AGRICULTURAL REGIONS OF THE WORLD

AGRICULTURAL REGIONS OF THE WORLD
One of the most satisfactory classifications of agricul­tural regions in the world was proposed by D. Whittlesey in 1936. Whittlesey employed five criteria to classify agri­cultural regions in the world: (a) crop and livestock com­bination; (b) intensity of land use; (c) processing and marketing of farm produce; (d) degree of mechanisation; and (e) types and associations of buildings and other structures associated with agriculture.

Based on these criteria, the following 13 main types of agricultural regions have been identified: (1) nomadic herding; (ii) livestock ranching; (iii) shifting cultivation; (iv) rudimental sedentary tillage; (v) intensive subsistence, rice­dominant; (vi) intensive subsistence, without rice; (vii) commercial plantation; (viii) Mediterranean agriculture; (ix) commercial grain farming; (x) commercial livestock and crop farming; (xi) Subsistence crop and livestock farming; (xii) commercial dairy farming; and (xiii) specialised horti­culture.