.
• The agricultural products are often tied to specific physical environments, influencing what can be grown in each region.

Climate & Agricultural Production

• Tropical climates (e.g., Indonesia, parts of Africa) are suited to grow coffee, sugar, and pineapple
• Subtropical climates (e.g., West Indies, parts of Indonesia) for rice, cotton, and tobacco
• Grasslands and continental steppes (e.g., Mongolia, Western U.S., Northern Africa) enable cattle ranching, sheep, goats, horses, and camels
• Mediterranean climates (e.g., California, Chile, Mediterranean region) grow grapes, olives, and dates
• Vegetable, fruits, and rice are suited for Warm Mid-Latitude Climates like Southern China, Southern U.S
• Wheat, barley, livestock, and dairy are for Cold Mid-Latitude Climates like Northern U.S., Southern Canada, and Eastern Europe
• Different climates produce different foods due to the area's distinct physical features, like growing seasons and water access.

Advancements in Technology & Food Production

• Fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides increase crop yields
• Genetic modification enables crops and animals to grow faster and in less ideal conditions
• New farming methods, such as greenhouses and vertical farming, enable food production in urban areas
• Advances in irrigation, GPS, and GIS help farmers manage water, fertilizers, and crop readiness
• Technology counters the limitations of the environment; for instance, technology helps food production grow despite the limited resources

Intensive Agricultural Practices

• Require high capital and labor, typically closer to population centers, for high yields
• Plantation agriculture is common in periphery countries with tropical climates where labor is cheap
• Plantation agriculture crops are cash crops like coffee, sugar, tobacco, and tea
• Often, companies from economically advanced countries operate plantations for export purposes
• Plantation agriculture can lead to land being used for export crops instead of local food production
• Mixed crop and livestock agriculture is found in developed countries
• Crops such as corn and soybeans feed livestock, which are then processed and sold
• Market gardening (truck farms) are found in areas with longer growing seasons like the Southeastern U.S
• Migrant labor is often used to harvest crops like fruits and vegetables
• Crops are harvested, processed (frozen, canned), and shipped for market sale

Extensive Agricultural Practices

• Require low capital and labor and high land use
• Typically located farther from urban areas
• Shifting cultivation is found in tropical areas like Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia
• Land is cleared for planting crops, but once the soil loses nutrients, the land is left fallow for vegetation regrowth
• Nomadic herding is practiced in Central/Southwest Asia and Northern Africa.
• Nomadic herding involves herding animals such as cattle, sheep, and goats, and moving across land
• Ranching is located in less fertile areas far from urban centers and requires more cheaper land

Settlement Patterns

• Explores settlement patterns and survey methods
• Clustered settlements have high population density and less space between settlements/farms
• Clustered settlements involve more daily interactions between citizens, leading to closer communities, e.g., terrace farming in China
• Dispersed settlements involve farms/settlements spread out with significant space between them
• Dispersed settlements use less interaction between people because farms can utilize land efficiently, e.g., corn farms in the Midwest of the United States
• Linear settlements are arranged in a line along roads, rivers, or transportation systems
• Linear settlements facilitate the movement of goods and services, e.g., settlements along a river or main road in Quebec, Canada

Survey Methods

• Long lots involve land divided into narrow parcels, each having access to a river or major road
• Common areas with transportation access
• Meets and bounds divide land using key geographic features and straight lines
• Meets and bounds is used for smaller, localized areas, primarily on the East Coast of the United States
• Texas influenced by Spanish and Mexican land rules, makes Meets and Bounds more common
• Township and range are more common in the Midwest and Western United States
• Township and range use longitude and latitude to create a grid system.
• The township system is organized going north to south, and ranges go east to west, intersecting at a baseline
• This division makes it easier to sell and manage, particularly for a large population

First Agricultural Revolution (Neolithic Revolution)

• Agriculture and food production have spread around the world after this revolution
• It occurred around 10,000 BCE, marking the transition from hunter-gatherer societies to sedentary farming
• Stable populations, food surpluses, and the development of advanced societies were created
• The revolution took place in the Fertile Crescent, an area between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers

Main Agricultural Hearths

• Fertile Crescent (Middle East): Wheat, oats, and barley diffused through the Middle East, Europe, and parts of Africa
• Sub-Saharan Africa: Yams, coffee, and sorghum diffused throughout southern Africa
• Central America: Maize, potatoes, squash, and peppers diffused through North and South America
• East Asia: Rice and soybeans diffused through Japan and Korea
• Southeast Asia: Mangoes and coconuts diffused through the East Indies and into India

Columbian Exchange

• The arrival of Europeans in the Americas led to the Columbian Exchange which facilitated the diffusion of crops, animals, goods, and diseases
• Positive effects Crops like the potato from Central America helped Europe experience a population boom with easy cultivation and calorie-rich food
• Positive effects included a stronger food surplus in Europe, reducing famine
• Negative effects The spread of diseases like smallpox devastated Indigenous populations, leading to millions of death

