Types and Location of Agricultural Regions in More

Developed Countries

CHAPTER 10

Key 3

I Mixed Crop and Livestock

• Practiced in most of the USA and much of Europe

• Integration of crops and livestock. Most of crop goes to feed livestock rather than people, and most income comes from animals

• Farmers practice Crop rotation and grow different things on the land each year to keep soil fertile. Sometimes rotated between two or four crops

• Main Crops on Mixed farms in the USA are Corn and Soybeans

II Dairy Farming• Most important type of commercial agriculture near

urban areas in North East USA and SE Canada and NW Europe

• Also important in Russia, Australia, and New Zealand.• Milk can spoil quickly so dairy farms are located within a

MILKSHED or a ring surrounding a city from which milked can be supplies without spoiling.

• The farther the dairy farm is from the city, the less fresh milk it produces, instead selling butter, cheese, or other products. Some countries like New Zealand, one of the largest dairy producing countries only sells 5% as milk

• Dairy farmers face rising costs and lower profitability. The number of dairy farms has declined by 2/3 however the number of cows has only decreased slightly and production has actually risen

III Grain Farming• Grains are seeds from grasses and include wheat, corn, oats,

barley, rice, millet, and others• Grown mainly for human consumption• Wheat is the main grain crop, it has a high value, stores well, and

ships well.• Three important areas in N.A.

– Winter wheat in Kansas, Colorado and Oklahoma– Spring wheat in Dakotas, Montana, and Saskatchewan in Canada– Washington State

• Heavily mechanized using first the reaper, now the combine. Some farmers have two farms in different regions so they have year round work and income

• Wheat is the leading export crop in international trade. USA and Canada provide half of worlds wheat and prairies are know as the “bread basket”

IV Livestock Ranching

• Ranching is commercial grazing of livestock over a large area. Mostly found in arid or semi-arid regions where soil is poor.

• Origins in Spain and Portugal. Columbus first brought Cattle to the western hemisphere where it thrived on the open lands of the frontier.

• Grew in popularity and was a leading type of agriculture in the mid to late 1800s

• Declined in importance with the rise of sedentary agriculture.

• Also practiced in parts of South America, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East. Often ranches in other parts of the world have sheep instead of cattle

Ranching Culture• One difficulty of Cattle ranching early on was getting the

cows to market. End of railroad was Abilene Kansas where Joseph G. McCoy (the real McCoy) built up the city in increased the number of cattle brought through the city

• Cattle ranchers followed the “code of the west” and owned little land but had range rights as to where they could have their herd

• Government sold open range to farmers setting off range wars. Farmers won with the invention of barbed wire and ranchers had to buy or lease land. Today most grazing land is leased from the U.S. government.

• Ranching became more fixed when new breeds and irrigation of the dry lands increased.

• The “cowboy” has become a part of U.S. popular culture due to TV and Movies

V. Mediterranean Agriculture

• Found primarily in the lands surrounding the Mediterranean sea. Also found in small scale in California, Chile, and parts of South Africa on the west coasts

• Practice horticulture which is the growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers and trees.

• Olives, grapes and fruits are the main crops but also grow wheat and other cash crops

• Rapid growth of cities in California is cutting into prime agricultural land, farms move further into the more arid regions.

VI. Commercial gardening and Fruit Farming

• Found mainly in the U.S. Southeast. • Crops include apples, asparagus, cherries, lettuce,

mushrooms, tomatoes and other foods that consumers demand

• Sometimes called truck farming, truck was a Middle English word meaning bartering.

• Highly mechanized and scientific experimenting with seeds and fertilizers to maximize production.

• Often keep cost down by hiring migrant workers• Also includes specialty farms for things like peppers,

strawberries and nursery plants

VII Plantation Farming

• Type of commercial agriculture found in LDCs but owned by corporations from MDCs and grow crops for consumption in MDCs

• Specialize in one or two crops usually things like sugar, coffee, cotton, tobacco.

• Before civil war plantations were important in the Southeast USA.