AP® Human Geography review sheet from Aim for Five (aimforfive.com/geo/units/5/5-6)
Unit 5 · Topic 5.6
5.6 Agricultural Production Regions
Farming regions differ in whether food is grown mainly to eat (subsistence) or to sell (commercial), and commercial farming often means growing one crop over a wide area. Bid-rent theory explains why farming near cities tends to be intensive and farming far away tends to be extensive.
Key terms
- subsistence agriculture
- commercial agriculture
- monoculture
- monocropping
- bid-rent theory
Subsistence and commercial agriculture
Subsistence agriculture grows food mainly for the farmer's own family, with little left over to sell. It's most common in lower-income countries. Commercial agriculture grows crops and raises animals to sell for profit, usually with machines, purchased inputs and links to distant markets. It dominates in higher-income countries but also exists in poorer ones, especially on export plantations.
Combine this with 5.1's intensive and extensive categories and you get four broad types:
| Type | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Intensive subsistence | Families work small plots very hard to feed many people on little land | Wet rice farming in Bangladesh, Vietnam and southern China |
| Extensive subsistence | Small populations use large areas lightly | Shifting cultivation in the Amazon basin; nomadic herding in Mongolia |
| Intensive commercial | High inputs per acre, for sale | Market gardens near cities; dairy farms; mixed crop and livestock in Iowa |
| Extensive commercial | Low inputs per acre over large areas, for sale | Cattle ranching in Texas; large grain farms on the Canadian Prairies |
Monoculture and monocropping
These two terms sound alike but mean different things. Monoculture is about space: one crop covers a large area at the same time, like thousands of acres of oil palm in Malaysia. Monocropping is about time: the same crop is planted in the same field year after year, without rotation.
Some textbooks use the two words loosely, so on the exam show you know the idea behind each one. A Corn Belt field that alternates corn and soybeans is part of a monoculture-style landscape, but it isn't monocropped, because the crop changes each year.
Both practices are efficient for large commercial farms, since one crop means one set of machines and one buyer. But both carry risks. Monocropping drains the same nutrients from the soil each year and lets pests that target that crop build up. Monoculture means one disease can sweep across a whole region. Panama disease wiped out the Gros Michel banana in the mid-1900s, and a newer strain now threatens the Cavendish banana that replaced it.
Bid-rent theory and farming
Bid-rent theory says that land users compete for land, and the price they're willing to pay (their bid rent) falls as distance from the market (usually a city center) increases. Land closest to the market costs the most, so only uses that earn a lot per acre can afford it.
For agriculture, that means intensive farming, like vegetables, flowers and dairy, tends to locate close to cities, where land is costly but customers are near. Extensive farming, like ranching and large grain farms, tends to locate far away, where land is cheap.
At the urban fringe, farmers face pressure as cities grow. Developers can often pay more for land than a farm earns, so farmland is sold for suburbs (5.11, 6.11). The same model reappears for land use inside cities in 6.5.
Worked examples
Try each one yourself first, then open the solution.
- Example 1
Applying bid-rent theory
Explain why dairy farms and vegetable farms in the United States have historically been located closer to cities than cattle ranches.
Show the solutionHide the solution
- Step 1: State the theory: land near the market costs more, so only high-earning uses per acre can afford it.
- Step 2: Apply it: dairy and vegetables produce high value per acre and are perishable, so they need to be near buyers.
- Step 3: Contrast: ranching earns little per acre and needs a lot of land, so it locates where land is cheap, far from cities.
Answer: Model answer: According to bid-rent theory, land near cities costs more, so farmers there must earn a lot per acre. Dairy and vegetable farms earn high value per acre and their products spoil quickly, so they can afford land close to urban markets. Cattle ranching needs huge areas and earns little per acre, so it locates on cheap land far from cities, like the Great Plains.
Common mistakes
- Treating monoculture and monocropping as the same. Monoculture is one crop over a big area; monocropping is the same crop in one field every year.
- Assuming all farming in lower-income countries is subsistence. Many have large commercial plantations growing export crops.
- Saying bid-rent theory is only about cities. It also explains the location of farming near and far from markets.
On the exam
- Be ready to define subsistence and commercial agriculture and give a real place for each.
- Bid-rent questions reward the full chain: distance, land cost, what each use earns per acre, and the resulting location.
Connected topics
Videos
Check yourself
4 questions on 5.6 Agricultural Production Regions. Pick an answer to see if you got it, and why.
A farmer in Iowa plants corn in the same field every year instead of alternating it with soybeans. This practice is called
Which characteristic most clearly distinguishes commercial agriculture from subsistence agriculture?
According to bid-rent theory, why are vegetable and dairy farms often located close to large cities?
Large farms in Central America that grow bananas mainly for export to North America and Europe are an example of
0 of 4 answered