Geography (9696) | Agricultural systems and food production

Advanced Human Geography Option: Production, Location and Change (11.1)

Hello Geographers! Welcome to the fascinating world of agricultural systems and food production. This chapter is vital because farming doesn't just happen randomly—it's a complex system influenced by physical geography, economics, politics, and culture. Understanding this helps us tackle huge global challenges like feeding a growing population and managing environmental resources sustainably. Let’s break it down!

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1. Understanding Agricultural Systems

Think of farming like cooking. You need ingredients (inputs), a method (processes/throughputs), and the final meal (outputs). An agricultural system is a set of inputs, processes, and outputs that interact to produce agricultural products.

1.1 The Systems Model: Inputs, Throughputs, Outputs

Every farm operates using this simple geographical model:

A. Inputs (The ingredients)

• Physical Inputs (Natural resources):
  • Climate: Temperature (e.g., citrus needs warm temperatures), rainfall amounts and seasonality.
  • Soil: Fertility, texture, and structure (e.g., alluvial soils are often highly fertile).
  • Relief/Topography: Slope steepness (steeper slopes are harder to farm and prone to erosion).
• Human Inputs (Capital and resources):
  • Labour: The physical work needed (can be high for intensive farming).
  • Capital: Money invested (for machinery, seeds, etc.).
  • Technology: Machinery, fertilisers, pesticides, and irrigation systems.
  • Land Tenure: Who owns or rents the land, which affects investment decisions.

B. Throughputs (The cooking process)

These are the actions taken to transform inputs into outputs.

• Cultivation: Ploughing, tilling the soil.
• Planting and Sowing: Putting seeds in the ground.
• Harvesting: Gathering the crop.
• Fertilising and Pest Control: Managing soil nutrients and fighting disease.

C. Outputs (The final product)

What the system produces or results in.

• Products: Crops (wheat, rice), livestock (meat, milk).
• Waste Products: Crop residue, animal manure.
• Non-Product Outcomes: Profit, pollution (e.g., fertiliser run-off), soil degradation.

Key Takeaway: An agricultural system is a cycle. Changing one input (like adding irrigation) significantly affects the throughputs and outputs (higher yield).
The physical environment provides the base, but human decisions determine the success.

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2. Factors Affecting Agricultural Land Use (The P.S.E.P. Framework)

Don't worry if this looks like a lot—we can group the factors that determine what a farmer grows (or grazes) and how they do it. Use the P.S.E.P. mnemonic to remember the categories: Physical, Social, Economic, Political.

2.1 Physical Factors

These are the natural, non-human elements. They set the fundamental limits on what can be grown.

• Climate: Determines growing seasons. Example: Tropical rainforest areas support year-round shifting cultivation; temperate zones have defined seasonal cycles.
• Soils: Soil depth, nutrient content, and pH level are crucial.
• Relief (Topography): Steep slopes restrict the use of machinery and increase soil erosion risk, often favouring pastoral (livestock) farming over arable (crop) farming.

2.2 Social Factors

These involve the people and their traditions.

• Land Tenure: The way land is held or owned. If farmers only rent land short-term (tenant farmers), they are less likely to invest in long-term improvements like terracing or high-quality irrigation.
• Tradition and Culture: Certain crops may be grown or livestock raised due to cultural preference or religious beliefs (e.g., avoiding pork or beef).
• Nature of Demand: Local dietary requirements and local population size dictate immediate production needs.

2.3 Economic Factors

Money and markets drive these decisions.

• Distance from Markets: This relates to the famous Von Thünen Model. Perishable and bulky products (like fresh vegetables and dairy) are usually produced closer to the market due to high transport costs.
• Capital Availability: Wealthier farmers can afford technology (tractors, seeds, fertiliser), allowing them to farm more productively or intensively.
• Market Structure: Is the farmer selling to a local cooperative, a national supermarket chain, or international traders? This determines price and required quality.

2.4 Political Factors

How governments influence farming.

• Agricultural Technology (Government Role): Investment in research and development (R&D) to create high-yield varieties (like the Green Revolution).
• Subsidies and Tariffs: Financial support (subsidies) can encourage farmers to grow specific crops, while import taxes (tariffs) protect domestic produce.
• Land Reform: Government policies changing land ownership (e.g., breaking up large estates into smaller, communally owned farms).

Key Takeaway: Farming location and method are a compromise between what the environment allows (physical) and what people need or decide (social, economic, political).

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3. Classifying Farming: Systems, Scale, and Intensity

3.1 Arable vs. Pastoral Systems

Agricultural systems are broadly defined by what they produce:

• Arable System: Farming involving the cultivation of crops (e.g., rice, wheat, vegetables).
• Pastoral System: Farming involving the rearing of livestock (e.g., cattle, sheep, goats).
• Mixed System: A combination of both livestock and crops on the same farm, which can be very efficient for nutrient cycling (manure fertilises crops).

Example of an Arable System: Wet Rice Cultivation in Southeast Asia.
Inputs include large amounts of water (irrigation), labour, and fertile alluvial soil. Throughputs include flooding the paddies, transplanting seedlings, and harvesting. Output is rice, providing food security for millions.

Example of a Pastoral System: Nomadic Herding in the Sahel region of Africa.
Inputs are natural pasture, seasonal movement knowledge, and low capital. Throughputs involve seasonal migration to find fresh grazing and controlled breeding. Outputs are milk, meat, and hides.

3.2 Intensive vs. Extensive Production

These terms describe the *amount of input* used relative to the *size of the land*.

A. Intensive Production

• Definition: Characterised by high inputs of capital, labour, or technology per unit area of land.
• Goal: Maximise yield (output) from a small area.
• Example: Market gardening near cities, dairy farming in the Netherlands, or factory farming (livestock). These operations require high investment in fertiliser, machinery, or buildings.

