ANTH 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Food Security, Sustainable Agriculture, Animal Husbandry
How Do Different Societies Get Food?
Modes of Subsistence
The social relationships and practices necessary for procuring, producing,
and distributing food
○
All four modes and combinations of different modes, persist in the
contemporary world, demonstrating the adaptability of human
subsistence
Foraging
Mode of subsistence based on resources that are available in
nature through gathering, fishing or hunting - searching for
edible plants and animals w/o domesticating them
→
Oldest form - 99% of our human history
→
250,000 in marginal areas, often ethnic minorities
→
Sophisticated knowledge of the environment and seasonal
changes
→
Foragers most often change modes of subsistence only when
forced to
Population density
®
Environmental degradation
®
→
Tools used include digging sticks, bow and arrow, spears,
baskets
→
Extensive Strategy
Requires access to large areas of land and unrestricted
population
®
→
Division of Labour
Occupational specialization or assigning particular tasks
to particular individuals
®
→
Based on gender and age
→
Property relations
→
Private property does not exist, "use rights"
→
Sustainable system
→
Needs are modest and minimal effort is required to satisfy
them
→
Healthy
→
1)
○
-
The Original Affluent Society
Richard Lee (1969) observed !Kung San foragers of the
Kalahari Desert
Fewer than twenty hours per week hunting and
gathering food
◊
®
Marshall Sahlins (1972) called hunter-gathers
"Original affluent society" because their wealth is
measured in valued leisure time
◊
Foragers have few material possessions but do
not perceive themselves as "impoverished"
◊
®
Most contemporary foragers integrate some farming or
herding into their hunting-gathering strategies
Many also exchange foraged foods w/ food-
producing communities especially to obtain
carbohydrates
◊
®
→
Horticulture
Based on cultivating domesticated plants in gardens using
hand tools
→
Supplemented
→
Still practiced in many areas
→
More labour intensive
→
Use of hand tools (knives, axes, digging sticks) - humans do all
the work, rain is only moisture, rotation of garden plots
→
Extensive Strategy
→
Sedentary, living in one place
→
Increases the amount of predictable or reliable food energy
that humans can get out of a plot of land
→
Division of Labour
Male and female work is clearly defined
®
Women do the processing
®
Children very productive, advantage with large families
®
→
Property Relations
→
Private property is not characteristic
→
Use rights
→
Any Surplus produced leads to the possibility of inequality
→
Sustainable System if enough space
→
Swidden Agriculture (Type of horticulture)
Slashes and burns a small area of forest t o release plant
nutrients into the soil. As soil fertility declines, the
farmer allows the plot to regenerate to forest
®
Most effective with lower population densities, which
allows fallow periods for the land to regenerate
®
→
2)
Pastoralism
Pastoralists subsist with animal husbandry
Breeding, care, and use of domesticated herding
animals
®
Consumption of milk and blood
®
Exploitation of hair, wool, fur and the ability of animals
to pull or carry heavy loads
®
→
Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Central Asia
Occupy landscapes beyond the reaches of productive
agriculture
®
→
Trade networks
→
Extensive strategy
→
Division of Labour
→
Families and clusters of are basic production unit
→
Men in charge of herding
→
Women in processing of products
→
Property relations
→
Most important property are the animals
→
Also housing and domestic goods
→
May be inherited, specially through males
→
Use rights to land and migratory routes
→
Sustainable if enough land
→
Transhumance
Regular seasonal movement of herding communities
from one ecological niche to another
®
→
Horizontal migration
Movement of a herding community across a larger area
in search of whatever grazing lands may be available
®
→
3)
Intensive Agriculture
Growing crops on permanent plots with the use of plowing,
irrigation, and fertilizer; goal is to increase yields to feed a
larger community
→
Intensive Strategy
Allows the same plot to be used over and over again
®
