FINAL 8 - Feed the world Flashcards
(28 cards)
Arable Land
Is temporarily used for crops, meadows or pastures including land purposefully left temporarily fallow
Agricultural Land
Is arable land plus land used for permanent, long term crops that don’t need to be replanted yearly
Eg.) fruits, nut trees
What affects farmable land?
- Climate
- Water
- Altitude
- Deforestation
- Climate change
Water Scarcity
- About 43 countries suffer form water scarcity today
- By 2030, almost half the worlds population will be living in areas of high water stress
How do geographers look at agriculture?
- They describe practices, techniques, strategies: seasonal patterns, implications for soil management and types of crops used
- They explain why activities vary from place to place
- The investigate the effects of climate, religion, government policies and soil characteristics
Why study agriculture?
- It is a major aspect of human - environment relationships
- It is affect by climate, religion, government policies and soil characteristics
What is agriculture?
A science, art, and business directed at the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock for sustenance and profit
Environmental factors that condition agriculture:
- Climate and weather
- Soil characteristics
- Topography
Climate/weather
- Plants and animals require certain conditions to survive and grow properly
- Low temperatures equal slower growth rates which limits the geographic range of crops
Soils
The best soils for a crop usually has a loamy texture, high organic content and abundant nutrients
Relief and topography
- Altitude temperature
- It is difficult to mechanize on steep slopes
Human factors that condition agriculture:
- Cultural traditions (treatment of animals)
- technologies (mechanization, biotechnology)
- Government policies (land forms, subsidies)
- Economic globalization (NAFTA)
- Deforestation and soil salinization
- Anthropogenic climate change
- Desertification and sea level rise
What are different types of farming/food production?
- Subsistence farming
- Shifting cultivation
- Pastoralism
- Commercial agriculture
Industrial agriculture
Subsistence Farming/horticulture
- Main goal is to grow enough food to eat, as well as some surplus for the market
- Fewer chemical inputs
- Labour intensive
- Smaller farms
- Practiced mainly in poorer countries
Shifting Cultivation
- Practiced mainly in humid tropical forest regions
- A form of rotational agriculture
- Diverse mixture of crops used
- Supports relatively low population densities
Intensive subsistence cultivation
- Very labour intensive
- Raised fields or terraces
- Can support large populations
- Often two or more harvests per yer
Pastoralism
- Practiced mainly in cold and dry climates
- Most practice transhumance herding (horses, camels, goats)
- Traditional movements of nomadic pastoralists
Commercial agriculture
- Production for the market
- The dominant type of agriculture in “core” countries
- Includes large agribusiness as well as small family farms
- they respond to supply and demand which affects prices and decisions on what to plant
The industrialization of agriculture
The process whereby the farm has moved from being a centre piece of agriculture production to becoming a mere part of integrated multilevel industrial processes that include production, storage, processing and retailing
Industrialized agribusiness
- Regional or global in scope depending on the type of agriculture
- Heavy reliance on agrochemicals
- Highly mechanized
- Larger farms/plantations
- Processing
How have dramatic increases in food been possible?
- Mechanization
- Chemical farming (synthetic fertilizers and pesticides)
- New processing, transportation and storage methods
Solutions to food shortages:
Hybrid crop varieties
Irrigation
GMO’s
Hybrid crop varieties
- Mature faster
- produce more food per plant
- Some bred to respond better to fertilizers
- Can reduce vulnerability to pests
Irrigation
Increases yields and allows more harvests per year however it is an unsustainable use of groundwater
