All You Need Is Rice

While agriculture used to be the most important sector in Vietnam, the industry is sadly fading away at the hand of large factories. Nonetheless, agriculture continues to employ over half of the population of the country, and is the sole source for the country’s raw materials and accounts for the majority of Vietnam’s exports.

Throughout the 1970’s, the country suffered from severe shortage of rice productions; however, their economy noticed a major boost when the commodity’s growth picked back up in the late 1980’s. To date, rice is principally the most vital crop to the stability of Vietnamese economy and agricultural industry. In fact, as the staple of the Vietnamese diet, it occupies 94% of the agricultural land in the country. Cultivation varies throughout the country, but primarily covers large areas of the country’s lowlands. Single-cropping is the status quo for much of the agricultural productions throughout the country, due to the fact that heavy rainfalls occupy the south for half the year, while the other half of the year sees little to no moisture at all. The most prosperous terrains for agriculture exist within the Red River delta, and the Mekong River delta. Although other land areas have been use towards agricultural efforts, they have proved to be inefficient and produce low productivity. The southern regions are helpful in areas of transport and irrigational systems due to their strong canal networks.

Aside from rice, Vietnam also grows a wide variety of other major crops, most of which are staple foods to the civilian’s diets. Agriculturalists are known for their growth of sugarcane, cassava, corn, sweet potatoes, and nuts. Additionally, due to the country’s lack of wealth and technology, much of the agricultural work is incredibly labor-intensive.  For instance, water buffalo are still responsible for much of the plowing, and the people are forced to pick their produce and crops by hand rather than by machinery like first world industries.

Resources:

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/628349/Vietnam/52704/Agriculture-forestry-and-fishing

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/494426/Red-River-delta

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/494426/Red-River-delta

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Asia-and-Oceania/Vietnam-AGRICULTURE.html

Image Sources:

http://www.mard.gov.vn/en/PublishingImages/aninhluongthuc.jpg

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/photos/vietnam-agriculture-1349.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/Mai_Chau_-_Arbeit_mit_Wasserbüffel_im_Reisfeld.jpg

The Transition of Russian Agriculture

In the early 2000’s Russia took the world by storm when they rose to the top of the supply and demand chain of the agricultural world. Russia’s transition resulted in the development of their now complex and uneven production system. Little did the world know that Russia’s combination of policy reformations, production changes, and commodity and trade reconstructions would affect the markets across the globe.

Twenty years ago, Russia began their conversion from a planned to a market economy. Then, in 2014 the country’s government reacted to the sanctions regarding the Ukraine crisis by banning food imports from all Western countries. Many government officials have since spoken on the issue by saying that they believe it is not only possible for their country to be self sufficient, but that they can provide for other countries, as well. However, it seems that in all reality the country is facing issues with following through with that claim. While Russia is blessed with perhaps the most some of the most arable land in the world, they rely on imports to account for nearly 40% of the food that feeds the people of their country. A ratio of that extent would take farmers and producers years of hard work and increased funding to reach the goals that the government expects.

Considering their agricultural production issues, Russia is known primarily for their exports of crude petroleum and natural gases to countries such as the Netherlands, China, and Germany. While they are not known for their exports of agricultural products, their top export is wheat and other grains. In fact, in the year 2012 the country produced 11.2% of the world’s barley and 5.9% of the world’s wheat. While their imports more than double their exports in all areas of production, they are still able to produce and export small amounts of a range of products from wheat, to veal, to sugar and honey.

Resources:

http://aepp.oxfordjournals.org/content/34/1/37.full

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/398cbdce-1e4a-11e4-9513-00144feabdc0,Authorised=false.html?_i_location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F398cbdce-1e4a-11e4-9513-00144feabdc0.html%3Fsiteedition%3Dintl&siteedition=intl&_i_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ft.com%2Fintl%2Fcms%2Fs%2F0%2F776c7c6a-2782-11e4-ae44-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3YXb1uHcA

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/776c7c6a-2782-11e4-ae44-00144feabdc0.html#axzz3YXb1uHcA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum

http://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/est/meetings/wto_comm/Trade_Policy_Brief_Russia_final.pdf

Image Sources:

http://www.choicesmagazine.org/magazine/fig/figure_143_full.jpg

http://russia-insider.com/sites/insider/files/6adbekomb.jpg

Opportunities in Apples

While under communist rule, the country of Poland’s went through a series of land reforms where their large estates were divided up across the country. Although this caused the majority of the farms throughout the country to account for merely 15 acres, about 2 million family farms employ 27.5% of the Poland workforce. While the small farm precedent is on the verge of growing, agriculture has not been sufficient enough to support families, hence has forced many to search for outside jobs.