Preparation of soil (including fertilizing)
®
Technology (yokes, irrigation, combines)
®
A larger labour force
®
Water management (new forms of irrigation)
®
Modifying plants and soils (selective breeding, crop
rotation)
®
→
Surplus allows some individuals to be free from subsistence
activities
Specialization
®
→
Family Farming
Production is gear to support family and produce foods
for sale
®
Throughout the world, but more common in developing
countries
®
Major activities include plowing, planting, weeding,
caring for irrigation, terracing, harvesting, processing,
and storage
®
Division of Labour
®
Family is basic labour unit
®
Gender and age define work
®
Property rights
®
Firmly defined and protected property rights
®
Rights can be acquired and sold
®
Inheritance of land, transfer of rights through marriage
®
Institutions to protect property rights
®
→
Industrial Farming
The application of industrial principles to farming - these
principles include the following:
Increased specialization, often inly a single crop
◊
Land, labor. Seeds, and water obtains as
commodities
◊
Unequal distribution of resulting agriculture
products
◊
Increased mechanization and productivity
◊
®
Characteristics of highly industrialized post-industrial
economic in which only 1% - 5% of the population
engages in farming
®
Includes factory farms that produce meat, eggs, and
diary products
®
Requires more in the way of technology and the use of
non-renewable natural resources
®
Not a sustainable system
®
Green revolution
The transformation of agriculture in the Third
World that began in the 1940s, through
agriculture research, technology transfer, and
infrastructure development
◊
®
Today, biotechnology has increase crop production and
created pest-resistant crops and even crops that ripen
on our "unnatural" schedule.
®
But these technological innovations are prohibitively
expensive for many farmers; large landowners and
agricultural business benefit most from their use
®
Displaces and undermines the sustainability of foraging,
horticulture, and pastoralism
®
Increases social and economic stratification in rural
areas
®
→
4)
How are contemporary food ways changing?
Industrial agriculture and globalization are fueling major changes in food ways
around the world, with important health and environmental consequences
Food security: access to sufficient nutritious food to sustain an active and
healthy life
○
-
Global industrialization
Consequences for rural populations
○
In the U.S., family farms have been declining for decades, mainly owing to
government policies that favor industrial agriculture over small-scales
production
E.g., corn
§
○
I.A. requires chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and lots of water to be
successful. Unfortunately, these requirements also threaten the
environment
Pesticide resistance
§
Neonicotinoids and bees
§
○
I.A. depends heavily on non-renewable fossil fuels
1/5 of energy consumption in U.S.
§
○
-
Public health consequences
Industrialized food ways have consequences on people's health
○
Increases in obesity: the creation of excess body fat to the point if
impairing bodily health and function
○
Increase in overweight: having abnormal fat accumulation
○
Researchers have linked global increase in obesity and overweight to a
global nutrition transition: the combination of changes in diet toward
energy-dense foods (HIGH CALORIES, FAT, AND SUGAR) AND DECLINES IN
PHYSOCAL ACTIVITY
○
This is compounded by economic competition--small-scale farms cannot
compete w/ the low cost foods of transitional agribusinesses. People
migrate to urban areas where they tend to live more sedentary, less
physically active lives
○
-
Sustainability
Sustainable agriculture: farming based on integrating goals of
environmental health, economic productivity, and economic equity
Farmers markets
§
Community-supported agriculture
§
○
Agroecology: integrating the principles of ecology into agricultural
production
Organic production, integration of natural processes like nutrient
cycling, nitrogen fixation, soil regeneration, and natural enemies
§
Knowledge of local farmers
§
○
-
Food ways
Week 5, Lecture 8
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
2:21 PM
How Do Different Societies Get Food?
