Chapter 10

Key issue 1

Agriculture​: modifying the earth through the cultivation of plants and rearing of animals
to obtain food or money

Cultivate:​ to care for

Crop​: a plant cultivated by people

Agricultural Revoluton​: when human beings first domesticated plants and animals and
were no longer exclusively hunter-gatherers

Subsistence Agriculture​: production of food primarily for consumption by the farmer’s

family

Commercial Agriculture​: production of food primarily for sale off the farm

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Pg. 347

Approximately ½ of people in LDCs are farmers

- The overwhelming majority of them participate in ​subsistence agriculture
- LDCs are home to 97 percent of the world’s farmers
- Less than 2 percent of the U.S. consists of farmers
- Technology allows U.S. farmers to better food at a faster rate for more people
- Farmers consider their environment and how they can modify the landscape to
their advantage; they specialize in a certain crop that they think will suit their
environment best and benefit them the most
- Farmers select agricultural practices based on what based on what the culture/
people around them prioritize/prefer

Hunter-Gatherers
- Before agriculture, humans survived by gathering plants and hunting animals
- Men hunted and women gathered
- Traveled frequently, were nomadic
 - 0.005 of the world’s population survives by hunting and gathering today (such as
the Spinifex/Pila Nguru in Australia’s Great Victorian Desert, the Sentinelese in
India’s Andaman Islands, and the Bushmen in Botswana and Namibia)

Pg. 348-349

The ​agricultural revolution ​began around 8000 B.C.

- At this point, the world’s population began to grow at a faster rate
- Agriculture created a more stable source of food for the population, leading to an
increase in survival
- Both environmental and cultural factors contributed to the start of the agricultural
revolution
- Environmental factors: ​people who support this theory say that the
agricultural revolution coincided with climate change 10,000 years ago;
this marked the end of the ice age, leading to a redistribution of
humans/plants/animals
- Cultural Factors: ​people who support this theory say that human
behavior is responsible; a preference for a permanent home might have
led hunter-gatherers to make permanent settlements and store surplus
food there; they probably observed that discarded food produced new
plants; following generations would learn to water the seeds and improve
the soil, etc. (combination of accidental/deliberate experimentation)

Hearths
- Agriculture originated in different parts of the world
- Southwest Asia: ​barley, wheat, lentil, and olive, 10,000 years ago
(diffused west to Europe and east to Central Asia)
- East Asia: ​Rice along Yangtze River 10,000 years ago, millet along
Yellow River at an early date
- Sub-Saharan Africa: ​Sorghum in central Africa 8,000 years ago, yams
even earlier, millet and rice, diffused to southern Africa
- Latin America: ​Mexico (beans and cotton) and Peru (potatoes)
4,000-5,000 years ago; maize emerged independently as well in the two
regions; all diffused northward into North America and southward into
South America; origin of squash might be southeastern present-day U.S.
- Animal domestication originated in different parts of the world as well
- ​Southwest Asia: ​most important hearth: cattle, goats, pigs, and sheep,
8,000-9,000 years ago; dogs are thought to have been domesticated
12,000 years ago in this region, East Asia, or Europe
 - Central Asia: ​horses; diffusion of this animal is thought the be associated
with the diffusion of the Indo-European language
- Inhabitants of Southwest Asia were perhaps the first to integrate
cultivation of crops with the domestication of animals such as cattle,
sheep, and goats; the animals were fed with the harvested crop, in turn;
products such as skins, milk, and meat may have been exploited later

Improved communications around the world have led to the diffusion of plants and
animals that would’ve otherwise been specific to a certain area; many animals can
sustain themselves in environments around the world similar to their original homes.
- After 1500, wheat, oats, and barley were introduced to the Western Hemisphere
and maize to the Eastern Hemisphere

Pg. 350

Agricultural practices between farmers in LDCs and MDCs differ wildly.