Silk Road and Trade

• Facilitated the diffusion of crops, inventions, and agricultural practices across Asia, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe
• The British East India Company also played a role in spreading agricultural goods, animals, technology, and plants through global trade.
• Both forced and voluntary migration contributed to the spread of agricultural knowledge, products, and practices worldwide
• Migrants introducing new crops and agricultural methods to different regions reshaped cultures
• Globalization has accelerated the diffusion of agricultural practices and products
• Foods and farming techniques spread faster, influencing diets, agriculture, and grocery stores around the world

Second Agricultural Revolution

• Focused on how agriculture and society transformed, following the First Agricultural Revolution
• Agriculture involves deliberately modifying earth’s surface to cultivate plants and rear animals for sustenance/economic gains
• It is focused on producing food for individual consumption/sale to generate income
• The Neolithic Revolution enabled forming complex societies through food surpluses and specialization as it isn't necessary to hunt/gather
• The Second Agricultural Revolution occurred around the 18th and 19th centuries during the Industrial Revolution, particularly in Great Britain
• New inventions and technological advances significantly increased agricultural output

Inventions

• Cotton Gin aided cotton processing
• Seed Drill allowed more efficient planting
• Steel Plow made tilling land easier and more effective
• Grain Elevators facilitated the storage and transport of grains
• McCormick Reaper Harvester allowed faster harvesting of crops

Enclosure Movement

• Involved converting communal land into privately owned land that was previously used collectively for growing crops and grazing animals
• Privatization led to increased efficiency, helping landowners maximize production, and increased production

Changing Diets

• The Second Agricultural Revolution caused profound societal changes along with the Industrial Revolution and the Enclosure Movement
• Urban migration increased through workers in facturies
• Factory farms produced more that led to specialization with a a population boom (transition to Stage 2 of the Demographic Transition Model) from people eating more food
• People's caloric intake grew resulting from new food diffusion and food surpluses through technological advancements
• Connected transportation to different regions expanded trade and production
• Trade became more efficient and states were more interdependent, fostering global economic growth
• The Industrial Revolution enabled increased food supply, better diets, longer life expectancies, and reduced need for people working in agriculture
• Agriculture created opportunities for workers in manufacturing and other sectors that fostered economic growth globally

Green Revolution

• Significantly changed global agricultural practices by focusing advancements via technology.
• Resulted in greater food security, but also various environmental and societal consequences

Characteristics

• High Yield Seeds: Genetically altered crops focused on increasing food output
• Chemical Usage: Increased use of fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides helped crops grow faster and more efficiently
• Mechanized Farming: Tractors, harvesters, and irrigation pumps increased efficiency, reducing manual labor
• The advances gave countries the ability to produce more food, reduced prices, made food accessible, and created surpluses

Dr. Norman Borlaug

• "Father of the Green Revolution,".developed semi-dwarf, high-yield, disease-resistant wheat varieties
• His work in Mexico, India, and Pakistan significantly boosted food production and saved millions from starvation
• His innovations earned a Nobel Peace Prize for saving over a billion lives

Crossbreeding & Hybrid Plants

• Crossbreeding: combines desirable traits by mixing different plant specifies in hybrid seeds
• These hybrids had climate resistance, shorter growing seasons, allowed mutiple harvests per year
• Hybrid plants vs. GMOs: Mixing plant species vs genetically modifying an organism/plant's DNA directly
• Hybrid plants mixing plant species vs GMOs with the latter part of green revolution

Chemical Usage in Agriculture

• Fertilzers: Faster growth occurs with chemical fertilizers (nitrogen and phosphate) than natural fertilizers
• Pesticides: Protected crops from insects
• Herbicides: Helped control weeds
• The use of these chemicals increased agricultural productivity but also led to concerns of environmental factors, like soil degradation and water contamination
• Mechanized farming: Reduced reliance on labor via new machinery like tractors, iirrigation systems, and harvesters
• Machination had an impact on efficiency that expanded, increased food production, lowers production costs as well as fewer people in the sector because of worker gender Negative Consequences of the Green Revolution:
• Overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides led to environmental damages, soil degradation & water contamination
• Growing single crops (monoculture Farming) led to biodiversity loss (species become less diverse/more vulnerable) and ecosystems being more vulnerable and more profitable
• Large-scale industrial farms (Economic Inequality) became more profitable, leading to greater economic inequalities given inability of small farmers being unable to compete with a large scale farming operation.
• Global Impact: Countries in the periphery or semi- periphery reliant on core countries an multinational corps. over high yeild seeeds and chemicals
• Greater availability and production with increased "food security" from green revolution

Economic Benefits

New economic opportunities from large scale farms grew economies. Drawbacks

• Environmental Factors: pollution (from the chemicals)
• Monoculture: Farming reduces biodiversity and soil health
• Economic Inequality: Large corporate farms increased and reduced economic equality

Commercial vs. Subsistence Agriculture

• Discusses agricultural practices, i.e. subsistence/commercial agriculture, bid rent theory, monocropping/monoculture
• Subsistence Agriculture is purposed to produce food for the farmer's family/local community (not for profit) through small farm sizes, more human labor, no machines and found in countries that are less developed.
• Commercial Agriculture is a purpose to produce food for profit for larger farm sizes with more use of farming equipment and less human labor and it is found in more economically developed countries

