The Agricultural World (Parts 1 4)

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All humans depend on agriculture for food and urbanised,
industrialised societies depend on food surplus generated by
farmers. We could say that without agriculture there could be no
civilisation.

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Agriculture is the principal enterprise of
humankind through most of recorded history.
Today it remains the most important economic
activity in the world employs 45 % of the working
population.
This figure varies from 3% in
some European countries to
over 80 % of the labour force in
parts of Africa and Asia.

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There are innumerable types of
agriculture practised around the
world. In most regions one can find
different forms existing together but
there are predominant types in
certain parts of the world.
Top: Arable fields in Canada
Left: Date palm plantations in
Tunisia

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Peoples living in different environments develop new farming
methods which are typical of that region.

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By studying the
different forms of
agriculture we can
find out more
about the
environmental and
cultural characters
of that region.
Each region is therefore distinguished by a predominant
type of farming.

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Agricultural regions – Types of Agriculture
Developing countries Developed countries
Subsistence Commercial Crops AnimalsMixed
Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
(non-rice dependent)
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

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Central:
Northern half mainly arable
subsistence farming (but not rice)
Lower half with plantations and
nomadic pastoralism
South:
Amazon basin has shifting
cultivation
Andes region intensive
subsistence
Pampas grassland mostly with
livestock ranching and some grain
and market gardening

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Practically no agriculture exists north
of latitude 50.
The western half dedicated to
ranching, eastern to dairy and some
market gardening with ‘patches’ of
cereal growing in the centre.

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No agriculture above latitude 60
Northern coastline market gardening
Lower coastline Mediterranean farming
Central regions mixed crops/livestock with
intensive subsistence in Balkans and
Carpathians

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Northern coastline partly Mediterranean
farming
Sahara region and Horn pastoral
nomadism or no farming
Sub-Sahara mostly shifting cultivation
with plantations, livestock and dairy in the
south.
Cape coastline Mediterranean

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There is no agriculture above latitude 55-60.
North western: part with cereals, dairy & livestock ranching
Western coast: Mediterrenean farming
South west (inc. Turkey) intensive subsistence and nomadic pastoralism

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.Central region with pastoral nomadism
Eastern region mostly subsistence (both rice and non-rice dependant)
Indian sub-continent and S.E Asia
arable subsistence (both rice and
non-rice dependent)
Islands with shifting cultivation and
nomadism

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Australia
No agriculture in the centre and tips of northern
coast.
Almost totally livestock ranching with cereals in
the south-east.
Eastern coast plantations in Queensland and dairy
in NSW.
Islands
New Zealand: No
agriculture along mountains,
the rest with livestock
ranching and dairy.
Pacific islands: shifting
cultivation and nomadism

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We shall now look at the various types of agriculture as
practised in today’s world. First of all we may divide the
world regions into:
• Developing
• Developed

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Agriculture may also be divided into;
• Subsistence
• Commercial

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Basically this is when the farmer (or the local farming
community) produces in order to satisfy their own material
need with little
or no surplus
so that there is
limited external
commerce.

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Farmer do not produce all that they need but grow “cash
crops” or other products which are sold, sometimes to
buyers long distances away. The farmer is thus more
integrated within the modern market economy.
This is usually a more
specialised form of
agriculture and found
especially in developed
countries.

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In developing regions agriculture may be:
• Nomadic
• Sedentary
Most of farming in
developing countries is
of subsistence type but
we may also find some
traditional examples of
commercial agriculture.

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This is a form of agriculture and lifestyle that is gradually
disappearing but can still be found in many areas around
the world.
There are two main
forms here:
• Nomadic pastoralism
• Shifting agriculture

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This is an relatively intensive form of field cultivation. It
may be based on rice or other crops

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In developing countries there is
only one type of such agriculture
that is widespread:
• Plantations

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In developed countries agriculture is typically commercial
and divided into
• Crop husbandry
• Animal husbandry
• Mixed farming
There are also other
special types (e.g.
Mediterranean) which
will be treated later.

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Farmers work fields, often using extensive mechanisation
to produce plants for the market.

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In this case the farm income comes from the production
and sale of animal products.

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This is usually
a traditional
form of
agriculture
based on
smallholdings
and family
farms.

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Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

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Nomadic agriculture is based on animal or crop production
and divided into nomadic pastoralism or shifting
cultivation.
As explained, here we have
farming which is:
subsistence or commercial.
Subsistence may be further
subdivided into:
nomadic or sedentary.

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Nomadic shepherds in
Jodhpur, Northern India

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Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

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Herding is the practice of
bringing individual animals
together into a group (herd or
flock) and rearing them as a
group. It was the first form of
‘agriculture’ developed by
humans and preceded arable
farming (that is, the growing
of plants).

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The first herders were nomads
because their animals depended
exclusively on grazing and the
herds had to be moved in order to
allow the pastures to recover.
Above: Sahel Below: Lapland Right: Tibet

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Nomads move from place to place, rather than settling down
in one location. Today there are about 30-40 million worldwide.
Nomads in
northern India

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At some point of their history, most cultures have passed
through such a phase and, for some this is still a tradition.
There are three kinds of nomads:
• hunter-gatherers,
• pastoral nomads,
• peripatetic nomads* (gypsies)
* Normally not
engaged in agriculture

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Nomadic hunter-gatherers have by far the longest-lived
subsistence method in human history, following seasonally
available wild plants and game.
Bushmen of
Northeast Namibia.

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Pastoralists raise herds
and move with them so as
not to deplete pasture
beyond recovery in any one
area. The term ‘Nomadic
Herding’ refers to these
cultures.

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Nomads in Sub-Saharan Africa are the only
ones who depend mainly on cattle.
Further north, dromedaries, sheep and goats
are more important. nomads depend on
dromedaries, sheep and goats.

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Nomads living in the tundras of northern
Eurasia raise reindeer while those of
central Asia keep camels, horses, yak,
and sheep. In W. Asia nomads depend
on dromedaries, sheep and goats.

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Milking time for this herd of goats belonging to a nomadic
family in the Bayan Gobi, Outer Mongolia.

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A nomadic family moving their belongings in Afghanistan.
These nomadic cattle-herders use camels as draught
animals.

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Goat herd belonging to a nomadic tribe
(Afghanistan)

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Nomadic herders rear cattle, sheep, goats, horses and
camels. Some migrate from lowlands in winter to mountains
in summer. Others shift from desert areas in winter to
adjacent semiarid plains in summer
Mali – cattle herd at waterhole in the savannah

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This herd belong to the Taureg, nomadic herders of Africa’s
Sahara and Sahel.
Government
programmes to dig
boreholes (wells)
has led to
modification of the
environment.

