Group 4

Chapter 6: Food, Water, and Agriculture

Members:
Campong, Zenaira
Hadji Omar, Alysha
H. Cosain, Norjana
Siddick, Oshaimah

Agriculture

Where Did Agriculture Originate?

The origins of agriculture cannot be documented with certainty because it began before recorded history.
Scholars try to reconstruct a logical sequence of events based on fragments of information about ancient
agricultural practices and historical environmental conditions. Improvements in cultivating plants and
domesticating animals evolved over thousands of years.

Agriculture is deliberate modification of Earth’s surface through cultivation of plants and rearing of animals to
obtain sustenance or economic gain. Agriculture originated when humans domesticated plants and animals for
their use. The word cultivate means “to care for,” and a crop is any plant cultivated by people.

Hunters and Gatherers

Before the invention of agriculture, all humans probably obtained the food they needed for survival through
hunting for animals, fishing, or gathering plants (including berries, nuts, fruits, and roots). Hunters and
gatherers lived in small groups, of usually fewer than 50 persons, because a larger number would quickly
exhaust the available resources within walking distance. The men hunted game or fished, and the women
collected berries, nuts, and roots. This division of labor sounds like a stereotype but is based on evidence from
archaeology and anthropology. They collected food often, perhaps daily. The food search might take only a
short time or much of the day, depending on local conditions. The group traveled frequently, establishing new
home bases or camps. The direction and frequency of migration depended on the movement of game and the
seasonal growth of plants at various locations. We can assume that groups communicated with each other
concerning hunting rights, intermarriage, and other specific subjects. For the most part, they kept the peace by
steering clear of each other’s territory. Today, perhaps a quarter-million people, or less than 0.005 percent of
the world’s population, still survive by hunting and gathering rather than by agriculture. Examples include the
Spinifex (also known as Pila Nguru) people, who live in Australia’s Great Victorian Desert; the Sentinelese
people, who live in India’s Andaman Islands; and the Bushmen, who live in Botswana and Namibia.
Contemporary hunting and gathering societies are isolated groups living on the periphery of world settlement,
but they provide insight into human customs that prevailed in prehistoric times, before the invention of
agriculture.

