34 (unit 5.

2)

34-1 What are the effects of major agricultural practices on the rural landscape?
Over one-third of Earth’s surface is cultivated or pastured. Agricultural practices
and rural land-use patterns complement each other to make up the agricultural
landscape. Each intensive agricultural practice leaves a distinctive imprint on the
landscape. Extensive agricultural practices generally have a less permanent impact
on the landscape.
34-2 What are the three primary rural settlement patterns? The three primary rural
settlement patterns are clustered, dispersed, and linear. Clustered settlements, or
farm villages, are tightly bunched settlements that are often connected through
family relationships, religious customs, and/or communal land ownership. In
dispersed settlements, families live relatively distant from one another, sometimes
in isolated farmsteads. In a linear settlement pattern, such as the long-lot
pattern, buildings are arranged in a line, often along a road or river.
34-3 What are the three rural survey methods? The three rural survey methods are
metes and bounds, township and range, and long-lot survey. The metes and bounds
survey system results in irregularly shaped lots. The township and range survey
system creates a checkerboard pattern on the landscape. The long-lot survey system
organizes land into rectangular lots.

We now know that the physical environment, particularly climate, influences a

farmer’s decision whether to be a grain farmer or paddy rice farmer. But how does
that decision affect the rural landscape? To answer this question, we must examine
how agricultural practices and rural land-use patterns complement each other. In
particular, we must look at how farmers group themselves on the landscape. In some
areas, a farm family might settle miles away from other farmers. In other
instances, many farm families might live close together. The way people organize
themselves on the landscape results in rural settlement patterns that are visible
and identifiable. Key to our discussions in this Module are the definitions of
rural area and rural settlement. A rural area is an area that is located outside of
towns and cities. An alternative definition is all the space, population, and
housing not included in an urban (city) area. A rural area has few homes or other
buildings, and not very many people. A rural settlement is a small group of people
living outside of an urban area. For example, much of the U.S. Midwest is composed
of rural areas. Homes, farms, and villages are spread across the landscape,
sometimes with many miles between them. Can you think of other rural areas with
small settlements, either in the United States or elsewhere?

