AGRICULTURE
Von Thunen
Model of Land Use - essentially modeled the layout of farming in relation to a central metropolis, in order to demonstrate how different industries use location advantageously.
A perfect model would be created with concentric circles.
Orange - the city or metropolis around which the rest is centered
Yellow - Dairying and intensive farming occur in the ring closest to the city: Because vegetables, fruit, milk, and other dairy products must get to market quickly, they would be produced close to the city. (Remember, in the 19th century, people didn't have refrigerated oxcarts that would enable them to travel larger distances.) The first ring of land is also more expensive, so the agricultural products from that area would have to be highly valuable ones and the rate of return maximized.
Green - Timber and firewood: These would be produced for fuel and building materials in the second zone. Before industrialization (and coal power), wood was a very important fuel for heating and cooking, and thus comes in second in value after dairy and produce. Wood is also very heavy and difficult to transport, so it is located as close to the city as possible to minimize additional transportation costs.
Blue - Crops: The third zone consists of extensive field crops such as grains for bread. Because grains last longer than dairy products and are much lighter than wood, reducing transport costs, they can be located farther from the city.
Purple - Livestock: Ranching is located in the final ring surrounding the central city. Animals can be raised far from the city because they are self-transporting—they can walk to the central city for sale or for butchering.
Agricultural Revolutions
1st AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION: also known as the Neolithic Revolution, is the transformation of human societies from hunting and gathering to farming. This transition occurred worldwide between 10,000 BC and 2000 BC, with the earliest known developments taking place in the Middle East.
Hunting and gathering was typically a more nomadic existence.
2nd AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION: The Second Agricultural Revolution, also known as the British Agricultural Revolution, took place first in England in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. From there it spread to around the world. It involved the introduction of new crop rotation techniques and selective breeding of livestock, and led to a marked increase in agricultural production. It was a necessary prerequisite to the Industrial Revolution and the massive population growth of the last few centuries.
3rd AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION: The Green Revolution, or Third Agricultural Revolution, is a set of research technology transfer initiatives occurring between 1950 and the late 1960s, that increased agricultural production worldwide, particularly in the developing world, beginning most markedly in the late 1960s. DEALS WITH A LOT OF GMO'S
Subsistence: Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow food crops to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Little to no surplus.
Commercial: Commercial agriculture is a large-scale production of crops for sale, intended for widespread distribution to wholesalers or retail outlets.
Intensive: Wet Rice
Extensive: Nomadic Herding (for arid places that can't grow crops).
Shifting fields (Like using slash and burn method for places with sub par soil. Like the tropics).
Intensive: dairy
Extensive: grain and forestry (logging and planking).
HEARTHS OF DOMESTICATION
LATIN AMERICA:
FOOD - squash, pepper,cassava, cotton, lima bean, maize, potato, sweet potato.
ANIMALS: - lliama, alpaca, turkey
SUB SAHARAN AFRICA: FOOD - yam, sorghum, cowpea, african rice, coffee, finger millet
SOUTH WEST ASIA:
FOOD - emmer wheat, oats, rye, broad bean. olive
ANIMALS - sheep, goat
EAST ASIA:
FOOD - rice, soybean, chinese chestnut, walnut
SOUTH EAST ASIA:
FOOD - mango, taro, coconut, pigeon pea, slender millet.
OBSERVATIONS
MOST ARE CLOSE IN PROXIMITY TO THE EQUATOR
FIVE HEARTHS IN TOTAL
MOST OF THEM ARE CLOSE TO SOURCES OF WATER
GMO'S AND HIGH YIELD SEEDS - can be used to solve world hunger. The green revolution is responsible for the recently successful development of higher-yield, fast-growing varieties of rice and other cereals in certain developing countries.
COST OF FARMING
Cost of Land Use
Cost of transporting goods to the market
As land gets further away from the center of the Von Thunen Model (the city), it decreases in value, but the transportation costs increase, because it's further from the market.
Close to city: INTENSIVE
Far from city: EXTENSIVE
Nomadic herder engage in TRANSHUMANCE, which is the action or practice of moving livestock from one grazing ground to another in a seasonal cycle, typically to lowlands in winter and highlands in summer.
Farmers that practice the slash and burn method result in swiddens, which is an area of land cleared for cultivation by slashing and burning vegetation.
AGRIBUSINESS -
agriculture conducted on commercial principles, especially using advanced technology.
the group of industries dealing with agricultural produce and services required in farming.
A commodity chain is a process used by firms to gather resources, transform them into goods or commodities, and finally, distribute them to consumers