1 Unit 6 – Economic Geography I: Agriculture 38:180 Human Geography Agriculture within Economic Geography • Sectoral division of economy: – Primary – Secondary – Tertiary – Quaternary – Quinary • Indicator of economic development – Share of employment – Share of GDP • … and as precondition for civilization
37
Embed
Unit 6 – Economic Geography I: Agriculture · 1 Unit 6 – Economic Geography I: Agriculture 38:180 Human Geography Agriculture within Economic Geography • Sectoral division of
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
1
Unit 6 – Economic Geography I: Agriculture
38:180 Human Geography
Agriculture within Economic Geography• Sectoral division of economy:
• Indicator of economic development– Share of employment– Share of GDP
• … and as precondition for civilization
2
Figure 10.15 Percentage of labour force in agriculture by country, 2012
3
Evolution of Agriculture
• Hunter – Gatherer– Improved by tools and fire
• First Agricultural Revolution (up to 14,000 years ago)– Plant domestication– Domestication of animals– More sedentary settlement pattern– Subsistence agriculture
• “Shifting cultivation”• “Slash and burn”
4
The Fertile Crescent
5
Subsistence Agriculture
Slash and Burn
6
Evolution of Agriculture
• Second Agricultural Revolution (17th and 18th centuries)– New crops (colonial exchange)– Larger fields (consolidation of land-holding)– Crop rotation, soil preparation, etc.– New technologies: seed drill, tractor, combine
(eventually)– Advances in breeding (e.g. dairy vs beef cattle)– Banking (lending)– Railway
Evolution of Agriculture
• Third Agricultural Revolution (from 1930s)– Principally driven by more modern, scientific
approach to engineering seed hybrids• Maize/corn in Mexico• Rice in India and Philippines• Wheat in North America
– Debate over environmental impacts; who benefits
7
Rice Research Station in Philippines
Locational Factors
8
Locational Factors
• Physical– Climate– Soils– Topography
• Technological• Cultural (religion and ethnicity)• Institutional (state)• Economic
– Principally, competition for land
9
Canada-US border in Prairies
10
Canada-US border in Prairies
11
Why is Agriculture Spatially Dispersed?Reasons are principally economic:• Productivity of land is not the same
everywhere (for the same type of produce).
• Agriculture competes with other land uses / users.
• Markets for agricultural products are geographically dispersed.
• Agriculture is inherently land extensive
Von Thünen and the Bid Rent Model
• Because agriculture is spatially dispersed, transportation costs are a significant factor in its location logic.
• Key element of competition is over proximity to the market.
• Resulting spatial regularities make this process amenable to modeling.
12
• Why does proximity matter?– direct costs of transport– perishability– risk of damage
• Technology can alter the friction of distance.
• ‘Good’ agricultural land is good for many different uses.
Von Thünen and the Bid Rent Model
• Johann Heinrich von Thünen, The Isolated State.– The first model of spatial organization based
on economic principles.• Von Thünen was a land owner, with
different agricultural activities at different places on his estate.
• He wondered what would be the optimal arrangement of land use on his estate.
Von Thünen and the Bid Rent Model
13
Rent:• Economic Rent: ER = p - c
where:– ‘p’ = price– ‘c’ = cost
Von Thünen and the Bid Rent Model
Assumptions of von Thünen’s model:1) Homogenous physical plane2) Uniform transportation surface3) Single market centre served 100% by its
agricultural hinterland4) Farmers are profit maximizersThe model von Thünen develops describes
the spatial structure of location rents.
Von Thünen and the Bid Rent Model
14
Location Rent: economic rent specifically derived from location (e.g. due to proximity to the market).
LR = Q(p – c) – QfkQ = quantity produced per unit of landp = price per unit of outputc = cost per unit of outputf = freight rate per unit of outputk = distance to market
Von Thünen and the Bid Rent Model
15
Von Thünen and the Bid Rent Model
16
Figure 10.10 Agricultural Land Use in Uruguaya) as predicted by Von Thünen theory; b) actual
17
The Real World and Modifications
What happens when we relax the assumptions?
• Introduce a transportation corridor• Introduce another (competing) market
centre
18
19
The Real World and Modifications
To what extent is the model reflected in reality?
• developing countries• market gardens (local scale)• the national pattern in Canada, US (macro
scale)• predictive capacity of ‘distance’, likely to
be reinforced by rising fuel costs
20
The Real World and Modifications
How was the ‘Crow Rate’ related to von Thünen’s principles?
• reduced transport costs to producers• distorted the pattern of agricultural
production in Canada’s Prairies
Bid Rent Functions with (LR1) and without (LR2) Crow Rate for Prairies (P) and Quebec (Q)
21
The Real World and Modifications
Effects of the Crow Rate:• stalled industrialization in the Prairies• maintained an otherwise uneconomic
grain production pattern• deterioration of railways
The Real World and Modifications
Effects of Removing the Crow Rate:• diversification of agriculture in the Prairies• increased off-farm employment, dual
income farm families• changing profile of farm-related industry• sale of farms (and shift from ‘family
business’ to agribusiness / corporate farms)
22
General Forms of Diversification
A response to several factors driving agricultural restructuring, especially in commercial agriculture systems (most notably the ‘cost-price squeeze’)
1) Shift to other crops2) Shift to other agricultural products3) Alternative methods (e.g. organic)4) Off-farm employment5) Shift to related industry (e.g. farm tourism)
23
Agriculture and Cultural Landscapes
• Basic relation between humans and environment• Production system as culture
– extensive vs intensive• Land survey systems• Building materials / styles
– Barns, fences, etc.• Technology (e.g. irrigation)• Food as element of culture• …and the ‘character’ of a place