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V. Agricultural Systems Associated with Major Bio-Climatic Zones
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Web Sites
Narration
There are two things that must be considered when teaching contemporary regional patterns of agricultural production. One is the relationship between agricultural systems and climatic zones. The second is the complicated set of linkages among the production areas and the consumption areas. All forms of economic activity are involved in the shift of agricultural products to food.
Most atlases and textbooks contain a version of a map based on the one drawn by Derwent Whittlesey and published in 1936 by the Annals of the Association of American Geographers. Unfortunately, no agricultural geographer has attempted to modernize this map, and therefore it must be used with caution. This map attempts to portray all the major agricultural regions around the world. One way to deal with this part of the course is to have your students study the map until they have a solid understanding of the key. The map shows a pattern of about thirteen varieties of agriculture along with their correlating environmental zones. For example, nomadic herders are found in the arid regions of North and South Africa, the eastern horn of Africa, southwest Asia, central Asia, and northern Eurasia. Shifting cultivation takes place in tropical forests and on the savanna margins of the forests in South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia.
What Whittlesey calls rudimentary sedentary cultivation is now often referred to as subsistence agriculture. Another Whittlesey phrase is intensive subsistence tillage. This most often refers to either heavy rice or wheat production. The circulation systems are essentially the same, but each utilizes a different crop mixture that reflects climatic differences. Livestock ranching, like nomadic herding and shifting cultivation, does seem to follow major climatic zones.
If students look at the map with some fundamental understanding of environmental zones, they will see very clear patterns. However, this map is only the beginning. Farmers have greatly modified the environment -- even destroyed some of its major components -- to make this pattern a reality. The forests that once covered Europe have long since been cleared, as have the forests that once covered vast areas of North America east of the Mississippi. Tilling the soil breaks up and eradicates the indigenous or natural vegetation. The crops that grow in particular places are dramatically modified from their original ancestors and in many cases bear little resemblance to the native plants that once grew wild. For example, wheat -- the dominant plant on the northern plains of the United States -- has its origins in southwest Asia. The corn that blankets both the Midwest and the Danubian basin originated in Mesoamerica.
Web Sites
To view the following Web sites, please go to "See also" below.
The Teachers' Corner contains links to suggested Web sites. The College Board neither endorses, controls the content of, nor reviews the external Web sites included here. Please note that following links to external Web sites will open a new browser window. If you discover a link that does not work, please let us know by sending an e-mail to apctechsupport@collegeboard.org.
China's Precipitation
Color gradient maps depicting mean rainfall patterns across China.
Farming Systems
Chapter 10 of "Farming Systems in the African Savanna -- A Continent in Crisis," discussing the types of farming systems in the African bio-climatic zones
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