B. Extensive Production

• Definition: Characterised by low inputs of capital, labour, or technology per unit area of land.
• Goal: Maximise output per worker, often over a very large area.
• Example: Commercial grain farming in Canada (huge machinery, few workers), or sheep ranching in the Australian outback.

Analogy: An intensive system is like growing herbs in a small, expensive, temperature-controlled indoor box (high input, small space). An extensive system is like letting cattle wander across a massive, unfenced prairie (low input, huge space).

3.3 Agricultural Productivity

Productivity measures the efficiency of the system—the amount of output relative to the input used. It can be measured in several ways:

• Yield per Unit of Land (e.g., tonnes of wheat per hectare).
• Output per Unit of Labour (e.g., tonnes of wheat per farmer).

Intensive systems usually have high yield per unit area but may have lower output per worker if labour input is very high. Extensive systems often have high output per worker (due to mechanisation) but low yield per unit area.

Key Takeaway: Farming classification helps us understand the trade-offs: intensive farming often means higher yields but higher costs and potential environmental strain.

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4. Issues in Agricultural Expansion: Intensification and Extension

To feed the world, production must increase. We do this in two ways, both of which face challenges:

4.1 Intensification of Agriculture

This means boosting yield on existing farmland, usually through technology.

• How? Use of High Yielding Varieties (HYVs) of seeds, more fertiliser and pesticides, better irrigation, or improved machinery.
• Issues:
  • Environmental degradation: Excessive use of chemicals leads to water pollution and loss of biodiversity.
  • Dependence: Farmers become reliant on expensive seeds, chemicals, and equipment, which can increase debt (especially in LICs/MICs).
  • Soil Issues: Overuse or poor practices can lead to soil exhaustion and structural decline.

4.2 Extension of Cultivation

This means bringing new land into production.

• How? Clearing forests (deforestation), draining wetlands, or irrigating arid land.
• Issues:
  • Ecosystem Loss: Loss of critical habitats (e.g., rainforests) and biodiversity.
  • Marginal Land: Newly cultivated land is often marginal (poor quality) and highly susceptible to degradation, erosion, or desertification.
  • Conflict: Land extension can lead to conflicts over resources and displacement of indigenous communities.

Key Takeaway: While increasing output is necessary, both intensification and extension carry high environmental and socio-economic risks that require careful management.

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5. Population-Resource Relationships: Food Security and Carrying Capacity

This topic links directly back to the Core Human Geography topic on Population (4.3) and explains the 'why' behind managing agricultural change.

5.1 The Concept of Food Security

Food Security means that all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

Did you know? The key to food security isn't just producing enough food (availability), but ensuring people can afford it and transport it (access).

Causes and Consequences of Food Shortages

• Constraints (Causes):
  • Physical/Climatic Hazards: Droughts (e.g., the Sahel region), floods, and pests (e.g., locusts).
  • Conflict/War: Disrupts supply chains, displaces farmers, and destroys infrastructure.
  • Economic Poverty: Lack of capital for seeds or fertiliser, preventing farmers from achieving maximum yields.
  • Poor Distribution: Even if food is available, poor roads or corruption can prevent it from reaching those in need.
• Consequences: Malnutrition, famine, migration (refugees), social unrest, and slowed economic development.

5.2 The Concept of Carrying Capacity

Carrying Capacity is the maximum population that an environment can sustainably support given its resources and technology.

This concept is crucial for agriculture because it asks: Can our current farming system (and environment) support the projected population size?

Evaluating Optimum Population

• Optimum Population: When the population size, given current resources and technology, yields the highest quality of life (not just the most people).
• Overpopulation: When the population exceeds the carrying capacity, leading to a decline in living standards and environmental damage (e.g., soil erosion due to overuse).
• Underpopulation: When the population is too small to make full, efficient use of available resources (e.g., lack of labour to farm remote areas).

Don't worry if this seems tricky at first! Carrying capacity is a dynamic concept—it changes with technology. If we invent a drought-resistant crop (technology/innovation), the carrying capacity of a dry region instantly increases.

Key Takeaway: Food security and carrying capacity are directly managed by improving agricultural systems and ensuring constraints (like war or climate) are minimised.

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6. The Management of Agricultural Change (11.2)

Agricultural change is managed at different scales, addressing the need for increased production while solving environmental and economic difficulties.

6.1 Need for Change

The primary needs for agricultural change are: population growth (demanding more food), climate change (necessitating resilience), and improving farmer incomes.

6.2 Management Scales and Solutions

A. Local Scale (The Farm, Holding, or Producer)

Management solutions applied directly by the farmer or local community:

• Irrigation Schemes: Implementing micro-drip irrigation to save water.
• Crop Rotation: Planting different crops each season to maintain soil fertility and break pest cycles.
• Terracing/Contour Ploughing: Physically altering the slope to reduce soil erosion and retain water (e.g., rice paddies in Bali, Indonesia).
• Afforestation: Planting trees as windbreaks to reduce erosion.

B. National Scale (Government Policy)

Large-scale policy and infrastructure changes implemented by the government:

• Research and Development (R&D): Funding institutions to breed new, hardier crops (e.g., developing salt-tolerant rice varieties).
• Subsidies and Price Support: Guaranteeing minimum prices for staple crops to encourage farmers to invest and increase production.
• Infrastructure Investment: Building better transport links (roads, storage facilities) to reduce post-harvest losses and improve access to markets.
• Land Reform: Redistributing land to ensure fair access and encourage long-term investment by the farmers themselves.

Key Takeaway: Effective management of agricultural change requires coordinated efforts at both the farm level (sustainable practices) and the national level (policy, infrastructure, and technology).