34-1 According to the World Food and Agriculture Statistical Pocketbook, 33.3
percent of the world’s land area is cultivated with agricultural crops or used as
pasture for livestock grazing. In other words, a little more than one-third of
Earth is used in the production of food. Areas of Earth used for agricultural
production are identifiable as the agricultural landscape, the visible imprint of
agricultural practices. Rice paddies, barns, or feedlots are some distinctive
features of agricultural landscapes. An agricultural landscape can vary even over
short distances, telling us much about local agricultural practices in specific
areas. For example, in some areas of central New York State, dairy farms are
interspersed among large fields of cabbages being grown for the local, regional,
and global markets or among vineyards on hillsides where farmers grow grapes. This
region has a very different agricultural landscape than the Northern Plains region
in the United States and Canada, where vast fields of wheat are a major part of the
landscape (Figure 34.1). Figure 34.1 Two agricultural landscapes. These two photos
illustrate different agricultural landscapes in North America. (a) In this hilly
region near Seneca Lake in New York State, grapes are grown. (b) In this flat
region near Fargo, North Dakota, wheat is grown, primarily for export. In Module
33, we learned about the interaction between the physical environment (soil,
topography/landforms, and climate) and specific agricultural practices. In this
section, we discover how these same agricultural practices leave a distinctive
imprint, or mark, on the environment, creating the agricultural landscape. Market
Gardening and Truck Farming The agricultural landscape for market gardening and
truck farming depends on the type of product raised, the climate, and the market
where the products are sold. In market gardening areas where farmers focus on the
local or regional markets, the agricultural landscape is a mix of small farms
interspersed among suburban areas. Small fields planted with a variety of crops for
the local or urban market might be situated next to fields dedicated to a single
crop, such as strawberries or tomatoes, for larger regional markets. In areas where
markets are regional or global and where truck farming is the primary operation,
the landscape is characterized by open level fields or orchards where vegetables or
orchard crops, such as apples or pears, are the primary crops. Depending on the
local topography, these large, level fields might be intermixed with tiered and
terraced fields on hillsides where grapes or olives are grown (Figure 34.2). Figure
34.2 Landscape of mediterranean agriculture. The olive terraces on the mountain
slopes, orchards, and gardens are typical of much of Mediterranean Europe.
Plantations Typically located in vast, relatively flat areas near coastal regions,
plantations are generally laid out in linear patterns for ease of cultivation and
harvesting. Cleared and cultivated areas in the tropics and subtropics for crops
such as sugar, tea, coffee, bananas, and oil palm are characteristic of the
landscape associated with plantation farming (Figure 34.3). Figure 34.3 An oil palm
plantation in Malaysia. Plantation agriculture continues to expand in developing
countries with the addition of new crops such as oil palm. AP® Exam Tip Plantations
require economies of scale and trade, whereas mixed crop/livestock farming does
not. A country can have both, and you need to recognize how the outside world
(scale) impacts local agriculture. Mixed Crop/Livestock Farming Mixed
crop/livestock farming takes place around small villages where families live at the
edges of the fields. The fields are generally communal. That is, they are owned by
the village, not by a single family. Families typically have specific areas that
they plant and harvest, but the concept is more one of “stewardship,” caring for
the land until the next person takes on the work of raising crops for the families
of the village. The agricultural landscape in regions with mixed crop/livestock
farming shows a small, tightly clustered village surrounded by fields. The village
homes in this landscape are permanent, in contrast to the semipermanent villages
associated with slash-and-burn agriculture. Mixed crop/livestock farming in more
developed countries occurs in a very different landscape than that described for
subsistence farmers. Farms and adjacent fields are owned by single families, or
perhaps a cooperative. The agricultural landscape is frequently composed of fields
of corn because it provides higher yields per acre than other crops. In fact, the
mixed crop/livestock farming region in the United States extends from Ohio to the
Dakotas and is called the Corn Belt because of the vast fields of corn. The corn,
as well as soybeans, is mostly used as animal feed for the cows or pigs that are
grown for market. Paddy Rice Farming The agricultural landscape for paddy rice
farming has a distinctive pattern with its diked, flooded rice paddies, some of
which are situated on terraced hillsides. The dikes are long walls that contain and
control the water that is necessary for growing rice plants. Other features on the
paddy rice landscape include levees that keep unwanted water from entering the
paddies, reservoirs, canals, and drainage channels that control the water necessary
to grow the rice. Look back at Figure 33.8, which shows a terraced landscape of
irrigated rice paddies in Indonesia. The pattern made by paddy rice farmers blends
with nature, creating this distinctive agricultural landscape. Grain Farming The
agricultural landscape for grain farming is distinguished by vast fields of grain
that can cover hundreds of acres, such as those in the grain belt in the U.S.
Northern Plains, where wheat farming is typical. Perhaps the most visible
structures in the grain belt are the grain elevators that store grains, such as the
wheat shown in Figure 34.4. The grain elevators are most likely owned
The agricultural landscapes of extensive agricultural practices are less visible
than the landscapes for intensive agricultural practices. There are, however,
certain traits that characterize shifting cultivation, nomadic herding, and
livestock ranching. Shifting Cultivation Several small clearings near a village
characterize the agricultural landscape of the tropical areas in which shifting
cultivation is the agricultural practice that feeds the village. The agricultural
landscape is composed of clearings that show a mix of active, newly abandoned, long
abandoned, and newly cleared areas throughout a broad area surrounding each
village. Nomadic Herding Because mobility is key to nomadic herders, nomadic
herding leaves less of a permanent imprint on the landscape. The basic needs for
the family and animals, such as tents and pens, are limited and moved from place to
place along with the herds. Encampments are visible when the herders are stationary
for a period, but they shift with the herds so that they are visible on the
landscape at different places and different points in time. Figure 34.7 shows a
family of nomadic herders in Mongolia packing up to move on to better pastures,
leaving little evidence of their encampment. Figure 34.7 Nomadic family moving on.
These Mongol herders are nomadic; they move often in search of the best pasture for
their livestock. Here, a family packs their yurt (a traditional Mongolian tent
structure) and their few household possessions, leaving little evidence on the
landscape of their encampment after they leave the area. Not all nomadic residences
are temporary. For example, herders who practice transhumance, such as goat herders
in Norway, live in permanent villages during the winter months. The higher
pastureland used in the summer months includes small dairies for milking the goats
and making cheese, as well as basic huts for the herders to live in. The goats
spend their time in the pastures, returning to the barn only for milking. Livestock
Ranching The landscapes of livestock ranching include an open range, permanent
dwellings, and small buildings for ranch workers and storage. The primary work of
the ranch takes place over the vast rangeland, historically on horseback but more
recently with wheeled vehicles. Areas around the ranch house complex might be
fenced, and at various places in the landscape there are cattle pens used to corral
the animals for shipping. Recently, ranchers have been managing rangelands to
preserve both a way of life and a landscape. You will notice that there are no
structures or livestock in the image in Figure 34.8, but the vegetation on the
landscape is managed through techniques of modern ranching and land conservation
practices. Figure 34.8 A working landscape produced by generations of cattle
ranchers. This area near the U.S. border with Mexico is cooperatively managed by
ranchers and conservationists to preserve both a way of life and a landscape. Let’s
now pause for a moment and consider how different agricultural practices leave a
mark on the landscape and why agricultural landscapes are important to a country’s
cultural heritage. The United States was built by independent farmers and ranchers.
However, with each passing decade, that way of life is fading. Despite the
sentimental references to family farms expressed in the popular media, the United
States is today predominantly an urban culture, with only tenuous emotional
attachments to highly industrialized agricultural landscapes. Thus, understanding
the agricultural landscape and how it changes over time provides us with insights
into our nation’s history and culture.

