Agricultural Geography

Spatial patterns of agriculture, crop systems, land use, and food security.

Author

Geography Team

Welcome to the Agricultural Geography module.

Agricultural Systems of the World

Warning📘 Syllabus Coverage
Syllabus Topic Details
NEP-2020 Unit I — Classification of world agricultural system of Whittlesey
UGC NET Agricultural Systems of the World

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NoteKey Concepts
  • Origin and Dispersal of Agriculture: Carl O. Sauer contributed notably towards understanding the origin and dispersal of agriculture globally.
  • Mixed Farming: Characterized by the practice of cultivation of crops and raising livestock simultaneously on the same farm.
  • Whittlesey’s Classification (1936): Derwent Whittlesey was the first to identify the major agricultural regions of the world based on five specific criteria.
  • 13 Agricultural Regions:
    1. Nomadic Herding
    2. Livestock Ranching
    3. Shifting Cultivation
    4. Rudimentary Sedentary Tillage
    5. Intensive Subsistence (rice dominant)
    6. Intensive Subsistence (without rice)
    7. Commercial Plantation
    8. Mediterranean Agriculture
    9. Commercial Grain Farming
    10. Commercial Livestock and Crop Farming (Mixed)
    11. Subsistence Crop and Livestock Farming
    12. Commercial Dairy Farming
    13. Specialized Horticulture
  • Modern Changes: Impact of Green Revolution, globalization, corporate farming, contract farming.

Agricultural Geography — Whittlesey’s Classification (1936) (NET Notes)

Derwent Whittlesey (1936) — “Major Agricultural Regions of the Earth” (AAG) *“Physical environment sets the limit for production of crops and raising of livestock”

5-Fold Criteria

  1. Crops and livestock combination
  2. Methods and techniques used
  3. Intensiveness in application of inputs
  4. Livestock purpose — subsistence or commercial
  5. Ensemble of structures used to house farm buildings

13 Agricultural Types (Whittlesey)

1. Nomadic Herding: Extensive subsistence; milk from animals. Tribes: Fulani (W. Africa), Masai (E. Africa), Nuba (Ethiopia/Sudan), Tuareg (Sahara), Bedouins (Saudi Arabia).

2. Shifting Cultivation: Oldest form. Local Names: Jhum (NE India), Milpa (Central America), Ladang (Malaysia), Roca (Brazil), Podu (Odisha), Taungya (Myanmar), Chena (Sri Lanka).

3. Rudimentary Sedentary Tillage: Tropical lands; sedentary/semi-shifting to feed family.

4. Intensive Subsistence Tillage: Monsoon lands of Asia; monoculture dominated by wet paddy.

5. Subsistence Crop & Livestock: Produce for own consumption (wheat/barley); sold in local markets.

6. Mediterranean Agriculture: Stable collaboration between man and nature; borders of Mediterranean Sea.

7. Livestock Ranching: Commercial grazing in semi-arid/arid regions. Names: Llanos (Venezuela), Pampas (Argentina), Veldt (South Africa), Downs (Australia). Wheat is most important crop.

8. Extensive Commercial Grain Farming: Mechanised (240–1600 hectares).

9. Commercial Livestock & Crop Farming: NW Europe origins; pedigree cattle herds; corn/soybean.

10. Commercial Dairy Farming: Most advanced/efficient; ~90% of world milk production.

11. Specialised Horticulture: Truck farming (SE USA), Factory farming (W. Europe/N. America).

12. Collective Farming: Jointly owned/operated. Sovkhozes (Russia) = state owned.

13. Commercial Plantation Farming: Tropical/sub-tropical; large-scale centralised system (tea, coffee, rubber).

Von Thunen’s Model of Agricultural Location

Warning📘 Syllabus Coverage
Syllabus Topic Details
NEP-2020 Unit I — Von Thunen theory of location of agricultural activity
UGC NET Von Thunen’s Model of Land Use Planning

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NoteKey Concepts
  • Johann Heinrich von Thünen (1826): The Isolated State — first quantitative model of spatial economic organization.
  • Assumptions: Isolated state, isotropic plain, single central market, uniform transport costs, profit-maximizing farmers.
  • Concept: Location Rent / Economic Rent determines land use — it is the most important concept on which the model is based. Products with high transport costs or perishability are produced closest to the market.
  • Concentric Rings:
    1. Dairying and market gardening (performed quite close to the market as they are perishable and have high value).
    2. Forestry/Firewood (heavy/bulky to transport).
    3. Intensive crop farming without fallow
    4. Crop farming with fallow and pasture
    5. Three-field system
    6. Livestock ranching (animals can walk to market)
  • Relevance Today: Modified by modern transport (refrigeration, highways) and global markets, but core concept of distance decay remains valid.

Van Thünen’s Model — Detailed (NET Notes — Pulakesh Pradhan)

Johann Heinrich von Thünen (1826) — Der Isolierte Staat (The Isolated State)

  • First model of agricultural land use
  • Single central city surrounded by uniform plain with equal fertile soil
  • Distance from market determines what is grown where

Concentric Zones (from city outward)

Zone Land Use Reason
Zone 1 Horticulture & Dairy Highly perishable; must be close
Zone 2 Forestry (firewood/timber) Heavy; high transport cost
Zone 3 Crop Farming (Intensive) Labour intensive; moderate distance
Zone 4 Crop Farming (Extensive) Less intensive; farther from city
Zone 5 Livestock Ranching Extensive; least perishable
Zone 6 Wilderness No economic use

Assumptions

  • Uniform fertile soil and climate
  • Single central market
  • Uniform transport cost in all directions
  • Isolated state (no external markets)
  • Farmers seek maximum profit

