AG - Agricultural Models Lesson

Agricultural Models Lesson

Agricultural Sectors

  • Primary sector - pulling raw material from the earth (mining, agriculture, animal domestication, forestry)
  • Secondary sector - transforming raw materials into manufactured goods (processing, refining, metallurgy)
  • Tertiary sector - Services (construction, trade, finance, retail, transportation)
  • Quaternary sector - Jobs in service (non-tangible retail - internet, tax services)
  • Quinary sector- Management (administration, government)
  • Farming is primary, but agribusiness encompassed all sectors (includes growing, canning, packaging, marketing, transporting and selling)

Von Thunen's Land Use Model

  • Johann von Thunen, was a German geographer in the early 19th century who noticed that crops and land use changed, even if the climate and terrain were the same
  • He created the model of agricultural land-use
    • Market gardening and dairy farming were closet to the marketplace (central city) because they are expensive to transport and spoil quickly
    • Forestry was next because logs are heavy to move
    • Field crops (wheat, corn) were next because crops could sustain travel (light and did not spoil)
    • Animal grazing because of the space available (although feedlots are now making use of less space)
  • The first rings were intensive (because the land is more expensive) and the fourth was extensive

Johann von Thunen City Circle of Agriculture - concentric circles around a black dot

 

Johann Heinrich von Thunen's model of agricultural distribution around a city in concentric circles.

        • The dot represents a city.
        • The white area around it (1) represents dairy and market gardening
        • The green area (2) represents the forest for fuel
        • The yellow area (3) represents field crops and grains
        • The red area (4) represents ranching and livestock
        • The outer (dark green) region represents the wilderness where agriculture is not practiced.

 

Von Thunen's Assumptions

  • Von Thunen assumed that:
    • There was one market with a central location
    • The area outside was uninhabited forestland and there were no other close markets
    • The land was flat, uniform and there were no barriers on the way to the only market available
    • There was only one mode of transportation
    • That all farmers were rational
    • Main two factors are costs of rent and costs of transportation (cost to distance relationship)
      • The closer the land is to the market, the more limited it is, so the more it costs (bid-rent curve)

Problems with Von Thunen

  • This model does a good job illustrating the functioning of a local market
    • The model can be altered to account for transportation networks and competing markets (will change the shape and size of zones)
  • Von Thunen did believe that climate and topography (rivers, arid, etc) could change the pattern
    • But he did not consider things such as cultural choices and religious implications in farming
  • With the globalization of agriculture, the von Thunen model becomes nearly obsolete as local food economies are replaced by large-scale agricultural production

Von Thunen in modern times - there are parts of the model that can still be applied in the US

United States Map - Von Thunen Agricultural Circles Map

Changes in Farming

  • Originally farming was extensive agriculture , meaning it was widespread, but now the focus is on intensive agriculture, or getting greater production from smaller areas
    • Capital-intensive uses machinery and tools with little human labor
    • Labor-intensive uses human hands
  • Farming is not the only component of agribusiness
    • Farming, processing, packaging, storing, distribution and retailing (and the technology and science behind new ideas)
    • More than 20% of the US population is involved in agribusiness
    • Agribusiness is involvement in the entire commodity chain (all the resources and processes needed to go from crop to grocery store)

Land Use Patterns in the United States

  • You will recall from earlier units that most of the land in the US is divided up using three land survey systems (in distinct regions of the US)
    • Metes and Bounds – the English land survey system is most prevalent along the Eastern Seaboard (i.e. original 13 colonies)
      • This system used landmarks and well known natural landforms to divide up land (rivers, mountains, forests, etc.)
    • Long Lot – the French land survey system is used in Louisiana, Texas and other areas influenced by French colonists
      • This system created more narrow lots that gave all landowners accessed to certain landforms (i.e. rivers)
    • Township and Range – the American system was used in the western states
      • This systems used precise measurements to create large farmsteads and clear ownership

Flash Cards

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IMAGES CREATED BY GAVS (Images are available in the Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons License Attribution)