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As we’ll see later in Shifting Cultivation, Nomadic Herding
also risks becoming unsustainable in many areas.
As animals and
human populations
increase,
overgrazing and
deforestation
intensify with
desertification the
end result.
Tuareg goat herd in Niger

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Cattle herds belonging to the Fulani people in the Benue
river valley along the Cameroon border with Nigeria.
The cattle are of mixed Zebu
and Ankhole breeds.

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Mongolian nomads carrying all their possessions on
Bactrian camels

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Left - A tent of the
Tuareg, nomads of the
Western Sahara and
Sahel
Right – A hut used by the
native Swedes, the Sami,
a nomadic reindeer
herding race.

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Kazakh tent, home of these nomadic, goat-herders.

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Kazakh nomadic camel train

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Camel train of the previous slide,
travelling to the summer pastures in
northern China

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Many nomads continue to follow age-old traditions and travel along
ancient routes. These were often established long ago, before modern
states were formed and nomads often find their way blocked by national
borders. This creates a problem for them and, sometimes for the various
countries through which they travel.
The shaded area is the ancestral territory
of the Tuareg, now spanning 6 countries

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The territories inhabited by ethnic groups often do not
correspond to the national frontiers which have developed
over time.
Since the Middle Ages, the
place Mongols originated
has been divided various
times. At present, the
southern half is part of China
while the northern section is
an independent State.

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Today, nomadic herding is
almost everywhere in decline.
Governments have policies
encouraging nomads to become
sedentary.
This process was started in the
19th century by British and
French colonial administrators
in North Africa and later
adopted by Russia in its Asian
territories.

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In the Middle East, many nomads are voluntarily abandoning
traditional life to seek jobs in urban areas or oil fields.
Severe droughts in
Sub-Saharan Africa
has caused many to
abandon nomadism

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Today, nomadism survives mainly in remote areas, and
may soon completely vanish.

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This is a form of pastoralism traditionally organized around
the migration of livestock between mountain pastures in
summer and
descend to
relatively warm
areas in the valleys,
foothills or plains in
winter.

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Sometimes the seasonal migration may between lower and
upper latitudes (as in the movement of Siberian reindeer
between the subarctic taiga and the Arctic tundra) is also
known by this name.
Only herds, and the
herders necessary to
tend them, travel with
the herds.

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Goat Transhumance in Somalia

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Cattle transhumance – South Sudan

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Although, in this section, we’re considering developing
countries, transhumance can also be found in certain
Transhumance of sheep in the
Dolomites (Belluno)
regions of developed
countries.
For the sake of
convenience sake
we’ll describe this
type of farming here.

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Traditional transhumance,
occurs throughout the world,
including European
mountainous regions (Alps,
Scandinavia, Balkans, Italy)
as well as India and parts of
Africa.

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In Europe this type of agriculture is typical of the
Mediterranean, Balkan and Scandinavian highland regions.

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The annual spring Transhumance Festival in Provence. The festival
commemorates the annual migration of flocks to different pastures,
and over 3,000 sheep are herded through the streets.

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Reindeer transhumance - Finland

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Transhumance is based on a climate difference between
mountains (where herds stay during summer) and lowlands
(where they remain in winter). Its importance to pastoralist
societies cannot be overstated.

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Milk, butter and cheese — dairy products of transhumance
— often form a basis for a local population's diet.

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The Sami (aka Lapps) live in northern Norway, Sweden and Finland, with
some groups also found in the Russian Kola peninsula.

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Reindeer husbandry has been,
and is, an important aspect of
Sámi culture in Northern
Scandinavia.

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During the years of forced assimilation, (esp. in the USSR)
the areas in which reindeer herding was an important
livelihood were among the few where the Sámi culture and
language survived.

Antoine Vella 79
Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

Antoine Vella 80
This is essentially a land rotation system. Instead or
rotating crops, the land itself is rotated. Probably arose
from a nomadic lifestyle.
Practised especially in less developed parts of the
tropical world where nature can quickly re-establish its
balance and recover from damage.
• Central and S. America
• Africa
• Southeast Asia
• Indonesia

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Small patches of land are cleared by chopping vegetation
and girdling trees. When the vegetation has dried, it is
burned.
This technique gives shifting
agriculture the common name
“slash-and-burn”.
Afterwards, using digging
sticks or hoes, farmers plant a
variety of crops in the
clearings.

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In an ideal case, shifting cultivation would be a cycle where
farmers came back to the original place after a couple of
years. The picture shows a newly prepared land (known as
swidden) in the centre.

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In the background is untouched forest, while the piece of land in
the foreground has been left idle from the previous cropping
cycle to re-grow into a secondary forest. On the right secondary
growth awaiting cultivation during the next cropping cycle.

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This “slash-and’burn” plot is in the Ruwenzoris (Mountains of
the Moon). A burgeoning population does not permit a
suitable fallow period; crop yields are poor and the forest
never recovers.

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Shifting cultivation by too many people is responsible for
tropical rainforest destruction over a vast area. Intercropping
is practiced with bananas, taro, cassava, beans and sorghum
being planted in the same field.

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Shifting agriculture, as practised in tropical areas, has a
harmful effect on the soil. In these areas there is an
excess of precipitation over evaporation, resulting in a
net downward movement of moisture through the soil.
Soil nutrients are
leached from the
soil, leaving
behind an acidic
and infertile soil
that is often
reddish in colour.

Antoine Vella 90
Why slash-and-burn farming is no longer sustainable
Improved health conditions have caused population growth
beyond the size supportable by this kind of farming
Swidden fields in Vietnam reaching up to
the top of the hills
As people pass to the
second stage of
demographic
transformation the
periods during which
land is allowed to
remain fallow have
shortened and
environmental
deterioration is caused.

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Nature protection which respects traditional culture of ethnic
communities tends to replace the shifting farming systems by
permanent, often tree-based agro-forestry schemes.
It must by all means
be prevented that the
swidden fields
extend to the upper
ridges of the hills as
their the forest cover
is vital to retain
ecosystem functions
and services.

Antoine Vella 92
Shifting cultivation is also
carried out in some parts of
Germany but mostly by
amateur farmers who cultivate
land as a hobby.
In this case it is not a slash-
and-burn type of farming. In
Germany, most forest areas
are protected anyway.

Antoine Vella 95
Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

Antoine Vella 96
Humans need carbohydrates as an essential nutrient and all over the
world these are provided by starch produced by plants.
In some regions,
starch is provided
by potatoes or
other crops but for
the most part,
cereals are the
mainstay of
human life all over
the world.

Antoine Vella 98
This is a method of farming in which farmers plan to grow
only enough food to feed the family farming, pay taxes or
feudal dues, and perhaps provide a small marketable
surplus.
The Basotho people
rely on subsistence
agriculture for survival.
Animals raised by
Lesotho farmers include
cattle, donkeys,
chickens, pigs, dogs,
and sheep.