34-2

Knowing the features of the agricultural landscape—for example, fields, barns,

farmhouses, silos, and grain elevators—gives us only half the picture of the
agricultural landscape. People need to be involved to plant the crops and care for
the animals, and they need to organize themselves on the landscape. The way they do
so makes up another part of the agricultural landscape in the form of settlement
patterns, which are the ways in which people organize themselves on the land. Try
visualizing a rural area near where you live, or perhaps one that you have seen in
a video or on TV. What do you see? Small villages surrounded by fields? Barns and
fields surrounding a farmhouse with long distances between farms? Keep this image
in mind as we explore the three primary rural settlement patterns: clustered,
dispersed, and linear. Clustered Settlements In many parts of the world, farmers
group together in clustered settlements, also known as farm villages. These tightly
bunched settlements have anywhere from a few dozen to several hundred inhabitants.
The farm village includes the farmstead, or the center of the farm operations,
which includes the farmhouse, barns, sheds, livestock pens, and the family garden.
The fields, pastures, and meadows lie out in the country beyond the limits of the
village, and farmers must journey out of the village each day to work the land.
Clustered farm villages are the most common form of agricultural settlement in much
of Europe, in many parts of Latin America, in the densely settled farming regions
of Asia (including many areas in India, China, and Japan), and in the parts of
Africa and the Middle East that are home to sedentary farming peoples.
Historically, the countryside was unsafe, threatened by roving bands of outlaws and
raiders. Farmers could better defend themselves against such dangers by grouping
together in villages. In many parts of the world, the populations of such villages
have increased during periods of insecurity and shrunk again when peace returned.
Looking at the modern landscape in many parts of Europe, we can see that many farm
villages occupy the most easily defended sites in their vicinity even though
defensible locations are no longer a priority. In addition to providing security,
communal ties strongly bind the residents of a farm village. The earliest clustered
settlements were founded by farmers linked to one another by family relationships,
religious customs, communal land ownership, and other bonds. In the United States,
the New England farm village was a transplant of the English farm village, and the
agricultural villages found in the Spanish American Southwest were transplanted
from Spain. Mormon farm villages in Utah provide an excellent example of the
clustering force of religion. Dispersed Settlements The dispersed or isolated
settlement pattern, in which families live relatively distant from one another, is
less common than the clustered farm village. A relatively recent form of
settlement, it developed during the European colonization of new farmland in Anglo
America, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Conditions that encourage the
dispersed settlement are the opposite of those that encouraged clustered farming
settlements. Specifically, the conditions that foster dispersed settlement include
peace and security in the countryside, which eliminates the need for defense;
colonization by individual pioneer families rather than by socially cohesive
groups; and well-drained land where water is readily available. Figure 34.9 shows
an isolated farmstead in western Iceland. This image provides a picture of
dispersed settlement. The vastness of the physical landscape provides evidence for
the isolation of the farmstead. Figure 34.9 A truly isolated farmstead in Western
Iceland. The dispersed or isolated settlement pattern dominates almost all lands
colonized by Europeans who migrated overseas. Iceland was settled by Norse Vikings
a thousand years ago. Linear Settlements In a linear settlement pattern, buildings
are arranged in a line, often along a road or river. This pattern is limited to
areas where legal systems dictated that property lines must be rectangular. One
linear settlement pattern, which we learned about in Unit 3, is the long-lot
pattern, in which each farmstead is situated at one end of a long, narrow
rectangular lot, most likely closest to the road or river for ease in getting
produce to market. Figure 34.10 shows the pattern for a long-lot settlement in
Germany. In this settlement, the farmsteads are located linearly along a road, and
most lots end in a forested area. Figure 34.10 A long-lot settlement in the hills
of Central Germany. Each property consists of an elongated unit piece of land
stretching back from the road in the valley to an adjacent ridge, part of which
remains wooded. The plot of land has a winding central road which runs
horizontally. Farmyards and gardens are built on both sides of this road with
farmhouses and other buildings. Property lines run vertically across the property
from top to the central road and from the road to the bottom. Forest areas are
found at the top and bottom of the properties. The areas between the farmyards and
gardens by the road and the forest areas at the edge of the properties are fields,
meadows, and pastures. The linear settlement pattern was introduced to North
America in the St. Lawrence Valley by French colonists and is somewhat limited to
other areas settled by French colonists—for example, in Louisiana and areas of the
Mississippi Valley. Now that you understand the three types of rural settlement
patters, think again about the patterns you see in your area. Are they clustered?
Dispersed? Linear? Or do they not fit into any of these categories because you live
in an urban or suburban area with few or no agricultural activities taking place?

