Primary Sector Activities: Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries
Primary Sector Activities
The primary sector encompasses activities focused on extracting resources from nature, including agriculture, livestock farming, fishing, mining, and logging.
Neolithic Revolution
The Neolithic Revolution began when humans started domesticating and breeding animals for meat, fat, fur, and as draft animals.
Agricultural Area Structure
Agricultural areas consist of cultivated and inhabited spaces.
Cultivated Area
Cultivated areas are made up of plots, the basic unit of cultivation, defined by:
- Size:
- Small: less than 1 hectare
- Medium: between 1 and 10 hectares
- Large: more than 10 hectares
- Shape:
- Regular: geometric
- Irregular: non-geometric
- Limits:
- Bocage: plots separated by hedges, trees, or stone walls.
- Openfield: plots without barriers, distinguished by crop type.
Space
There are two types of settlement:
- Dispersed: houses scattered throughout the field.
- Concentrated: population lives in towns with centralized services.
Farming Practices
Water Use
- Irrigated agriculture: provides additional water beyond rainfall, requiring significant investment.
- Rainfed agriculture: relies solely on rainwater.
Plant Variety
- Monoculture: cultivation of a single plant species, which can deplete soil nutrients.
- Polyculture: cultivation of various plant species, often for family consumption.
Land Use
Intensive Agriculture
Intensive agriculture uses capital investments for maximum performance.
- Highly productive intensive agriculture: high yields with minimal labor.
- Intensive agriculture with low productivity: labor-intensive with low capital investment.
Extensive Agriculture
Extensive agriculture yields lower outputs.
- Extensive agriculture of high productivity: few workers, low yields, but high production.
- Extensive agriculture of low productivity: hard work with very little output.
Agricultural Landscapes
Subsistence Agriculture
Subsistence agriculture is for personal consumption, using outdated techniques and resulting in low productivity.
- Slash-and-burn agriculture: rudimentary, with fallow periods, using tools like hoes and digging sticks. Land is quickly exhausted.
- Extensive dryland agriculture: uses plows, with shorter fallow periods.
- Intensive monsoon Asia agriculture: rice cultivation in small plots surrounded by dikes and channels, allowing multiple harvests per year.
Market Agriculture
Market agriculture is characterized by high capitalization, modern machinery, high productivity, and marketing of production.
- Modern European Agriculture: notable for flowers and garden produce from Holland and Germany, and cereals from the Paris Basin.
- Mediterranean Agriculture: rainfed (grapes, wheat, and olives) and irrigated (trees).
- Extensive New Country Agriculture: most profitable, found in the plains of the USA, Canada, Australia, and Argentina, using little labor.
- Plantation Agriculture: large farms cultivating coffee, cocoa, tea, bananas, and pineapple in monoculture.
Livestock
Food Production
- Stockrearing: extensive grazing on grass, common in western USA, northern Mexico, and northeast Brazil.
- Housed: livestock farms concentrated in stables, using advanced technology, improved breeds, and high-quality feed.
Mobility of Livestock
- Nomadic: continuous movement of herders and herds in search of pasture.
- Transhumant: seasonal movement of herds with herders.
- Sedentary: livestock does not move for food, relying on fodder and feed.
Fisheries
Fishing Methods
- Longline: uses a long rope with baited hooks.
- Purse seine: boats surround fish with a net that closes below.
- Almadraba: fixed nets intercept migrating fish, such as tuna.
Fishing Types
- Inshore fishing: near the shore in shallow water, using nets and traps.
- Deep-sea fishing: far from shore, using large boats and crews, with fish prepared and frozen on board.
Common Fishing Areas
Common fishing areas include Greenland, Chile, Peru, Newfoundland, Namibia, and the Pacific Northwest.
Fishing Techniques
- Bait: trolling for swordfish, tuna, longline, cod, and hake.
- Networking: trap nets for tuna, trawl nets for sardines.