Antoine Vella 99
Subsistence agriculture usually refers to a farm that
produces enough to feed the family but not enough surplus
to participate extensively in the cash market.

Antoine Vella 100
The typical subsistence farm
has the range of crops and
animals needed by the family
to eat during the year.
Planting decisions are made
according to what the family
will need during the coming
year, rather than market
prices.

Antoine Vella 101
It is practised worldwide and represents the first stages of
sedentary agriculture.
It may be primitive and simple
or more advanced but the
principle is always that almost
everything needed is
produced in the immediate
vicinity of the farm.

Antoine Vella 102
Subsistence agriculture
(predominantly growing
wheat and barley) first
emerged during the
Neolithic era when
humans started to settle
in the Nile, Euphrates,
and Indus River Valleys.
Subsistence horticulture
(growing vegetables)
may have developed
earlier in South East
Asia and Papua New
Guinea.

Antoine Vella 103
It was the dominant mode of production in the the world
until very recently when market-based capitalism became
important.
A family of subsistence farmers in
Alabama during the Great
Depression of 1936
It had mostly
disappeared in Europe
by the beginning of
World War I, and in
North America during
the 1930s and 1940s.

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Subsistence farming continues today in large parts of the
African interior and other areas of Asia and South America.
Subsistence farmer in Northern
Pakistan

Antoine Vella 106
Subsistence agriculture was sustainable for millennia in the
absence of a population explosion.
Rural Fijians still practice
subsistence agriculture.
Some live in traditional
huts with woven mat
walls and thatched roofs.
Village life is communal,
with everyone expected
to share in ceremonial
preparations and village
upkeep.

Antoine Vella 107
Nowadays it is still practised
in a highland region more or
less equivalent to the old Inca
territories.
This region includes some of
South America's poorest
areas.
The farmers who carry out
this type of farming face
considerable environmental
challenges.

Antoine Vella 108
Subsistence agriculture
on small farm plots is
practiced in the highly
elevated Altiplano of,
Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia
and northern Chile.
Farmers in the arid highlands must cope with the variable weather
conditions and extreme climatic uncertainty.

Antoine Vella 109
The economy in the Nepal
hills depends on subsistence
farming.
Peasants go to the southern
plains and India seeking
porter jobs for 4-8 months
each year to supplement their
incomes.

Antoine Vella 110
The money earned from non-
agricultural jobs is exchanged
with consumer goods e.g. salt
or sugar, or even a watch such
one of the farmers in the
picture is wearing. The oxen
available are too few for the
number of farm holdings. The
Monsoon-dependent farming
requires all fields to be
prepared almost all together -
not to own a pair of oxen
possibly means the farmer has
to find sources of energy.

Antoine Vella 111
In densely populated central Africa,
small subsistence plots cover the
once-forested hillsides.

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Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

Antoine Vella 114
This forms the basis of “plant
civilisations” of Asia — almost all caloric
intake is of plant (mostly rice) origin.

Antoine Vella 115
A paddy field is a flooded field used for growing rice. Rice can
also be grown in dry-fields, but from the 20th century, paddy
field agriculture became the dominant form of cultivation.
Paddy fields are a
typical feature of rice-
growing countries of
East and Southeast
Asia but are also
found in other rice-
growing regions such
as Piedmont (Italy),
and the Camargue
(France).
Rice paddies in Bali

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Rice is probably the most important grain
with regards to human nutrition and caloric
intake, providing more than 20% of the
calories consumed worldwide by humans.

Antoine Vella 117
Tiny, mud-dyked, flooded
rice fields, many perched
on terraced hillsides.
Paddies must be drained and rebuilt each
year. It requires much skill and experience
not only to build the paddies themselves
but also to regulate the water supply.

Antoine Vella 118
Rice does not need to grow in water throughout its entire cycle
but only in the first phase of its life.

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The role of water is only to protect the young plants from rapid
temperature changes.
Paddy fields in Pavia, Italy

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The water buffalo is the
only draught animal
adapted for life in wetlands
and is extensively used in
paddies in most of S.E.
Asia.
Paddy field in the Philippines

Antoine Vella 122
This animal is
essential to the
survival of
subsistence
farmers in Asian
wetlands.

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The buffalo is used mostly as a work
animal both in agriculture and
transport.
Above: Japan Top right: Indonesia
Bottom right: Philippines

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The buffalo lives in close contact with humans and is often considered as
a member of the family.
Above: Vietnam Right: India

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Water buffaloes have been largely replaced by machinery
especially in Korea and Japan. This type of highly organised
and mechanised agriculture can no longer be described as
subsistence but is a more commercial form of cash cropping.
(see later sections for discussion of commercial farming)

Antoine Vella 127
Most paddy rice farms outside the communist area of Asia are small. Small
patches are intensively tilled and large amounts of manure used.
Young rice sprouts are carefully transplanted by hand from seed beds to
paddy. The same parcel of land may be planted 2-3 times a year and yields
are very high – comparable to western ones.

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There are significant adverse impacts from rice paddy
cultivation due to the generation of large quantities of methane
which is a greenhouse gas.

Antoine Vella 129
Rice is also grown in the Mediterranean, especially in the
Lombardy plain of N. Italy and, to a much less degree in the
Rhone delta in S.France.
Paddy fields in the
Camargue, Rhone delta
In Europe, rice-
growing is not
subsistence
farming and will
be considered
later in the
presentation.

Antoine Vella 130
Italy is the largest rice producer and exporter in the EU,
producing 70% of European rice.
Rice paddy in Vicenza, Veneto

Antoine Vella 132
World methane production due to rice paddies has been estimated in
the range of 50 - 100 million tonnes yearly; this level of greenhouse gas
generation is a large component of the global warming threat and
derives simply from an expanding human population.

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Genetic engineering has been carried out on rice in
Switzerland and Germany to produce a fortified food for
areas where there is a shortage of vitamin A.

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In 2005 a new variety called
Golden Rice 2 was announced
which produces up to 23 times
more Vit A than the original golden
rice.
Neither variety is currently
available for human consumption.
Golden rice 2 (left), golden
rice 1 (top right) and normal
rice (bottom right).

Antoine Vella 135
Although it was developed as a humanitarian tool, GM rice
has met with significant opposition from environmental and
anti-globalisation activists.
Golden Rice (on the
right): Enhanced in
Vitamin A content, should
help alleviate vitamin
deficiencies causing eye
diseases and blindness.