Modes of Subsistence
The social relationships and practices necessary for procuring, producing,
and distributing food
○
All four modes and combinations of different modes, persist in the
contemporary world, demonstrating the adaptability of human
subsistence
Foraging
Mode of subsistence based on resources that are available in
nature through gathering, fishing or hunting - searching for
edible plants and animals w/o domesticating them
→
Oldest form - 99% of our human history
→
250,000 in marginal areas, often ethnic minorities
→
Sophisticated knowledge of the environment and seasonal
changes
→
Foragers most often change modes of subsistence only when
forced to
Population density
®
Environmental degradation
®
→
Tools used include digging sticks, bow and arrow, spears,
baskets
→
Extensive Strategy
Requires access to large areas of land and unrestricted
population
®
→
Division of Labour
Occupational specialization or assigning particular tasks
to particular individuals
®
→
Based on gender and age
→
Property relations
→
Private property does not exist, "use rights"
→
Sustainable system
→
Needs are modest and minimal effort is required to satisfy
them
→
Healthy
→
1)
○
-
The Original Affluent Society
Richard Lee (1969) observed !Kung San foragers of the
Kalahari Desert
Fewer than twenty hours per week hunting and
gathering food
◊
®
Marshall Sahlins (1972) called hunter-gathers
"Original affluent society" because their wealth is
measured in valued leisure time
◊
Foragers have few material possessions but do
not perceive themselves as "impoverished"
◊
®
Most contemporary foragers integrate some farming or
herding into their hunting-gathering strategies
Many also exchange foraged foods w/ food-
producing communities especially to obtain
carbohydrates
◊
®
→
Horticulture
Based on cultivating domesticated plants in gardens using
hand tools
→
Supplemented
→
Still practiced in many areas
→
More labour intensive
→
Use of hand tools (knives, axes, digging sticks) - humans do all
the work, rain is only moisture, rotation of garden plots
→
Extensive Strategy
→
Sedentary, living in one place
→
Increases the amount of predictable or reliable food energy
that humans can get out of a plot of land
→
Division of Labour
Male and female work is clearly defined
®
Women do the processing
®
Children very productive, advantage with large families
®
→
Property Relations
→
Private property is not characteristic
→
Use rights
→
Any Surplus produced leads to the possibility of inequality
→
Sustainable System if enough space
→
Swidden Agriculture (Type of horticulture)
Slashes and burns a small area of forest t o release plant
nutrients into the soil. As soil fertility declines, the
farmer allows the plot to regenerate to forest
®
Most effective with lower population densities, which
allows fallow periods for the land to regenerate
®
→
2)
Pastoralism
Pastoralists subsist with animal husbandry
Breeding, care, and use of domesticated herding
animals
®
Consumption of milk and blood
®
Exploitation of hair, wool, fur and the ability of animals
to pull or carry heavy loads
®
→
Middle East, Africa, Europe, and Central Asia
Occupy landscapes beyond the reaches of productive
agriculture
®
→
Trade networks
→
Extensive strategy
→
Division of Labour
→
Families and clusters of are basic production unit
→
Men in charge of herding
→
Women in processing of products
→
Property relations
→
Most important property are the animals
→
Also housing and domestic goods
→
May be inherited, specially through males
→
Use rights to land and migratory routes
→
Sustainable if enough land
→
Transhumance
Regular seasonal movement of herding communities
from one ecological niche to another
®
→
Horizontal migration
Movement of a herding community across a larger area
in search of whatever grazing lands may be available
®
→
3)
Intensive Agriculture
Growing crops on permanent plots with the use of plowing,
irrigation, and fertilizer; goal is to increase yields to feed a
larger community
→
Intensive Strategy
Allows the same plot to be used over and over again
®
Preparation of soil (including fertilizing)
®
Technology (yokes, irrigation, combines)
®
A larger labour force
®
Water management (new forms of irrigation)
®
Modifying plants and soils (selective breeding, crop
rotation)
®
→
Surplus allows some individuals to be free from subsistence
activities
Specialization
®
→
Family Farming
Production is gear to support family and produce foods
for sale
®
Throughout the world, but more common in developing
countries
®
Major activities include plowing, planting, weeding,
caring for irrigation, terracing, harvesting, processing,
and storage
®
Division of Labour
®
Family is basic labour unit
®
Gender and age define work
®
Property rights
®
Firmly defined and protected property rights
®
Rights can be acquired and sold
®
Inheritance of land, transfer of rights through marriage
®
Institutions to protect property rights
®
→
Industrial Farming
The application of industrial principles to farming - these
principles include the following:
Increased specialization, often inly a single crop
◊
Land, labor. Seeds, and water obtains as
commodities
◊
Unequal distribution of resulting agriculture
products
◊
Increased mechanization and productivity
◊
®
Characteristics of highly industrialized post-industrial
economic in which only 1% - 5% of the population
engages in farming
®
Includes factory farms that produce meat, eggs, and
diary products
®
Requires more in the way of technology and the use of
non-renewable natural resources
®
Not a sustainable system
®
Green revolution
The transformation of agriculture in the Third
World that began in the 1940s, through
agriculture research, technology transfer, and
infrastructure development
◊
®
Today, biotechnology has increase crop production and
created pest-resistant crops and even crops that ripen
on our "unnatural" schedule.