- Subsistence agriculture​ is found mostly in LDCs
- Commercial agriculture​ is found mostly in MDCs
- The use of machinery, the percentage of farmers in the labor force, and farm size
distinguishes the two

Percentage of Farmers in the Labor Force

- In developed countries, 5 percent of workers are engaged in farming; in
developing countries, it’s 44 percent; in North America, it’s 2 percent
- Farmers in the U.S. and Canada produce enough food to feed their respective
countries and create a surplus
- The number of farmers in developed countries dramatically decreased in the 20th
century
- U.S. had 60 percent fewer farms and 85 percent fewer farmers in 2000 than in
1900
- 6 million farms in 1940, 4 million in 1960, and 2 million in 1980
- Push and pull factors are responsible for the decline
- Push: farming did not offer decent income
- Pull: higher-paying jobs in urban areas

Use of Machinery
- Machinery animals and people and helps farmers produce more crops at a faster
rate than anyone else
 - In the 18th century, factories began to produce farm machinery
- First all-iron plow was made in the 1770s
- As time went on, more farming equipment was made to make farmers’ lives
easier
- Railroads in the 19th century and highways and trucks in the 20th century have
aided farmers in transporting equipment, crops, and livestock
- When these things are transported in vehicles and trains, they arrive in better
condition
- Science has increased productivity in farms
- Experiments and research have yielded herbicides, pesticides, fertilizers, hybrid
plants, animal breeds, new farming practices, etc.
- Access to new scientific information has helped farmers make better decisions
regarding how they run their farms
- Farmers use electronics such as GPS devices for knowing how and when to
fertilize plants; also for locating livestock; satellite imagery is used to measure
crop progress

Pg. 351

Farm Size
- The average farm in the U.S. is 418 acres; the average farm size in China is 2.5
acres
- Mechanization affects the size
- Most types of machinery work best when working on large-scale farms
- They cannot be used on smaller farms because it wouldn't be practical
- Commercial agriculture is expensive; renting or buying land or machinery costs
hundreds of thousands of dollars
- Farmers use loans to pay for this equipment
- A handful of large farms in the U.S. dominate commercial agriculture in the U.S.
- 5 percent of farms produce 75 percent of the country's total agriculture
- 90 percent of U.S. farms are family-owned
- Amount of land devoted to agriculture in the U.S. has increased by 13 percent
due to irrigation and reclamation
- Due to the expansion of urban areas, the U.S. has lost 3 million acres of land per
year
Key issue 2

Dietary energy consumption​: the amount of food that an individual consumes

Cereal grain​: grass that yields grain for good

Grain​: seed from a cereal grass

Food security​: physical, social, and economic access at all times to safe and nutritious
food sufficient to meet dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life

Undernourishment​: dietary energy consumption that is continuously below the

minimum requirement for maintaining a healthy life and carrying out light physical
activity
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Most “typical” human is an Asian farmer who grows enough food to survive.

Diet
Variation in food consumption is affected by:
- Level of development: ​MDCs consume more food than people on LDCs
- Physical conditions: ​climate determines what can be easily grown/consumed in
LDCs; MDCs, however, simply import food from other countries
- Cultural preferences:​ some food preferences/avoidances exist despite physical
and environmental factors

Total Consumption of Food

Dietary energy consumption​ is measured through kilocalories/calories (kcal). One
gram (or oz) of each food source gives a kilocalorie level. Most humans derive
kilocalories from cereal grain. Wheat, rice, and maize account for 90 percent of all grain
production and 40 percent of all dietary energy consumed worldwide.
- Wheat: ​principal cereal grain consumed in Europe’s MDCs, North America, and
the LDCs of Central/Southwest Asia
- Rice: ​principal cereal grain in LDCs of East/South/Southeast Asia (best for
tropical climates)
- Maize: ​leading crop in the world
 - Other crops:​ a handful of countries primarily consume other crops; cassava,
sorghum, millet, plantains, sweet potatoes, yams, sugar

Source of Nutrients
In LDCs, the leading source of protein is meats (beef, pork, poultry); meat accounts of
⅓ of all protein intake in MDCs or 1/10 in LDCs. In LDCs, cereal grains provide the most
protein.

Nutrition and Hunger

Food security​, as defined by the UN, is a privilege that ⅛ of the world’s population
currently do not have.

