GEOG 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Agricultural Biodiversity, Agroecology, Norman Borlaug
6 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
GEOG 1000
November 22, 2017
Rice
● In 1500 before Europe, people in Asia were quite healthy
● Main reason - diet: rice and fish.
● In many place, they would get fish from the rice paddy’s
● Also wheat (more in south Asia)
● Rice first domesticated 10,000 years ago in China/Southeast Asia
● First domesticated crop
● After it was domesticated, they bred the rice through genetic selection, making
thousands of varieties
● Agrobiodiversity
● In 1980’s, at least 62 distinct varieties of rice in one area in Southern Thailand
How is rice grown
● Grown in standing water - if water is coming from elsewhere it is bringing natural
fertilizer
● Algae fixes nitrogen into the water
● Water suppresses weeds
● No erosion because the water isn’t running off; it is being deposited
● How do you capture the water? Complex water systems from rivers run into the
paddy
● Terraced Hillsides - mountain stream irrigation
● The most sustainable way of agriculture
Dry Rice
● Places where there is no water
Cultural Importance
● Japanese Emperor - Rice is who you are
● Origin stories usually involve rice, in our culture origin includes fruit
● Key to a healthy diet
● Productive, biodiverse, highly sustainable
Green Revolution
● 1950’s and 40’s - western development industries start to spring up, the Europeans
start to think rice is no good anymore
● Insufficiently technological
● The Cold War - A battle for Asia and Africa
● The third world was independent and wanted to become healthy
● Active communist insurgencies in some places
● Global competition that played out
● Poor peasants, if they were hungry, were susceptible to joining communism
● The Stages of Economic Growth - a non-communist manifesto W.W. Rostow
○ Refers to Marx book, the communist manifesto
Document Summary
In 1500 before europe, people in asia were quite healthy. Main reason - diet: rice and fish. In many place, they would get fish from the rice paddy"s. Rice first domesticated 10,000 years ago in china/southeast asia. After it was domesticated, they bred the rice through genetic selection, making thousands of varieties. In 1980"s, at least 62 distinct varieties of rice in one area in southern thailand. Grown in standing water - if water is coming from elsewhere it is bringing natural fertilizer. No erosion because the water isn"t running off; it is being deposited. Complex water systems from rivers run into the paddy. Japanese emperor - rice is who you are. Origin stories usually involve rice, in our culture origin includes fruit. 1950"s and 40"s - western development industries start to spring up, the europeans start to think rice is no good anymore. The cold war - a battle for asia and africa.