Invention of Agriculture

Why did most nomadic groups convert from hunting, gathering, and fishing to agriculture? Geographers and
other scientists agree that agriculture originated in multiple hearths around the world. They do not agree on
when agriculture originated and diffused, or why. Southwest Asia was an early center of crop domestication.
The earliest crops domesticated in Southwest Asia are thought to have been barley and wheat, around 10,000
years ago. Lentil and olive were also early domestications in Southwest Asia. From this hearth, cultivation
diffused west to Europe and east to Central Asia. Rice is now thought to have been domesticated in East Asia
more than 10,000 years ago, along the Yangtze River in eastern China. Millet was cultivated at an early date
along the Yellow River. Sorghum was domesticated in central Africa around 8,000 years ago. Yams may have
been domesticated even earlier. Millet and rice may have been domesticated in sub-Saharan Africa
independently of the hearth in East Asia. From central Africa, domestication of crops probably diffused further
south in Africa. In Latin America, two important hearths of crop domestication are thought to have emerged in
Mexico and Peru around 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. Mexico is considered a hearth for beans and cotton, and
Peru for potato. Squashes may have been first domesticated in a third hearth in the Americas, in southeastern
present-day United States, as well as in Mexico. The most important contribution of the Americas to crop
domestication, maize (corn), may have emerged in the two hearths independently around the same time. From
these two hearths, cultivation of maize and other crops diffused northward into North America and southward
into tropical South America. Animals were also domesticated in multiple hearths on various dates. Southwest
Asia is thought to have been the heart for the domestication of the largest number of animals that would prove
to be most important for agriculture, including cattle, goats, pigs, and sheep, between 8,000 and 9,000 years
ago. Domestication of the dog is thought to date from around 12,000 years ago, also in Southwest Asia. The
horse is considered to have been domesticated in Central Asia; diffusion of the domesticated horse is thought
to be associated with the diffusion of the Indo-European language. Inhabitants of Southwest Asia may have
been the first to integrate cultivation of crops with domestication of herd animals such as cattle, sheep, and
goats. These animals were used to prepare the land before planting seeds and, in turn, were fed part of the
harvested crop. Other animal products, such as milk, meat, and skins, may have been exploited later. This
integration of plants and animals is a fundamental element of modern agriculture. Scientists do not agree on
whether agriculture originated primarily because of environmental factors or cultural factors. Probably a
combination of both factors contributed. Those favoring environmental reasons point to the coinciding of the
first domestication of crops and animals with climate change around 10,000 years ago. This marked the end of
the last ice age, when permanent ice cover receded from Earth’s midlatitudes to polar regions, resulting in a
massive redistribution of humans, other animals, and plants at that time. Alternatively, human behavior may be
primarily responsible for the origin of agriculture. A preference for living in a fixed place rather than as nomads
may have led hunters and gatherers to build permanent settlements and to store surplus vegetation there. In
gathering wild vegetation, people inevitably cut plants and dropped berries, fruits, and seeds. These hunters
probably observed that, over time, damaged or discarded food produced new plants. They may have
deliberately cut plants or dropped berries on the ground to see if they would produce new plants. Subsequent
generations learned to pour water over the site and to introduce manure and other soil improvements. Over
thousands of years, plant cultivation apparently evolved from a combination of accident and deliberate
experiment. That agriculture had multiple origins means that, from earliest times, people have produced food in
distinctive ways in different regions. This diversity derives from a unique legacy of wild plants, climatic
conditions, and cultural preferences in each region. Improved communications in recent centuries have
encouraged the diffusion of some plants to varied locations around the world. Many plants and animals thrive
across a wide portion of Earth’s surface, not just in their place of original domestication. Only after 1500, for
example, were wheat, oats, and barley introduced to the Western Hemisphere and maize to the Eastern
Hemisphere.
- Central and Southwest Asia and North
Africa
Subsistence Agriculture - the production of
food primarily for consumption by the farmer’s
family. Production for exchange is minimal, and any
exchange is noncommercial; each family or close- - The Bedouins of Saudi Arabia and North
knit social group relies on itself for its food and Africa and the Masai of East Africa
other most essential requirements. This is evident
to LDC or Lower Development country. 2. Shifting Cultivation: Also known as slash-
and-burn agriculture. It involves clearing a
Africa, South and East Asia, and much of Latin patch of
America.

Three types of subsistence agriculture land by cutting down vegetation and burning it.
The cleared land is used for farming for a few
1. Extensive subsistence agriculture years until the soil fertility decreases, after
2. Intensive subsistence agriculture
which the farmer moves to a new plot of land.
3. Urban subsistence agriculture
This cycle is repeated, allowing the previously
Extensive subsistence agriculture involves large cleared land to regenerate naturally.
areas of land and minimal labor input per hectare. Corn, millet, rice, manioc, cassava, yams,
Both production per land unit and population sugarcane
densities are low. The crop yield in extensive
agriculture depends primarily on the natural fertility Places involved in Shifting Cultivation
of the soil, terrain, climate, and other environmental
factors. - West Africa, Brazil’s Amazon basin, and
large portions of Central America
Types of extensive subsistence
- Borneo, New Guinea, Sumatra, Thailand,
1. Nomadic Herding/Pastoralism involves the Myanmar, Philippines
movement of livestock such as cattle, sheep,
or goats in search of grazing land. Nomadic
herders move their animals to different areas Intensive subsistence – a type of farming where
to ensure a constant supply of fresh farmers work hard to get the most out of a small
vegetation. This type of agriculture is common
in arid or semi-arid regions where crop piece of land. They use a lot of labor and put in a
cultivation is challenging. lot of effort to grow crops and raise animals. This
type of agriculture is usually practiced in areas
Camels , Goats, Sheep, Cattle, Horses, Yaks where there are a lot of people and not much
Transhumance` available land.

