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FrançaisUnit 5: Agriculture and Rural Land-Use
Twelve lessons covering all College Board CED topics for AP Human Geography Unit 5. Three agricultural revolutions, intensive vs extensive farming, the von Thünen model, agricultural diffusion via the Columbian Exchange, the Green Revolution, GMOs, food deserts, and the role of women in food production.
The 12 lessons in order
Introduction to Agriculture
Climate-agriculture connection; intensive (market gardening, plantation, mixed crop/livestock) vs extensive (shifting cultivation, nomadic herding, ranching) farming.
Settlement Patterns and Survey Methods
Three rural settlement patterns (clustered, dispersed, linear); three survey methods (metes and bounds, township and range, long lot).
Agricultural Origins and Diffusions
Hearths of plant and animal domestication (Fertile Crescent, Indus Valley, Southeast Asia, Central America); Columbian Exchange; agricultural revolutions.
The Second Agricultural Revolution
17th-19th century technology and food production gains; better diets, longer life expectancy, more workers for industrial factories.
The Green Revolution
High-yield seeds, agricultural chemicals, mechanized farming; positive and negative consequences for human populations and the environment.
Agricultural Production Regions
Subsistence vs commercial; monocropping/monoculture; intensive vs extensive farming and bid-rent theory.
Spatial Organization of Agriculture
Large-scale commercial replacing family farms; complex commodity chains; technology and economies of scale.
Von Thünen Model
1826 model of rural land use based on transportation costs from market; concentric rings; specialty farming as exception.
The Global System of Agriculture
Global supply chains; export-commodity dependence; political relationships, infrastructure, and trade patterns shaping food distribution.
Consequences of Agricultural Practices
Pollution, land cover change, desertification, soil salinization, conservation; slash and burn, terraces, irrigation, deforestation, draining wetlands.
Challenges of Contemporary Agriculture
Biotech, GMOs, aquaculture; urban farming, CSA, organic, fair trade, local-food movements; food deserts and food insecurity.
Women in Agriculture
Geographic variation in female roles in food production, distribution, and consumption.