Von Thünen Model
This economic concept is the core of the model; it describes the price a farmer is willing to pay for land at different distances from the market to remain profitable.
What is Bid-Rent Theory?
Characterized by the hybridization of high-yield seeds and the increased use of chemical fertilizers, this "revolution" of the mid-20th century aimed to eradicate global hunger.
What is the Green Revolution
This environmental issue occurs when fertile soil is worn away by wind or water due to overfarming or deforestation.
What is soil erosion?
This type of farming is done primarily to feed the farmer’s family rather than to sell crops.
What is subsistence agriculture?
This refers to the modification of crops to improve traits like yield, pest resistance, or drought tolerance.
What is genetic engineering (GMOs)?
In Von Thünen’s original 1826 model, this specific type of agricultural activity is located in the ring closest to the market due to the perishability of the products.
What is dairying (or market gardening/truck farming)?
If a new refrigerated truck system allows milk to travel farther without spoiling, this weakens the role of this factor in the model.
What is perishability?
This occurs when farmers rely too heavily on one crop, increasing vulnerability to disease and pests.
What is monoculture?
This type of commercial agriculture involves raising livestock over large areas of land, often in dry climates like the western United States.
What is ranching?
A form of extensive subsistence agriculture based on the herding of domesticated animals in dry climates where planting crops is impossible.
What is nomadic herding (pastoral nomadism)?
Even though the Green Revolution increased food supply, it also caused environmental problems because farmers used more irrigation and chemicals.
What are water depletion and chemical pollution?
This is the primary reason the Green Revolution hasn't "solved" world hunger despite record production.
What is lack of access / poverty / distribution issues?
A major challenge where water resources are depleted due to excessive irrigation, especially in arid regions.
What is water scarcity?
This type of subsistence agriculture involves clearing land by burning and using it temporarily.
What is shifting cultivation (slash-and-burn agriculture)?
This model explains the spatial organization of agriculture based on land rent (bid-rent) and the cost of transporting goods to a central market.
What is the Von Thünen Model?
A farmer grows a highly perishable crop close to a city even though the land is expensive. According to Von Thünen, the farmer accepts the higher rent because the crop saves money in this area.
What is transportation cost?
The concept that agricultural innovation occurs because of population pressure, named after a famous economist.
What is the Boserup Thesis?
This global issue refers to unequal access to food despite sufficient overall production.
What is food insecurity?
This intensive system, common in East and Southeast Asia, involves growing rice in flooded fields.
What is wet rice cultivation?
This type of agriculture focuses on producing crops or livestock for sale in markets.
What is commercial agriculture?
Agricultural revolutions often increase efficiency, but they can also reduce the number of workers needed on farms, causing this type of migration.
What is rural-to-urban migration?
While the Green Revolution drastically increased yields, it led to this specific biological vulnerability, where the widespread planting of genetically uniform crops leaves the global food supply susceptible to total collapse from a single pathogen.
What is Monoculture
This process turns fertile land into desert, often due to overgrazing and unsustainable farming practices.
What is desertification?
This type of agriculture, practiced in densely populated regions of South and Southeast Asia, involves maximizing output from small plots of land using significant human labor.
What is intensive subsistence agriculture?
This term describes the large-scale integration of various steps in the food-processing industry, from logging and seed production to retailing.
What is agribusiness?