AGRARIAN ACTIVITIES

DEFINITIONS
Primary sector:
Economic activities devote to obtaining resources directly from
nature, such as agriculture, livestock farming, forestry and fishing
 Agrarian spaces:
Agrarian space:
Land where agrarian activities are undertaking:

• Cultivated land

• Pastures

• Meadows

• Woodland
 Rural space:
Non-urban areas, including
agrarian spaces and land where
other activities are carried out,
some of them more typical from
cities:
• Leisure areas

• Shopping centres
 Agrarian activities:
Agriculture:

Cultivating the land in

order to obtain plans
and food

It provides food for

people, feed for
livestock, and raw
materials for industry

Cotton Flax
 Livestock farming:
Rearing animals for human use

It provides food, fertilisers,

raw material for industry, and
a form of labour force

Silviculture:
The use of woodland

It provides food, and raw

materials for the furniture
and paper industry
 The agrarian population:
In 2013, 38.3% of the world´ s population was employed in agricultural
activities
There are major contrasts between countries:
• In underdeveloped countries,
50% of the active population,
10 % of the national wealth

• In Sub-Saharan countries,
more that 80% of the active
population and more than the
50% of the nations´ wealth

• In developed countries, less

than10% of the active
population and less than 4%
of the GDP
 AGRARIAN ACTIVITY´S FACTORS
Physical factors:
Climate:
All plants need a number of sunlight hours and can tolerate specific
maximum and minimum temperatures, precipitation levels and winds
Agriculture is impossible in regions with temperatures bellow 0º C or
above 45º C, in very arid regions or those with very cold or hot winds
Different crops adapt better to different climate conditions:

• Maize and rice require more humidity

• Potatoes support the cold better

• Sugar cane and coffee require very high temperatures

 Relief of the land:
Farmers prefer to grow their crops on plains and valleys

Farmers avoid mountainous terrain:

• Slopes lead to soil erosion

• Hinder work an the use of mechanical tools

• It require the construction of hillside terraces

Above a certain height, low temperatures prevent crops from growing

Livestock farming and silviculture prefer mountainous terrain
 Soil:
Soil is the surface layer of the Earth´s crust:
• A. Bedrock, the foundation of
the soil

• B. Broken rocks, small

fragments of the bedrock
D
• C. Surface soil, provide
C
plants with nutrients and
minerals
B
• D. Humus, decomposed
organic matter from dead A
plants and animal matters,
essential for soil fertility

The minerals it contains provide nutrients needed by plants

The physical and chemical characteristics, has important effects on
crops:
• Depth: deep soil are more fertile that shallow soil
• Texture: The particle size
and composition that
influence the soil´s
capacity to retain water

• Porosity: to be able to let

air reach plants´ roots
• Acidity and alkalinity:
very acidic or alkaline
soils are toxic for plants

Vegetation:
Partly conditions certain agrarian activities
such as silviculture and livestock farming
 Human factors:
Demographic pressure:
Since ancient times, population
increase has led to a rise in the surface
area of land dedicated to crops and
pastures
High population densities lead to
agrarian spaces being used to its
maximum potential:
• Even the sides of mountains are
farmed using terraces

Low population densities can leads to

environmental decline in that areas:
• If people begin to neglect terraces,
soil erosion can increase
 Technological development:
Farming tools:
In traditional societies, basic tools:
• Spades, hoes, sickles, ploughs
• Agrarian tasks require a large labour force and lots of hard work

In advance societies, modern tools:

• Tractors, harvesters, milking machines
• Agrarian tasks require a smaller labour force and less work
 Farming techniques:

In traditional societies:
• The soil is farmed until it is exhausted
• A section of land is left fallow
• Natural fertilisers are used

In advanced societies:
• Chemical fertilisers and pesticides are used

• Crops are irrigated with advanced systems

• Crops are protected in greenhouses

• Vegetables and livestock species

are carefully selected
• Genetic manipulation of plants and
animals
 Economic organisation:
Subsistence economies:
• They produce enough to cover their
food needs

• They cultivate various products

• They combine crop growing with

livestock breeding

• Farming is done on a small scale by landowners

Market economies:

• Produce food in order to sell it

• Tend to specialise in one crop

• Farming is done on a large scale

and managed by companies that
employ workers
 Social organisation:
Property can be private or collective
Land exploitation:
• Direct, if landowners or their employees work the land themselves

• Indirect, if the owner allows a tenant or partner to work the land

Agrarian policies:

The most common ones are:

• Agrarian reforms, to provide a more balance distribution of property

• Policies to raise levels of modernisation and competitiveness

Examples of agrarian policies:

• The Chinese policy:

Land is owned by the state or agrarian collectives

Peasants is only granted the right to farm the

land for renewable 30-year`period

• Cap, the European Union´s Common Agriculture Policy

 THE AGRARIAN LANDSCAPE AND ITS
ELEMENTS
Origin:
Agrarian activities transform the natural environment and give rise to
agrarian landscapes

Agrarian landscape elements:

Inhabited space:
It is the space inhabited by people
who work or live in the countryside

It is different from agrarian habitats

and other landscapes populated by
human settlement
 Settlement:
It is the way the agrarian population is
distributed across the land

Dispersed settlement:

Houses are separated and surrounded by

the land they farm or pasture

Concentrated settlement:

Houses are grouped into a village:

• Linear, when houses are arranged

alongside a river, path or road
 • Clustered, when the houses are located around a central point

Interspersed settlement:

Some houses are grouped, while others are isolates

 Habitat:
Traditional agrarian dwellings:
• Materials are taken from the
physical environment

• The distribution in accordance

with the area´s agrarian activities

The different spaces needed are built The different spaces are arranged
under one roof independently around a patio
Other agricultural buildings:

Barns Wine cellars

Stables
 Farmland:
Farm land is organised into fields,
separated from one another by
borders

Types of fields:
According to the size:
Minifundio
• Small, less than 10 hectares

• Medium –sized, between 10 and

100 hectares

• Large, more than 100 hectares

According to the shape:

• Regular • Irregular Latifundio

According to the location:
• Open, separated by a furrow or boundary markers

• Closed, surrounded by fences, trees or walls

According to their use:

• Agriculture • Livestock farming • Silviculture