GEOGRAPHY – 3º ESO

UNIT 6.: PRIMARY SECTOR

HOW TO INTERPRET AN AGRICULTURAL LANDSCAPE

To interpret a farming landscape you have to consider the following factors:

1. Structure of farming space: the agricultural landscape depends on some facts or features such as size, irrigation, boundaries, shape, variety of crops.

1.1: Size: the absolute size of the farms or plots is very important to analyze the landscape and property structure. Plots are usually measure by hectares. There are four different farm sizes:

·       Smallholdings: very small farms with less than 5 hectares. They are usually too small to be productive, so they are related to traditional or subsistence economies (vs. commercial agriculture).

·       Small: 5 to 20 hectares. These farms are bigger than the smallholding but not so large. They are very common market gardens, usually irrigated by irrigation systems.

·       Medium: between 20 and 100 hectares.

·       Large: up to 100 hectares. Large farms can be found everywhere. They are often indirectly worked by leasing (more than sharecropped) and own by corporations. When the farm is bigger than 500 hectares is a latifundium (very common in southern Spain). This size is related to commercial economies (vs. subsistence agriculture).

1.2 Shape:

·        Regular: fields have a regular shape: square, rectangular or circular. Regular plotting is found mainly in modern agriculture.

·        Irregular. Fields are adapted to the relief or as a result of custom or inheritance.

1.3 BOUNDARIES:

·        Enclosed: fields are closed by hedges, fences or even stonewalls.

·        Openfield: there are no physical boundaries between plots. They are divided by roads, paths, water channels or simply the different crops. Open fields are the result of machinery use like tractors and mechanical harvesters.

2. Variety of crops:

·        Monoculture. A single crop predominates over the rest. Monoculture is typical in USA where crops are organized in “belts” or rings according to the physical conditions of the area (climate and soil mainly), wheat belt, Corn Belt… This variety of crop is linked with commercial agriculture.

·        Polyculture: different crops are grown in the same area, even in the same plot. Polyculture is highly common in market gardens and subsistence farming.

3.    UTILIZATION OF THE SOIL

·        Intensive agriculture:

-  Crops are produced for commercial purposes (massive production) or the main goal of this type of agriculture is to obtain a maximum profit. This is achieved in different ways.

a.     Monoculture: normally, only one product is cultivated to increase the productivity.

b.     Mechanization: advanced machines replace human labour.

c.     Modern farming methods:

o   Cultivation without soil

o   Cultivation in artificial soil

o   Fertilizers improve soil fertility

o   Irrigation systems:

- Drip irrigation. The water is delivered to every plant directly by a drip device. This system is used specially to water plant by plant like in trees or garden species (lettuce, tomato, eggplants, etc.).

- Sprinkler. The water is sprinkled overhead the crops at high-pressure. The sprinkler may be mounted on rotating structures creating a circular shape field. Sprinklers are specially indicated for farming cereals in dry or semi-arid areas.

·        Extensive agriculture:

-  Crops are produced for familiar or subsistence purposes. Characteristics:

a.     Polyculture: farmers cultivate various crops at the same time to make sure there is food during the whole year.

b.     Traditional or primitive farming techniques (animal worked plough) and intense manual labour. As a result the productivity is low.

c.     Traditional farming methods: such assurface irrigation. The oldest and the most used all over the World. It consists of covering the field with water, mainly fed by channels.

TEMA 4. EL SECTOR PRIMARIO

Comenta los siguientes paisajes agrarios según los criterios vistos en clase