Human Interest

Is it too late to reprogram ourselves?

British artist Mishka Henner took photographs and enhanced the colors of feedlots to reveal the agribusiness of meat production. Photographs of feedlots are considered illegal and the legal repercussions of Mishka Henner are not clear at the moment, but the photographs are shocking and reveal again how little Americans know about their food production. 

Americans have changed the places and utilized them to build agribusiness empires and have introduced new problems to the landscape of feedlot and farming towns.

This article makes me sickened. With previous knowledge of factory farms I know of the horrors that go on but this takes the cake. These pictures shown in the article depict the chemical and waste spill off which I am absolutely sure this is NOT good for the environment.

Beautiful imagery at one scale tells an unsavory story at another.

The New York Times article associated with the video above offers a great glimpse into the inner works of how agribusiness technologies have transformed the American family farm.  

Tags: agriculture, food production, agribusiness, unit 5 agriculture.

I think I might as well buy some land and plant my own huge garden for this crap coming up and have a fence around my yard too

Unit 2-Population

This video was about the growing population in the world and as a result the growing food demand. This video points out that even though more food production seems like the solution, instead other solutions are more logical. Solutions include reducing wastes, preserving forests, being more productive on current farms and more. It states that farming is a huge business but it goes towards more than growing food for people to eat but also for other things like animals and materials. The worlds population is growing and there needs to be a change in food industries to keep thriving. 

This relates to unit 2 about population since it is thinking of ways to adapt to the worlds growing population. By 2050 it is predicted that population will increase by 33% and something has to change about food in order for people to stay fed. There is too much food being wasted that if that could be decreased it could make a huge difference. The video made a good point that it's not that we need more food it's that we need to manage and prioritize production.  

The article/video relates to AP Human Geography because it involves Thomas Malthus's theory that population is going to surpass food production if we don't fix our priorities. In my opinion this article makes a very valid point that could be true. We don't exactly need to start more farms and spread agriculture, instead, we should pay attention to our priorities and make the right decisions with the food we harvest from agriculture.

APHG-U5

APHG-U5

Agricultural production is one of the ways in which people modify the environment more than any other.  Global population is expected to top out at around 9 billion around 2050, so will we be able to sustainably feed all of the entire human population?  This one question brings up many more spatial, environmental, political and social questions--this interactive feature nicely addresses many of the pertinent issues in a very accessible manner.   

This article relates well to the Population topic in Global Challenges and issues that arise from the present growth patterns.  

As population continues to grow and agricultural lands dissappear, the issue of feeding the world is becoming a growing concern.

The environmental places of the world are becoming arid and the agrarian places are dwindling affecting the human/environment interaction by introducing agricultural issues.

Agricultural production is one of the ways in which people modify the environment more than any other.  Global population is expected to top out at around 9 billion around 2050, so will we be able to sustainably feed all of the entire human population?  This one question brings up many more spatial, environmental, political and social questions--this interactive feature nicely addresses many of the pertinent issues in a very accessible manner.    

Tags: sustainability, agriculture, food production, environment modify, unit 5 agriculture. 

Things to consider when teaching about food production from a geographical perspective - remember to link to Biomes.

#Food is #geographical and #mobile...

Ten engaging resources on the geography of food

This topic connects to our agricultural unit. This article describes the explaining of food. Knowing where our food comes from is a big component in lit today, with all the GMO's going around we don't know what we r busy consuming daily. Having more information in our minds about food would help decrease the long term affects of genetically modified organisms, help maintain a healthy economy, provide more resources such as water, because if GMO's do come to an end then the water will not be as polluted as it is now due to the runoff from the remaining chemicals in GMO's, and also provide a healthy environment for everyone. 

I absolutely love this article. It touches on many of the most important and challenging issues facing food production in the world, ranging from food manufacturing ethics to global hunger. I think it's interesting how, although we all eat food everyday, we don't think about the many implications associated with the production and consumption of food. To more privileged people, food is not a big deal, as anyone can get food at any time of day. However, for people who are trying to solve the problems associated with food in the modern world or for people who are suffering from hunger and malnutrition, the information presented in this article is extremely important. Brilliant minds can come together to propose potential solutions for all the problems facing food distribution. I can't wait for the day every child can go to bed with a full stomach, and I am willing to do my part to help make that happen.

We ought to know something about where our food comes from...

Unit 5

Some  of these maps are easy to guess, such as cotton being grown in the south, but what about others like pigs being raised in the mid-west and North Carolina??? We are so used to having only to make a quick stop at the nearest grocery store to grab our weekly essentials that we don't always think about where it naturally comes from. Also preservatives have come so far as to keep things fresh for long periods of time that where it originates is not a problem because it can be shipped in a refrigerated truck with still time left for it to sit in your fridge for a few days. 

This 12 question quiz is a great way to introduce students to spatial patterns of agricultural products in the United States.  Sometimes just knowing regional stereotypes can be helpful, but being able to make an educated guess about where an agricultural product is comes from requires a basic understanding of economic and climate patterns.  This quiz is a good way to test that knowledge and introduce them to these spatial patterns.    

Tags: trivia, spatial, regions, food, economic, food production, agriculture.

we work the fields for our families. 

It’s crazy to see how desperate some of these people are to get working and how much they do for such a little reward. These people are working longer and harder than probably all Americans and they are barely surviving. They work for survival. It’s hard for some of these people to stay healthy, especially in the harsh conditions and tight living spaces that these people have to deal with on an everyday basis. 

Corporations are always looking for the cheapest base product to import. Unfortunately for the laborers of Mexico, their country does not enforce globally accepted standards of labor. The US cannot police other countries' policies and procedures, but we can educate our own consumers about the working conditions behind the product they buy. The consumers then have a choice; do they want to pay 49 cents a pound for bananas or 99 cents. What is more important, the health and welfare of the employee who picked the produce or the financial well-being of the consumer who purchases it?

This obviously is big business for Mexico and the US should apply some pressure to motivate our friends south of the border to foster better working conditions for their employees. It would seem to me that Mexico could afford to pay their workers a little more and still be competitive given their proximity to the US. I think I will start buying my bananas from Ecuador....

With the strong waves of urbanization that the United States has seen in the last 100 years it's interesting to note this desire to return to a rural connection while still maintaining the connection to the city. I can see this causing problems with zoning commissions in the future if too many people start trying to become urban famers. 

Nós somos aquilo que comemos ...

With more people than ever living in cities and less people than ever working on farms, the future of our food is in question. The riskiness, labor, low gain,  and negative stereotypes of farmers combined with the fear of food conglomerates has led to a depletion of smaller scale farmers. Brain drain in rural farming areas is depleting the number of younger people willing to work in agriculture. With most of our food production being controlled and overseen by large corporations, people are now questioning the quality of our foods. Recently, the local food movement is educating people on the importance of food produced with integrity and supporting  local businesses.  

Occasionally these lists that say something like "40 maps that..." end up being an odd assortment of trivia that is interesting but not very instructive.  Not so with this list that has carefully curated these maps and graphs in a sequential order that will enrich students' understanding of food production and consumption in the United States.  Additionally, here are some maps and chart to understand agriculture and food in Canada. 

Tags: agriculture, food production, food distribution, locavore, agribusiness, USA.