Dietary Energy Needs

The UN Food and Agricultural Organization states that an individual needs to consume
at least 1,800 kcal every day
- Average consumption worldwide is about 2,800 kcal per day (or 50 percent more
than the recommended minimum)
- People in MDCs consume 3,600 kcal
- Austria and the U.S. have the highest (3,800 kcal)
- In LDCs, average daily consumption is 2,600 kcal
- Average in sub-Saharan Africa is 2,400 kcal
- Diets are more likely to be deficient in countries where people have to spend a
high percentage of their income on food

Undernourishment
The UN estimates that about 870 million people are undernourished (all in LDCs)
- India has the largest population of undernourished people (225 million)
- China is second (130 million)
- ¼ of sub-Saharan Africa, ⅕ of South Asia, and ⅙ in all LDCs are undernourished
- Number of undernourished people has not changed in the last several decades;
percentage of undernourished people has decreased thanks to population growth
- East Asia has had the largest decrease in undernourished people
- South and sub-Saharan Africa have the largest increases
- Southeast Asia has also had a decrease
Key issue 3

Pastoral nomadism​: a form of subsistence agriculture where herding of domesticated

animals is prioritized

Transhumance​: seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland

pasture areas

Pasture​: grass or other plants grown for feeding grazing animals

Shifting cultivation (slash-and-burn agriculture)​: a form of subsistence agriculture

where people shift activity from one field to another; farmers clear land for planting by
slashing vegetation and burning the debris

Swidden​: a patch of land cleared for planting through slashing and burning

Intensive subsistence agriculture​: a form of subsistence agriculture where farmers

must expend a relatively large amount of effort to produce the maximum feasible yield
from a parcel of land

Wet Rice (paddy)​: rice planted on dry land in a nursery and then moved to a
deliberately flooded field to promote growth

Sawah​: Austronesian word for flooded field for growing rice (incorrectly called a paddy
by Europeans)

Chaff​: husks of grain separated from the seed by threshing

Thresh​: to beat out grain from stalks

Winnowed​: to remove chaff by allowing it to be blown away by the wind

Hull​: outer covering of a seed

Double cropping​: harvesting twice a year from the same field

Crop rotation​: the practice of rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year
to avoid exhausting the soil
Plantation​: large commercial farm in an LDC that specializes in one or two crops

Agribusiness​: system of commercial farming found in MDCs

Truck farming​: commercial gardening and fruit farming, so named because ​truck
Was a Middle English word meaning “bartering” or “exchange of commodities”

Milkshed​: ring surrounding a city from which milk can be supplied without spoiling

Reaper​: machine that cuts grain standing in the field

Horticulture​: growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers

Ranching​: commercial grazing of livestock over an extensive area

Text written like this contains an important statistic or especially important info

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Derwent Whittlesey, in 1936, identified 11 agricultural regions (5 are important in

developing countries and 6 are important and developed countries)

LDC agricultural regions:

- Pastoral nomadism​ (Southwest/Central/East Asia, North Africa)
- Shifting cultivation​ (Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia)
- Intensive subsistence, wet rice dominant​ (East/South Asia)
- Intensive subsistence, crops other than rice dominant​ (East/South Asia)
- Plantation ​(Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, South/Southeast Asia)

MDC agricultural regions:

- Mixed crop and livestock​ (U.S. Midwest, central Europe)
- Dairying​ (northeastern U.S., southeastern Canada, northwestern Europe)
- Grain​ (north-central U.S., south-central Canada, Eastern Europe)
- Ranching​ (western North America, southeastern Latin America, Central Asia,
sub-Saharan Africa, South Pacific)
 - Mediterranean​ (land surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, western U.S.,
southern Africa, Chile)
- Commercial gardening​ (southeastern U.S., southeastern Australia)

Agriculture in Developing Regions

Agricultural Regions and Climate

Climate dramatically affects the type of agriculture in a region. Parts of the world with
similar climates tend to share the same types of agriculture
- Despite being in the same country, southeastern China (warm and wet climate)
and northeastern China (cold and dry) practice different types of agriculture
- Though Africa is a great place to make wine, there’s a lot of alcohol avoidance in
non-Christian countries so production is low

Pastoral Nomadism
Pastoral nomadism​ (pastoral referring to sheepherding) is common in dry climates
where crops cannot be grown.
- Pastoral nomads live in the belt of arid/semiarid land in Central/Southwest Asia
and North Africa
- Bedouins (Saudi Arabia/North Africa) and the Masai (East Africa)
- Only 15 million people (sparsely occupy 20 percent of land)
- Consume mostly grains, not meat (do not slaughter their animals)
- Part of the group may plant crops in a location while the rest wander with the
herd; some might hire workers to practice sedentary agriculture in return for grain
and protection; others might plant crops in recently flooded areas and return later

