- Prologue
- Wheat: Prairies, Canada
- Rice: China
- USA corn & livestock belt
- Corn Belt: Geographical Factors
Prologue
So far under the [Location Factor] article series, we’ve see timber, paper-pulp, fish, wool, cotton, textile, silk and jute industry.
- Now let’s take a look at wheat, corn, rice, milk, meat, vegetables and wine. Since UPSC syllabus contains separate topic of Indian agriculture, I’m not dwelling much into Indian food crops: wheat, corn, rice or food processing here.
- This article contain lot of place-names from USA. Because books mainly use American dairy-meat industry to explain the “location factors”. To get a better grasp over the topic, keep refering to American map simultanously while reading the article. click me for a large political map of USA
- Disclaimer as usual: I haven’t bothered much to dig internet, this is mere compilation of wisdom, a few big examples from books. It is your job to dig further as and where necessary.
Wheat: Prairies, Canada
| Factor | Impact |
|---|---|
| Soil |
|
| Land Holding |
|
| labour |
|
| Transport |
|
| Storage |
|
| Government Policy |
|
Rice: China
| Climate | mild temperature, good rainfall= can grow two crops on the same farm in a year |
| Soil | Suitable for rice cultivation + as we saw earlier in the silk article, the waste from sericulture is used as fertilizer. |
| Water | good rainfall + irrigation from Yangtze and numerous other rivers and streams |
| Labor | obvious |
| Technology | with government help, farmers now
|
| Transport | Yangtze river=inland transport, connects many important markets/cities.+good railway network. |
Government policy
Let’s examine the factors why China is leading producer of Rice? (Other than soil, climate)
- When Mao assumed control of the nation, he emphasized more on food crops rather than cash crops. (Because famine was a problem in China)
- Therefore, he setup an Agriculture collective system
| tier | size (Approx.) | function |
|---|---|---|
|
3000 households | supervision and coordination of tiers below it |
|
300 households | Leasing land to “team”, soil conservation, Road construction, small scale plants, reforestation and other local Administrative functions. |
|
30 households | Producing crop as per the ‘quota’ given to them. |
Later more reforms were taken viz.
- Work points/cash: farmers were given these rewards for producing more than the quota given to them.
- “Responsibility system”: farmers leased land directly from collectives, if they produced more than “quota”, they could use/sell the surplus on their own.
- Loans directly made to farmers (instead of brigade/teams). Private ownership of agro-machinery allowed.
Rice cultivation China vs. India
- China has more area under irrigation
- China grows food crops grown on its best lands. India grows cash crops (Cotton, sugarcane, Jute) on its best lands.
US corn Belt & livestock belt
- It extends nearly thousand miles from Central Ohio to Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota and eastern Nebraska.
- In the heart of US Corn Belt, most of the revenue is earned from beef and pigs. Some large-scale operation have more than one lakh cattle at a time.
- Therefore some observers label the corn belt as “feed grain and livestock region”
American farmers prefer to grow corn because of two reasons
- corn gives high yield per acre compared to wheat
- It is effective for fattening animals.
We already saw that location away from market:= product is ‘concentrated’ to compensate for transport cost. Same happens here.
Corn=>fed to cattle/pigs/poultry=>meat exported.
Corn Belt in United States of America
| factor | effect |
|---|---|
| soil, climate | chernozem soil= good for corn. Soil-climate suitable |
| market |
|
| government policy |
|
Labor factor in Corn belt
- only small labour force needed because planting+harvesting =highly mechanised
- once seeds are planted, no labour needs arise other than spraying pesticides for weed control and fertilization but that too is done with help of aero planes because farm holdings are so large.
- for harvesting, outside contractors with crew and machines are hired.
- This has led to new type of farmers known as suitcase farmers: they live more than 30 miles away from their farm, in large urban cities.
These farmers also grow soya bean, because
- Soyabean =high amount of protein=good for fattening animals
- Soyabean = hundreds of industrial and commercial uses from plastic, cosmetic and candy
In the next article will discuss the geographical factors of affecting the location of milk and dairy industry in USA, Europe and New Zealand.
127 Comments on “[Location Factors] Wheat, Corn industry in USA, China, Canada”
@ kuldeep
Nice job dude …! Lets see when it comes !!