Places involved in Nomadic herding and Types of intensive subsistence farming

Pastoralism
1. Wet Rice Farming
 It is a type of intensive subsistence farming  Backyard Gardening
that focuses on growing rice in areas with  Community Gardens
abundant water resources. Here's how it  Rooftop Gardening
works:  Vertical Farming
 Window Farms
Preparation: Farmers start by preparing the  Aquaponics
land. They level the fields and create small
 Urban Beekeeping
plots called paddies. Paddies are flooded
with water to create a wet environment
Commercial Agriculture - the production of
food primarily for sale off the farm. farm production
suitable for rice cultivation.
responds to market demand, as expressed through
price signals, and is related to the consumption
Planting: Farmers sow rice seeds directly
requirements of the larger society rather than to the
into the flooded paddies. They carefully
immediate needs of farmers themselves. This is
space out the seeds to give the plants room
evident to MDC or More Developed Country.
to grow.
Five principal features distinguish commercial
Growing: As the rice plants grow, farmers
agriculture from subsistence agriculture:
make sure the paddies remain flooded with
water. This helps the plants get the nutrients
1. Purpose of farming
they need and prevents the growth of
2. Percentage of farmers in the labor force
weeds.
3. Use of machinery
4. Farm size
Harvesting: When the rice plants mature
5. Relationship of farming to other businesses
and turn golden, it's time for harvest.
Farmers cut the rice stalks and gather the
grains. They then dry the harvested rice
Type of Commercial Agriculture in LDCs:
before storing or selling it.
1. Plantation Farming
Wet rice farming requires a lot of hard work
and attention to detail. Farmers need to
Location: primarily the tropical and
manage water levels, control pests and
subtropical regions of Latin America, Africa,
diseases, and ensure the proper growth of
and Asia
the rice plants.
Characteristics:
 Owned or operated by Europeans or
Places where intensive wet rice farming
North Americans and grow crops for
is a dominant agriculture.
sale primarily to MDCs.
 Crops are normally processed at the
− Southeast China, East India, Sri Lanka
plantation before shipping to reduce
Taiwan, Japan, Korea
bulk and shipping costs.
 It is a large farm that specializes in or
2. Mixed Farming
or two crops.
It involves growing a variety of crops and
Key Crops: Cotton, sugarcane, coffee,
raising animals. Here's how it works:
rubber, tobacco, cocoa, jute, bananas, tea,
coconuts, and palm oil.
Crop Cultivation: Farmers grow different
types of crops, such as rice, wheat, corn,
Six Types of Commercial Agriculture in MDCs:
millet, or vegetables, depending on what
grows well in their region.
1. Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming
Animal Rearing: farmers raise animals like
Location: primarily U.S. Midwest and central
cows, goats, chickens, or pigs. These animals
Europe
provide milk, meat, eggs, or other products
Characteristics:
that can be consumed.
 Integration of crops and livestock.
 Livestock supplies manure for soil
Rice, Wheat, millet, pulses (peas, beans,
fertility.
other legumes)
 Nearly all land area is devoted to
growing crops.
Places involved in Mixed Farming
 More than three-fourths of income from
animal products (beef, milk, eggs).
India, China, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Africa,
 Crop rotation is common to maintain soil
Latin America, Philippines
fertility.
Key Crops: Corn (maize) is most frequently
Urban Subsistence agriculture – activities range
planted, followed by soybeans. Crop rotation
from small garden plots to backyard livestock
involves various cereals and root crops.
breeding, to fish raised in ponds and streams.

