Models of Agricultural Land Use - AP Human Geography

“Crop rotation” is a system developed during the Second Agricultural Revolution in order to preserve the mineral health of soil used in agriculture and prevents patches of land from being exhausted. The idea is that by growing different crops, in the same soil, in the different seasons the soil can be preserved for a much longer period of time than it otherwise might be. The reasons for this are numerous and complicated, but the simplest explanation is that different crops drain the soil of different minerals and, additionally, replenish the soil with different nutrients.

A “feedlot” is a place where a large quantity of livestock is raised in extremely cramped and inhumane, but cost effective, conditions. The factory farms where chickens are often produced in the United States are examples of “feedlots.”

“Spring wheat” is an extremely important collection of crops that provides a great deal of the nutrition that is consumed by the planet. “Spring wheat” is planted in early spring and usually harvested in the late summer. In the United States “spring wheat” is generally harvested between mid-August and late-September.

“Polders” have long been associated with the Netherlands. A “polder” is a piece of farming land that has been reclaimed from water, either from the sea or from flooded plains and marshes. It was particularly crucial in Dutch history due to the fact that the Netherlands is an extremely low-lying country with almost no elevated terrain above sea level.

“Sharecropping” refers to a system of agriculture whereby a landowner allows an individual or a family to rent a portion of land in exchange for a share of the crops they harvest. “Serfdom” and “plantation” may seem like correct choices; however, “serfdom” refers to the status of many peasants under feudalistic rules that were considered to be part of the land that they farmed. “Plantation” refers to a large piece of land used to commercially produce a single crop.

A “polder” is a piece of farmland that has been reclaimed from water. They are usually from flooded plains, marshes, or—more recently—the sea. This is important for sustaining agricultural growth in regions of the world that are low-lying and easily flooded.

“Subsistence-farming” is the name given to a specific type of agricultural production in which an individual farmer, or a family, produces enough food to support himself or herself. It is common in especially rural or poor areas throughout the world.

The Von Thunen model was first proposed by the geographer Johann von Thunen. It concerns how agricultural land usage varies in relation to the proximity of that land to urban centers. Specifically Von Thunen noted that crops that spoil easily or require expensive transportation were located close to urban centers, whereas crops that stayed fresh for a long time and required less expensive transportation were located further from urban centers.

The growing of crops like grapes and olives is closely associated with Mediterranean agriculture. A form of agriculture that practices in countries like Italy, Greece, and Spain on the Mediterranean and in regions of other countries such as Chile, Australia, the United States, and Argentina.

America, like most developed states around the world, has a very small percentage of its population employed in agricultural work. In the United States between one and two-percent of the population is currently employed in agricultural work as their primary form of labor. This question was guessable even if you did not know the exact number, because you should have guessed the lowest percentage available given the general trend of agricultural labor in America.

Despite its reputation Wisconsin is actually the second largest dairy-producing state in the United States. The honor of being the largest dairy producing state goes to California. Much of America’s dairy farming is concentrated in the upper Midwest, but California still produces almost a quarter of all America’s dairy produce.

In a “planned-agricultural economy” the government controls all aspects of the production, sale, and exchange of agricultural produce. The supply and the price are both set by the government. This type of agricultural economy is closely associated with communist countries, although it is practiced in capitalist societies too. Planned-agricultural economies were common in China and the Soviet Union in the twentieth century, particularly when the two countries were under the control of Mao and Stalin, respectively.

In the Von Thunen model ranching and livestock agriculture is generally located the furthest distance from urban centers. This is because these forms of agriculture require more space and consist of produce that remains edible for a relatively long period of time.

Derwent Whittlesey identified five key agricultural practices - as well as regions in which they were commonly practiced - that he considered vital to maintaining the population of developing societies. These include plantations; pastoral nomadism; intensive subsistence, rice; intensive subsistence, not rice; and shifting cultivation.

In the Von Thunen model crops that spoil easily, such as dairy products, are most likely to be located close to urban centers to decrease transit time.

A “milkshed” is the term applied to an agricultural region in which milk is produced in large numbers.

“Capital-intensive agriculture” is a type of agricultural production in which a mid-size land holding is used to produce as much goods as possible. The vast majority of the labor is carried out by machinery, with relatively little human work required.

California, with its temperate and reliable climate and its varied terrain, has a very similar style of agriculture as that practiced in the Mediterranean. This is why traditional Mediterranean crops like grapes and olives grow so well in regions of California.

Derwent Whittlesey is famous for developing the concept of eleven distinct agricultural regions in the 1930s. Whittlesey divided these eleven regions into some that were important to developed societies (e.g. livestock farming) and some that were important to developing societies (e.g. pastoral nomadism).