1. FARMING.• 1.1. Physical factors: climate, relief, soil.• 1.2. Social and economic factors: labour, market,

government.2. CLASSIFICATION.• Arable, pastoral, mixed.• Intensive, extensive.• Commercial, subsistence.• Nomadic, sedentary.3. DIFFERENT TYPES OF AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITY

IN THE WORLD.• 3.1. Shifting cultivation.• 3.2. Wet rice farming.• 3.3. Intensive commercial farming: market gardening.• 3.4. Extensive commercial farming.• 3.5. Plantation agriculture.

. 4. THE EUROPEAN UNION AND ITS CAP.

1. Farming

Farming is the growing of crops and the rearing of animals

1.1.Physical factors: climate• Temperature: crops

need a minimum of 6°C to grow. (Look over climates in the world)

• Rainfall: crops need between 250 mm and 500 mm a year.

Climatic regions in the world

Physical factors: relief

• Flat land is easier to grow crops on, there is less soil erosion and machinery can be used safely.

• Some places are too high to grow crops because they are too cold. Temperature decreases 6°C each 1000 m.

• Only south facing slopes are warmer because they face the sun

Physical factors: soil

• Soil needs to be fertile, deep and well drained.

1.2. Social and economic factors: labour

Farming requires either - Human labour (low

yields)

or

- Mechanisation (high yields)

Social and economic factors: market

• Farmers grow crops that are in demand and change to meet new demands.

• Markets are now global.

Social and economic factors: governments

• Quotas are limits on the amount of some produce set by the governments.

• Subsidies are money paid by the government to encourage some types of produce.

2. Classification of agriculture

Arable

Pastoral

Mixed

Classification of agriculture

• Intensive: high yields from a small area of land. It needs high input of money, labour or technology.

• Extensive: low yields from a large area of land.

Classification of agriculture

• Pastoral farming can also be intensive or extensive

Classification of agriculture

• Commercial: farming to make profit from sales of food.

• Subsistence: it produces food for the farmer’s family

3.Agricultural activity in the world: shifting cultivation

• It occurs in equatorial forests in South-East Asia, Central and South America and Africa

• It is extensive: when soil loses its fertility the land is abandoned.

3.1. Shifting cultivation• They use manual labour

and simple tools.

• The farmers grow crops from themselves and their families (subsistence).

• The main crops are rice, maize, tapioca, sweet potatoes, bananas and vegetables.

Agricultural activity in the world: wet rice farming

3.2.Wet rice farming• It occurs in many Asian

countries (tropical and monsoon climate)

• It requires 1000 mm to 2500 mm of rainfall a year and an average temperature of 20°C.

• It is intensive: irrigation allows 2 or 3 crops per year in very small farms.

• The level of technology varies (low in India or China, high in Japan or Taiwan). Planting and transplanting are usually done by hand.

3.3. Intensive commercial farming: market gardening

• It produces the vegetables, fruit and flowers that are found in supermarkets.

• It uses limited land and it is often near urban markets.

• Although they are perishable products, refrigeration and faster transport allow more distant markets to be served.

3.3.Market gardening

• Market gardens have high inputs, especially labour, and high yields (intensive).

• A wide range of technology is available, from hand hoes to computer-controlled robots.

• Farmers usually specialise in a few crops, e.g. salads or flowers.

• Some vegetables are grown into greenhouses or using hydroponics (plants grow without soil)

3.4. Extensive commercial farming

• It occurs in “new countries”, e.g. US, Australia or Argentina, especially in continental climate.

• Farms are large and highly mechanised.

3.3. Extensive commercial farming

• It can be arable, e.g. crops of wheat, maize, barley...

• It can be also pastoral, e.g. cows and sheep

• Farms are very big, more than 200 Ha.

3.5. Plantation agriculture

• It takes place in large farms or estates (40 to 1000 Ha) existing in South East Asia and the Caribbean.

• Crops are grown for export

• It needs a lot of money for building, planting and making processing factories.

3.5. Plantation agriculture

• They employ many workers and use high levels of technology.

• They produce coffee, cocoa, sugar or trees like tea, rubber and oil palm.

4. The European Union and its Common Agricultural Police (CAP)

The CAP tries: to protect the income of farmers. to ensure reasonable prices for consumers. to increase the production. to protect the quality of life in rural areas.The CAP consists of. grants. subsidies. guaranteed prices.

4. The European Union and its Common Agricultural Police (CAP)

The main problems are: it has created mountains of food and lakes of wine,

more expensive than in the USA. It was necessary to create quotas (e.g. milk).

environmental damages (soil erosion, excesive use of fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides to increase production).

Recently the EU has been paying farmers to take part of their land out of production.