M tired of refreshing upsc site for last couple of days !!
I called on facilitation counter no. and asked about pre result. He replied that it will be declared in second week of august.
@ meghna
Dont get disheartened , just relax … Going by past trend cut-off wont be dat much high !! An intelligent Guess by pundits is 220 for general !!
Rest toh only lord curzon ll tell !
We hav done wat was in our hands , now its upsc turns !!
Still dont loose hope, enjoy dis b’ful rainy season wd some gud movies n delicacies !!
@ mrunal sir
Mains ki strategy post kar do plzzz !!
@Kartik..
Thank you… finger crossed. let’s see… hope for the best
result is declared on upsc notice board…..cutt off not mentioned………12227 intake…result will be on upsc site with in hour…………..around 4.30
have u got the authentic information ?
Hello everybody,why thr are so many news/rumours abt result.
when this comment was posted?
is the info authentic?i have been waiting but no such news on d site
From where u got this information…….
where is result
ab to hadd ho gayi …… sharam karo thodi si …… i don’t know why do people do like this , and above that yhey aspire to become an IAS ……. shame !!!
correction …. not ‘yhey’ …. it is ‘they ‘
hw cn u say dis??
whtr u hv chkd ur roll no. ??? plz dnt try to b a topic of discsn ,, thr r already lotz of rumors at mukherjee nagar
result is declared on upsc notice board…..cutt off not mentioned………12227 intake..
is this correct information???……
231 sounds reasonable I ve heard rumors of 241 also
231 241 gets me scared to the core..m nowhere near to it..
one similarity between shruti & mig: ‘cutt’…
Fake 1
yup ur right..dint notice.. :-)
don undermine women modesty….. plz respect women…….
I m sure u r not woman…..lol
Shruti, how do you know about the notice thing? You already know about your result?
why do you need respect ?? spreading false rumors … you will never pass UPSC exam in your life .. take my words .. next you say u are a SC ST disabled etc .. doing wrong things is wrong for everyone ..
but u will pass every exam
whom we should respect ….. a person who spreads rumors to disturb others …… sharam karo !!!! shame !!!
cut off is 231 confirm
result is on 2 august
next year exam delay not due to election….
intake is more around 14500 becoz next year seat will be around 1500……..
intially result wa going to be declared on 27 july but dopt ordered that they needed more ias ips this year……so they increase pre intake……….ips ias more due to more state formation…… result is ready……but need sign of add secratery…
Suno ek aur nayi kahani,are yaar had ho gayi ab to.UPSC jaldi result declare kar de to accha hain,warna result aur cut off ki rumours sun sun ke hi itna pak jayenge ki…dil se awaaz nikelgi ki bhad mein gayi exam.kuch aur karte hain.
best of luck my frnds
12453 intake and cutoff 231 unknown source
sir, please give study plan for AO in New Insurance of India. Please also tell if its exam will be online?
selected
It is understandable that anxiety will be there in the minds of the aspirants, but one must understand that they can do nothing about outcome once they come out the examination hall after giving their best in the exam. It is all in the hands of UPSC. It is better to forget prelims and immediately focus on Mains.
Most of the successful guys don’t worry about prelims but rather their energy is completely focused on preparing for mains. That is why they are successful.
Result kab aayega mains ka start karna hai plz upsc jaldi bata do
If we see trend of last 3 years, UPSC declares result after 2 months and 7 days. Like 2011 pre 12th june result 19th August. 2012 pre 20th may result 27th July so we can expect pre result on 2nd August, 2013.
Wish you all the best to all.
In Dairy: Africa: Why non-existent
Market
Domestic demand for milk products (Because people don’t have money). Could not understand this line
Results are out!! August 2, 2013. 9:00pm
ir,
since prelims in 2014 is on 24 august,is it possible that upsc can change date of birth criteria to 1 october instead of 1 august..i am worried as that will be my last attempt as my date of birth is 28th september 1984,kindly reply
sir, it will be very helpful if you can provide all your notes in printed copy
sir ,plz provide us pdf form of old history and geography ncert books
Sir pls provide some hint how to qualify capf asst commandant exam cause this is my last attempt and this time number of vacancy is very less.
As per my own evaluation I m lacking in general studies.