South America Agriculture

When talking about South America, do you think of the relaxing tropical forests? How about turning those lands in to agriculture? No? South America farms to supply the world. It supplies 23% of fresh fruits and vegetable as well as coffee, corn, wheat, soy product for the U.S. (Gaglio, 2011)Maybe we should learn more about our supplier - South America.

The Land

23% of the land in South America is suitable for farming,  23% is tropical rain forest, 13% is grassland which hold fresh water(Pengue, 2004). South American is a paradise for agriculture because of the flowing reasons:  

·       rain fall throughout the year

·       no extreme climate change such as hurricane, tornadoes, ect. 

·       has 20% of world's freshwater

·       cheap and productive

·       more land and less population

·       away from war and conflict

(Ramaswamy, 2009)

Subsistence Farming

Subsistence farming is people farms to feed themselves using human labor or animals such as ox( Wilson, 2011). Tony Waters writes: "Subsistence peasants are people who grow what they eat, build their own houses, and live without regularly making purchases in the marketplace."(Waters, 2007) A large population in South America practice subsistence farming.

A common technique to put nutrient into the soil is slash and burn agriculture. Farmers cut down all trees and vegetations and wait for them to dry for several days, then they start a fire to burn all the vegetations. ("Slash and burn," 2005) There are an estimated 250 million slash-and-burn farmers across the world(Skegg, 2011).

Pros:

·       provide nutrient to the soil

·       self sufficient

·       organic food

Cons:

·       hard living

·       cause environmental problems

·       not sustainable for large population

Brazil

1980s land were sold cheaply to farmers which caused population migration

Brazil's high-plains, the cerrados, cover about one-fourth of the country (Agbrazil,2006).

Cerrado land is cheapest highly productive agriculture land  because of supply and demand.  There are a lot of land but not enough people to farm. Brazil has rich soil and good environment for agriculture. Farms have high production to make more profit.

Main crops grown in Brazil:

·       coffee beans

·       sugar cane

·       soy beans

·       corn

·       tropical fruit

·       vegetable

Problem with Agriculture in Brazil

·       75% of Brazil's green house gas emissions are result from deforestation and change the land   for agriculture

·       decrease biodiversity in tropical forests

References

Agbrazil . (2006). Retrieved from http://www.agbrazil.com/western_bahia_.htm

Gaglio, J. (2011, July 25). Opinion: South american exports meet u.s. food        safety ‘gold standard’. Retrieved from        http://www.freshfruitportal.com/2011/07/25/opinion-south-american-       exports-meet-u-s-food-safety-‘gold-standard’

Mia MacDonald and Justine Simon (2010) Cattle, Soyanization, and Climate Change: Brazil's Agricultural Revolution. Brighter Green

Lee, T. (2010). Trade promotion agreement helps boost u.s. agricultural exports to        peru . Retrieved from United States Department of Agriculture website:        http://www.fas.usda.gov/info/WebStories/Peru010310.asp

Tony Waters. The Persistence of Subsistence Agriculture: life beneath the level of the marketplace. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books. 2007.

Pengue, W. (2004, April 25). A short story of farming in latin america. Retrieved        from http://www.grain.org/article/entries/413-a-short-history-of-farming-       in-latin-america

Ramaswamy, D. (Performer) (2009). Agriculture outsourcing: South america/latin america farmland investing [Web]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NDY__uBw_8

Slash and burn agriculture in brazil . (2005, July 26). Retrieved from http://www.sprol.com/2005/06/slash-and-burn-agriculture-in-brazil/

Skegg, Martin. True Stories: Up In Smoke The Guardian 24 September 2011

Subsistence agriculture [hd] [Video]. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr1qxdwJwC8&feature=related

Wilson , E. (2011, Nov 01). Interview by My Yu [Personal Interview]. South america agriculture. , Denver, Colorado