CHP10-98

d:\pb48633\geo201\chp1098.doc

GEOG 201

CHAPTER 10 STUDY NOTES

AGRICULTURE

Below are the broad outline notes used in class for the lecture on Agriculture and its origins.

I. Key Point -- Where did Geography Originate

- A. Defining Agriculture

AGRICULTURE --(A.) Deliberate modification of earth's surface by (1) cultivating crops or (2) raising animals

(B.)for economic gain or sustenance

(Breakdown definitions into their constituent parts, this makes it easier to remember them.)

B. TWO TYPES

1. Subsistence -- crops produced and consumed on farm

2. Commercial -- surplus produced and traded

C. PRODUCTION METHODS

1. Seed based

2. Vegeculture

3. Animal Husbandry/ Domestication

D. ORIGINS

1. From Folk customs -- what does this imply???? Think of all the differences between folk and popular customs.

2. Different crops originate in different regions & at different times -- what does this say about the environment? Does this indicate anything about Possiblism (see chapter 1 if you forgot)?

E. DIFFUSION – how does this relate to spread of agriculture

- Consider the mechanisms and describe the types

- Examples:

- - - Wheat to the US
      Corn to Nepal

THE JERICHO STORY (Based on the "folk tale" of Douglas North, Nobel prize laurette formerly with UW Economics Department)

Background -- 6 mi N of Dead Sea, on W side of Jordan River

-- about 250' below sea level
-- based on Biblical accounts although some historians dispute it, site of famous battle in 1400BC with Joshua

9500BC Hunters & Gathers establish camp

1. Climate in general area -- Mediterranean

2. Transition zone between desert and forest

3. Work divided by gender

4. Demographic stage & place on food chain

-as a society moves from hunting to agriculture it moves from the top of the food chain to a more middle position, since food chains can be thought of as organized in a pyramid fashion the quantity of potential food is much greater at the bottom then at the top. By moving down the food chain through the introduction of agriculture suddenly humans had much, much larger quantities of food. Result, better nutritian and health, greater survival rates, and fewer people devoted to food production.

-what does this mean in regards to

demographic change

productivity gains

development

the ability of a society to create urban areas where people live and work outside of food production

the possibility of popular as opposed to folk customs

5. Food gathering method -- for wild Barley and later Wheat

a. Prior to 3500BC no pottery

b. Select least shatterable wild grains, bundle these into large sheaves and carry them back to their homes, recall that shatterabilitty is how easily the seeds fall off the stem of the grain. By selecting the least shatterable most of the grain arrives intact at the home. More shatterable varieties will fall off along the way.

c. Most shatterable thrive -- based on this process of human selection, by taking less shatterable varieties year after year soon this type will begin to dissappear, but by accident the more shatterable will be scattered and tramped into the ground at the site of the gathering.

8000BC AGRICULTURE DISCOVERED

Possible stories or some combination

1. At gathering Site: Seeds that fall onto the ground and are stepped on at areas harvested reproduce at a higher rate, sort of a crude form of sowing grain.
2. At Home Site: Based on Animistic Religious practices there is the possibility of grain offerings near the home site, this would begin to create small patches of grain growing in areas they had not previously been found in. Again, a very crude way of sowing a new field.

3. Also near the home site, Rubenstein points out that food will be discarded. This too could provide for a very crude form of sowing.

4. It is impossible to know which if any of these stories/hypotheses is correct. Also, each requires a leap of understanding from accidental scattering and stomping grain in the ground to actually choosing to put it there.

SURPLUS RESULTS -- suddenly there was more food and available more regularly

1. Demographic impact -- what was it?
2. Urban impact -- hint was Jericho a town?

3. Development impact -- think surplus, think productivity gains

4. First great civilizations -- where in the world is Jericho located

DIFFUSION along trade & migration routes -- the usual story for any new "inventions" of society

II. Classifying Agricutural Areas

A. 5 tools for differentiating Commercial from Subsistant Agricultural Regions
- - purpose of farming
  - % of farmers in labor force
  - use of machinery
  - farm size
  - relationships of farming to other businesses
  read through these sections and be familiar with the major differences of the two farming types for each point

III. Key Point 2 -- Agricultural Regions in Less Developed Countries

A. Know the three major types of Agricultural Regions that exist in Less Developed Countries and characteristics of each
B. By comparing Figure 10-4 and 10-5 note the location of Pastoralism to climate and identify where in Africa it occurs

C. Do the same for Shifting Cultivation

D. For intensive subsistence, concetrate on wet rice cultivation, again find the relationship with climate and identify where it is located in Asia

E. Finally out of these three which supports the most people (look at the demographic chapter if necessary)

IV. Key Point 3 -- Agricultural Regions in More Developed Countries

A. Know the Characteristics of Mixed Crop & Livestock, Dairy, Grain, and Lovestock Farming
B. Note the relationship of Dairy Farming to Urban Areas

V. Key Point 4 -- Why does agriculture vary among regions

A. Environmental and Cultural Factors -- does this reinforce some conclusions you drew from the climate and subsistance farming regions in Africa and Asia?
B. Economic Issues and Subsistence Farmers
- 1. What's the relationship of drugs to subsistant farmers? Where are major producing areas? What are the trade routes?
C. Von Thunen
- - Emphasizes proximity to markets and "land rent" (or land cost)
  - More profitable products grown closer to markets
  How has this model been applied? What kind of spatial patterns does this model predict
  
  Based on discussion in class what kind of assumptions underly this model?
D. Overproduction or "Socialism" for American and other farmers
- 1. Note that there are both social and environmental benefits from farm subsidy, price support, and productive capacity programs?
  2. Who ultimately gets the surplus food?
  
  3. Might people be paid to not work? Explain.
  
  4. Who ultimately pays for this program?