®
But these technological innovations are prohibitively
expensive for many farmers; large landowners and
agricultural business benefit most from their use
®
Displaces and undermines the sustainability of foraging,
horticulture, and pastoralism
®
Increases social and economic stratification in rural
areas
®
→
4)
How are contemporary food ways changing?
Industrial agriculture and globalization are fueling major changes in food ways
around the world, with important health and environmental consequences
Food security: access to sufficient nutritious food to sustain an active and
healthy life
○
-
Global industrialization
Consequences for rural populations
○
In the U.S., family farms have been declining for decades, mainly owing to
government policies that favor industrial agriculture over small-scales
production
E.g., corn
§
○
I.A. requires chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and lots of water to be
successful. Unfortunately, these requirements also threaten the
environment
Pesticide resistance
§
Neonicotinoids and bees
§
○
I.A. depends heavily on non-renewable fossil fuels
1/5 of energy consumption in U.S.
§
○
-
Public health consequences
Industrialized food ways have consequences on people's health
○
Increases in obesity: the creation of excess body fat to the point if
impairing bodily health and function
○
Increase in overweight: having abnormal fat accumulation
○
Researchers have linked global increase in obesity and overweight to a
global nutrition transition: the combination of changes in diet toward
energy-dense foods (HIGH CALORIES, FAT, AND SUGAR) AND DECLINES IN
PHYSOCAL ACTIVITY
○
This is compounded by economic competition--small-scale farms cannot
compete w/ the low cost foods of transitional agribusinesses. People
migrate to urban areas where they tend to live more sedentary, less
physically active lives
○
-
Sustainability
Sustainable agriculture: farming based on integrating goals of
environmental health, economic productivity, and economic equity
Farmers markets
§
Community-supported agriculture
§
○
Agroecology: integrating the principles of ecology into agricultural
production
Organic production, integration of natural processes like nutrient
cycling, nitrogen fixation, soil regeneration, and natural enemies
§
Knowledge of local farmers
§
○
-
Food ways
Week 5, Lecture 8
Tuesday, January 31, 2017 2:21 PM
Document Summary
The social relationships and practices necessary for procuring, producing, and distributing food. All four modes and combinations of different modes, persist in the contemporary world, demonstrating the adaptability of human subsistence. Mode of subsistence based on resources that are available in nature through gathering, fishing or hunting - searching for edible plants and animals w/o domesticating them. Oldest form - 99% of our human history. Sophisticated knowledge of the environment and seasonal changes. Foragers most often change modes of subsistence only when forced to. Tools used include digging sticks, bow and arrow, spears, baskets. Requires access to large areas of land and unrestricted population. Occupational specialization or assigning particular tasks to particular individuals. Needs are modest and minimal effort is required to satisfy them. Richard lee (1969) observed !kung san foragers of the. Fewer than twenty hours per week hunting and gathering food. "original affluent society" because their wealth is measured in valued leisure time.
