As geographers we like to ask why something is happening here and not someplace else,
1:14
and after literally thousands of years of agricultural innovation, we’ve learned there
1:18
isn’t one answer to why places experience hunger.
1:21
A place like what’s now called Chad, or even Ethiopia, experiences hunger largely
1:25
due to ongoing political and ethnic conflicts. These conflicts disrupt the ability of farmers
1:30
to carry out food production and humanitarian food aid from being accessible.
1:34
But somewhere like Puerto Rico or New Orleans in the US might experience short-term hunger
1:38
because of disasters like hurricanes. Events like bad weather and shipping bottlenecks,
1:42
or anything that disrupts the global distribution of food to an area, also contribute to short-term
1:47
problems with food access.
1:48
Studying these issues is part of agricultural geography where we work on understanding how
1:53
agricultural ideas diffused around the world, like we discussed in our episode on diffusion
1:57
and language.
1:58
We’re also trying to understand how food production and access are arranged across
2:02
space, which involves so many other things like all of the physical processes, culture,
2:07
economics, and politics that influence what foods we eat and how we access it.
2:11
And to do this agricultural geography work, maps can provide clues and be useful tools.
2:16
Maps like this one illustrate just how far reaching serious hunger can be. It also shows
2:21
us that lower income countries often have higher rates of food insecurity, which has
2:25
led to assumptions over the decades about the ability of the people there to grow food.
2:29
But geographers dig deeper and bring in additional context. These are also places with colonial
2:34
legacies that have disrupted traditional agriculture systems. But we know that people in places
2:39
with food insecurity can feed themselves if the infrastructure for food production and
2:42
distribution is left intact.
2:44
For instance, the indigenous peoples of what’s now called North America were able to feed
2:48
themselves for 1000s of years. But more recently, traditional ways of eating have been systemically broke.
2:54
There are now efforts like Dream of Wild Health to help rejuvenate traditional
2:57
knowledge about traditional foods, many of which have been reduced or eliminated in the landscape.
3:01
In fact, it’s easier to see that there’s nothing inherent to places experiencing serious
3:06
hunger if we compare the map of global hunger with the spread of agriculture around the world.
3:10
Much like there are cultural hearths, there are also centers of origin or hearths of domestication,
3:16
which are places where certain plant and animal species were plentiful enough to allow domestication.
3:20
Every part of the world has something it’s domesticated, or started growing and breeding
3:24
intentionally, because every place in the world had to invent ways to feed the people
3:27
who lived there. Domestication was part of the first agricultural revolution that established
3:32
agriculture as a human activity. We talked about potatoes and bananas, but every food
3:37
we’ve ever eaten or natural fiber we’ve ever worn has a center of origin.
3:41
The use of certain crops and livestock as food or fiber are innovations that diffused
3:45
out of those centers. In particular, after Christopher Columbus and other colonizers
3:50
arrived in what we now call the Americas, a fresh wave of relocation diffusion picked
3:54
up and moved foods and agricultural ideas to new places.
3:57
We call this wave the Columbian Exchange, which involved food and other items moving
4:01
around the world through triangular trade, which is named for the triangle-ish shape
4:06
it forms on a map.
4:07
Enslaved people were moved to the Americas to grow food and textiles, like sugar, bananas,
4:11
and cotton. Those raw goods were moved to Europe to be manufactured. And some of what
4:16
was manufactured went back to African leaders in exchange for more enslaved peoples.
4:20
To enable this triangle of trade -- and all the wealth it was creating for the European
4:24
and eventually North American merchant class -- meant that colonists changed local systems.
4:29
So for example, food production in the Caribbean and Central America went from the relatively
4:33
reliable, but difficult subsistence models where people grew food mostly for their own
4:37
consumption and that of their community, to export models, where food mostly left the
4:41
area to be consumed outside of the community.
4:44
And the legacy of the Columbian Exchange, slavery, and trianglular trade lives on today
4:48
and touches even the most basic aspects of our lives!
4:51
Just take dietary staples like pizza -- which is an Italian dish featuring tomatoes native
4:56
to the Andes region, like what we now call Peru. And wheat, which is native to places
5:01
around the Fertile Crescent like what we now call Turkey, but which is grown throughout the world.
5:05
So as geographers examining hunger, we might wonder what else about agriculture in these
5:09
places has changed.
