Food! Glorious food!
Dirt• Agriculture is dependent on dirt, water,
climate, rocks, landforms, and other physical geography
• Dirt and all her friends are needed to make food!
– Huge impact on what grows where, what we eat, when we eat it, and how much a trip to the grocery store costs
Latitude and Landitude
• Climate: prevailing weather
conditions of a region, as
temperature, air pressure, humidity,
precipitation, sunshine, cloudiness,
and winds, throughout the year,
averaged over a series of years
Back to Basics• Latitude lines create climate
patterns
• Notice the tilt of the earth?
– Toward the sun = summer vacation + pool parties
– Away from the sun = PSL, comfy sweaters, scarves• SEASONS!
Special Snowflakes
• The equator (0 degrees)
• Tropic of Cancer/Tropic of Capricorn
(23.5 degrees north and south)
– Tropical zones (the “tropics”) - 2
surrounding the equator
• The Arctic and Antarctic Circles (66.5
degrees north and south)
• Two zones
Latitude & Growing Stuff• latitude = variation in amount of sunlight
at different part of the year
– latitudes you’ll need sunblock year
round
• latitudes = distinct and limited growing
seasons
• latitudes = long growing seasons
Enter the Zones• Polar zones have the most extreme
variation in amount of sun they soak up during summer and winter
• Polar nights: no sunlight throughout the day
• Midnight sun: sun shines bright all night
• Sunlight = photosynthesis
– Where you live has a big impact on your climate and your food!
Majestic Banana-capped Mountains• Landforms also affect climate
• Disruptions mountains cause in air movement can lead to increased dryness, increased precipitation, and everything in between
• Elevation – every 1000 ft it gets 5.4 degrees colder
• cold, the less you can grow
Snow
• Snow affects climate because of its
whiteness
• Sunlight is reflected off of snow
and ice – can’t grow food
• Darker areas (forest floor) absorb
sunlight – lots of stuff growing
Topography• No, the world is NOT flat
• Varying heights of land make it more
challenging to grow stuff and raise animals
• Plains = flat land where growing stuff is
easier
• Mountains = tall landforms that make
growing stuff harder
Club Biome
• Climate + topography = ecosystems
that allow specific living organisms to
thrive in them
• Biome = very large ecosystem
• Harsh biomes (e.g. deserts) require
some adaptations
• Other biomes (e.g. deciduous forests)
allow lots of organism to exist easily
Irrigation: GrubHub for Water• Irrigation can make uninhabitable areas
inhabitable
• CA’s Central Valley: soil is extremely fertile, but no much rain – most areas are desert
• Solution: irrigation – bringing in water from other areas
• Ongoing issues: drought, non-farmers also use water (Hello, wildfires!)
Water Scarcity
• Water scarcity is a big, deadly problem around the world
• Installing, operating, and maintaining the equipment needed to bring water to crops in dry areas makes those crops more expensive
• Still, answers to most agricultural water problems still lie in irrigation