Transcript General
Agricultural Geography
Cultural Geography C.J. Cox
Geographer’s Perspective of World Agriculture
Geographers are interested in the patterns and distribution of agriculture in the world today.
– What are the patterns of agriculture worldwide?
– Why are agricultural areas distributed in the manner that they are?
Agriculture
Agri - Latin for field culture - to cultivate The expanded definition of Agriculture includes the cultivation of plants and animals The goal of agriculture is produce sufficient food supplies
Physical Factors
Land/Soil (fertility) Water (precipitation & rivers) Sun ( temperature, evaporation rates) Climate
Cultural Factors
Population Distribution Diet of population calorie supply, protein, health Living Material clothes, houses Lifestyle/Cultural Tradition nomadic, sedentary/rain dances Economics cash crops with greatest profit ie. viticulture Government/Political Policies Argentina wheat, Japan rice
Origins of Agriculture
– Hunters and gatherers – Invention of agriculture
Agricultural Hearth Areas
Indus River in Pakistan Mesopotamia in Iraq Huang Ho in China Nile River in Egypt
Agricultural Hearth Areas
Carl O Sauer – Two types of cultivation Vegetative Planting Seed Agriculture – Southeast Asia – West Africa – Northwestern South America – western India – northern China – Ethiopia – Southern Mexico – northwestern South America
Difference between Subsistence and Commercial Agriculture 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Purpose of farming Percentage of farmers in the labor force Use of machinery Farm Size Relationship of farming to other businesses – Agribusiness
Forms of Agriculture
Subsistence – produced for consumption – work by hand – most people work shifting agriculture nomadic herding rice (intensive subsistence) plantation agriculture Commercial – produced for market – mechanized – few laborers livestock & ranching horticulture dairy farming mixed crop grain medditeranean
If we lived in this area during the hunting and gathering period what types of plants and animals might we have eaten? Use whatever knowledge of the area you might have or guess if you have to.
Caloric intake
– most of world’s people have an adequate supply of calories – the five concentrations have a calorie supply called well above adequate -120% – outside of Africa only Haiti and Afghanistan show serious malnutrition – many states in central and east Africa show malnutrition