Antoine Vella 137
Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

Antoine Vella 138
Cacao plantation in Colombia

Antoine Vella 139
A plantation is usually a large estate, especially in a tropical or
semitropical country, on which cash crops (especially tree or
bush crops) such as cacao, tea, coffee, sugar cane, banana
Coffee plantation in
Honduras
and rubber are
cultivated, usually by
workers who live on
the site itself.
Crops are grown for
sale in distant
markets, rather than
for local
consumption.

Antoine Vella 140
The plantation system:
• Relies on large amounts of hand labour
• Originated in the 1400s on Portuguese-owned
islands of the coast of tropical West Africa
• Today, the greatest concentration is in the American
tropics.
• Most plantations lie on or near sea-coasts and
shipping lanes.
• Produce is carried to non-tropical lands — Europe,
United States and Japan.

Antoine Vella 141
A plantation is always a monoculture over a large area and,
because of its large size, takes advantage of economies of scale.

Antoine Vella 142
Most plantation workers live on the
plantation.
In the past slaves were relied on to
provide the labour
Because of the necessary capital
investment, corporations or
governments are usually owners
of plantations.

Antoine Vella 143
Sugar cane plantation in Brazil

Antoine Vella 144
The main crops grown in plantations include:
Cacao
Coffee
Tea
Sugar cane
Rubber
Banana
Oil palm
(Date palm)
We will describe them in another part of the course

Antoine Vella 145
It should be noted that temperate
fruit crops, such as these cherry
orchards in Japan, are not
considered plantations in the
classical sense.

Antoine Vella 146
Most plantations involve a large landowner and, in the past were
associated with slavery, indentured labour, and exploitation.
Sugar cutters in Brazil
A comparable
economic structure
in antiquity was the
ancient Roman
latifundia that mass
produced olive oil
and wine, for export
to other parts of the
empire.

Antoine Vella 148
Tea plantation

Antoine Vella 150
Left – West Africa
Below - Cambodia

Antoine Vella 152
Plantation in Kyoto, Japan
Nepali tea-pickers in Darjeeling
India

Antoine Vella 154
Oil Palm
plantation in
Indonesia
Above:
Date Palm
plantation
in Israel

Antoine Vella 155
Even today there are
numerous ethical issues
associated with plantation
agriculture. These vary
from environmental impacts
to fair trade, work relations
and even child labour.
Children working on a Firestone rubber
plantation in Liberia.
Young and old tea leaf pickers in a Bangladesh
plantation

Antoine Vella 156
Forest clearance to make way for a sugar cane biofuel plantation in
Brazil. We will be discussing biofuels in a later section.

Antoine Vella 157
Starving orangutan found in a palm oil
plantation in Borneo. The rainforest habitats
of many animals are destroyed to make way
for large plantations.
Palm oil plantations, Malaysia

Antoine Vella 158
Plantation workers
protesting in Sri Lanka.

Antoine Vella 160
Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

162
Agriculture in developed countries is usually more
specialised than elsewhere and, as we have mentioned, we
can distinguish farmers who grow plants, those who rear
animals and
others – usually
smallholders –
who practise
mixed farming:
some crops and
some animals.

163
A smallholding is basically a farm of small size run by a
family with a small number (if any) hired hands.
In many parts of the Western
world they are being gradually
replaced by large industrial-
style holdings but their utility
has been recognised by the
EU and, in Europe, such
farms receive assistance to be
able to survive. All farms in
Malta are smallholdings.

164
Farmers in developed
countries depend on
machinery and modern
technology.

165
Without such
technology the
number of farmers
would have to be
much higher than
the 2-3% that it is
in Europe and
North America.

167
Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

169
Cereals are plants belonging to the grass family and grown for
grain They provide carbohydrates (starch) and are the most
important – sometimes the only - source of energy for humans.
Wheat in flower – the elongated structures are stamens, producing
pollen.

170
The most important cereals are:
Maize Rice Wheat
Sorghum Barley Millet
Oats Rye
The top three account for almost 90%
of all grains produced worldwide and
provide more than 40% of calories for
human populations.

171
Barley Oats MilletSorghum
WheatMaize Rice

172
All cereals are annual plants and can be divided into:
Cool-Season: wheat, barley, oats, rye,
Warm-season: maize, rice, sorghum and millet
Barley and rye
are the hardiest
cereals, able to
overwinter in the
subarctic and
Siberia.

173
Cool-Season: wheat, barley,
oats, rye, triticale.
These are hardy plants that
grow well in moderate
weather and cease to grow
in hot weather

174
With an annual world production of 500-600 million tonnes,
wheat contributes between 10 and 20% of the daily caloric
intake of people in over 60 countries.

175
Wheat (Triticum spp.) is cultivated worldwide. Globally, it
is the second-largest cereal behind maize; the third being
rice. Wheat grain is a staple food used to make flour,
livestock feed and as an ingredient in the brewing of beer.
The husk can
be separated
and ground into
bran

176
Region of origin: red
Region of cultivation: green
Wheat – T. aestivum

177
O. glaberrima is the African rice. It is much less productive
than the Asian rice but is an important source of resistant
genes.
Rice refers to two species of grass (Oryza sativa and
Oryza glaberrima), native to tropical and subtropical
southeastern Asia and to Africa.

179
Asian rice - O. sativa

180
Maize (Zea mays) is a cereal grain from Central America. It
is called corn in the US, Canada and Australia, but in other.
countries that term
refers to wheat.

181
Maize is grown wherever summers are warm enough and
rainfall or water supply adequate.
It is important as
fodder and, in
developed
countries, the crop
is grown
specifically for this
purpose. The plant
may reach 2 to 4
metres.

182
Maize – Zea mais

185
As already noted, machines play an essential role in this
type of farming.

186
In many cases machines have taken over from human
workers and the number of farmers in developed countries
has decreased drastically.

187
Warm-season: maize, rice, sorghum and millet
These plants prefer warm humid climates and do not do
well in very cold weather.

188
Since cereals are essentially a type of grass, the best
regions to cultivate them are where grasslands constitute
the natural eco-system.

190
A grassland is a green, windy, partly-dry biome: a sea of
grass covering almost 25% of the Earth's land area. Deep-
rooted grasses dominate the flora with very few trees and
shrubs.

191
A grassland is a green, windy, partly-dry biome: a sea of
grass covering almost 25% of the Earth's land area. Deep-
rooted grasses dominate the flora with very few trees and
shrubs.

192
In nature, grasses often form a habitat that excludes most
other plants so that there are vast stretches of “grasslands”
which would be the
equivalent of the
agricultural
onoculture.
Central Asian grassland

193
There are two types of grasslands according to their latitude:
Temperate Tropical

196
Biomes with hot summers and cold winters. The
evaporation rate is high, so little rain makes it into the rich
soil.
Located north
of the Tropic
of Cancer
and south of
the Tropic of
Capricorn
Prairie, Nebraska USA

198
Hot all year with wet seasons that bring torrential rains.
Located between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of
Capricorn, sometimes called savannas.