34-3 What are the three rural survey methods? Survey patterns, or land division
patterns, are the results of survey methods that land surveyors use to lay out
property lines. Surveyors can do their work before, during, or after settlement of
an area. Three common survey methods are metes and bounds, township and range, and
long-lot.
Survey Methods Most countries have some form of cadastral survey, a systematic
documentation of property ownership, shape, use, and boundaries. As with
agricultural settlement patterns, there are regional differences in survey methods
that result in specific patterns. We can see these regional differences on the
generalized map in Figure 34.11, which shows original land-survey patterns in the
United States. Notice that the earliest settled regions in the United States had
different cadastral patterns than the larger area of the country that was settled
mostly after the colonial period. Figure 34.11 Original land-survey patterns in the
United States and Southern Canada. Which land-survey method dominates the United
States and Southern Canada? Do you think it is possible to recognize the original
survey patterns on the landscape today? States which had original rectangular
patterns: Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah,
Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas,
Oklahoma, Texas, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Michigan, Indiana, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, and parts of Ohio, New York, and
Pennsylvania. Metes and bounds cover a few pockets in California, Texas, Alabama,
Mississippi, and Georgia and cover the entire states of Tennessee, Kentucky, South
Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey,
Connecticut, Maine, and Vermont. It also covers a part of the states of New
Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Georgia. Long-lot survey patterns are
found in few pockets in the states of Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Illinois,
Wisconsin, Indiana, and Louisiana, as well as much of the eastern portion of
Canada. Fragmented landholdings with farm villages are found in Maine,
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. Irregular (mix or rectangular and
metes and bounds) patterns are found in Texas. Metes and Bounds The metes and
bounds survey system uses natural features such as trees, boulders, and streams to
delineate property boundaries. As a result, farms surveyed under the metes and
bounds system are much less regular in outline than those in which rectangular
surveying was used. Review Figure 34.11 to locate where metes and bounds was the
survey method to delineate property lines. Township and Range The township and
range land survey system was created by the U.S. Land Ordinance of 1785, which
divides most of the country’s territory into a grid of square-shaped townships with
6-mile sides. The township and range system is the brainchild of Thomas Jefferson,
who desired a national pattern of equitable land ownership by small-scale
independent farmers. Jefferson’s solution established a grid of square-shaped
townships across the Midwest and West. Each of these townships was then divided
into 36 sections of 1 square mile, which were in turn divided into quarter-
sections, and so on. Sections were to be the basic landholding unit for a class of
independent farmers. As a result of the township and range survey system, a
gridlike landscape was imposed on the entire country except for the 13 original
colonies and a few other states or portions of states. Unlike metes and bounds, the
township and range survey system ignored the physical geography of the U.S.
countryside over which it was imposed, and its checkerboard pattern is evident
throughout much of the western half of the United States (see Figure 34.11). Long-
Lot A long-lot survey system is a unit-block survey system whose basic unit is a
rectangle, typically 10 times longer than it is wide. While both township and range
and long-lot survey methods impose an orderly pattern on the landscape, the long-
lot method produces a pattern of rectangular (rather than square) lots and tends to
organize farmers’ dwellings in a linear settlement pattern that provides each
farmer with fertile valley land, water, and/or access to transportation facilities.
This property system also allows for the greatest number of farmers because it
divides access to a scarce resource equally rather than concentrating it in the
hands of a few. In colonial America, long lots appeared in rows along streams
because waterways provided the chief means of transport. In the hill lands of
central Europe, a road along the valley floor provided the focus, and long lots
reach back from the road to the adjacent ridgetops. Hispanic settlers introduced
the long-lot system to New Mexico’s Rio Grande Valley in the 1700s so that every
farmstead would have direct access to water, either in canals or in natural
watercourses. Water access was essential because the land is too arid to farm
without irrigation. When you understand the basic survey methods, you can begin to
make sense of the different landscapes that you encounter in your studies and in
your travels. Boundaries for the township and range survey system are obvious,
especially from an airplane. We see a clarity and geometric order to the landscape
from 20,000 feet when flying over township and range areas that we do not see where
metes and bounds was the primary survey method. Although the long-lot survey system
is restricted to smaller areas, it is our historical and cultural connection to
early settlement in the United States.