Meat industry: USA
Chicago=known for its beef industry.
Often, Animal is reared in three different regions during its lifetime
Observe the following map:
stage | Where? | location from market(Chicago slaughter houses) |
---|---|---|
|
ranches in Wyoming, Colorado | farthest |
|
Nebraska, Missouri | medium |
|
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nearest |
So, why this peculiar distribution/pattern?
place | factor | impact |
---|---|---|
|
not good for agro because of its soil, topography and climate | Ranching is the most economic use of land for the farmer. (recall the wool article, why Australians rear sheep) |
|
part of US corn belt | corn=cheap and used for fattening animal before slaughter.+use of genetic engineering, veterinary science to make the animal gained weight faster |
|
port city, urban area, railroad infra. | finds market all the way to New York, Canada Europe. |
Similar pattern is found in Western Europe where sheep are bred on rough pastures upland then transferred to lowland farms for fattening before being slaughtered near cities.
Shifting locations of US Meat business
- from the map, we’ve seen that in beef industry, raw material moves from West (Colorado ranches) towards East (Chicago’s slaughterhouses)
- But now, the slaughtering business is moved westwards, towards the farms in corn belt. Why?
Factor | impact |
---|---|
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|
|
|
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Pig rearing
Done both near market and away from market. Reasons are following:
- Pigs can live in variety of climates from monsoon Asia to temperate regions of Northern and Southern continents.
- Can survive on anything: kitchen and farm waste, roots, leaves and rice bran
- Can be kept indoors or outdoors. Don’t need large grazing area.
- They breed easily and multiply rapidly [compared to sheep/buffalos etc.]
- They mature quickly for slaughtering.
Pig rearing: Near market
Example: Pigs reared near and inside every city of China. Why?
Raw material | Near city areas, pasture land is scare.But pigs can be kept indoor, don’t need large grazing area and can be fed anything. |
Demand | There is no religious restrictions on pork eating= Chinese cities have large demand. |
Pig rearing: away from Market
- Example: New Zealand, Denmark, corn/dairy belt of US are also leading producer of pork/bacon. Why?
- Piggery is an important activity in almost all countries where dairy farming is developed because the skimmed milk is available as pig feed.
- When milk==>butter + skimmed milk.
- Pigs can survive on skimmed milk.
- In Corn belt of USA, on abundant fodder supplies, cereal and soya bean. Pigs are raised here and sent to slaughter houses of Chicago.
Poultry: India
away from market | Chicken reared in village because eggs=cheap source of protein for poor families. Example WB, Assam, Odisha….Almost everywhere. |
near market | Poultry farms exist near almost every big city: Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi etc. to meet the urban demand (+ eggs being a fragile product and meat being a perishable product) |
let’s look @USA , they’re leading country in chicken production, yet most their poultry farming is done far away from cities/market areas. Why?
Factor: bogus agro-land
The Poultry industry can work in remote areas better than animal farming activities because it takes less feed to produce one pound of meat.
1 pound of ___ meat | Pounds of ___ cornfeed required |
---|---|
chicken | 2 |
pig | 4 |
cattle | 8-10 |
- Poultry farmers can take advantage of cheaper, rougher and more isolated land, because soil quality =irrelevant for rearing chicken/turkey.
- Therefore large scale poultry farming done in the less fertile, less irrigated areas of Arkansas, Virginia etc.
Factor: Contract farming
- USA = booming fast-food industry (KFC, McDonalds etc)= high demand for broiler chicken throughout the year= has led to contract farming.
- Major food corporates lineup the farmers and sign contracts. They provide standard equipment, feeding material to farmers (so that final meat product is ‘uniform’ in taste and softness).
- Economies of scale =lower production cost= offsets the high transportation costs in running poultry business away from urban areas.
- Hence commercial poultry is done away from the urban market areas.
In the Next article, we’ll see the geographical Factors affecting the location of Vegetables, fruits, wine and viticulture industry across the world.
Good info…………….
its stage by stage growth ……FOOD is the future challenge …………….we have to work for ………..