Economic Geography Unit 4 Primary Resource Activities Introduction

Economic Geography Unit 4 Primary Resource Activities

Introduction • Unit 4 shifts the focus from physical geography to economic geography • A study of how humans interact with land resources (i. e. , farming and forestry) and ocean resources (i. e. , oil recovery and fishing) to satisfy needs and wants. • Students will also understand that culture and technology shape what is deemed to be a resource and that the use of resources varies from place to place but still reflects spatial patterns.

WHAT IS A RESOURCE? • A RESOUCE MAY BE DEFINED AS AVAILABLE ASSESTS OR SOURCES OF WEALTH, THAT BENEFIT AND FULFILL THE NEEDS AND WANTS OF A COMMUNITY.

Human Resources • In the form of Entrepreneurs and workers for massive economic interests, called corporations oversee the operation of capital resources: • Capital resources are those resources that are commercially bought and sold in order to conduct large-scale extraction and processing of (usually) natural resources.

Capital Resources • Would include items such as: • Factories for processing, such as Refineries and warehousing • Large equipment involved in processing and refining the resources, such as pipelines, and heavy transportation equipment. • The construction of drill rigs for ocean extraction of petroleum

Natural Resource • Natural source material we find in a given environment, however there are conditions that must be met which determine whether or not something is considered a resource.

The three conditions that determine if a natural material is potentially a resource 1) Need or Want: IT MUST FULLILL SOME SORT OF NEED OR A WANT FOR THE CULTURE WHO HAS COME INTO CONTACT WITH IT 1) For example, the first discovery of oil in Pennsylvania by local Indian tribes did not result in wide scale use of it, as they did not have much use for it. 2) 2)Technological Development: The culture in question must have the techonological capabllilty to procure and produce the final products of a resource. 1) For example, the ocean tides have long been considered as an energy source that could do much to help alleviate the worlds’ energy concerns. To date, however the technology to do so considered experimental. 3) 3)Profitability: The extraction and processing of the resource must make a profit in order to be considered feasible. 1) For example, the hibernia oil field failed to get developed when oil prices were considered to low for the field to be profitable to the oil companies involved.

How the use of a resource can be influenced by cultural practices. • The Case study on China’s use of agricultural land shows how it is subject to social and economic factors and crises • • War Natural Disasters Mismanagement Political Ideology

The terms inputs, processes, and outputs • Farming Inputs: Those “ingredients” that are necessary for conducting the faming process. Some of them occur naturally (Climate, topography) while others are produced by humans (Labour, Fertilizer, pesticides, ) • Farming Processes: Are the activities specific to a farming method • Farming Outputs: Are the final products produced by a farmer

Inputs: • Given a case study of a farming operation you should be able to briefly describe (inputs): - the workers and their source; - the kinds of tools and equipment used: - the infrastructure: - the capital invested in the operation: - the types of seeds or young livestock used: - the nature of the land: - the quality of the soil: - climatic conditions.

Outputs: • Refers to those things that are produced by the system. • For example in cattle farming the outputs could include beef and raw hide whereas vegetable farm outputs could include carrots, potatoes and cabbage.

Processes: • Refers to those procedures that occur in the system to convert the inputs to outputs. For example in vegetable farming the processes would include, sowing seed, watering, fertilizing, weeding, aerating, harvesting.

• Given a case study of a farming operation you should be able to briefly examine (processes) - the division of labour; who does what? - the spatial movement of people and animals; Are the workers migratory? Are the animals moved between grazing lands? - how the crops are planted; crop rotation, contour plowing, is any land left fallow? - irrigation and soil maintenance practices; is there a need for watering? how frequently do they fertilize? What do they fertilize with? - the annual cycle of farming activities - how farming activities spatially arranged

These four definitions give you the basic understanding so you can apply that knowledge to: • analyze the processes in a farming operation; • relate farming processes to inputs; • relate the outputs in a farming operation to the processes and inputs.