Poland is one of the world’s leaders in potato, rye, apple, milk, and pork productions. In some regions the growing seasons are forced to be incredibly short due to the harsh climates; however, the growing seasons and climates vary throughout the country. Poland’s primary exports include grains, sugar, processed meats, and dairy products. Poland’s sugar industry is known as one of the oldest and most pre-vaiing industries in the world. Sadly, the country’s sugar commodity is struggling to stay competitive due to overseas producers pressuring Poland with stiff prices and quantity demands. In addition, to the decline in sugar production, the potato industry has faced a decline, as well. Improved livestock feeding habits combined with stiff competition from imported commodities and insufficient export markets have forced a general dissatisfaction among a large amount of farmers and producers throughout Poland. Because of all of these issues, it has been predicted that less than 700,000 will prevail through the next ten years. Large, commercial farms will force the small, family farms out of business due to the poor economy and increased expenses across the country’s agricultural industry. On the contrary, pork and dairy farmers have found a way to stay competitive in the country’s systems. The two productions have adapted smoothly to the transition from a system of fixed prices to that of a market economy. The people have also organized cooperatives and discovered new and innovative technologies that have enabled their businesses to stay afloat.

Still, many have referred to this day in age as the “golden age” when it comes to Polish farming. Since the country’s augmentation to the European Union in 2004, Polish farmers have been granted access to funds deriving from the Common Agricultural Policy. Aside from these benefits from the EU, the producers of Poland have benefited from increased domestic funding towards agriculture. They remain the world’s largest exporter of apples, and many believe this is the commodity that will continue to propel within the country. In fact, the Polish export of apples even surpassed China in 2003. While agriculture still needs reform, there are many opportunities that continue to present themselves to the agricultural people.

Resources:

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Europe/Poland-AGRICULTURE.html

http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2014/03/polands-agriculture

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Agricultural_Policy

Image Sources:

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Europe/Poland-AGRICULTURE.html

http://sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/i/keep-calm-and-eat-polish-apples-13.png

The Japanese Standard

As many countries throughout the world have different cultures and customs, the one entity that they all have in common is agriculture. Japan is no different from any other country; Agriculture in Japan is very important to the economy and provides abundant different occupations for the public. Compared to other countries, the amount of tillable farm land is sparse in certain regions. The average land being farmed by individuals is around 3 acres which is rather small compared to the United States and other neighboring countries. The amount of rainfall, soil fertility, and the temperature helps in the success of producing large amount of crops each year.  The entire country of Japan small farms throughout the mountainous terrain, but the northern region thrives in agricultural production. The northern Island of Hokkaido produces around 10% of the national production. Many different modern methods are being used in farming which makes the crop production much more successful. Though Japan produces a variety of crops, they also have many different products imported from other countries such as the United States. Around 39% of the tillable land is being planted as rice fields. 

The government recently restricted the amount of rice being planted causing the farmers to plant other products. A large amount of the crops being grown in Japan comes from urban communities. Approximately 25% of the households in Japan has some sort of urban crop production. Agriculture is constantly growing in Japan as modern technology advances the production of crops. Local agricultural farmers produce enough vegetables to feed almost 700,000 city dwellers. As urbanization has increased over the past few years, this has diminished around 40% of the arable farmland. Unlike countries such as the United States, most of Japanese farmers have other sources of employment other than farming. Japan has close to 1.5 million farmers but approximately 420,000 farm full time as their only form of income. Many of the part-time farmers strictly produce rice which mainly consists of the urban farmers. 

