TYPES OF FARMING AND GENERAL AGRICULTURE NOTES

Shifting cultivation

Low level of technology

(slash and burn)

Requires moving to new land every few years due to depleted soil.

“Debt for nature “ swap

Generally considered a communal type of land ownership.

Subsistence type agriculture

Swidden: land that is cleared for cultivation.

In many cases the land regains its fertility after several fallow years and can eventually be farmed again.

What climate zones would you find “shifting cultivation?”

Latitude lines?

Regions?

“Economic zones”

Level of economic activity?

GDP per capita

PASTORALISM– breeding and herding of animals to satisfy the human need for food, shelter, and clothing. (emerged about the same time as agriculture)

Tend to settle in marginal lands that are too dry, hot, or cold. (deserts, savannas, steppes)

Growing crops not practical here.

A “social and cultural system”

PASTORAL NOMADISM – Migratory but controlled movement of livestock dependent on natural forage.

Cattle do not do as well as other nomadic animals because they eat too much.

Herds of pastoral goats animals include sheep, camels, and goats.

Mongolian yurt

Pastoral nomads move around, following the water and grasses.

People move their “villages” with the animals.

Pastoral agriculture can be migratory or developed around small villages.

Transhumance: moving animals to grazing areas by season.

Extensive commercial or subsistence?

Regions of the world that still practice pastoralism.

Why?

Types of crops and methods grown

Seed agriculture: Planting seeds for crops to grow

Vegetative planting invovles planting a small plant that has already taken root.

Two general types of farming:

Extensive farming refers to the large amounts of land necessary for crops or animals.

Two general types of farming:

Intensive farming refers to smaller amounts of land or land that is more difficult to farm. Every possible area is planted to its maximum.

Planting and harvesting rice in the USA

Subsistence Agriculture: Producing the food needed to survive on a daily basis. Includes animals and animal products.

Intensive subsistence agriculture.

Very labor intensive but produces a high output.

Methods of growing refined over thousands of years.

Terracing is practiced where flat farmland is not available.

Intensive subsistence agriculture-the most practiced form of agriculture.

Wet Rice: Planting on dry land then moving seedlings to a flooded field. Produces the most food in SE, East Asia and India.

What type of density would this type agriculture promote?

Very labor intensive

Harvesting Rice

MDC’s LDC’s

Intensive commercial Intensive subsistence

Cultural issues include the dividing of land between sons. What happens to farms after a few generations?

How about the daughters?

Intensive subsistence agriculture – wet rice not dominant.

Wheat is a major intensive subsistence crop –very high labor input.

The hope is that there will be an excess that can be sold at market.

Agricultural production regions

Yellow and orange – commercial the darker the blue, the more food produced at a subsistence level.

Mediterranean Agriculture

Warm days and cool nights are perfect for growing grapes, olives, citrus fruit, and even wheat.

Plantation Agriculture

Usually located in LDC’s

And owned by MDC companies

Staple crops allow people to eke out a subsistence living

Cash crops are part of the commercial agriculture realm. While it may bring a cash flow into a country, what are the negatives?

AGRICULTURAL HAZARDS

Desertification-Process whereby human actions unintentionally render productive lands into deserts through agricultural and pastoral misuse.

Red indicates areas in jeopardy of desertification.

Created by a combination of drought, deforestation, and excessive grazing of animals, particularly cattle.

The Sahel region of Africa

A region with multiple shatterbelts.

Timbuktu

Images of the Sahel

The most prominent example of desertification in the USA would be:

Modern Dust Bowl in China

Potential end

Soil salinization

Caused by clearing the land for shallow rooted plants or excessive irrigation.

Dryland salinity - from removal of deep-rooted plantsIn dry regions, deeply-rooted perennial plants, such as shrubs, trees, and grasses, play an important role in regulating groundwater levels. As water is applied to the soil, the plants drink it up and breath it out through a process called evapotranspiration. This ensures that the water table levels stay relatively stable.But this balance is thrown into chaos when farmers clear the land to gain more space for grazing animals and cultivating food crops. In doing so, they remove the deep-rooted plants and replace them with shallow-rooted annual crops. These plants do not take up as much water as once-plentiful native plants, and as a result, more water remains in the soil.Over time—up to 30 years—water accumulates in the land, causing the water table to rise. As it does so, it passes through layers of salt and dissolving the deposits that have existed in the land for centuries. The shallow-rooted plants can’t keep up with the rising water levels, which results in rising salt deposits in ever-increasing concentrations in topsoil.Irrigation salinity - from overirrigationMuch like dryland salinity, irrigation salinity results in a rising water table that brings deep deposits of salt upwards through soil layers. But instead of being caused by land clearing, it results from increased irrigation. As water soaks into the soil, it adds to existing water, raising the water table, bringing salt along for the ride. During periods of irrigation, the water table will lower again, but salt will remain in surface soil, increasing the salt concentration with each irrigation cycle.

As water enters the soil, it is evaporated out by deep rooted trees. When trees are cut down and crops are planted or heavy irrigation occurs, the water mixes with that in the ground, pulling the groundwater up through the layers of salt.

Economic Opportunities

Many farmers suffer from too much success. If you produce too much food, what should happen to the price?

There is more food today, per capita, than at any time in history. So why do people suffer from famine?

Simple infrastructure and distribution.