1. UNIT 6 AGRICULTURE AND RURAL LAND USE
C. Rural land use and settlement patterns
Questions 1. von Thünen's Model (1826) - certain crops are grown in direct relation to distance
from market. Products' weight determines where farmers grow crops. If a farmer
grows products that don't fit the model, farmer will go bankrupt from increased
production and transportation costs. Describes six concentric rings around market.
a. first zone: market-gardening activities
i. these are various heavy and bulky products, such as melons and vegetables
ii. these products need to be close to the market for two primary reasons:
1. if they are too far away, they will take too long to get to market and
spoil
2. cost of transporting bulky items is relatively large due to weight and
mass
iii. costly production (high land cost near city) needs cheap transportation
b. second zone: dairy farming
i. milk spoils quickly and must be moved to market quickly
ii. dairy trucks must cool milk, cheese, or other dairy product while in transit,
adding to the cost of transportation
iii. California dairy industry rose in response to the population increases
c. third zone: livestock fattening
i. fattening - adding of weight to animals, eg: cows and hogs, to increase price
ii. cows and hogs are brought to barns to be fed in a small space
iii. livestock fattening in feedlots (farms that specialize in cattle or hogs)
iv. feedlots - waste products often infiltrate and contaminate local watersheds
v. another downside to feedlots is the smell
d. fourth zone: commercial grain farming
i. commercial grain farming is selling wheat, corn, millet, and other grains
ii. farmers need to combine the field and put the seed in the truck
iii. combines separate the seed from the shaft of the plant, saves manual labor
iv. one combine can cost upwards of $250,000
v. after harvesting, grain is sent to the market, usually in semitrailers, where it
is sold to a producer who makes a product, such as bread, with the grain
vi. product sold to wholesaler, then grocery store, then individuals (food chain)
e. fifth zone: livestock ranching
i. uses the most land per farm of any of the zones in the model
ii. transportation to the market area occurs sporadically throughout the year
iii. today cattle roam freely, but are tracked with global positioning units
f. sixth zone: nonagricultural land use
i. distance to market is so far that the land cannot be productively used
g. DISCUSSION OF VON THUNEN'S MODEL
i. model assumes that all of the land has the same quality soil
ii. model also assumes that farmers have equal access to transportation
iii. land areas must be physically similar across the model
iv. model also assumes equal climate in all areas and an equal political structure
v. international boundary in the middle of the area could affect transportation
routes due to tariffs on products as they crossed the border
2. Settlement patterns associated with major agriculture types
Summary
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2. Questions D. Modern commercial agriculture
1. The Third Agricultural Revolution (late 19th century to mid-20th century)
a. corresponded with exponential global population growth
b. specialized hybrids, artificial chemical fertilizers, chemical pesticides
c. commercial farmers harvested crops and sent them to food-processors
d. industrialization of food (factories added value to basic crops)
e. rise of agribusiness – processing, packaging, distributing, advertising, etc.
f. colonial and imperial system globalized food production and consumption
i. during imperialism - food grown in colonies for export to mother-country
ii. after independence, colonies “locked” into dependent relationship with
former colonial master – called neocolonialism or postcolonialism
g. agribusiness effects farmers in MDCs (sell product) and LDCs (lost land)
h. helped start supermarkets
2. Green Revolution
a. started by US charities in 1940s to make improved wheat for Mexico
b. nitrogen-enriched fertilizer radically increased crop production
c. downside – pollutes ground and workers, some seeds fail, implementation is
very expensive, mechanization has led to massive unemployment in some LDCs
d. has led to the extinction of many varieties of seeds and crops
e. chicken industry has grown and chicken is an important part of western diets
i. animal rights activists - forced to live on top of each other
ii. health - growth hormones and antibiotics used increase breast size
3. Biotechnology
a. altering the genetic material of plants and animals
b. biotechnology - mainly in science labs and is then tested on farm fields
c. hybrid plants and animals (some grow in nutrient-poor soils, or can be resistant
to diseases, even “superchicken” which grows quicker and produces more meat)
d. fewer chemical fertilizers and are cheaper that Green Revolution technologies
e. BT corn (Bacillus thuringiensis) – corn that has toxins deadly to insects and
fungi that attack it, spliced into its genes
4. Spatial organization and diffusion of industrial agriculture
a. headquarters of agribusiness in MDCs (majority in USA)
b. agribusiness contributes 3% to USA’s GDP, but is very politically powerful –
gets same tax breaks, low-cost loans, government subsidies as family farms
c. family farms threatened in USA – replaced by agribusiness
5. Future food supplies and environmental impacts of agriculture
a. specialized farms – organic, free-range, antibiotic free, heirloom varieties
(Russet apples, blue corn, etc.), alternative livestock (ostriches, llamas, etc.)
b. hunger and undernourishment - problem is distribution not production
c. desertification and soil erosion
d. aquaculture – farming fish
Summary
Fold the page at the line and glue this part of the page into your
notebook.