This document provides an overview of key concepts in agricultural geography including: - The three agricultural revolutions that industrialized farming practices. - How traditional subsistence farming has given way to globalized industrial agriculture dominated by agribusiness. - The environmental impacts of intensive farming methods such as soil degradation, deforestation, and global warming. - Alternative food movements that aim to make agriculture more sustainable and local.

1. Chapter 8 Lecture
Human Geography: Places and
Regions in Global Context
Sixth Edition
Wendy A. Mitteager
State University of New York, Oneonta
Food and Agriculture

2. Figure: Chapter 8 Opener: Farmers in Ecuador prepare sustainably grown potatoes for market.
Key Concepts
• Agricultural practices: From Agrarian to Globalized Agriculture
• Agricultural revolutions I, II, & III
• Industrialization of agriculture: The transition from Colonial to
Conventional Agricultural systems
• Biotechnology - Genetic engineering of crops for yields & medicine
• Globalized agriculture & Agribusiness
• The environment and agriculture – population pressure, soil
degradation, desertification, deforestation in Tropical regions, Global
warming.

3. The Study of Traditional Agricultural Geography
• Agrarian – describes a way of life that
is traditionally embedded in demands of
production, a culture of land tenure or
landholding determining who has land
access & what is cultivated.
• Hunting and gathering – pre-
agricultural activities involving hunting of
animals & gathers of fruits, roots, nuts &
edible plant material.
• Subsistence agriculture - replaced
hunting & gathering with the
domestication of plants & animals
approx. 12,000 years ago.
• Agriculture – the science, art &
business of cultivation of crops &
livestock raising for sustenance & profit.
• Commercial agriculture – Farmers
produce crops/animals for sale vs.
family/community consumption.
Figure 8.1 Genetically-modified soybeans in Brazil,
planting a foreign crop in a former rainforest, very
shallow soils require fertilizers & pesticides.

4. Figure 8.4 Shifting cultivation helps maintain soil fertility. Figure 8.5 Slash-and-burn in China
Agriculture – Population Pressure
Shifting cultivation – practiced in Tropical Forests, farmers maintain soil
fertility by field rotation, only supports smaller groups of villagers holding land in
common tenure.
• Central & West African Rainforests
• Amazon Rainforest – South America
• Southeast Asia: Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, & Indonesia
Crop rotation – Crops changed on plots to balance soil nutrient use
Slash-and-burn – burning portions of tropical & subtropical forests to plant
crops – results in soil erosion, Tropical soils are shallow & loose nutrients
without forest canopy & ecosystem. Burning releases nutrients to soil as
organic potash/fertilizer – cleared land is called swidden; text notes that
swidden overuse results in deforestation. Also, labor intensive.

5. Figure 8.7 Gender division of labor in rice processing in India.
• Women most vulnerable to changes in labor & food prices.
Figure 8.6 Intertillage: staggered planting &
harvesting of different crops to increase
nutritional balance, diversity, & reduce hunger
from crop failure.
Traditional Agriculture, (cont’d)

6. Figure 8.2
Global Distribution of Agriculture, 2005
Global spatial distribution of agricultural practices: Shifting cultivation in Tropical
Rainforests, Pastoral nomadism in Subtropical Deserts, Mixed crop & livestock in humid
continental regions, Dairy in mid-latitude regions. Rice intensive subsistence in humid
subtropical Asia

7. Traditional – Periphery Agriculture, (cont’d)
Intensive subsistence agriculture –
innovative techniques maximize crop
yields in humid subtropical world
regions
Pastoralism – breeding/herding of
animals for food, shelter, clothing,
meat, milk, etc.
• North Africa & Middle East:
Subtropical Deserts & dry Savanna
• Central Asia: High elevation
Steppes, cold winters, dry summers
• Transhumance – movement of
herds according to seasons,
continuance movement of families,
women, children involved in family
economy.
Figure 8.8 A terraced rice field in Bali

8. Agricultural Revolutions
Figure 8.10 Animals were important in the first agricultural revolution.
1st Agricultural Revolution – domestication of plants & animals &
emergence of Agricultural systems, enabled food storage of food
surpluses, emergence of civilizations in Subtropical Arid Regions –
major River valleys & deltas.
Nile River – Africa Tigris & Euphrates Rivers -Turkey & Iraq
Ganges River - India
Brahmaputra River - India

9. © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc.
Agricultural Revolutions
• Second revolution
– Transformation via
industrial practices
– Distribution & marketing
of Food as a
Commodity
• Third revolution
– Mechanization of farming
– Chemical farming – use of
pesticides & fertilizers
– Food manufacturing –
standardized food products
sold in Core countries
Figure 8.14 A bread factory in Iowa.
States continue to be
essential in mediating
food crises.
Govt. grants direct &
indirect subsidies to
agricultural producers to
control supply & flow of
crops.