Choice of Animals
- Determine what animal they use based on what is desired by others/what the
physical environment is like
- Camels/goats/sheep are highly sought after in North Africa and Southwest Asia
- Camels work best in arid climates (carry water, heavy baggage, and move fast)
- Goats need more water, but are tough, agile, and can survive on any vegetation
- Sheep move slow, need more water, and are more selective about their food
- Typical nomadic family needs 25-60 goats/sheep or 10-25 camels

Movements of Pastoral Nomads

- Do not wander randomly, but have control over a piece of territory
- Invade other territory in an emergency/if war is declared
 - Goal: obtain enough land to survive
- More land = more power, and vice versa
- Groups divide into 5-6 herding units
- Practice ​transhumance​ and use ​pastures​ to feed livestock
Future of Pastoral Nomadism
- Considered more advanced than hunter-gatherers but less than farmers
- Now considered an offshoot of of sedentary agriculture, not a precursor of it
- Domestication of animals was first achieved by sedentary farmers
- Used to be important in carrying goods/info across drylands; modern technology
and national governments have controlled nomads more effectively now
- China, Kazakhstan, and Southwest Asia have tried to resettle nomads
- Nomads won’t cooperate
- Governments want nomad land for agriculture/mining/petroleum industries
- Nomads are now confined to areas selected for them by the government

Shifting Cultivation
Shifting cultivation​ is practiced in tropical climates
- Practiced by 250 million people across 36 million sq. kilometers
- Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia
- Generally live in small villages and grow food on surrounding land
- Farmers clear land by slashing vegetation and burning debris
- Farmers grow crops on the field for only a few years; leave when the soil
is depleted so it can recover for many years

The Process of Shifting Cultivation

- Farmers clear vegetation to farm fields
- Cut down most trees except useful ones
- The debris is burned under controlled conditions
- Rain washes nutrients ashes into the soil, providing nutrients
- Cleared area (known as ​swidden​) is prepped with a hoe and fertilized with the
leftover debris
- The field can only support crops for three years or less
- Most productive harvest comes in the second year
- Weeds grow rapidly
- After the farmers leave, they get another area and clear it
- The farmer returns to the old field after it recuperates (6-20 years later)

Crops of Shifting Cultivation

Predominant crops: upland rice (Southeast Asia), corn/manioc (South America),
millet/sorghum (Africa)
- Originated in one region and diffused to others in recent years
- Kayapo people (Brazil): plant in concentric rings
- Plant sweet potatoes in the inner area
- Plant corn, rice, manioc, and yams in successive rings
- Inner area of potatoes and yams expands to replace corn/rice
- Outermost ring contains plants that require more nutrients (papaya,
banana, mango, etc.)
- Families grow only for themselves; one swidden = large variety of crops
- In shifting cultivation, a field looks more hectic than in MDCs

Ownership and Use of Land in Shifting Cultivation

Land is traditionally owned by a village rather than be each resident
- Chief gave each family a piece of land
- Private individuals now own the land in some communities
- Shifting cultivation: ¼ of world’s land area
- Less than 5 percent of the population engages in shifting cultivation
- Moving one field from another ever few years = requires more land per person
than other types of agriculture

Future of Shifting Cultivation

Land devoted to shifting cultivation in the tropics is declining at 75,000 sq.
kilometers (0.2 percent) every year according to the UN
- Amount of land allocated to tropical rain forests reduced to less than half
of its original area
- Changed when World Bank supported deforestation with loans
- Shifting cultivation is being replaced by logging, ranching, and cash crops
- At best, a preliminary step in economic development
- Used to clear forest in the tropics and clear land for development
- Critics: it should be replaced by more sophisticated agriculture
- Defenders: most environmentally sound for the tropics
- Destruction of rainforests causes large amounts of CO2 to be released
- Bolivia: set aside 3.7 mil. acres in a forest reserve to receive cancellation of
its debt to MDCs
- Brazil: deforestation increased by 7 million acres per year to 8 million acres
Intensive Subsistence (Wet Rice)
¾ of world lives in LDCs; intensive subsistence agriculture feeds most of them
(most of East/South/Southeast Asia