 

 

 

 

References: 

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Asia-and-Oceania/Japan-AGRICULTURE.html

http://unu.edu/publications/articles/japan-s-urban-agriculture-what-does-the-future-hold.html

http://www.economist.com/news/asia/21576154-fewer-bigger-plots-and-fewer-part-time-farmers-agriculture-could-compete-field-work 

Image Sources:

http://www.k-international.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Japanese-Agriculture.jpg

http://img.cdn2.vietnamnet.vn/Images/english/2014/01/23/12/20140123115751-japan.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Rice_02.jpg

A Self Supported Canada

Throughout the past years, Canada has significantly advanced in farming and the agricultural production that now supplies this country with a large number of jobs for the local communities. Agriculture has always been a major occupation, but recently the agriculture sector of this country has greatly expanded. Canada is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. During 1996, a study was shown that one- quarter of the farmers used computer systems to help manage not only their crop production, but also their livestock. Though Canada grows a large amount of domestic crops, the county also imports many different products that cannot be produced by the farmers. Over the past few years, the number of Canadian farms has decreased which has caused a great demand of imported crops from the United States.  As of 1999, Canada had a total of $10 billon (amounted in United States currency) of imported goods from other countries. Most of the farms in Canada are rather large in average acreage compared to other countries such as the United States.

            Compared to other countries, Canada’s agriculture is highly sophisticated which makes farming large amounts of land easier and more manageable for the producers. With the large demand of exports from other countries, the technology used by these farmers gives them an advantage to get the crops in and out of the fields faster and easier. Though the agriculture sector began to decrease during a period of time, it has recently grown over the past few years. Agriculture plays a huge role in Canada’s economy providing around 2.1 million jobs for the people of this country. The export of the crops produced by Canada provides a large amount of revenue each year due to the demand from other countries that cannot produce an abundant amount of crops each year. 

 References:

 http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Americas/Canada-AGRICULTURE.html

http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/about-us/publications/economic-publications/alphabetical-listing/an-overview-of-the-canadian-agriculture-and-agri-food-system-2013/?id=1331319696826  

Image Sources:

http://www5.agr.gc.ca/resources/prod/Internet-Internet/MISB-DGSIM/ATS-SEA/images/5489001-eng.gif

https://tce-live2.s3.amazonaws.com/media/media/eb1dd649-d35f-4f22-ac98-797635dadf5f.jpg

Poverty Driven Agriculture

Despite drastic efforts to transform the Philippines to an industrialized country, it is still considered predominantly agriculturally driven. The Philippines is one of the most poor countries across the globe, yet the people still use the methods they have for hundreds of years to contribute to the agricultural industry. The country’s agricultural system consists of two primary entities and two subsidiary entities. First and foremost, crop production and fisheries are the two most heavily engaged agricultural pursuits. While forestry and livestock remain relevant commodities, they are not nearly as prominent in the agricultural efforts of the economy.

With farming being the Philippines most dominant commodity, they have many exports that they are known globally for. Their primary crop exports are generally tropical and considered specialty goods to many countries due to the particular climate of the country. The Philippine goods are exported to countries across the world; however, the chief recipients of their goods are the United States, Japan, Europe, and ASEAN countries.

abaca plant

The main crops grown in the Philippines are rice, corn, sugarcane, bananas, coconut, pineapple, coffee, mangos, tobacco, and abaca. Recently, a move towards organic farming within the Philippine industry has been considered for the country’s future. Along with continuing to increase the amount of food produced within their lands, it is the country’s hopes to move towards “green revolution crops”. On the contrary, the country’s agricultural leaders believe they will face many opportunities and challenges in the upcoming years. Therefore, they are hoping to be pro-active in many of the affects the country will face with issues like climate change and meeting food requirements. Although, the Philippines is considered one of the most poverty stricken countries in the world, they are considering policy changes to enable a more sustainable and profitable system to help support the global industry.  

Resources:

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Asia-and-the-Pacific/Philippines-AGRICULTURE.html

http://www.fareasternagriculture.com/crops/agriculture/organic-farming-the-future-of-philippine-agriculture

http://www.pids.gov.ph/dp.php?id=5145&pubyear=2013

Image Sources:

http://www.fftc.agnet.org/htmlarea_graph/web_articles/20110705103712/478676602.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/Musa_textilis_-_Manila_Hemp_-_desc-flower.jpg

http://philsense.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/agriculture.jpg

Columbian Diversity

Mountains account for much of the country of Columbia’s terrain, coupled with a wide variance of climate changes throughout the landmass. Both of these contribute to the country’s ability to produce a broad assortment of both tropical and temperate-climate crops. In fact, Columbia is not only known for their production of bananas, but also for their potato commodities. This is a rarity and considered incredibly unusual throughout most countries in the world. Additionally, locally grown cotton supplies the expanding Columbian textile industry.

