Extensive Commercial Farming

Great Plains of America and Canada

AimsDescribe and explain the main characteristics of the farming systemEvaluate the changes which have taken place in this farming system.

IntroductionExtensive commercial farming is a system of farming that is carried out on very large holdings with a high reliance on technologies.

Relatively low yields are compensated for by the very large area under cultivation.

Decisions taken by the farmer, or the corporation, are of great importance.

Location factors

Location

Extensive farming (American Plains)Rainfall decreaseswestwardsestwardWinter temps decreaseLength of growing season decreasesFarm size increasesCattle Ranching Wheat farmingon western prairieson central + eastern prairies

History (1)The Great Plains had been categorised as a desert by early explorers and then taken from the Indians to create vast open-range cattle ranches.

In the 19th century early settlers believed that the climate had changed for the better and that ploughing the Plains would literally increase the rainfall to the amount required to grow wheat.

Another major incentive was that the settlers were given 64 ha of free land.

Main road/ highwaysOriginal 64ha plotShelterbelts

Settlement pattern: Low population density, planned grid iron pattern, linear settlements, hierarchical pattern of small farms, small towns and occasionally a large service town.

History (2)Many of the early homesteads did not survive because of recurring, prolonged droughts.

Surviving farmers were allowed to increase their holdings and improved agricultural technology allowed them to cope, initially, with the cycles of drought and wet years that followed.

Improved Agricultural TechnologiesRemember this is the early twentieth century!New types of steel plough

Effects on the landscapeA major problem in the 1920s and 1930s was accelerated erosion of soil and wind, which culminated in the Dust Bowl

Effects on the peopleThe Dust Bowl led to rural depopulation and as a result farms became larger, that is more extensive. Irrigation of the semi-arid western areas of the Great Plains began.

Late 20th Century6) Irrigated farming expanded rapidly, resulting in the rapid depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer

Tackling Soil ErosionFallowperiod

Grain silos next to railway for easy distribution of huge quantities of high value, perishable produce.

Contour PloughingAs a result of ploughing up-and down the steep slope, runoff water has concentrated in the furrows and eroded the soil. Consequently runoff might take fertiliser and seed with itPloughing and planting in rows across the steep slope, prevents as much runoff and consequently prevents soils erosion on the slope

AfforestationTrees planted to act as windbreaks to protect crops.

Fallow PeriodAn area of land is not cultivated (left fallow) for one or more years.

Intercropping and strip cultivationDifferent crops often planted in strips - harvested at different times - helps protect the soil.

Strip cultivation: limits soil erosion

Farming in North Dakota Today (1)As the smaller family farms are sold off, larger farming businesses continue to expand and to prosper, but the farming landscape as a whole is changing.

New crops have been introduced e.g.: sunflowers

Farming in North Dakota Today (2)Some land has been taken out of wheat production.Elsewhere a 640ha holding was reseeded with native grasses on which 500 bisonnow graze.

Farming in North Dakota Today (3)Part time farming and the dependence on farm cooperatives has increased.

Some farms have become organic, while still operating on a large scale.

The rural population continues to decline, and this is marked by the presence in the landscape of abandoned homesteads and of schools (e.g: Circle)

Farming in North Dakota Today (4)Smaller cattle ranchers have doubled their carrying capacity by careful management of their prairie pasture: by fencing it into paddocks and rotating their use for grazing (cell grazing).

Using your glossary list the Key Words which describe this type of farming systemCommercialSedentaryArableAdvancedHigh technologyExtensiveHigh output per worker