Characteristics of Intensive Subsistence Farming

Typical farm in Asia is much smaller than other farms
- Asian farmers own a lot of fragmented land; land is divided among children
- Agricultural density (farmers to arable land) is very high in East and South Asia
- Families produce their food from a very small piece of land (use up all the land)
- Paths/roads are as narrow as possible; animals are rarely used
- Wet rice​ occupies small percentage of Asia’s agri-land (but the most important)
- Rice production: China/India (50%), East/South/Southeast Asia (90%)
- Dominant type in southeastern China, East india, and most of Southeast
Asia

Cultivation of Wet Rice

- Field Preparation:​ farmer uses plow drawn by an animal
- Flooding: ​land is flooded with rain/river/irrigation water; too much/too little
can damage the crop; dikes/canals are repaired before planting
- Transplanting: ​grow seedlings on dry land and then transfer to a flooded
field; ​1/10 of the sawah is dedicated to seedlings; transferred to the
rest of the field after a month; grow submerged in water for ¾ of
growing period
- Harvesting: ​plants harvested by hand; separate husks (​chaff​) from seeds
by ​threshing​ them by beating them; threshed rice is placed in a tray,
lighter chaff is ​winnowed​; if consumed directly, the outer covering (​hull​) is
removed with a mortar and pestle; commercially sold rice is
whitened/polished, which makes the appearance/taste more appeasing
- Grown on flat land (river valleys and deltas)
- Population growth in East Asia has forced expansion of rice areas
- Land is used even more in Asia through double harvests per year
- Common in places with warm winters (southern China, Taiwan)
- Involves alternating between wet rice and other crops in drier seasons
Intensive Subsistence (Not Rice)
Some parts of Asia have climates unsuitable for rice
- In northeastern China and India’s interior, other crops are planted (wheat/barley)
- Other grains and legumes are also grown (millet, sorghum, corn, etc.)
- Cash crops: cotton, flax, hemp, tobacco
- Through ​crop rotation​, more than one harvest can be obtained
- Crops are planted in each season except winter
- Communist government organized agricultural producer communes (consisted of
many villages, which consisted of hundreds of people each)
- Combined many small fields into one unit; hoped to increase productivity
- However, people work less efficiently when working for a commune
- Dismantled communes; villagers now sign contracts to farm land as individuals
- Reorganization has been difficult because infrastructure/equipment were meant
to serve communes rather than individuals (they cannot afford to maintain them)
- Productivity greatly increased

Plantation Farming
The only form of commercial agriculture in LDCs
- Tropics/subtropics in LDCs of Latin America, Africa, and Asia
- Owned by North Americans/Europeans
- Sell crops to MDCs; processed before being shipped to make cheaper to ship
- Most important: cotton, sugarcane, coffee, rubber, tobacco
- Others: cocoa, jute, bananas, tea, coconuts, palm oil
- Latin America: coffee, sugarcane, and bananas
- Asia: rubber and palm oil
- Import workers and provide the with food, housing, and social services
- Try to spread work as evenly as possible throughout the year
- Demand for cotton increased after use of textile factories in England
- Production stimulated by cotton gin’s improvement
- Plantations declined after Civil War

Agriculture in Developed Regions

Food in most MDCs is sold directly to food-processing companies

- Companies like General Mills and Kraft sign contracts with farmers to buy their
grain and livestock
- Farmers may have contracts to sell specific crops to companies that require them
to make a specific product (ex. sugar beets to sugar refineries)
 - Farms are integrated into large food-production industries (​agribusiness​)
- Farmers heavily use technology to keep track of prices, yields, and expenses
- 20 percent of U.S. laborers work in agribusiness-related jobs

Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming (MCLF)

Most common type of agriculture in the U.S. west of the appalachians and east of
98 degrees west longitude in much of Europe from France to Russia

Integration of Crops and Livestock

Most of the crops are animal feed; their manure is used to fertilize
- Farm gives almost all its land to crops
- Derives ¾ of its income from sale of animal products (beef, milk, eggs)
- Permits farmers to distribute workload evenly throughout the year
- Fields need less attention in winter than in spring or fall
- Livestock needs attention year-long
- Reduces seasonal variations in income
- Most income from crops comes during harvest season; livestock products can be
sold year-long
- Corn is the most planted crop in MCLF (mostly used to feed cattle)
- Most important region is the Corn Belt (Ohio to Dakotas, center in Iowa)
- Soybeans are the second more important crop in U.S. mixed commercial
farming
- Also used to make animal feed; makes tofu (major food in Japan and China)