Columbia’s population is primarily agriculturally invested; therefore, the country is considered self-suficient in most essences. Aside from their other products, coffee and flower exports are some of the most major contributors to their economy and exports. One of the major factors that sets Columbian agriculture apart from many other countries is the variation of small and large farms. Over 60% of the farmers are considered incredibly small; whereas, the agrarian reform has pushed the rest of the country to expand and support larger commodity surpluses. Still, it seems that only rich farmers have the abilities to finance infrastructures, machinery, and fertilizers and pesticides.

Resources:

http://www.usergioarboleda.edu.co/pymes/agrarian_sector.htm

The Stock of Belgium

Much like the majority of countries across the world, the Kingdom of Belgium’s agricultural industry has been declining for quite some time now. Currently, only about 2% of their population is engaged in agricultural pursuits. Although about 39% of the country’s land is used for agricultural purposes, only 1% is used for permanent crops.

The majority of Belgium’s agriculture is divided into two parts: crop production and livestock production. Sugar beets, potatoes, and barley are the staple products produced in the country, but they are accompanied by corn, wheat, and assorted fruits and vegetables. While these products are necessary to the continuation of the country’s economy, stock production is the dominating contribution to their agricultural system. A variety of livestock is raised across the country including veal, beef, poultry, lamb, and swine.

Belgium is also known for their wide-spread dairy production, and their self-sustained egg, butter, and milk productions. The soil types vary across the country, which is the leading factor as to why the crop productions vary throughout the different terrains.

In addition, forests cover approximately 22% of the Belgium land mass, leaving wooded areas to be used principally for recreational purposes rather than agricultural. Fishing is also crucial to the country’s exportation status, their largest part is in Oostende. The fishing fleet exploits the North Atlantic Ocean fisheries from the North Sea to Iceland.

Resources:

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Europe/Belgium-AGRICULTURE.html

http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/AGPC/doc/Counprof/Belgium/belgium.htm

http://www.voyagesphotosmanu.com/agriculture_of_belgium.html

Image Sources:

http://www.sasas.co.za/sites/sasas.co.za/files/images/Angoli%20cattle%20-%20Kenia%202011.JPG

http://users.skynet.be/lave.belgique/Perso/Belgium_geol.jpg

http://www.dongo.org/pictures/potato_cultivation_in_belgium.jpg

Jamaican Ag-ventures

 

Agriculture in Jamaica is very important to the country’s economy and has always given many jobs to the community. There are many different products that Jamaican farmers grow, but the most popular and demanded product is sugar. Sugar is the most dominant export of Jamaica alongside of the other fruits and vegetables such as coconuts, bananas, spices, pimentos, cocoa, citrus, and coffee. In 1996 Jamaica produced around 237,943 metric tons of sugar which is the highest amount since the 1980’s. 

            Also in 1996, the United Kingdom was Jamaica’s largest purchaser of sugar, buying approximately 86.5% of the sugar produced. Most of the sugar produced by this county has been grown by large privately owned plantations, though small farmers do produce a large quantity of the sugar grown. The other products that are produced such as coffee and cocoa are distributed to demanding countries throughout the world. Marijuana is also an important crop grown by smaller independent farmers. This cash crop is produced and sold by the farmers to willing buyers who then distribute and sell the product. 

            This island has many different climates and very fertile soil which gives this country an advantage with a slightly longer growing season than others. Though the growing of fruits and vegetables has been the main concern for the Jamaican farmers, the fishing industry has recently expanded over the years giving Jamaica another advantage over other countries. The Jamaican government has now made fishing apart of the agriculture sector. The inland fishing industry has recently shown an annual growth of around 4%. Due to the advice and the training that the Jamaican fishermen have received, they are now able to extend their fishing boundaries to around 300 miles outside of the country’s shoreline.  

