A. ECONOMIC SYSTEMS
These first two powerpoints look at the farming systems and there are 2 case studies that you have covered in class: Vine House Farm (an Arable Farm) in East Anglia and Japanese farming methods.
Farms have changed a lot in recent years for a number of reasons. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was introduce by the European Union (EU) and has given farmers more money for their produce and it aims to make life better for all farmers in the EU. It has also meant that some farmers have had to diversify as they are not benefiting from the CAP. This means that a lot of farmers now have Farm Shops, run Bed and Breakfast schemes, caravan storage sites, etc. All of which are designed to give the farmer a higher income and a better quality of life.
The slides below show some of the environment impacts of farming on the environment.
Secondary Industries are those which involve any kind of manufacturing, making something from the raw material. The slides below go through the main components of this as well as looking at the case study of Sony in South Wales.
Footloose industries are those which are less constrained by large, heavy manufacturing constraints and are free to locate away from the raw material in a location of choice. The Cambridge Science Park is a good example of this and this is all explained in the powerpoint below. Remember to learn the specifics of any case study to make sure you do as well as you can in the longer, 9 mark, case study questions.
The powerpoint below reiterates what is in the 2 powerpoints above but emphases the different locational constraints between the heavier, traditional manufacturing (e.g. steel production) and more modern, lighter industries (e.g. Cambridge Science Park).
B. DEVELOPMENT
Development is a major topic in this section of your exam and we spent a lot of time this year studying it. Remember that the D in LEDC’s and MEDC’s stands for Development so it is a major differentiator between world countries. There are a number of different development indicators in the powerpoint below but the common one is GDP per capita. This is the amount of money (on average) a person earns in a country. This is fairly accurate but remember that there are some major pitfalls, e.g. a large percentage of the worlds population are subsistence farmers and therefore don’t ever earn any money. They may live a good life even if they don’t earn any money.
TRADE
Trade is often argued as being more effective than aid and it often is. LEDC’s do not want to rely on handouts from the west but want to stand on their own two feet. They want to be given a chance on the international market and want to trade with western countries and get a fair price for what they produce.
Some countries in South East Asia had phenomenal economic growth during the 1980′s and 90′s which managed to lift them out of the LEDC category and into the Newly Industrialised Country (NIC) category. The route these countries took to become NIC’s is often complicated and there is no one model to adopt to help countries out of poverty.
Many countries have now realised that the Tourist Dollar (the term given to the money that tourists spend in their holiday country) can provide a huge amount of money and help them develop. Taking advantage of the unique wildlife that some LEDC’s offer (e.g. The Massaii Mara in Kenya) means that they can attract more tourists to that country and they bring a lot of money in to that countries economy. The positive multiplier effect is evident here too as the hotels need their sheets to be cleaned which means that there would be an increase for cleaning companies, and the tourists need feeding so of course the farmers benefit too as more of their produce is needed by the tourist hotels and restaurants.
