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Extensive Commercial Farming

Extensive Commercial Farming. Great Plains of America and Canada. Aims. Describe and explain the main characteristics of the farming system Evaluate the changes which have taken place in this farming system. Introduction.

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Extensive Commercial Farming

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  1. Extensive Commercial Farming Great Plains of America and Canada

  2. Aims • Describe and explain the main characteristics of the farming system • Evaluate the changes which have taken place in this farming system.

  3. Introduction • Extensive commercial farming is a system of farming that is carried out on very large holdings with a high reliance on technologies. • Relatively low yields are compensated for by the very large area under cultivation. • Decisions taken by the farmer, or the corporation, are of great importance.

  4. Copy tese down! Lots of available land Land is cheap Climate Population is low Location factors

  5. Location

  6. Extensive farming (American Plains) Rainfall decreases westwards estward Winter temps decrease Length of growing season decreases Farm size increases Cattle RanchingWheat farming on western prairieson central + eastern prairies

  7. History (1) • The Great Plains had been categorised as a desert by early explorers and then taken from the Indians to create vast open-range cattle ranches. • In the 19th century early settlers believed that the climate had changed for the better and that ploughing the Plains would literally increase the rainfall to the amount required to grow wheat. • Another major incentive was that the settlers were given 64 ha of free land.

  8. Shelter belts Main road/ highways Original 64ha plot

  9. Settlement pattern: Low population density, planned grid iron pattern, linear settlements, hierarchical pattern of small farms, small towns and occasionally a large service town.

  10. History (2) • Many of the early homesteads did not survive because of recurring, prolonged droughts. • Surviving farmers were allowed to increase their holdings and improved agricultural technology allowed them to cope, initially, with the cycles of drought and wet years that followed.

  11. Barbed wire for fences Pumps and windmills New stains of fast-growing spring wheat, imported from Steppes of Russia Improved Agricultural Technologies Remember this is the early twentieth century! New types of steel plough

  12. In south-east Wyoming many farmsteads were bought up by more prosperous individuals or companies and turned into large cattle ranches. Effects on the landscape A major problem in the 1920s and 1930s was accelerated erosion of soil and wind, which culminated in the Dust Bowl

  13. Effects on the people The Dust Bowl led to rural depopulation and as a result farms became larger, that is more extensive. Irrigation of the semi-arid western areas of the Great Plains began.

  14. 1) The rate of rural depopulation continued to increase. 2) Farms became extremely large. 3) The dependence on agricultural technologies expanded. 4) Output soared as new strains of wheat were developed. 5) More land was brought into production Late 20th Century 6) Irrigated farming expanded rapidly, resulting in the rapid depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer

  15. Afforestation Contour ploughing Intercropping and strip cultivation Tackling Soil Erosion Fallow period

  16. Grain silos next to railway for easy distribution of huge quantities of high value, perishable produce.

  17. Contour Ploughing As a result of ploughing up-and down the steep slope, runoff water has concentrated in the furrows and eroded the soil. Consequently runoff might take fertiliser and seed with it Ploughing and planting in rows across the steep slope, prevents as much runoff and consequently prevents soils erosion on the slope

  18. Afforestation Trees planted to act as windbreaks to protect crops.

  19. Fallow Period • An area of land is not cultivated (left fallow) for one or more years.

  20. Intercropping and strip cultivation Different crops often planted in strips - harvested at different times - helps protect the soil.

  21. Strip cultivation: limits soil erosion

  22. Farming in North Dakota Today (1) • As the smaller family farms are sold off, larger farming businesses continue to expand and to prosper, but the farming landscape as a whole is changing. • New crops have been introduced • e.g.: sunflowers

  23. Hutterite colony produces potatoes, eggs and rears pigs on 1600ha communal farm. Farming in North Dakota Today (2) • Some land has been taken out of wheat production. Elsewhere a 640ha holding was reseeded with native grasses on which 500 bison now graze.

  24. Farming in North Dakota Today (3) • Part time farming and the dependence on farm cooperatives has increased. • Some farms have become organic, while still operating on a large scale. • The rural population continues to decline, and this is marked by the presence in the landscape of abandoned homesteads and of schools (e.g: Circle)

  25. Farming in North Dakota Today (4) • Smaller cattle ranchers have doubled their carrying capacity by careful management of their prairie pasture: • by fencing it into paddocks and rotating their use for grazing (cell grazing).

  26. Using your glossary list the Key Words which describe this type of farming system • Commercial • Sedentary • Arable • Advanced • High technology • Extensive • High output per worker

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