5:10
Globally there were additional innovations in agriculture, like the second agricultural
5:14
revolution, that coincided with the industrial revolution. This is when more and more machines
5:18
started being used for all aspects of farming, from planting to harvesting.
5:22
Before machines, agriculture relied on polyculture, meaning growing more than one crop at a time.
5:28
But polyculture is also labor intensive, and it’s difficult to use machines to harvest
5:32
crops in a polyculture arrangement. So to make efficient use of machines, like tillers,
5:36
planters, and combines, crops needed to be grown as monocultures, or just one crop in
5:41
a field, because it’s easier to plant and harvest them mechanically.
5:44
And this eventually led to more focus on commercialization and commercial agriculture, meaning focusing
5:49
on varieties, or types of plants, that are easy to harvest in large quantities and of similar quality.
5:55
So theoretically, agriculture was getting more efficient and more food should’ve been grown.
5:59
These were significant changes, and as geographers, we want to understand what causes technology
6:04
to change. And why the real world can be vastly different from our theories.
6:08
Right after World War II much of the world was trying to recover, and there was a lot
6:12
of fear around famine and hunger. Specifically, there was a deep concern that places with
6:16
high population growth would face famines that would perpetuate global war and conflict.
6:21
This is an example of how Western researchers at the time were thinking in Neo-Malthusian
6:25
terms, or thinking that people in low-income places were to blame for large population
6:29
numbers that would stress food sources, rather than our agriculture systems being able to adapt.
6:34
So finding a way to feed the world became a major effort that led to the third agricultural
6:38
revolution, which included the Green Revolution along with those other commercial changes.
6:43
During the Green Revolution, researchers in North America and Europe focused on cross-breeding
6:47
different varieties of seeds to create faster, stronger, and more pest-resistant crops. And
6:53
the results were, well, revolutionary. New hybrids of crops like corn, rice, and wheat
6:58
had amazing increases in crop yields, or how much of a crop is harvested.
7:02
But, the new hybrid seeds required more attention, like large amounts of water and fertilizers.
7:07
They also firmly established the practice of using commercial seeds, and these changes
7:11
were also often part of development programs. So, like we saw last time, countries like
7:16
India received a lot of focus to address hunger and any political instability that could come
7:20
from that hunger, with mixed results.
7:22
So having a lot of food certainly helps address hunger, but even if there’s a lot of food,
7:26
there are still concerns about long-term reliability of all that food.
7:30
For instance, despite how many cereal options you might find in the cereal aisle of an American
7:34
grocery store, they’re all made with the same types of wheat, corn, and rice. Through
7:39
the spread of commercial agriculture and hybrid and genetically modified seeds, the diversity
7:43
of foods humans eat has actually declined, especially in the last 100 years.
7:47
It’s estimated that wheat, rice, and corn provide roughly half of all of the world’s
7:52
calories. And some researchers estimate about ¾ of our calories come from just 12 plant
7:57
and 5 animal species! That’s not a lot of food diversity when we realize there are over
8:02
200,000 known edible plants.
8:04
And many agricultural scientists think this is a consequence of the technological innovations
8:09
that have continued from the Green Revolution into the agricultural Genetic Revolution,
8:13
where seeds have been genetically modified in a lab rather than bred and collected by farmers.
8:18
So, as we continue to study agricultural geography, we see that the history of agriculture is a complex tapestry of innovation, diffusion, and colonial legacies. The spread of agriculture around the world has shaped our diets and food production systems in ways we may not even realize.
From the first agricultural revolution to the Green Revolution and beyond, our agricultural practices have evolved and changed. The focus on efficiency and commercialization has led to monocultures and a decrease in food diversity. This has raised concerns about the long-term sustainability and reliability of our food sources.
As geographers, we continue to study these issues to understand how food production and access are arranged across space, and how we can address food insecurity and hunger in a sustainable way. By analyzing the historical and contemporary factors that have shaped our agricultural systems, we can work towards creating a more equitable and resilient food system for all.
8:18
And there are concerns that reduced biodiversity in our food means less adaptability to changing
8:22
climates. So even with all the technological innovations of different agricultural revolutions,
8:28
our efforts to feed the world are ongoing.
8:30
Many researchers and geographers studying different scales have realized that global
8:34
hunger is less about whether there is enough food, and more about asking what keeps people
8:38
from accessing food?
8:40
Some of it is just economic. Those who don’t make much money can’t afford as much food
8:44
or have to select whatever is cheapest.
