Transcript of The Global Food Supply Chain, Explained [AP Human Geography Unit 5 Topic 9]

throughout this course we have talked about how the world is more connected than ever before and how this Global connectivity continues to reshape our society today we will look at this globalized world as we explore the global system of agriculture remember if you find Value in any of these topic review videos consider subscribing when looking at the world today we can see how food is traded on the global market to states around the world countries today have become interdependent on one another something that we last talked about in our unit 4 topic nine video when we talked about challenges to estate sovereignty production of different products and commodities such as corn wheat sunflower oil or barley just to name a few are all being traded between different states around the world countries that participate in the global trade of food no longer need to produce all of their own food which allows them to specialize more which ends up allowing for more economic growth but on the other hand also makes countries vulnerable to Global issues which may impact their supply of essential Goods such as food for example let's quick talk about the country of Ukraine in 2022 the Department of Agriculture stated that Ukraine is one of the world's top agricultural producers and exporters and plays a critical role in supplying oil seeds and Grains to the global market we're looking at the data we can see that Ukraine is one of the top 10 Global exporters for seven different crops this is mainly due to the distinct Geographic characteristics of the country in fact we can see that more than 55 percent of Ukraine's land is arable land which is why Ukraine is known as the breadbasket of Europe so we can see that Ukraine produces a variety of crops for the world which helps increase the world's food supply however once the war started between Russia and Ukraine exports of different agricultural products grinded to a halt causing the global food supply to decrease to make matters worse Russia is one of the world's top countries that exports nitrogen and phosphide for fertilizer leading to Rising prices of fertilizers around the world since they're no longer exporting this has caused Farmers to have to decide between spending more on fertilizers or saving the money and accepting lower yields for the year which will further put strain on the global food supply this strain on the global food supply will also not be felt evenly around the world more economically developed countries have more resources to purchase Commodities on the World Market leaving less for countries with less economic development so we can see that when times are good our Global Food system can help reduce prices increase the global food supply and allow for countries to focus on other economic Industries but when there are disruptions to the Global Production the impact of those disruptions can be significant now it isn't just all negative one big benefit of the global system of agriculture is that states around the world gain access to new crops and products that they normally would not be able to have every place has its own unique climate and physical terrain that allows it to create specific agricultural products example one of the reasons why many grocery stores around the United States no longer have seasons is because the United States purchases different Goods that are grown and produced in the southern hemisphere this allows the United States to have a constant supply of different foods even when they're not in season this global trade of different agricultural products can benefit countries all over the world however we often see this exchange disproportionately benefit countries that are more economically developed developing countries especially ones in stage two of the demographic transition model traditionally have a faster growing population which increases the demand for food in the country the problem is that many farmers in the periphery countries lack access to Modern farming equipment and technology that is needed to increase their yield and output so we have a growing population which ends up leading to a growing demand for more food all of which means that farmers need to find a way to improve their output and increase their yields to feed this new population fortunately since the market though in the country is often less economically developed and has less access to Capital and resources for the farmer to use we see Farmers turn to other markets this results in Farmers exporting more crops to developed countries in order to be able to get more money from their crops which will allow them to be able to purchase new farming equipment which is ultimately a good thing because it allows Farmers to increase their yields and output but it also leads to the farmers to produce more luxury crops and cash crops for more economically developed countries since these crops generate the most profit for the farm this ends up decreasing the amount of food being produced for the developing country as more of the country's Farmland is being used to produce crops that are then exported to other countries which leads to food imbalances around the world another problem we see with this cycle is this trade makes it so farmers become dependent on exporting cash crops it's because the trade with the other country is their entire business we can also see this cycle can cause a country to have have a commodity dependent which is when a country has more than 60 percent of its total exports made up of commodity which consists of raw materials or agricultural products countries with a commodity dependence are vulnerable to any price changes that happen in the price of the commodity that they are exporting often these countries see less economic development in other Industries since their economy is centered around just a few Commodities when looking at the world we can see that many countries that are located in the periphery or semi-perfree have a commodity dependent we will go more into commodity dependence and the impact it has on a country's economy and our unit 7 topic 5 video so we can see how this could lead to a food imbalance around the world as farmers in developing countries are often more at risk for becoming dependent on the exportation of their products to the developed world now this trade imbalance also has an impact on the environment as well oftentimes we see Farmers practice non-sustainable methods such as mono crop in order to achieve short-term sales they give up long-term benefits shifting our Focus now over to core countries we can see that farmers in more economically Advanced areas have a variety of different advantages oftentimes they have more access to Capital technology and products such as fertilizers pesticides and they also get the benefit of government Aid developed countries also have a more robust transportation system and infrastructure which allows Farmers to easily sell their products across the country and the World Farmers also benefit from government subsidies which are traditionally a cash payment or a tax reduction given to an individual or group for producing a specific product this ends up reducing the cost of production for that specific product and it motivates people to produce more of that product since it's now cheaper to make so the global trade of agricultural products and commodities allow for countries to specialize more which allows them to grow economically produce other goods and services and become more competitive in the global market it also allows countries to reduce the cost of their food and get access to a larger variety ID of different agricultural products and commodity but unfortunately it may lead to countries in the periphery and semi-perfree to become dependent on core countries and put the needs of the core countries above themselves it also may lead to the exploitation of the environment natural resources people and lead to food insecurity in certain regions around the world and just like that another topic review video is done now comes the time to practice what we have learned answer the questions on the screen and when you're done check your answers in the comment section down below or the description of the video and while you're down there don't forget to hit the Subscribe button and check out my ultimate review packet it's a great resource that can help you get an A in your class and a five on the national exam as always I'm Mr sin thank you so much for watching and I'll see you next time online