Modifications

  • Two cities → zones distort
  • River → zones extend along navigable route
  • Second smaller city → creates secondary pattern

Agricultural Measurement and Modeling Methods

Warning📘 Syllabus Coverage
Syllabus Topic Details
UGC NET Cropping Pattern: Methods of delineating crop combination regions (Weaver, Doi and Rafiullah), Crop diversification

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NoteKey Concepts
  • Crop Combination Regions: Area where two or more crops are grown in association.
    • Weaver’s Method (1954): Standard deviation approach comparing actual crop percentages with a theoretical distribution (monoculture 100%, 2-crop 50-50%, etc.). Minimum variance determines the combination.
    • Doi’s Method (1959): Modified Weaver’s formula using \(\Sigma d^2\) without dividing by \(n\); uses a critical value table.
    • Rafiullah’s Method (1956): Maximum positive deviation method (\(\Sigma D^2 / N^2\)) — reduces the number of crops in the final combination compared to Weaver.
  • Crop Diversification: Growing a variety of crops rather than monoculture — insurance against weather/market failure. Measured by Bhatia’s Crop Diversification Index (\(D = \frac{\sum P_{i}}{n}\) where \(P_{i}\) is the percentage of harvested area under the \(i\)-th crop and \(n\) is the number of crops).
  • Agricultural Productivity: The yield of crops per unit of area (output per unit of input like land, labour, capital). Measured by Kendall’s Ranking Coefficient, Enyedi’s Index, Bhatia’s Method.
  • Silviculture: Refers to the growing of fuel wood and crops together on the same piece of land.

Agricultural Productivity (NET Notes — Pulakesh Pradhan)

Agricultural Productivity = total agricultural output per unit of cultivated area per agricultural worker or per unit of input (in monetary values)

Types of Productivity: Land Productivity — More efficient use of factors of production: environment, arable land, labour, capital.

Three Main Indicators: 1. Yield, 2. Grain equivalents, 3. Cropping system

Measurement Techniques (Key Scholars)

Scholar Year Method
Khusno 1964 Paid out cost in relation to output as a measure of farm efficiency
Buck 1967 Production in terms of grain equivalents per head of population
E. de Vries — All output expressed in terms of mid milled-rice equivalents
Clark & Haswell — Wheat equivalents per person
Kendall 1939 Output per unit area (yield per hectare)
Sapre & Deshpande 1964 Weightage to ranking order of output per unit area
Bhatia 1967 Iya = Yc/Yr × 100
L.D. Stamp 1967 Carrying capacity of land; ‘standard nutrition unit’ and ‘caloric value’
Enyedi & Shafi 1964 Productivity Index = (Y/Yn) ÷ (T/Tn)
Jasbir Singh 1972/76 Carrying capacity modification; Crop yield/concentration indices

Cropping Intensity

**Cropping Intensity = (Total Cropped Area / Net Sown Area) × 100* Example: Rabi = 700 ha, Kharif = 500 ha, Net Sown Area = 1000 ha → (1200 / 1000) × 100 = **120%*

Crop Combination — Detailed Methods (NET Notes)

Number and diversity of crops grown in a particular area during a specific time interval. Weaver (1954) noted it helps in composite realities and regional planning.

Method 1: Arbitrary Choice Method

  • First 2–3 crops are shown and remaining excluded (not sensitive).

Method 2: Statistical Method — J.C. Weaver (1954)

  • Studied complex crop combinations in Middle West (USA) (1081 counties). > **Variance = Σd² / N; Standard Deviation = √(Σd²/n)* > (d = difference between actual and percentage crop area; n = number of crops)
  • Drawbacks: Crops covering insignificant area may be of great regional importance; unwieldy for areas of high crop diversification.

Modifications of Weaver’s Method

Scholar Year Modification
Doi 1959 Substituted Weaver’s variance (Σd²/n) with sum of square deviation (Σd²)
Peter Scott 1963 Animals are as important as crops in determining crop combination (Tasmania)
Thomas — Modified variance to minimum variance / least standard deviation
J.T. Coppock 1964 Modified Scott’s method; converted all animals to common unit based on food quality

Quick Reference

Agricultural Geography Quick Reference

Key Books and Authors

Book Author
The Conditions of Agricultural Growth Ester Boserup
Der Isolierte Staat (The Isolated State) J.H. von Thünen (1826)
Agricultural Geography Jasbir Singh & S.S. Dhillon
Geography of Agriculture J.R. Tarrant
Agricultural Systems of the World Derwent Whittlesey (1936)

Theories, Models & Concepts

Theory / Concept Propounder Description
Agricultural Location Theory J.H. von Thünen Land use determined by transport costs and distance to market (Concentric rings)
Boserup Theory Ester Boserup Population growth drives agricultural intensification
Crop Combination Regions J.C. Weaver (1954) Statistical method (minimum deviation) to identify crop combinations
Crop Combination (Modified) Doi / Rafiullah Modifications of Weaver’s method for better regionalization
Agricultural Productivity M.G. Kendall (1939) Ranking coefficient method for agricultural efficiency
Agricultural Efficiency S.S. Bhatia / Shafi Output per unit area/input

Agricultural Revolutions

  • Green Revolution: M.S. Swaminathan (India), Norman Borlaug (Global). HYV seeds, fertilizers, irrigation.
  • White Revolution (Operation Flood): Verghese Kurien. Milk production.
  • Blue Revolution: Fish and aquaculture.
  • Yellow Revolution: Oilseeds.
  • Gene Revolution: Biotechnology and GM crops.

Notes compiled by Geography Team