 

 

Resources:

http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Americas/Jamaica-AGRICULTURE.html 

http://www.discoverjamaica.com/gleaner/discover/geography/agriculture.htm  

Image Sources:

http://thetribune.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/photos/2013/04/26/DSC_0841.3_t670.jpg?b3f6a5d7692ccc373d56e40cf708e3fa67d9af9d

Agriculture: The Victim of Media Bias

While media bias exists in nearly all forms of media, and in stories told each day across the globe, you can probably count the amount of anti-agricultural stories that get credited with being based on biased information. There are numerous documentaries that have recently been bestowed their fifteen minutes of fame; however, have you ever noticed that although documentaries such as Food Inc. and GMO OMG have been considered esteemed films they have little factual evidence to emphasize their negativity towards agriculture. In fact, GMO OMG is publicly praised all over the internet for being “A documentary that is by turns exasperating, illuminating, and intentionally infuriating” and “eye-opening, compelling and accessible to the laymen”. Meanwhile, pieces like Food Inc. are considered astounding because of reviews that say things like: “Compelling, entertaining and illuminating documentary which makes you think twice, and then a few more times, about eating anything at all in U.S”.

While issues like GMOs, organics, and conventional farming continue to make their way into household conversations, it is crucial to U.S. agriculture that the correct information is spread to consumers, not uneducated attempts at corrupting the face of agriculture. Both videos are a small sector of media bias, but are a prime examples of videos that make many controversial claims, yet show little attempt to certify where they received their information from.

In this instance, these video’s central concern is to shed light to the so-called “truths” about modern agriculture and commercial farming; however, in what seems like an attempt to promote  transparency to consumers, these individuals only end up committing media bias.

The GMO OMG documentary took the nation by storm when its director Jeremy Seifert set out as a concerned father in search of the truth about the foods he was feeding his family. While, this was his stated objective in the video, it quickly became clear to many individuals whom served as his temporary audience, that Seifert’s true goal was to display his knack for troublemaking humanist inquiry to the world. In fact, through some research I soon discovered that much of the idea she stated as facts throughout the documentary merely proved to be ideas formed from his misfired opinions.

Throughout Seifert’s documentary displays a variety of statistics, much of which have little scientific evidence to support them. A large portion of the documentary focuses on the Monsanto donation to Haiti, and only shows the Haitians that believe that the donation was provoked by alternative motives. Additionally, the entire focus of the video is to determine whether or not GMOs are harmful or not. Seifert provides specific data that represents the amount of GMOs that are currently present in today’s most dominating crop productions. The directer also explicitly states false accusations about the difference between organic and non-organic farmers when stating “unless you are an organic farmer, you’re going to purchase chemicals.” To the untamed ear these accusations may seem accurate; however, after further examination and research it is clear that much of these “facts” are far from being factual. There are little statistics  to prove whether or not many of the allegations against American agriculture are accurate; however, most points only increase validity by showing both sides of the matter.

Food Inc. was directed by Robert Kenner, and while it features interviews from “reliable sources,” the documentary blames large corporations for the lack of individuals that were willing volunteers for interviews to contribute to the video. A large portion of the video focuses on mass poultry production farms in the U.S. The video also puts an emphasized focus on various meat packaging and the care of the animals that are being placed in the packaging confinements. It has been said that if you like hotdogs, don’t watch how they are made. If you like meat, don’t watch an animal be killed so you can eat it. However, it would be an understatement to say that this video visits the extremes of agricultural operations and tests the limits of human emotions to see if they will continue to consume these products.

Much like Jeremy Seifert’s documentary, Food Inc. was not designed to show America the truth about the agricultural industry, but to persuade their opinions about the people that are producing the foods to feed them. As media has increasingly became a principal form of communication across the globe, media biases have been quick to follow as a dominating issue within the trend. As news reports get scolded for omitting information and carefully selecting what they share with their viewers, videos that misinform the public about where their food comes from receive little to no negative attention. In fact, they oftentimes go unnoticed while the agricultural operations that they degrade become victims of media bias and their reputations quickly become damaged beyond repair.

References:

http://www.pbs.org/pov/foodinc/film_description.php

http://www.gmofilm.com

http://www.metacritic.com/movie/gmo-omg

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gmo_omg/

http://www.metacritic.com/movie/food-inc

http://www.gmofilm.com/about-the-filmmakers.aspx

http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/gmo-omg

http://www.monsanto.com/improvingagriculture/pages/haiti-seed-donation.aspx