Intensive vs. Extensive Agriculture

• Extensive Subsistence Agriculture utilizes smaller amounts of capital, machines, and labor and more land. ex: Pastoral Nomadism
• Intensive Subsistence Agriculture utilizes less land, more human labor and more capital. ex: Wet Rice Farming in South Asia, Terrace Farming
• Extensive Commercial Agriculture uses fewer machines, capital, and human labor while requiring more land. ex: Cattle Ranching. Ex: Extensive Commercial Agriculture
• Intensive Commercial Agriculture utilizes more capital, machines, and/or human labor in less amounts of land ex: Dairy Farming Ex: Intensive Commercial Agriculture

Location of Intensive & Extensive Agriculture

• Intensive Agriculture: Located near markets or cities (to minimize transportation costs)
• Extensive Agriculture: Located further from cities (more land and less intensive machinery/labor)

Bid Rent Theory

• Defines how the price of land varies by distance from an urban area in which higher prices near urban areas because of scaricity and lower farmland because of lower numbers
• Impact on Agriculture: The price of farmland further away (for extensive which needs more farmland) and less costly than higher prices near cities (with intensive farms that benefit from transport)

Monocropping & Monoculture

• Monocropping is repeatedly growing crops in one year, but this can result in soil deplition despite efficiency and high prices
• Monoculture is growing type of crop in a rotation despite the need of crops ex that monocropping does not entail

Commodities

• Equipment, transportation, fertilizers, pesticides, GMOs shifts in food production lead to positive change from output and and higher, negative changes from animal rights complaints
• Green revolution spurred rise agri-business/corporate agriculture mainly developed especially led to yield increases/lowpriced production, farms decreasing from scale, and supply chains expanding Definition: gather resources, transform to goods, market/distrib as a cycle Streamlining processes of materials to make products Economics of scale reduction of average cost of production increases
• Agriculture includes farms that struggle to adapt to large agro companies with no resources

Production

Scale increasing, farms are being puchased by large ones and lowering needs for laborers with increasing automations in the farm industry Capacity will change from densiry Trends from inputs, increasing food leads to concern on safety, animals,labor and chemicals for production

Van Thunen Model

• *von Thünen Model Proposed originally in 1826 by Johann Heinrich von Thünen aims to max. profit via land and market. The assumptions are plain (flar) farmland with one market and everyone has access to market, goal profits through similarities across land
• • VonThumen's Key is Agriculture market Dairy farming has a reason for what it is as the horticulture must have is and bulk is far from a cheaper rate for productuion The global trade network has shifted the model, as food products are traded worldwide which allows larger chains

Limitations

• Real Model has limited real world market/complexities
• Globalization limited
• Tech limited
• Modern Applications and Shifts
• Forest Production shift
• Livestock CAFO
• Advantages with the Model
• The impact of how economic factors (such as land costs) influences land and activities
• Significant on special management

Supply Chain

• Highlights connection of world reshaping today, focusing on all global agriculture (Food trade through interdependency among the world), foster through specialized specializng among food helps econ dev" ,
• Vulnerable to changes Ukraine major agri country, major importer Russia's fertilizers increased as well This led to insecurity, poor impacts

Global Market

• Advantages: Acess to new products/year supply

• Global challenges cycle = increase, greater, cash

Cycle

• Develop, export, and create

Commodity

• Heavy reliance for challenges from less dev

Impact

• The impact on nations from environmental side

Core Countries

• They have acess to capital and infrastructure to produce crops

Subsudies

• Pay/tax reduces farms costs The entire system impacts society at large"

Ethical Production

• Ag has transformed overtime and faces growing ethical challenges

Agriculture

• Has been in the Green Revolution (pesticides and GMO) to crop yelds
• There is ethical concerns for production

Industrial

• Farms have evolved and led to animals being raised in a fast production system in operations,
• Production is greater in industry farms, and the ethical conditions can not be controlled
• There is also concern over food safety due to non natural diets

Aquculture in the industry with technoligical costs for increased production in fish farms leading to saftey regulations

Ag' is based on the land

Is related to politics and agridulutre so governments will invest in agriculture"

Irgiation and Water is necessary but can be overused Monocrops affect biodiversirty in ag and crops can be harmed

Waste is common

• Is a result of a large industry that can harm global inequality

Sprawl leads to more land use and pressure for more resrouces Local ag is in support: Produce Backyards "Farmers earn more income/value and can reduce wate" There needs to be evoltion for the system with increased population for solutions that is fair

• Womnfacein agricuture
• They face diverse changes from the norms as their labor is not recognized or underpreciated

Gender

• Jobs unregulated in the economy
• Gender measures
• This impacts higher in high indices

Women take up ag "Eco growth leads to chnages" Tech decreased demand Devleopement increase for oppurtunites Women will still be low paid, and gender roles harm opportunities

Explore the environmental consequences of agricultural practices like deforestation, soil salinization, and excessive irrigation. Understand sustainable solutions through terrace farming and informed consumer choices. Analyze agricultural land use with the Von Thünen model and its implications.