199
Typical savannah (tropical grassland) habitat interspersed with acacia
trees (Tanzania).

200
Above: Veldt, Tanzania
Right: Pampas (temperate
grassland), Uruguay

201
Despite the fact that grasslands may be found both in
temperate and tropical regions, it is only in the former that
we find commercial grain-growing on an industrial scale.

202
This is a specialised form of very large-scale farming that is
really possible in areas with natural grasslands. It is also
feasible only where there is sufficient industrialisation and so
its development started in the prairie areas of N. America.

203
The possibility of having large storage capacities is also an
essential condition for the development of commercial
grain-farming.

204
Grain silos are a typical
sight in the landscape of
grain-growing regions
around the world.

205
Winter wheat starting to germinate - Colorado

206
Nowadays this form of agriculture is found in several other
areas of temperate grasslands in developed countries:
Canada, Australia, Russia, Ukraine and Argentina.

207
In developed countries but
especially in the US and Canada,
grain-growing is associated with
large corporations which control
vast rural areas and trade the
produce as an international
commodity.
The traditional family farm is no
longer of much importance and
being replaced in this sector.

208
In particular in the US, grain
farming has become so
specialised and mechanised
that the “farmer” does not work
the land but only takes
managerial decisions and then
contracts specialist firms to do
the actual work in the field.

209
This is known in America as “suitcase farming” and in Malta
we have a similar situation, albeit on an infinitely smaller
scale.

212
As in North America, agriculture in much of Western
Europe is really agribusiness. This includes widespread
use of machinery and hybrid seeds
Wheat field in Basilicata. S. Italy

213
Besides the ‘real’ grains belonging to the cereal family,
soya (a legume like beans) is also nowadays considered as
a crop typical of grain-farming.

215
Fodder crops are plants that
are grown to feed animals,
especially ruminants and
horses.
The term refers particularly
to plants cut and carried to
the animals, rather than food
which they forage for
themselves.
Fodder includes hay, straw
and other variously
processed plant products.

216
There are two main groups
of such plants, belonging to
two different botanical
families: Cereals
Legumes
The first type contribute
carbohydrates while the
second are rich in protein
(nitrogen).
Clover and lupin are two common
fodder legumes.

217
There are two main groups of such plants, belonging to two
different botanical families:
Cereals
Legumes
The first type
contribute
carbohydrates and
fibre while the
second group are
especially rich in
protein (nitrogen).

218
Although not all fodder crops are cereals we are
considering them in this section (cereal farming) because
they are usually grown together to provide a complete
range of nutrients.
Crimson clover
field

219
These are some of the plants
used as fodder.
Red clover
(top) and millet
(right)
Vetch (top) and rye-
grass (left)

221
Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

222
Commercial field or arable farming is essentially the
growing of field crops in arable land.

223
In geography, arable land (from Latin arare, to plough) is
an agricultural term, meaning “land that can be used for
growing crops”.
It is distinct from
‘cultivated land’
and includes all
land suitable for
agriculture, even if
it is not yet under
cultivation.

224
There are various definitions of “field crops”. Cereals are often
included in this category but we have treated them as a
separate type of agriculture so we shall be
considering other crops under this heading.

225
Field crops are basically
vegetables that are
grown in large open
fields rather than the
smallish plots typical of
horticulture.
Tomato fields in the US

226
They include potatoes, tomatoes, onions, legumes and
brassicas.

227
This important vegetable
introduced from America can
come in all shapes and sizes.

228
These can also be of
many unusual colours,
apart from red. Such
varieties, known as
“heirloom” are typical of
horticulture rather than
field cropping.

229
Brussels Sprouts ready for harvest in frosty weather, Norfolk
UK

230
Onions are also grown extensively for processing

231
As in the case of
commercial grain-growing,
mechanisation is an
essential element to
achieve profitability in field
crops.

232
Most operations such as sowing, planting and harvesting.
are carried out by
machines.

233
In many cases, farmers have contracts with agri-industries
which buy all the harvest as raw material for their
processing plants.

234
Industrial-scale tomato production in Italy

235
This arrangement is useful to farmers as they have an
assured market but it also puts them in a position of
weakness when negotiating prices and other conditions.

236
There can be environmental concerns in this type of
farming, because of widespread monoculture.

237
In spite of widespread use of machinery, ill-paid migrant
workers are today also essential to field crops in many
European countries and southern US.

238
Nowadays, developing countries are also starting to develop the commercial field
crop production sector. These are irrigated fields in Saudi Arabia

240
Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

241
An industrial crop is grown to produce goods, not food.
e.g. to produce fibre for clothing.
Some examples include
flax, hemp, cotton,
tobacco, runbber. Fibre
crops are amongst the
most common industrial
crops.

242
There are three main groups of industrial crops, divided
according to their use:
Energy
Fibres
Other non-food

243
An industrial crop is grown to produce goods, not food. e.g.
to produce fibre for clothing. There are three groups:
Energy - crops used to generate heat, electricity or
produce liquid fuels
Fibres - crops used to produce fibrous material for use in,
for example, car manufacture or insulation
Other - crops with an industrial use other than energy or
fibres.

244
This type of agriculture is being considered under this
section (i.e. agriculture in developed countries) but one has
to note that increasing amounts of such crops are grown in
plantations in developing countries.

246
Crops used to generate heat, electricity or to produce liquid
fuels

247
Crops for heat and electricity generation are chopped up,
and usually burnt directly in stoves and boilers, mixed with
24
7
coal for use in conventional power
stations or used in dedicated
biomass power stations.

248
Under this heading we have several products such as
biodiesel, and bioethanol (a petrol additive/substitute).
At present, biofuels
are usually used as
a blend with fossil
fuel (5% bio to 95%
fossil) for
conventional
engines.

249
Biofuels are a wide range of fuels that are gaining increased
public and scientific attention, driven by factors such as oil
price spikes and the need for increased energy security.
24
9

251
Crops used to produce fibrous material
for use in textiles, ropes, insulation
materials and so on.

253
The 'fine linen' mentioned various times in the Bible has been
satisfactorily proved to have been spun from Flax. The
knowledge of spinning was known to the Canaanites and it
formed the clothing of the Saviour in the tomb when He was
buried. It was used for cord and sail-cloth by the ancient Greeks
as well as for lamp-wicks.

254
As a crop, flax is very demanding in terms of nutrients and
rapidly exhausts the soil. It requires care and a rich soil to
secure a good crop.

255
Flax is harvested for fibre
production when still green. It is
pulled up with the roots (not cut),
so as to maximise the fibre
length.
It is then soaked in
water to rot off the
non-fibrous material
in the stems.
.