Crop Rotation
MCLF involves crop rotation
- Farm is divided into several fields; each field is planted on a planned cycle
- Crop changes every year (cycle of two or more crops); maybe a year of fallow
between before cycle repeats; minimizes soil depletion and restores fertility
- Opposite of shifting cultivation
- 5th century:​ two-field crop-rotation system, Northern Europe; cereal grain
planted in Field A and Field B left fallow; following year: Field B is planted,
Field A is left fallow, and so on.
- 8th century: ​three-field system introduced; first field planted with winter
cereal, second field planted with spring cereal, third field is left fallow.
Consequently, each field yields four harvests every six years compared to
three in the same time in the two-field system.
 - 18th century: ​four-field system, Europe; first year: Field A (root crop),
Field B (cereal), Field C (“rest” crop like clover), Field D (cereal); second
year: Field A (cereal), Field B (rest crop), Field C (cereal), Field D (root);
continues for two more years before cycle repeats
- Cereals sold for flour/beer production, straw is retained for animal bedding
- Root crops fed to animals during winter; rest crops used for grazing and restoring
nitrogen to soil

Commercial Gardening and Fruit Farming

Predominant type in southeastern U.S.; region has long growing season and humid
climate; accessible to NY, Philadelphia, Washington, and other NE U.S. urban areas
- Truck farms grow veggies/fruits that MDCs demand (apples, cherries, lettuce)
- Most are sold to processors for canning/freezing
- Large-scale operations that heavily use machines
- Experiment with new varieties/seeds/fertilizers to maximize efficiency
- Migrant farm workers (usually undocumented) are hired to minimize costs
- Specialize in a few crops; handful of farms dominate production of some
fruits/veggies
- Specialty farming in New England: farmers profitably grow crops that have limited
but increasing demand among wealthy buyers (asparagus, peppers,
strawberries, etc.)
- Good alternative for dairy farming (high costs, low milk prices)

Dairy Farming
Most important type near the large urban areas of NE U.S., SE Canada, and NW
Europe.
- Also important in South/East Asia
- Rapid growth of cities in MDCs in 19th cent. increased demand for milk
- Rising incomes allowed residents to buy milk, which was once a luxury

Regional Distribution of Dairying

Milk production was clustered in a few MDCs for most of the 20th century
- World milk production in LDCs: 26 percent in 1980, 53 percent in 2010
- India is the world’s largest milk producer (U.S. second, China and Pakistan third
and fourth)
- Dairying is the most important type in the first ring outside large cities in MDCs
- Dairy farms are closer to their markets than other farms because milk spoils fast
 - Improvements in transportation have allowed farms to be farther from their
markets
- Before the 1840s (railroads), milksheds were not more than 30 miles away
- Refrigerated railcars/ trucks today allow farmers to ship milk farther today
(300 miles away)
- Every farm in NE U.S. and NW Europe is within the milkshed of at least one city
- Sell milk to wholesalers and butter/cheese manufacturers
- Farther a farm is from an urban area = less they dedicate output to fresh milk
- Farms far from consumers sell more to processors that make other milk products
- New Zealand devotes 5 percent to liquid milk, U.K. devotes 50 percent
- New Zealand farmers do not sell much liquid milk because it’s too far away from
major markets in North America and Europe

Challenges for Dairy Farmers

Dairy farming doesn’t produce enough money for the amount of work involved
- Labor intensive: ​cows are milk twice a day; can be done with machines
- Winter feed: ​difficult to graze cows with lack of grass; farmers purchase
hay/grain for winter feed; crops are sometimes grown in the summer and stored
for the winter on the same farm

