chap 9: geographies of food and agriculture Flashcards
(37 cards)
food scarcity
severe restricted access to food supplies: quantity of food / quality of food
why does hunger occur?
-population growth
-rising incomes
-international agribusiness
-bad farming techniques
- urbanization=
how we eat has implication on what?
o Our health
o Our environment
o Population sustainability
o Poverty and worker’s rights
o Energy policy
o Social Policy and Gender Relations
extensification
-increase the amount of land under cultivation
-method till 1980’s
intensification
-increase the yield of each productive acre cultivated
-method from 1980 an on
green revolution technologies
- synthetic fertilizers
- irrigation systems
- pesticides and synthetic chemicals
- new crop varieties and biotech
farmers have 2 options:
- match between animal and plant requirements and the phys environment
- artificial physical environment
Advances in pesticides and fungicides, fertilizers have
improved ___
agricultural productivity
theories for competition for land
-location theory: Farmers choose agricultural locations based on competition, considering factors like soil quality and climate, to maximize profitability.
- economic rent: extra income earned from land that goes beyond the basic amount required for production
- rent ceiling: Rent ceiling represents the maximum income a location can generate
VON THUNEN
-one city, one central market
-Farmers must sell their produce in this central market
-Farmers are profit maximizers
Economic operator, or rational economic man
o Agricultural land is of uniform productive capacity
o There is only one mode of transportation
crop theory
crop location is affected by perishability and weight as they affect transport cost
intensity theory
the intensity of production decreases with
increasing distance from market
domestication
process of selectively breeding plants and animals for specific
characteristics
agricultural revolution (1)
-The domestication of animals and plants occurred over thousands of years
- connected to many social, cultural, economic, biological changes
agricultural revolution (2)
Agrarian revolution:, with increase of industrialization.
-Adoption of new crops
-Improved productivity
-Increased mechanization
-Rising ability to feed a growing population
Nitrogen fertilizers:
-Essential for plants
-Crop rotation, or intercropping, with legumes
– Animal manure
– Guano mined industrially, caliche as fossilized source
-Commercial farming now depends on industrial nitrogen
environmental problems of nitrogen fertilizers
- soil/ water contamination, soil acidity
- risk of some cancer
green rev
High yielding varieties of specific cereals
-Increased crop yield, pesticides resistance
-High dependency on fertilizers, irrigation, pesticides
-successful for a limited range of crops
– Focus on high value/profit crops
* Some farmers are able to produce market surplus
– Raised incomes, improved diets
– Stimulated rural non-farm economy
Criticisms of green revolution
-Displaced poor, tenant farmers
-Lowered incomes, worsened diets
Environmental consequences of green rev
- Fertilizer runoff, insects and wildlife damage/loss
-Water shortages
-Health problems
biotechnology
– Tissue culturing
– DNA sequencing
– Cross-species gene insertion for desired characteristics
* Potential and controversy
– Most focus on pesticide
resistance and patent control
– Concentration of ownership
– Reduces biodiversity
– Selects for resistant weeds,
pests
– Food safety concerns
no-till revolution benefits
-new technology seeds with less soil disturbance
- less erosion
- conserves water
- improves health of soil
- lower labour and fuel costs
-reduced sediment and fertilizer runoff
-sequesters carbon
no till costs
- complex transition
- costly equipment
- heavier reliance on herbacides
- unexpected change in weeds / disease
- initinally need more nitrogen fertilizer
- slower germination / reduced yield
__% of fruit and vegetable species originally grown in US no longer exist
40%