Types of urban subsistence agriculture practiced in

2. Dairy Farming
urban areas.
  Truck farming - efficient large-scale
Location: primarily near population clusters operations.
in the northeastern United States, Key Crops: Fruits and vegetables such as
southeastern Canada, and northwestern apples, asparagus, cherries, lettuce,
Europe mushrooms, and tomatoes.
Characteristics:
 Most important in the first ring outside
large cities due to transportation factors.
 The concept of the "milkshed" defines Why Do Farmers Face Economic Difficulties?■
the area from which milk can be Challenges for Commercial Farmers■
supplied without spoiling. Challenges for Subsistence Farmers
 Dairy farmers usually sell milk to
■ Strategies to Increase Food Supply
wholesalers.
Key Crops: No specific crops; primary focus
on dairy products, especially milk. Challenges for Commercial Farmers
Commercial farmers are in some ways victims of
3. Grain Farming their own success. Having figured out how to
produce large quantities of food, they face low
Location: primarily north-central United prices for their output. Government subsidies help
States and Eastern Europe
prop up farm income, but many believe that the
Characteristics:
 The major crop is wheat, primarily for future health of commercial farming rests with
human consumption. embracing more sustainable practices.
 Large-scale production, mechanized
farming. • Importance of Access to Markets Because
 Concentrated in regions too dry for the purpose of commercial farming is to sell
mixed crop and livestock agriculture. produce off the farm, the distance from the farm to
Key Crops: Wheat is the primary crop, along the market influences the farmer’s choice of crop to
with other grains like rye, oats, and barley. plant. Geographers use the von Thünen model to
help explain the importance of proximity to market
4. Livestock Ranching
in the choice of crops on commercial farms.
Location: primarily the drylands of the According to the model, which was later modified
western United States, southeastern South by geographers, a commercial farmer initially
America, Central Asia, southern Africa, and considers which crops to cultivate and which
Australia animals to raise based on market location. In
Characteristics: choosing an enterprise, the farmer compares two
 Ranching, a commercial grazing of
costs—the cost of the land versus the cost of
livestock over an extensive area.
 Adapted to semiarid or arid land. transporting products to market. Von Thünen based
 Historically significant in the settlement his general model of the spatial arrangement of
of the American West. different crops on his experiences as owner of a
Key Crops: Cattle are raised for beef large estate in northern Germany during the early
production. nineteenth century. He found that specific crops
were grown in different rings around the cities in the
5. Mediterranean Agriculture
area. Market-oriented gardens and milk producers
Location: primarily the drylands of the were located in the first ring out from the cities.
western United States, southeastern South These products are expensive to deliver and must
America, Central Asia, southern Africa, and reach the market quickly because they are
Australia perishable
Characteristics:
 Influenced by a Mediterranean climate •Overproduction In Commercial Farming
(hot, dry summers; mild, wet winters). Commercial farmers suffer from low incomes
 Horticulture and tree crops are key. because they are capable of producing much more
 Olives and grapes are major cash crops.
Key Crops: Olives, grapes, cereals, fruits, food than is demanded by consumers in MDCs. A
and vegetables surplus of food can be produced because of
widespread adoption of efficient agricultural
6. Commercial Gardening and Fruit Farming practices. New seeds, fertilizers, pesticides,
mechanical equipment, and management practices
Location: primarily the southeastern United have enabled farmers to obtain greatly increased
States and southeastern Australia
yields per area of land. The experience of dairy
Characteristics:
 Predominant type of agriculture in the farming in the United States demonstrates the
region. growth in productivity. The number of milk cows in
 Long growing season, humid climate, the United States decreased from 10.8 million to
accessible to large markets. 9.3 million between 1980 and 2008. But milk
production increased from 128 billion to 190 billion 20-centimeter (4 to 8-inch) ridges that are formed
pounds—yield per cow thus nearly doubled in the during cultivation or after harvest. The crop is
period. planted on the same. ridges, in the same rows,
year after year. Ridge tillage is attractive for two
main reasons-lower production costs and greater