Grain Farming
Some form of grain is the major crop on most farms
- Grain is primarily grown for consumption
- In LDCs, output is directly consumed by farmers
- Wheat is the most important; can be sold at higher prices, has more uses, can be
stored easily and transported long distances
- Can be shipped profitably from remote farms to markets, unlike milk
- World production of what in LDCs has grown rapidly
- Results from growth in large-scale commercial agriculture
- World wheat production in LDCs: ¼ in 1960, ½ in 2010
- U.S. is largest producer in MDCs, but third in the world (China first, India
second)
- Large-scale and heavily mechanized
- Reaper ​allowed large-scale production
- Combine​ machine today reaps, threshes, and cleans in one operation
- Effort needed to grow wheat is not consistent year-long; some people have two
fields, one in the spring wheat belt and another in the winter wheat belt
- Same machinery can be used on both fields
- Located in dry regions unsuitable for MCLA
 - Production concentrated in three areas
- Winter wheat belt (Kansas, Colorado, and Oklahoma): ​the ​winter
wheat​ crop is planted in fall and stops growing in the winter; survives
winter and is ripe by summer
- Spring wheat belt (Dakotas, Montana, southern Saskatchewan in
Canada): spring wheat ​is planted in spring and harvested in late summer
- Palouse region of Washington State: ​less important than other two; also
an important source of legumes​ (80 percent of U.S. lentils are grown
here)
- World’s leading export crop
- U.S. and Canada account for ½ of world’s wheat exports
- North American prairies are called the world’s “breadbasket”

Mediterranean Agriculture
Lands that border Mediterranean Sea/MS (Southern Europe, North Africa, Western
Asia) and California, central Chile, southwestern South Africa, and southwestern
Australia
- These areas border a sea and are on west coasts
- Sea winds give moisture, moderate winters, hot and dry summers
- Land is hilly and mountains plunge into the sea
- Leave narrow stripes of flat land along coast
- Livestock products are a smaller focus
- Transhumance traditionally used along MS, but used less now
- Physical + cultural traits influence the type of crops grown
- Farmers plant a variety in hilly landscapes
- Olives and grapes most important in Mediterranean Sea
- ⅔ of world’s wine made in Mediterranean (Italy, France, Spain)
- Mediterranean agriculture elsewhere provides the rest of wine production
- ½ of land in Mediterranean devoted to cereals (wheat for pasta/bread)
- After cultivation, cash crops planted one some of the land and the rest is left
fallow for 1-2 years
- California doesn’t focus much on cereals compared to other Medit. climates
- Devotes its land to horticulture
- Rapid growth in California has converted agricultural land to development land
- Farming in dry-lands requires massive irrigation to provide water
Livestock Ranching
Ranching​ is practiced in MDCs where vegetation is sparse and soil is poor

Cattle Ranching in the U.S.

- Cattle ranching dominated Texas commercial agriculture from 1867-1885
- Expanded during 1860s because of demand for beef in East Coast
- Ranchers paid $30-$40 per cattle head in Chicago (only $3-$4 in Texas)
- Cattle would then be slaughtered, processed, and shipped to East Coast
- Cowboys drove cattle by hoof from Texas to the nearest railhead
- Taken into cattle cars for the rest of the way
- Western terminus of the rail line reached Abilene, Kansas in 1867
- Wichita, Caldwell, Dodge City, and other Kansas towns took turns as main
destination for cattle driven north on trails from Texas
- Most famous route from Texas northward to the rail line was the Chrisholm
Trail
- (began near Brownsville at border and northward through Texas)
- Declined in the 1880s with popularity of sedentary agriculture
- Code of the West: ranchers’ cattle could graze on any open land; early ranchers
owned little land
- U.S. government began to sell this grazing land to farmers to grow crops
- After 1873 (use of barbed wire fences by farmers), ranchers could no
longer illegally erect their own fences
- Had to lease/buy land to accommodate cattle
- 60 percent of cattle grazing today takes place on land leased from
government
- Land in U.S. has been converted from ranching to crop growing
- Ranching has low costs but low profit as well

Commercial Ranching in Other Regions

Conducted in all countries (LDCs included)
- Interior of Australia, Argentina, southern Brazil, Uruguay (not much of
Europe)
- Industry in Argentina grew rapidly because of access to the ocean and overseas
markets
- Growing in ranching is increasing LDCs
- China is the leading producer of meat, U.S. second, and Brazil third
- Passed the U.S. in 1990 (now produces two times as much)
- MDCs now responsible for ⅓ production in 2010 (⅔ in 1980)
- Started off as semi-nomadic
- Transformed into fixed farming by dividing the open land into ranches
- Later confined to drier lands
- Remaining ranches experimented with new methods of breeding and sources of
water/feed
- Ranching is part of the meat-processing industry