Unit 5 Reading Guide

AP Human Geography Reading Guide Unit 5: Agriculture Textbook: Chapter 11 Completed reading guide is due on the day of unit exam. Handwritten in blue or black pen and in complete sentences. Part I: Map Analysis 1. Carefully examine the map on pgs. 388-389 (World Climates). Write two true statements that would describe the distribution pattern shown on this map. Countries far north in the Northern Hemisphere such as Canada, Russia, and some eastern European countries tend to have dry winters. Areas with no dry season such as parts of South America, Africa, and Islands in the Pacific Ocean are located near the equator. 2. Carefully examine the map on pgs. 390-391 (World Agriculture). Write two true statements that would describe the distribution pattern shown on this map. Non-agricultural areas are found in Canada, Russia, Northern Africa, Western South America, and some parts of Australia. Mediterranean agriculture is only found in land bordering the Mediterranean sea, such as Italy and Greece. 3. Based on what you know about climate and agriculture, how are these two maps interrelated? These two maps are interrelated because the climate affects the type of agriculture that’s practiced. In areas of dry arid and humid cold or polar cold climate, there tends to be no agricultural activity. This is because crops and livestock are unable to survive in freezing or dry, waterless conditions. In drier areas, agriculture also tends to be focused on nomadic and semi-nomadic herding, because while grasslands are widely available, it is difficult to grow crops. Moreover, areas with short dry seasons or no dry seasons have shifting cultivation, since these are tropical and subtropical zones where land is abandoned once soil is infertile which happens more often because land once high in nutrients can no longer be used.

Part II: Reading Comprehension Questions Read pgs. 365-386, then answer the following questions 1. What are the five levels of economic activities? Provide an example of each one. The five levels of economic activities are primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary, and quinary activities. Primary economic activities involve food growing and livestock raising, such as a dairy farm. Secondary economic activities take primary products and change it to other projects. An example would be a paper factory that makes paper from lumber. Tertiary ones are service sectors that connect producers to consumers, such as salespeople, who sell goods to consumers. Quaternary activities involve specialized services relating to money or goods, such as businessmen, and quinary activities involve specialized labor in research or higher education, such as university professors. 2. Explain the importance of the Fertile Crescent and the Nile River Valley to global agricultural development? The Fertile Crescent and Nile River Valley is where the first domestication of seed plants occurred, creating seed crops, which require seed selection, sowing, watering, and timedharvesting. This is considered the start of the First Agricultural Revolution, which resulted in people leading sedentary lifestyles, creating a surplus of food that allowed the development of civilizations

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and the Second and Third Industrial Revolutions. This area could be considered the hearths of seed crops, resulting in a global change in agriculture and farming. Where are the regions primarily where subsistence agriculture are practiced? Why? What types of subsistence agriculture are employed? Subsistence agriculture is primarily practiced in the regions of Central America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and parts of Southeast Asia and Oceania. This is because these regions have high rates of poverty and debt and little technology and education. This forces people in these regions to rely on the natural environment to support themselves, meaning that they depend on their land for food and other products. Moreover, since they use traditional means of agriculture, they do not have excess crops that they can sell on the market. One type of subsistence agriculture is shifting cultivation that’s practiced in tropical regions, where land is used until its infertile, and communities relocate. This includes slash-and-burn agriculture, where land is cleared by cutting down trees and burning vegetation. How did the Industrial Revolution change European and American farming methods? The Industrial Revolution lead to European and American farming methods by introducing new crops such as corn and potatoes, giving farmers more land for their farms, instituting field rotation and other practices such as soil preparation, fertilization, crop care, and improved harvesting. New technology such as the seed drill, artificial feeds and fertilizers and mechanical reapers also made farming more efficient and allowed agriculture to be moved into regions such as the Great Plains. People also saw advancements in breeding livestock. What are the similarities and differences between the land use theories of von Thunen and Lee Liu? Both Von Thunen and Lee Liu’s theories describe the distribution of agricultural activity from a central town or market or village. However, Von Thunen's theory focuses on the price of farming and what type of agriculture exists, with the central city being at the center and the surrounding rings being market gardening and dairying, foresting, extensive field crops, then livestock. However, Lee Liu’s model focused on varying intensities of agriculture and environmental, with lands close and far away from a village being high in intensity, but closer lands having better and more land degradation further away from the village. Moreover, Lee Liu’s model describes China while Von Thunen’s describes Europe. What impacts, both positive and negative, did the Green Revolution have on Mexico and India? The Green Revolution impacted Mexico positively by creating a hybrid maize seed that grew better, relying on Mexico no longer needing to import corn because their corn production had improved significantly. Another positive impact is in India, where IR8 and 36, a variety of rice, was introduced, resulting in better rice yields and allowing three crops per year. As a result, India’s grain production became self-sufficient. However, negative impacts exist in the form of environmental risks. In India, it also reduced genetic diversity and pest resistance, and resulted in nutrient deficiencies, soil contamination and deficiency, and other environmental degradation.

7. Describe the various patterns of land ownership. Explain why one would find each type of cadastral system in different parts of the United States. The rectangular survey system is a

pattern of land ownership that resembles a series of checkerboards. This is found in the United States across agricultural field, which conform to this shape. Another pattern is the township-and-range system which also has a rectangular shape. This exists in the United States because it was implemented to distribute non-Indian settlers across US farmlands in a rigid grid pattern, and were 8. How do residential patterns of villages reflect historical/environmental conditions. Discuss four of the five patterns. Read pgs. 386-401, then answer the following questions 1. Define cash crop and explain its relationship to plantation agriculture. How did European colonialism influence the rise of cash crops? Provide two examples with locations of the cash crop plantation system in use today. 2. What is the purpose of agribusiness? Explain how either poultry or hog production in the United States has embraced this methodology to increase production and profit. 3. What impact do food deserts have on both urban and rural neighborhoods? Part III: Research Questions Using any reliable source, answer the following question in the written format of your choice

1. What is DDT? What was it used for? Why has the United States banned its use? 2. What is value-added agriculture? Provide two specific examples. 3. What is the Pampas of South America? Where is it found? What type of agriculture is found there? Why is it becoming endangered?