Ch. 10 Key Issue #3
“Where are Agricultural Regions in More Developed Countries?”
- What are the six main types of commercial agriculture practiced in MDCs?
- What is the most common form of commercial agriculture in the United States and much of Europe?
- What is the most distinctive characteristic of mixed crop and livestock farming?
- What are the benefits of mixed crop and livestock farming?
- Describe the system of crop rotation and explain how it’s different from shifting cultivation?
- What are the two most important crops in mixed crop and livestock farming and in what region does it mostly occur?
- In what places is dairy farming the most important commercial agricultural practice?
- What historical factor has contributed to the rising demand for commercial dairy production?
- What country produced the most milk?
- Why must dairy farms be located near urban areas?
- What is the difference between dairy farming in Pennsylvania and in Wisconsin?
- What are the particular challenges facing dairy farmers?
- What is the difference between grain farming and mixed crop and livestock farming?
- For what products are most grain crops used?
- What are the major benefits of farming wheat rather than other grains?
- Other than the US, what other countries produce large amounts of wheat?
- In what three regions of the U.S. is large-scale grain production concentrated?
- What mechanized advancements made large-scale grain production possible in MDCs?
- What is the benefit of having planting and harvesting of grains in two regions occur at different times of the year?
- What is Livestock Ranching and in what climate region does it occur?
- What has helped publicize and popularize the challenges of cattle ranching?
- How did ranching cattle, an animal that is not even native to the Americas, become one of the most important agricultural activities in North America?
- Identify some of the most important locations involved in the great cattle drives of the American West.
- What conditions led to a decline in the importance of cattle ranching in the 1880s?
- What adaptations did cattle ranchers make once the open range for cattle drives was closed?
- In what other regions outside the U.S. are also involved in commercial ranching?
- What are the only climate regions where ranching still occurs?
- In what places not actually on the Mediterranean Sea does Mediterranean agriculture occur?
- What are the common physical environment characteristics shared by areas where Mediterranean agriculture is practiced?
- What forms the commercial base for Mediterranean farming?
- What are the crops of which Mediterranean farming produces the world’s most?
- What are the two most important cash crops of the Mediterranean region?
- What crops dominate the Mediterranean farming in California?
- What factor has threatened the farming in California?
- Where is commercial gardening and fruit farming the dominant agriculture, and what advantages does this region have for this kind of agriculture?
- What is another name frequently used for this type of agriculture? Why?
- What kinds of crops are prevalent in commercial gardening and fruit farming?
- How are labor costs kept down in commercial gardening and fruit farming?
Importance of Access to Markets
- What factor most influences commercial farmers’ choice of crop to plant?
- What is one of the most important differences between farming near the market and farming farther away from the market?
- According to German farmer, Johann Heinrich von Thunen, what two costs must commercial farmers compare in choosing an enterprise?
- What two monetary values determine the most profitable crops for commercial farmers?
- Based on these calculations what generalization dictate what farmers grow where?
- Describe the appearance of von Thunen’s model, and describe the pattern of land use within each ring of the model.
- What possible variations may occur that von Thunen did not take into account?
- How does von Thunen’s model apply on a national or global scale that didn’t really exist when he created the model?