Unit 5 - Agriculture

Question for the video

Turn standards into questions

Identify major centers of domestication of plants and animals and patterns of diffusion in the first (Neolithic) agricultural revolution.

• Early hearths of domestication of plants and animals include Southwest Asia (e.g., the Fertile Crescent), Southeast Asia, and the Americas.

• Patterns of diffusion (e.g., Columbian Exchange) resulted in the globalization of various plants and animals.

Explain the connection between physical geography and agricultural practices.

• Agricultural regions are influenced by the natural environment (e.g., climate, soils, landforms).

• Populations alter the landscape (e.g., terraces, irrigation, deforestation, draining wetlands) to increase food production.

Explain the advances and impacts of the second agricultural revolution.

• New technology and increased food production led to better diet, longer life, and more people available for work in factories.

Analyze the consequences of the Green Revolution on food supply and the environment.

• The Green Revolution began with the development of high-yield seeds (e.g., rice, wheat, maize), resulting in the increased use of chemical and mechanized farming.

• Positive consequences of the Green Revolution include increased food production and a relative reduction in hunger at the global scale.

• Negative consequences of the Green Revolution include environmental damage resulting from irrigation and chemical use (e.g., pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers) and the cost of technology and seeds.

Identify agricultural production regions associated with major bioclimatic zones.

• Plant and animal production is dependent on climatic conditions, including spatial variations in temperature and rainfall.

• Some agricultural regions are associated with particular bioclimatic zones (e.g., Mediterranean, shifting agriculture, pastoral nomadism.

Analyze the economic forces that influence agricultural practices.

• Agricultural production regions are defined to the extent to which they reflect subsistence or commercial practices, or intensive or extensive use of land.

• Intensive farming practices include market gardening, plantation agriculture, mixed crop/livestock systems, etc.

• Extensive farming practices include shifting cultivation, nomadic herding, ranching, etc.

Explain the spatial organization of large-scale commercial agriculture and agribusiness.

• Large-scale commercial agricultural operations are replacing small family farms.

• The transformation of agriculture into large-scale agribusiness has resulted in complex commodity chains linking production and consumption of agricultural products.

• Technological improvements have changed the economies of scale in the agricultural sector.

Explain the interdependence among regions of food production and consumption.

• Food is part of a global supply chain; products from less developed low-latitude regions (eg., coffee, bananas) are often consumed globally.

• Patterns of global food distribution are affected by political systems, infrastructure, and patterns of world trade.

Identify rural settlement patterns.

• Rural settlement patterns are classified as clustered, dispersed, or linear.

Compare and contrast the land use zones of von Thunen’s model.

• Von Thunen’s model helps to explain rural land use by emphasizing the importance of transportation costs associated with distance from the market.

Analyze the application of von Thunen’s land use model to agricultural production in the real world.

• Von Thunen’s model helps explain the contemporary distribution of agricultural regions (e.g., dairy, horticulture, wheat).

• Regions of specialty farming (e.g., South Florida, California’s Central Valley) do not always conform to von Thunen’s concentric rings.

Evaluate the environmental consequences of agricultural practices.

• Environmental systems are affected by land use/land cover change (e.g., irrigation, desertification, deforestation, wetland destruction, conservation efforts).

Explain issues related to the changing nature of contemporary agriculture.

• Agricultural innovations (e.g., biotechnology, genetically modified organisms, organic farming, aquaculture) have resulted in ongoing debates over environmental, cultural, and health impacts.

• Environmental issues related to agriculture include sustainability, soil degradation, reduction in biodiversity, overgrazing, river and aquifer depletion, animal wastes, and extensive fertilizer and pesticide use.

• Patterns of food production and consumption are influenced by food-choice issues (e.g., organic farming, value-added specialty crops, fair trade, local-food movements).

Explain issues related to the location of food-production facilities.

• Factors affecting the location of food-processing facilities include markets, economies of scale, transportation, government policies, etc.

Explain the changing role of women in food production and consumption.

• The role of women in food production has changed (e.g., food gathering, farming, managing agribusiness).

• The role of women has changed the types of food a family consumes and the way food is prepared.