256
Flax grown for seed is allowed to mature until the seed
capsules are yellow and just starting to split.
The seed is
pressed to produce
a valuable oil.

257
Flaxseed oil is cold pressed from the seeds, and
edible. The seeds are then hot pressed to produce
an industrial oil and solvent, known as linseed oil,
which is not edible.

258
Flaxseed oil has a very high level of omega-3 fats acid so it
is most often used as a nutritional supplement rather than
for cooking.

260
Cotton is a fibre growing around the seeds of the cotton
plant, a shrub native to tropical and subtropical regions
around the world. There are about 50 species of cotton,
but only four are cultivated.

261
Virtually all of the
commercial cotton
grown today worldwide
is from varieties of the
American species.

262
The plant produces creamy-white flowers, which soon turn
deep pink and fall off, leaving the small green triangular
seed pods, known as cotton bolls, which contain the seeds.

263
White Blossom Wilts,
Turns Pink, and Boll of
Cotton Begins to Grow
Pink Cotton
Blossom

264
Boll - i.e. the fruit - of
Cotton Begins to
Grow (left) and soon
ripens (below)

265
This interlocked form is
ideal for spinning into a
fine yarn.
When the cotton boll is
opened, the fibres dry into
flat, twisted, ribbon-like
shapes and become kinked
together and interlocked.

266
The fibre is spun into thread and used to make the most
widely used natural textile. The English name derives from
the Arabic word al qutun.

267
Cotton fibre, once it has been processed to remove seeds
and traces of wax, protein, etc., consists of nearly pure
cellulose.
A 19th century hand
gin and modern
ginning machinery.

269
Crops with an industrial
use other than energy or
fibres.
These include crops
such as rubber, palm oil
and tobacco.

270
Tobacco is one of only two
important crops originating
in north rather than
central/south America.

271
The genus Nicotiana belongs to a family producing many
poisonous compounds but also
important crops such as pepper,
potato, tomato, pepper and
aubergine.

272
The biggest producers nowadays are China (40% of the
entire world production) and Brazil (16%)..
The US produces
only about 6% of
the world’s
production

273
Europeans started cultivating it in Virginia but it was imported
into Europe where it became important in Italy and the Balkans.
Tobacco field in Italy

Antoine Vella 275
Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

Antoine Vella 277
Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

Antoine Vella 278
Horticulture is the subdivision of agriculture dealing with
the gardening of enclosed areas to grow vegetables, fruit
and ornamentals, in contrast to agronomy, which refers to
growing field crops (including industrial crops), and
forestry which concerns forest trees and products related
to them.

Antoine Vella 279
Horticulture is sometimes known also as market gardening,
especially when it refers to growing vegetables. It can be
practised as a hobby or an economic activity.

Antoine Vella 280
Within the context of this course, horticulture may involve
three types of produce:
• Vegetables
• Fruit trees
• Ornamental plants, especially flowers

Antoine Vella 281
The relatively small-scale horticulturalproduction of fruits,
vegetables and flowers as cash crops is also known as
market gardening.

Antoine Vella 282
It is distinguishable from other types of farming by the diversity
of crops grown
on a small area
of land, typically,
from about
0.3-3 Ha, or
sometimes in
greenhouses.

Antoine Vella 283
Traditionally market gardening is based on providing large
urban areas with a
wide range and
steady supply of
fresh produce
through the local
growing season.

Antoine Vella 284
Many different crops and varieties are grown, in
contrast with large, industrialized farms, which tend to
specialise in high volume production of single crops, a
practice known as monoculture.

Antoine Vella 285
Compared to field crop farming, market gardening also
employs more manual labour and gardening techniques,
compared to large-scale mechanised farming.

Antoine Vella 286
We may also consider the different
aspects of horticulture according to
the medium in which the plants are
grown.
• Soil cultures
• Soilless cultures

Antoine Vella 287
Soil culture may be further subdivided into:
• Protected culture with the use of greenhouses
• Semi-protected culture
using small plastic
tunnels
• Non-protected culture
in the open soil.

Antoine Vella 288
This type of modern rounded greenhouse is nowadays
sometimes also known as “tunnel”.

Antoine Vella 289
Another, less-used name
for low tunnels is “cloche”.

Antoine Vella 290
Open soil allotment

Antoine Vella 291
Soilless culture is also known as hydroponics since the
plants are basically growing in water, with or without any
substrate.

Antoine Vella 292
These may be further subdivided into:
Nutrient Film Technique in which plants are grown in a
water stream
Natural substrate culture using peat
Synthetic
substrate culture
using expanded
clay, polystyrene
(“jablo”), rockwool,
etc

Antoine Vella 294
This is a further
development of hydroponics.
The roots of the plants
are suspended in air
and a water with
nutrients is sprayed to
feed them.

Antoine Vella 295
Young plants growing in perlite, an artificial substrate.

Antoine Vella 296
Perlite is an amorphous volcanic glass that has a relatively
high water content, typically formed by the hydration of
obsidian.
It occurs naturally and
has the unusual
property of greatly
expanding when
heated sufficiently.

Antoine Vella 298
Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

Antoine Vella 299
The growing of fruit trees can be considered part of
horticulture system although it can also be found in certain
types of plantations (e.g. date and banana)

Antoine Vella 300
There are many ways of classifying fruit trees, including :
• Type of fruit (succulent fruits or nuts)
• Biological cycle (deciduous or evergreen)
• Area of cultivation (temperate, sub-tropical, tropical)
• Use of the product (table or processing)
• Botanical family

Antoine Vella 301
The Rosaceae are trees, shrubs
and herbs comprising about 3,000
species which can be very different
in morphology, growth habit, etc.

Antoine Vella 302
There are three sub-families:
Rosoideae
Prunoideae
Maloideae

Antoine Vella 306
Traditionally considered as part of the Rosaceae family,
this group is now often treated as a separate family. There
is only one species of importance: the pomegranate Punica
granatum.

Antoine Vella 307
The Rutaceae are herbs, shrubs, and trees with glandular, commonly
strongly smelling leaves, flowers and fruit, comprising about 150
genera and 1,500 species. The flowers are often sweet-scented, nearly
always bisexual, and are actinomorphic or sometimes zygomorphic.
Generally, a nectary disc is situated between the stamens and the
ovary. The fruit is variable but in the cultivated species mostly a
specialised berry known as hesperidium.

Antoine Vella 308
The Oleaceae are trees or shrubs comprising about 30
genera and 600 species. The fruit is variable but in the only
cultivated species, Olea europea, it is a drupe.

