Unit V. Agriculture and Rural Land Use Patterns and Processes

This unit examines the origins of agriculture and its subsequent diffusion. Students learn about the ways agricultural practices have changed over time as a result of technological innovations, such as equipment mechanization and improvements in transportation that create global markets. In addition, they examine the consequences of agricultural practices such as the use of high-yield seeds and chemicals, revisiting the human–environmental relationships studied in Unit 1.

Course emphasis on spatial patterns is evident in this unit as students consider the differences in what foods or resources are produced and where they are produced. These agricultural production regions are impacted by economic and technological forces that increase the size of agricultural operations and the carrying capacity of the land. This has in turn created a global system of agriculture and the interdependence of regions of agricultural consumption and production.  Student understanding of this global system of agriculture based on government cooperation lays the foundation for a deeper understanding of economic development in the final unit of the course.

Unit V. Questions

1. What were the major hearths of domestication of plants and animals?
2. Describe the pattern of diffusion for the Neolithic revolution.
3. Describe the diffusion that took place during the Columbian Exchange.
4. In what ways do people alter the landscape to increase food production?
5. What factors led to the second agricultural revolution?
6. What were the demographic effects of the second agricultural revolution?
7. What developments made up the Green Revolution?
8. What were positive consequences of the Green Revolution?
9. What were negative consequences of the Green Revolution?
10. What are some spatial factors that affect plant and animal production?
11. What is a “bioclimatic zone”?
12. Describe the Mediterranean bioclimatic zone.
13. What is “shifting agriculture”? Where does this occur?
14. What is pastoral nomadism? Where does this occur?
15. Compare and contrast subsistence and commercial agriculture.
16. Describe intensive farming practices.
17. Describe extensive farming practices.
18. Why are large-scale commercial agricultural operation replacing small family farms?
19. What are the effects of the transformation of agriculture into large-scale agribusiness?
20. How have technological improvements changed the economies of scale in the agricultural sector?
21. How are patterns of global food distribution affected by political systems?
22. How are patterns of global food distribution affected by infrastructure?
23. How are patterns of global food distribution affected by patterns of world trade?
24. Define the following rural settlement patterns: clustered, dispersed, linear
25. Describe von Thünen’s land use model.
26. Compare and contrast the land use zones of von Thünen’s model.
27. What exceptions exist to von Thünen’s model?
28. What is desertification? Where is it happening?
29. What is deforestation? Where is it happening?
30. What is wetland destruction? Where is it happening?
31. List some pros and cons of genetically modified organisms.
32. List some pros and cons of organic farming.
33. List some pros and cons of aquaculture.
34. How do food-choice issues such as organic farming, value-added specialty crops, fair trade, and local-food movements affect patterns of food production?
35. What factors affect the location of food-processing facilities?
36. In what ways has the role of women in food production changed?
37. How has the role of women changed the types of food a family consumes and the way food is prepared?