5.2What are the factors affecting agricultural production?

© Oxford University Press 2009

Part 5 Combating famine―Is technology a panacea for food shortages?

5.25.2 What are theWhat are the factors affectingfactors affecting agriculturalagricultural production?production?

Part APart A



What is agriculture?

Cotton swabs

Fruit salad

Steak

Hide briefcase

Where do these

products come from?

Where do these

products come from?

They all come from agriculture.



What is agriculture?Agriculture refers to the growing of crops or rearing of livestock by people for ______ and ______________.

There are five ways to classify agriculture.

1 Inputs-land ratio/Outputs-land ratio


5 Level of technology


AgricultureAgriculture

food raw materials



How to classify agriculture?What is agriculture?


Intensive farming High input and output per land area

Extensive farming Low input and output per land area

2 Types of output

Arable farming Crop growing

Livestock rearing/Pastoral farming

Animal raising

Mixed farming Crop growing and animal raising on the same farm

3 Uses of outputs

Subsistence farming For self-consumption

Commercial farming For sale



How to classify agriculture?What is agriculture?

4 Permanence of farmland or pasture used

Sedentary farming Farmers grow crops or raise livestock at a permanent land site

Non-sedentary farming Farmers move from time to time in search of suitable land or pasture


Low-technology farming

Farming activity uses low technology and little energy

High-technology farming

Farming activity is specialized, highly mechanized and commercialized



How to classify agriculture?

Let’s use the above criteria to classify the

following types of agriculture.

Let’s use the above criteria to classify the

following types of agriculture.


Intensive farming

Extensive farming

2 Types of output

Arable farming


Mixed farming

3 Uses of output

Subsistence farming

Commercial farming


Sedentary farming

Non-sedentary farming




Shifting agriculture

(Credit: Mark Edwards/Still Pictures)



How to classify agriculture?1 Inputs-land ratio/Outputs-land ratio

Intensive farming

Extensive farming

2 Types of output

Arable farming


Mixed farming

3 Uses of output

Subsistence farming

Commercial farming


Sedentary farming





Nomadic herding

Nomadic herding in Kenya(Credit: Robin Hutton)




Intensive farming

Extensive farming

2 Types of output

Arable farming


Mixed farming

3 Uses of output

Subsistence farming

Commercial farming


Sedentary farming





Wheat-sheep farming insouth-east Australia

(Credit: Nigel Dickinson/Still Pictures)




Intensive farming

Extensive farming

2 Types of output

Arable farming


Mixed farming

3 Uses of output

Subsistence farming

Commercial farming


Sedentary farming





Rice cultivation in Indonesia

(Credit: Morton Beebe/Corbis)




Intensive farming

Extensive farming

2 Types of output

Arable farming


Mixed farming

3 Uses of output

Subsistence farming

Commercial farming


Sedentary farming





Vegetable growing in greenhouses

(Credit: Biosphoto/Thiriet Claudius/Peter Arnold, Inc.)




Intensive farming

Extensive farming

2 Types of output

Arable farming


Mixed farming

3 Uses of output

Subsistence farming

Commercial farming


Sedentary farming





Livestock rearing in South China

(Credit: Sun Rixaun/FOTOE)



What is a farming system?A farm can be viewed as a system, which has _______, ___________ and ________.

inputsprocesses outputs

InputsInputs ProcessesProcesses OutputsOutputs

Self-consumptionSelf-consumption

MarketMarketCashCash



In Part B, we will examine the factors affecting agriculture.



Inputs of a farming systemPhysical inputs

Arable farmingArable farming

Land (including soil)Land (including soil)

Seeds

Water

Climate (e.g. temperature, rainfall)Climate (e.g. temperature, rainfall)



Inputs of a farming systemPhysical inputs

Pastoral farmingPastoral farmingClimate (e.g. temperature, rainfall)Climate (e.g. temperature, rainfall)

Water

Livestock

Pasture

LandLand



Inputs of a farming systemCultural inputs

LabourLabour Technology/CapitalTechnology/Capital

GovernmentGovernment

MarketMarket

TransportTransport

(Credit: Ng Kim Hung)



Processes of a farming system

Ploughing

Sowing

Irrigating

Harvesting

Weeding, fertilizing and pest control

Arable farmingArable farming



Processes of a farming system

Pastoral farmingPastoral farming

Sheep shearing

Breeding

Grazing

Milking, feeding and processing dairy products



Outputs of a farming system

Useful outputs

WheatWheatTomatoTomato

LettuceLettuce

BeefBeef

Useless outputs

Useless parts of crops and animal manure

Useless parts of crops and animal manure

Can you name a kind of waste which is harmful to the environment?

Can you name a kind of waste which is harmful to the environment?

SesameSesame

5.2What are the factors affecting agricultural production?

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