Antoine Vella 309
The Fabaceae are mostly herbs but include also shrubs
and trees found in both temperate and tropical areas.
They comprise one of the
largest families of flowering
plants, numbering some
10,000 species. The fruit is
a legume. The only
cultivated fruit tree of
significance is the carob
Ceratonia siliqua.

Antoine Vella 310
The Moraceae is a family of about
1,000 species – mostly trees - and
nearly all producing a
milky sap.

Antoine Vella 311
The flowers are minute, and usually densely aggregated.
Fruit types include drupes and achenes often aggregated
into a multiple accessory fruit – the syconium

Antoine Vella 313
Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

Antoine Vella 314
Floriculture is the cultivation of flowering and
ornamental plants for gardens and floristry
The crops include
• Bedding and garden plants
• Cut flowers and foliage
• Houseplants

Antoine Vella 315
Bedding and garden plants consist
mostly of young flowering plants
(annuals and perennials).

Antoine Vella 316
Flowering garden and bedding
plants being grown in a greehouse.

Antoine Vella 317
The cultivation of house plants is a major sector
of horticulture in several developed countries
such as the Netherlands and Italy.

Antoine Vella 318
Flowering pot plants are
those that are sold in pots
for indoor use.

Antoine Vella 320
These are produced specifically to be sold after they have
been cut from the mother plant.
Bloom uniformity and the
longevity are the two major
qualities sought by
commercial flower-growers.

Antoine Vella 321
When the climate is suitable, this sector can be very
important, with a high added value component.

Antoine Vella 323
As can be seen, all
types of horticulture
can be carried out on
a large commercial
scale both in the open
and under plastic.

Antoine Vella 326
Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

Antoine Vella 328
Dairy farming is a class of
agricultural enterprise for long-
term production of milk, usually
from dairy cows but also from
goats and sheep.

Antoine Vella 329
Milk may be either
processed on-site or
transported to a dairy
factory for processing
and eventual retail sale.

Antoine Vella 330
Historically, dairy farming
has been one aspect of
the work of small, mixed
farms.

Antoine Vella 331
In the second half of the 20th century larger farms engaged
only in dairy production have emerged in developed countries.

Antoine Vella 332
Large-scale dairy farming is only viable where either a large
amount of milk is required for production of more durable
dairy products such as cheese, or there is a substantial
market for fresh milk.

Antoine Vella 333
As in other forms of modern commercial
farming in the developed world, dairy
farming depends on extensive use of
technology and machinery.

Antoine Vella 334
A carousel type of milking parlour

Antoine Vella 335
Mechanisation
and automation
can be found in
dairy sheep
farms too.

Antoine Vella 336
Modern milking parlours for
sheep (left) and goats (below)

Antoine Vella 337
In developed countries, milk is not consumed
“raw” but undergoes a certain amount of handling.

Antoine Vella 338
Most countries have developed a
whole sector of industry
associated with dairy farming. The
main product of this industry is
undoubtedly cheese.

Antoine Vella 339
Cheese is a food made from the coagulated milk of cows,
goats, sheep and other mammals.

Antoine Vella 340
It is basically the concentrated fat,obtained through curdling,
of the milk with varying amounts of liquid, according to the
type of product.

Antoine Vella 341
The process of cheese-making is an imitation of naturally
occuring reactions in the digestive systems of newborn
mammals.

Antoine Vella 342
Newborn mammals cannot chew solid food so they have to
ingest liquids. However a liquid would travel too fast through
the intestine and not allow all the nutrients to be extracted.

Antoine Vella 343
What happens therefore is that, inside the stomach, the
liquid milk is curdled (by acids and bacteria) and becomes
solid so that it travels more slowly through the intestinal
tract, thus giving the organism time to digest and absorb all
the nutrients.This solidified milk is, basically, ‘cheese’.

Antoine Vella 344
To produce cheese, milk is
warmed to 35-38 C (the stomach
temperature of the calf) then
curdled through the addition of
acids or the action of bacteria.

Antoine Vella 345
Thus the fats and proteins in the milk
coagulate and form what is known as ‘curd’
which is actually a form of ‘cheese’.

Antoine Vella 346
The curd will then be processed in many different ways
according to the type of cheese being manufactured.

Antoine Vella 349
Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

Antoine Vella 350
Ranching is the practice of raising large numbers of grazing
livestock (cattle or sheep) for meat or wool (not milk).Cattledrive,SwanVallwy,Idaho

Antoine Vella 351
Ranching most often applies to
livestock-raising operations
carried out over extensive
areas in America, though there
are ranches in other regions.

Antoine Vella 352
Traditionally horses are used to herd cattle or sheep, though
nowadays, motorised transport is becoming more common.

Antoine Vella 353
Ranching and the “cowboy” tradition originated in the
Mediterranean, especially in Spain, out of the necessity to
handle large herds of grazing animals.

Antoine Vella 354
Because grazing land was poor, large areas were
needed for the herds and, before the Industrial Age, the
livestock could be controlled only on horseback.

Antoine Vella 355
During the Reconquista, Christian nobles received large
land grants that the Kingdom of Castile had conquered
from the Moors. These landowners were to defend the
lands put into their control and could use them for earning
revenue.

Antoine Vella 356
In the process it was found that open-range breeding of
sheep and cattle was the most stuiable use for vast tracts.
Particularly in the part of Spain now known as Castilla-la
Mancha, Extremadura and Andalusia
Countryside in Extremadura. SW Spain

Antoine Vella 357
Even today, large areas of Spain are dedicated to extensive
ranching, especially of sheep
Flock of Merino sheep outside Avila

Antoine Vella 358
In other parts of the Mediterranean, a similar type of animal
husbandry also developed especially in Maremma
(Tuscany) and the mouth
of the Rhone.

Antoine Vella 359
The Camargue is nowadays a
wetland nature reserve,
renowned for its breeds of open-
range horses and cattle.

Antoine Vella 360
This type of farming is also found in the
S.Tuscany region of Maremma.

Antoine Vella 361
The first Spanish settlers in America brought their cattle
and cattle-raising techniques.
Huge land grants by
Spanish (and later
Mexican) governments
allowed large numbers
of cattle to roam freely
over vast areas.

Antoine Vella 362
The prairies of North America proved to be perfect as
grazing land for cattle and, together with cereal-growing,
this became the primary agricultural activity of the region

Antoine Vella 363
Ranching and cereal-growing
gradually took over entire regions
of N. America, pushing out the
indigenous fauna.

Antoine Vella 364
Although we’re considering ranching as an agricultural
activity of developed countries, it has also been introduced
in some other regions (notably Brazil and Argentina) to
satisfy the demand for beef in the developed world

Antoine Vella 365
In the colonial period, from the pampas regions of South
America all the way to the Minas Gerais state in Brazil, were
often well-suited to ranching, and
a tradition developed that largely
paralleled that of N. America.