The U.S. government has three policies that are soil conservation.
supposed to address the problem of excess LIMITED USE OF CHEMICALS.
productive capacity: In conventional agriculture, seeds are often
genetically modified to survive when herbicides and
1. Farmers are encouraged to avoid producing insecticides are sprayed on the fields to weeds and
crops that are in excess supply. Because soil insects. These are known as "Roundup- Ready"
erosion is a constant threat, the government seeds, because its creator Monsanto Corp. sells its
encourages planting fallow crops, such as clover, to weedkillers under the be and name "Roundup."
restore nutrients to the soil and to help hold the soil "Roundup-Ready" seeds were planted in 80
in place. These crops can be used for hay, forage percent of (all soybean acreage, 54 percent of all
for pigs, or to produce seeds for sale. cotton damage, and 12 percent of all corn acreage
in the United States in 2003,
2. The government pays farmers when certain
commodity prices are low. The government sets a INTEGRATED CROP AND LIVESTOCK.
target price for the commodity and pays farmers the Sustainable agriculture attempts to integrate
difference between the price they receive in the the growing of crops and the raising of livestock as
market and a target price set by the government as much as possible at the level of the individual farm,
a fair level for the commodity. The target prices are Animals consume crops grown on the farm and are
calculated to give farmers the same price for the not confined to small pens. In conventional farming.
commodity today as in the past, when compared to integration between crops and livestock generally
other consumer goods and services. takes place through intermediaries rather than
inside an individual farm.
3. The government buys surplus production and
Challenges for Subsistence Farmers
sells or donates it to foreign governments. In
Two issues discussed in earlier chapters
addition, low-income Americans receive food
influence the choice of crops planted by
stamps in part to stimulate their purchase of
subsistence farmers:
additional food
Subsistence farmers must feed an increasing
Sustainable Agriculture number of people because of rapid population
Some commercial farmers are converting growth in LDCs (discussed in Chapter 2).
their operations to sustainable agriculture, an Subsistence farmers must grow food for export
agricultural practice that preserves and enhances instead of for direct consumption due to the
environmental quality (Figure 10-25). Farmers adoption of the international trade approach to
practicing sustainable agriculture typically generate development (discussed in Chapter 9).
lower revenues than do conventional farmers, but
Subsistence Farming and Population Growth
they also have lower costs. An increasingly popular
Population growth influences the distribution of
form of sustainable agriculture is organic farming.
types of subsistence farming, according to
However, some organic farms, especially the larger
economist Ester Boserup. compels subsistence
ones, may rely in part on non-sustainable practices,
farmers to consider new farming approaches that
such as use of fossil fuels to operate tractors.
produce enough food to take care of the additional
Worldwide, 32.2 million hectares (79 million acres),
people. For hundreds if not thousands of years,
or 0.24 percent of farmland, was classified as
subsistence farming in LDCs yielded enough food
organic in 2007.
for people living in rural villages to survive,
assuming no drought, flood, or other natural
Three principal practices distinguish
disaster occurred. Suddenly in the late twentieth
sustainable agriculture (and at its best, organic
century, the LDCs. needed in provide enough land
farming) from conventional agriculture:
for rapidly increasing as well as for the growing
• Sensitive land management
number of urban residents who cannot grow their
• Limited use of chemicals
own food. According to Boserup, subsistence
• Better integration of crops and livestock
farmers increase the supply of food through
intensification of production, achieved in two ways:
SENSITIVE LAND MANAGEMENT.
Sustainable agriculture protects soil in part
1. Adoption of new farming methods
through ridge tillage, which is a system. of planting
crops on ridge tops. Crops are planted on 10-to.
 The additional labor needed to per- form these provided only a small percentage of the world food
operations comes from the population growth. The supply. About two- thirds of the fish caught from the
farmland yields more food per area of land, but with ocean is consumed directly, whereas the remainder
the growing population, output per person remains is converted to fish meat and led to poultry and
about the same. hogs.