8:46
But this has gotten complicated, especially as large agribusiness corporations are taking
8:51
over everything from seed development to selling the final product. Because of their size,
8:56
they’re able to access more resources and produce cheaper food than small farmers trying
9:00
to feed their families ever could.
9:02
But though the food might be cheap, food processed in many of these factories still add to many
9:06
issues around nutrition and access. For instance, processed foods are often fairly cheap, but
9:10
we can see a change in texture, quality, and even the nutritional value of the food, and
9:15
those changes can be positive -- like a longer shelf life -- or negative, like removing nutrients.
9:20
Even in places with good overall food access, food insecurity can be an issue when we zoom
9:24
into the local level, whether in an urban or rural place. Food deserts are areas that
9:29
lack access to full-service grocery stores, and often especially lack access to fresh
9:33
fruits and vegetables. And lack of access can range from a lack of physical stores,
9:38
to a lack of transportation to the stores that do exist.
9:40
So to fully understand the nature of hunger, as geographers we look at the cultural and
9:45
political factors in addition to the economic factors.
9:48
For example in Black or Indigenous communities in the United States there have been systemic
9:52
efforts to stigmatize foods that were important culturally, to discourage the sharing of agricultural
9:57
knowledge, and to keep people from accessing land to grow food.
10:00
So understanding that hunger and food access are about more than just the number of people
10:04
in a place and whether or not we can buy food can help us create more food secure and equitable societies.
10:10
Ultimately, what we’ve seen today is that just like the rest of the Earth, agriculture
10:14
is a dynamic innovation. The food on your plate has a geographic story, from its ancestral
10:19
home to who grew it to how it was packaged to sell to you. That story crosses through
10:24
colonial and market based relationships and even the price you are charged for that food
10:28
is related to political and economic systems worked out in the 20th century.
10:32
And while how we access food is a lot of agricultural geography, how we use the land food is grown
10:37
on is its own story, which we’ll get to next time!
10:41
Many maps and borders represent modern geopolitical divisions that have often been decided without
10:45
the consultation, permission, or recognition of the land's original inhabitants.
10:49
Many geographical place names also don't reflect the Indigenous or Aboriginal peoples languages.
10:53
So we at Crash Course want to acknowledge these peoples’ traditional and ongoing relationship
10:57
with that land and all the physical and human geographical elements of it.
11:01
We encourage you to learn about the history of the place you call home through resources
11:04
like native-land.ca and by engaging with your local Indigenous and Aboriginal nations through
11:08
the websites and resources they provide. 8:18
And there are concerns that reduced biodiversity in our food means less adaptability to changing
8:22
climates. So even with all the technological innovations of different agricultural revolutions,
8:28
our efforts to feed the world are ongoing.
8:30
Many researchers and geographers studying different scales have realized that global
8:34
hunger is less about whether there is enough food, and more about asking what keeps people
8:38
from accessing food?
8:40
Some of it is just economic. Those who don’t make much money can’t afford as much food
8:44
or have to select whatever is cheapest.
8:46
But this has gotten complicated, especially as large agribusiness corporations are taking
8:51
over everything from seed development to selling the final product. Because of their size,
8:56
they’re able to access more resources and produce cheaper food than small farmers trying
9:00
to feed their families ever could.
9:02
But though the food might be cheap, food processed in many of these factories still add to many
9:06
issues around nutrition and access. For instance, processed foods are often fairly cheap, but
9:10
we can see a change in texture, quality, and even the nutritional value of the food, and
9:15
those changes can be positive -- like a longer shelf life -- or negative, like removing nutrients.
9:20
Even in places with good overall food access, food insecurity can be an issue when we zoom
9:24
into the local level, whether in an urban or rural place. Food deserts are areas that
9:29
lack access to full-service grocery stores, and often especially lack access to fresh
9:33
fruits and vegetables. And lack of access can range from a lack of physical stores,
9:38
to a lack of transportation to the stores that do exist.
9:40
So to fully understand the nature of hunger, as geographers we look at the cultural and
9:45
political factors in addition to the economic factors.
9:48
For example in Black or Indigenous communities in the United States there have been systemic
9:52
efforts to stigmatize foods that were important culturally, to discourage the sharing of agricultural
9:57
knowledge, and to keep people from accessing land to grow food.
10:00
So understanding that hunger and food access are about more than just the number of people
10:04
in a place and whether or not we can buy food can help us create more food secure and equitable societies.
