[SOC 2080] - Final Exam Guide - Ultimate 48 pages long Study Guide!

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Sociology
• Course: SOC 2080
• Professor: Victor Gulewitsch

Document Summary

A political ecology approach to industrial food production (chapter 7: explain what is meant by the conception of agriculture as a relatively closed-loop system, and by agriculture as a through-flow process. Discuss what the transformation from closed-loop system to through-flow process has meant for soil in particular, and how ensuing problems have been overridden. Here animals provide all the fertilizer for the crops and the crops and land feed the animals, is the goal of many small sustainable farms. Everything that is taken from the land or soil must be put back to where it was taken from, even the organic wastes and nutrients. Problems of soil loss, pest and drought were local issues and had to be dealt with using local things. This forced people to be creative and created agriculture innovations like inter-cropping (planting multiple crops in mutually beneficial combinations) Long-distance trade was minimal and usually only included commodities such as those used for flavouring, preservation and medicinal.