Antoine Vella 367
The gaucho cultures of Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay are
among the ranching traditions born during the colonial period

Antoine Vella 368
In the 20th century, ranching expanded into less-suitable
areas of the Pantanal (Mato Grosso – a wetland) in Brazil.
This caused extensive deforestation, as the rainforest
was cleared to allow grass to
grow for livestock.

Antoine Vella 369
Many of indigenous peoples of the rain forest opposed this
form of cattle ranching and protested the forest being burnt
down to set up grazing operations and farms. This conflict
is still a concern in the region today.

Antoine Vella 370
In Australia, the ranches are known as 'stations' raising
either cattle or sheep. The largest cattle stations in the
world are located in Australia's dry rangeland in the
outback averaging 10 thousand km2.

Antoine Vella 371
Anna Creek Station, in South
Australia, is the world's largest
cattle station. Its area is roughly
24,000 km². (6,000,000 acres) of
semi-desert which can support only
small numbers of animals.
Aerial view of the Painted Hills on Anna
Creek Station, around Lake Eyre.

Antoine Vella 373
Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

Antoine Vella 374
Intensive livestock
farming involves
the breeding
and/or rearing of
large numbers of
animals, often in
confined spaces.

Antoine Vella 375
In this presentation we shall be considering poultry and pigs
although other species, such as rabbits, may also be farmed
this way.

Antoine Vella 376
Poultry farming is the practice of raising domestic birds such
as chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese for the purpose of
farming meat or
eggs for food.

Antoine Vella 377
More than 50 billion chickens are raised throughout the
world every year as a source of food, for both their meat and
their eggs.

Antoine Vella 378
Chickens raised for meat are called broilers, whilst those
raised for eggs are called laying hens or layers. Some hens
can produce over 300 eggs a year.

Antoine Vella 379
Broilers are generally held in large groups either in
environmentally controlled housing or in open, naturally
ventilated poultry houses.

Antoine Vella 380
They are usually kept free on deep litter with automated
provision of feed and water. In most countries, commercial
breeds selected for rapid growth, are used.

Antoine Vella 381
In 2010 a new EU directive
imposed a maximum bird
density which must not
exceed 33-39 kgs per m2.
Density is calculated by kg per
m2 because the smaller the birds
the less space they need.

Antoine Vella 382
In egg production, the majority of commercial layers are kept
in battery cages.
There is wide variation in space allowance per bird from 300
to 400 cm2 in places such as Brazil or India to the current
550 cm2 per hen in the EU.

Antoine Vella 383
After 2012, hens in the EU will be kept in cages with a
minimum space allowance of 750 cm2 per hen (from 550 cm2).

Antoine Vella 384
Chickens will naturally live for 6 or more years but after one
year, their productivity will start to
decline and most commercial
laying hens are slaughtered
at that age.

Antoine Vella 385
Poultry which is kept in the open – usual having a light
density per m2 – is said to be free range but this is more
typical of mixed farming.

Antoine Vella 386
Intensive pig-farming consists in keeping large numbers of
pigs in indoor pens while pregnant sows are housed in
“cages” known as farrowing crates.

Antoine Vella 387
The use of farrowing crates
has resulted in lower
mortality among newborn
piglets and decreased costs.

Antoine Vella 388
In general, however, the over-intensification of pig-farming
gives rise to concern about animal welfare especially as
regards overcrowding and lack of space which causes
physical and mental
stress to the animals.

Antoine Vella 389
Most large-scale pig farms house 5,000 or more animals in
buildings. With 100 million pigs slaughtered commercially
each year, these efficiencies deliver affordable meat for
consumers and larger profits for producers.

Antoine Vella 391
Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

Antoine Vella 392
This is a system of farming where different types of
agricultural practices are conducted together, on a single
farm.

Antoine Vella 393
On such a farm we will therefore find both the growing of
crops and the raising of livestock.
Crop-livestock
integration: sheep
grazing under tall-
stemmed fruit trees
(the Netherlands)

Antoine Vella 394
Because of the lack of specialisation, mechanisation is
more difficult and such farms are usually small.

Antoine Vella 395
Although, for convenience’s sake we’re considering mixed
farming as a system of developed countries, it can of course
be found even in developing regions.
Crop and livestock
integration: cattle
grazing under coconut
trees (Sri Lanka)

Antoine Vella 396
Nowadays many mixed farms in countries like Italy, Spain
and France supplement their income by organising tourism-
related activities.

Antoine Vella 398
Pastoral
Nomadism
Shifting
Agriculture
Arable Subsist.
Arable Subsist.
(rice dependant)
Cereals
Grain/fodder
Horticulture
(fruit & vegetable,
market gardening)
Mixed
cropping
Dairy
Farming
Ranching
Mixed
cropping
Mediterranean
Farming
Field/industrial
crops
Plantations
Intensive
Livestock

Antoine Vella 400
Although the name of this type of climate derives from the
basin of the Mediterranean Sea it is, in fact found in several
other places round the world.

Antoine Vella 402
The most prominent features of this climate are the long hot
dry summers and the mild wet winters, with temperatures
that rarely reach 0 C.

Antoine Vella 403
Another relevant character is the chronic lack of water which
has a significant impact on agriculture.

Antoine Vella 404
This is distinctive and has been developing since ancient
times. It is traditionally a subsistence type and although it
has become more commercialised in areas such as
California, Australia and
some parts of Italy,
smallholdings are still
the norm in most
countries of the
Mediterranean basin
itself.

Antoine Vella 405
Another feature of the Mediterranean basin is the scarcity of
large plains suitable for cattle.

Antoine Vella 406
As a result, agriculture is based mostly on
crop farming complemented by small
ruminants.

Antoine Vella 407
As regards crops the characteristics include:
• A crop rotation of 4-5 years
• Extensive drought-resistent tree crops.

Antoine Vella 408
A typical Mediterranean crop
rotation is based on cereals
(wheat and barley) and legumes
(beans and/or fodder).

Antoine Vella 409
The most economically important tree crops are the olive,
grapevine, citrus, stone fruits and - in the southern coast of
the Med. Sea – date palms.

Antoine Vella 410
Olives are the symbol of Mediterranean agriculture. The
Mediterranean itself is defined as the region where the olive
tree grows.

Antoine Vella 411
Although the grapevine originated
outside the Mediterranean area, its
cultivation – and the consequent
wine culture - has also become
synonymous with the region

Antoine Vella 412
Because of the high population density and the numerous
settlements all around the Mediterranean basin, market
gardening is also
important, where
water is available.

Antoine Vella 413
The Mediterranean and its agriculture will be the topic of
another presentation where it will be discussed in more
detail.

The Agricultural World (Parts 1 4)

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