DEVELOPING HIGHER-PROTEIN CEREALS.

A second possible new food source is higher-
Strategies to Increase the Food Supply protein cereal grains people in MDCs obtain protein
by consuming meat, but people in LDCs generally
Four strategies are being employed to supply: the
rely on wheat, com, and rice, which lack certain
world's food proteins.
 Expanding the land area used for agriculture
 Increasing the productivity of land now used for IMPROVING PALATABILITY OF RARELY
agriculture CONSUMED FOODS.
 Identifying new food sources Increasing exports A third way to make more effective use of
from other countries existing global resources is to encourage
 Challenges underlie each of these strategies. consumption of foods that are avoided for social
reasons.
Expanding Agricultural Land
Historically, world food production has Increasing Trade
increased primarily by expanding the amount of A fourth alternative for increasing the world's
land devoted to agriculture (Figure 10-28). When food supply is to export more food from countries
the world's population began to increase more that produce surpluses.
rapidly in the late eighteenth and early nine-tenth Before World War II, Western Europe was the
centuries, during the Industrial Revolution, pioneers only major grain-importing region. Prior to their
could migrate to uninhabited territory and cultivate independence, colonies of Western European
the land. Sparsely inhabited land suitable for countries supplied food to their parent states. Asia
agriculture was available in western North America, became a net grain importer in the 1950s, Africa
central Russia, and Argentina's pampas. and Eastern Europe in the 1960s, and Latin
America in the 1970s, Population increases in
Increasing Productivity these regions largely accounted for the need to
Population grew at the fastest rate in human import grain. By 1980 North America was the only
history during the second half of the twentieth major exporting region in the world. In response to
century, as discussed in Chapter 2. Many experts the increasing g global demand for food imports,
forecast massive global famine, but these dire the United States passed Public Law 480, the
predictions did not come true. New agricultural Agricultural, Trade, and Assistance Act of 1954
practices have permitted farmers worldwide to (frequently referred to as "PL-480"), Title f of the act
achieve much greater yields from the same amount provided for the sale of grain at low interest rates,
of land. The invention and rapid diffusion of more and Title II gave grants to needy groups of people.
productive agricultural techniques during the 1970s The United States remains the world's leading
and 1980s is called the green revolution. The green exporter of grain by a wide margin, accounting for
revolution involves two main practices-the one-third of the total exports of the three leading
introduction of new higher-yield seeds and the grains, including more than one half of all maize
expanded use of fertilizers. Because of the green exports and more than one-fourth of all wheat
revolution, agricultural productivity at a global scale exports.
has increased faster than population growth
Elsewhere in the world the picture has
Identifying New Food Sources changed in the twenty-first century from net
A third alternative for increasing the world's importers of grain, South Asia and Southeast Asia
food supply is to develop new food sources. Three have now become net exporters. Thailand has
strategies being considered are to cultivate the replaced the United States as the leading exporter
oceans, to develop higher-protein cereals, and to of rice, accounting for one-third of the world total,
improve palatability of rarely consumed foods. followed by India in second place with one-sixth,
Vietnam and Pakistan ranked fourth and filth,
CULTIVATING OCEANS. respectively, in rice exports in 2004, behind the
At first glance, increased use of food from the United States in third place. Japan is by far the
sea is attractive. Oceans are vast, covering nearly world's leading grain importing country, followed by
three-fourths of Earth’s surface and lying near most China. Japan is the leading importer of maize and
population concentrations. Historically the sea has China of wheat, and both rank among leading rice
importers. On a regional scale, Southwest Africa
(with Northern Africa) has become the leading net
importer of all three major grains, and Saudi Arabia
was the world's leading importer of rice in 2007.
Sub-Saharan Africa. also ranks among the leaders
in net imports of all three grains.
Reference:

Bjelland, Mark, Daniel R. Montello, Jerome D. Fellmann, Arthur Getis, and

Judith Getis Human Geography Landscapes of Human Activities. (McGraw-Hill
Education, 2015), 245- 265.
Rubenstein, James M. The Cultural Landscape An Introduction to Human
Geography. 10th ed. (Pearson Prentice Hall, 2011), 308- 335.