10. Figure 8.13 Worldwide growth in fertilizer use, 2005-2007.
The 3rd Agricultural Revolution
Core nations & developing nations with
largest Populations have greatest
Fertilizer use

11. • Colonies became major
sources of exportable
foodstuffs supplying
industrializing Europe
with cheap food supplies
in form of wheat & meat.
• Movement toward
integration of
Agriculture & Industry
• Known as Agro-
Industrialization
Transformation from Agrarian to Industrial Agriculture
• Colonial Agriculture &
Food Production created a
crisis of efficiency;
– Forced local people out
of work
– Undercut prices of
locally produced crops
– Forced industry to
become more efficient
drove down prices to food
production costs
– Less Labor, low wages
for agricultural workers

12. Increased yields of protein crops and other crops ,such as rice, was a result of
the Green Revolution – environmental impacts of monoculture crops,
introduced pesticides into ecosystem, decreased natural biomass fuels,
created debt due to reliance on imported oil. Forces small Farmers off land,
disrupts national cultures.
Figure 8.B
Figure 8.C
Green Revolution

13. Bio-revolution for Profit vs. Green Revolution -
Monoculture

14. Global Organization of Agribusiness:
• Globalized agriculture –
dependence on set of
regulations on a global scope to
prevent issues.
• Incorporation of Agriculture
into global capitalism.
• Transnational Corporations
control Food Supply Chain.
• Global food problems – when
prices get too high, foments
revolt in poorer nations
• Subsidies to food producers
– dumping of crop Surpluses on
world market, undermines
nations’ local price structures
destabilizes local economies.
Figure 8.19 Demonstrators in Yemen, spring 2011

15. Organization of the Agro-Food System
The food supply chain
Core States
granting
Subsidies &
manipulate
global
agricultural
markets-
destabilize
periphery
markets.Global
Financial
Markets
control food
production.
Conventional Agriculture &
Mid-latitude soils vs.
Subsistence Agriculture on
shallow Tropical Soils
Core Nations demand
year-round shipping of
fresh fruit/vegetables.
5 Central connected Sectors: Inputs, Production, Processing, Distribution & Consumption
4 Contextual Elements – State, International Trade, Physical Environment, & Credit / Finance

16. Alternative Food Movements / Food Regimes
• Organic farming – food grown
without synthetic fertilizers or
pesticides – isn’t dominant mode
of food production
• Conventional farming – use of
synthetic fertilizers & pesticides to
protect crops, dominates global
food production.
• Local food – Farming within 100-
mile radius or “food shed” to
encourage localization of food
economy.
• Urban agriculture – practice in
periphery nations to support
families.
• Slow food – reaction to fast food
and commercial agriculture. Using
local food & farmer’s markets.
Figure 8.22 Local food advertisement
Food Regime – A specific set of
linkages that exist between food
production & food consumption.
• The ways a type of food is
dominant during a time period.
1960s – Wheat & Livestock
Current – Fresh fruits & vegetables
serving Core populations via
transport & refrigeration, exotic foods
available year-round.

17. Conventional Food vs. Alternative Food
CSA’S – Farmers & Consumers agree to collect subscriptions or pay upfront for cost of growing
local food, seeds, labor, cultivation period, livestock, harvest without relying on interest-bearing loans.
Members receive locally-grown food & dairy products reflecting local seasonal growing conditions.

18. Fast Food – Health & Environmental
Consequences
Figure 8.23 Economic costs of obesity in the U.S., 2009

19. Figure 8.I Urban gardening movement
in Detroit, Michigan
Figure 8.J Urban rooftop gardens in China
Urban Agriculture – 800 Million People in
Periphery – Sustenance for Families

20. Figure 8.24 Modern irrigation system
The Environment and Agricultural
Industrialization
Figure 8.25 - Impact of pesticides on
pollinators – Bees populations are
decreasing in alarming numbers. Use
of Pesticides attacks Bee species
nervous systems, affects reproduction
& productivity.

21. The Environment and Agricultural Industrialization
Figure 8.26 Desertification in China
Population pressure on land results in removal of plant growth,
destabilizes soil, soil erosion & loss of arable land.

22. Global Food Security & Human Rights
• Food and health
– Under-nutrition
– Malnutrition
– Famine
– Food security
– Food sovereignty
Figure 8.27 Almost one in seven people
worldwide is chronically undernourished.

23. • Loss of GLOBAL cropland acreage to Biofuels for energy markets.
Future Geographies
Figure 8.30 Government investments