10:10
Ultimately, what we’ve seen today is that just like the rest of the Earth, agriculture
10:14
is a dynamic innovation. The food on your plate has a geographic story, from its ancestral
10:19
home to who grew it to how it was packaged to sell to you. That story crosses through
10:24
colonial and market based relationships and even the price you are charged for that food
10:28
is related to political and economic systems worked out in the 20th century.
10:32
And while how we access food is a lot of agricultural geography, how we use the land food is grown
10:37
on is its own story, which we’ll get to next time!
10:41
Many maps and borders represent modern geopolitical divisions that have often been decided without
10:45
the consultation, permission, or recognition of the land's original inhabitants.
10:49
Many geographical place names also don't reflect the Indigenous or Aboriginal peoples languages.
10:53
So we at Crash Course want to acknowledge these peoples’ traditional and ongoing relationship
10:57
with that land and all the physical and human geographical elements of it.
11:01
We encourage you to learn about the history of the place you call home through resources
11:04
like native-land.ca and by engaging with your local Indigenous and Aboriginal nations through
11:08
the websites and resources they provide.
In conclusion, the issue of global hunger is complex and multifaceted, involving not just the availability of food but also factors like economic access, cultural stigmas, political barriers, and systemic inequalities. As agricultural geographers, we strive to understand these complexities and work towards creating more food-secure and equitable societies.
The history of agriculture, from ancient innovations to modern industrialization, has shaped our food systems and diets. The ongoing technological advancements and commercialization in agriculture have led to concerns about reduced biodiversity, food processing issues, and food insecurity in both urban and rural areas.
Furthermore, the cultural and political aspects of food access cannot be ignored, as marginalized communities have faced systemic barriers that hinder their ability to grow and access nutritious food. Recognizing and addressing these underlying issues is crucial in building a more sustainable and inclusive food system for all.
Ultimately, agriculture is a dynamic and evolving field, with food production intertwining with global trade, colonial histories, and contemporary socio-economic structures. By delving into the complexities of food production, distribution, and access, geographers can contribute to creating a more just and resilient food landscape for the future.
1. In 3-5 sentences, please summarize what your video was about. What kind of
spatial equality did it talk about? (Race? Food? Money?... etc.)
2. What patterns of spatial inequalities did you observe in the video? (Identify any
noticeable differences in the distribution of resources, opportunities, or
infrastructure across different geographical areas.)
3. How do you think historical, social, and economic factors have contributed to
the spatial inequalities depicted in the video? (Consider the foundational causes
behind the spatial disparities showcased, such as colonial legacies, urban
planning policies, or economic systems.)
4. In what ways might spatial inequality impact individuals or communities
residing (living) in the areas shown in the video? (Effects on access to
education, healthcare, employment, and quality of life.)
5. How might raising awareness about spatial inequality contribute to fostering
(growing) social justice and sustainable development? (Reflect on how
awareness could promote social equity, inclusivity, and sustainable development
on both local and global scales.)
1. The video discussed the complexities of global hunger and food access, highlighting how spatial inequalities, particularly economic disparities and cultural factors, play a significant role in shaping food security. It touched upon the impact of agribusiness corporations, lack of access to fresh food in certain areas (food deserts), and the cultural and political aspects influencing food availability and consumption.
2. The patterns of spatial inequalities observed in the video included disparities in economic resources, access to fresh and nutritious food, and distribution of food products. There were notable differences in the availability of full-service grocery stores, transportation to these stores, and the impact of large corporations on food production and consumption in various geographical areas.
3. Historical, social, and economic factors have contributed to spatial inequalities by shaping policies and systems that favor certain groups over others. Colonial legacies have influenced land ownership and access to resources, while urban planning policies have created food deserts and limited opportunities for communities to grow their own food. Economic systems, such as the dominance of agribusiness corporations, have further exacerbated spatial disparities in food access.
4. Spatial inequality can have significant impacts on individuals and communities living in areas depicted in the video. It can result in limited access to fresh and nutritious food, leading to health disparities and higher rates of malnutrition. Additionally, lack of access to quality food can affect educational outcomes, employment opportunities, and overall quality of life for residents in these areas.
5. Raising awareness about spatial inequality is crucial for fostering social justice and sustainable development. By increasing awareness of the root causes of spatial disparities and advocating for equitable policies and resources, communities can work towards creating more inclusive and sustainable food systems. This awareness can promote social equity, empower marginalized communities, and contribute to the development of policies that address spatial inequalities on both local and global scales.