Food Production

The differences between industrial and traditional food production involve the scale of the farmland in size and use of commercial chemicals.  In the traditional farming practices, the smallholders, or family farms, traditionally produce only enough food for the immediate family and the varieties are numerous.  On these small farms there is little or no machinery used.  The traditional Thai farmer uses farm animals or at the very most small farm implements.  The labor provided on these small family farms is human labor.  Very little commercial chemicals are used on these small farms.  Areas with rough terrain can be used by these farmers where high yield is not the bottom line, only reaping a yield necessary to provide for the family utilizing the land that is available to each farmer.  Mountainous and rocky regions may be used for farming or grazing of goats, pigs, or sheep, and for producing small amounts of produce.

This mountainous region is used by a small family farmer to produce enough food for an immediate family.  This is an example of extensive farming where rough terrain can be utilized.

Large scale industrial farms use commercial chemicals and slash and burn techniques called swidden.  These farms use former banana plantations and take traditional small farms and combine them in the use of mono-culture farms which produce one crop.  These methods harm the environment and take away from the culture of the indigenous peoples of the rural areas. In 1960, agriculture was responsible for more than 40 % of the national income.  According to The Encyclopedia of Nations, "the figures steadily declined to merely 17 % of the GDP by 1990."  By 1999 the figure dropped to less than 10 %.  According to this same report, the top exports consist of the following: rice, canned fish and fruit, frozen shrimp, and rubber. More than 60 % of the total workforce of Thailand are involved in agribusiness.

This graph shows the percentages of Thai workers in the various fields of employment from labor economics bureau reports 2009.

"Encyclopedia of the Nations." Thailand Overview. Web. 2 Dec. 2014. <http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Asia-and-Oceania/Thailand.html>.

Rowntree, Lester. Globalization and Diversity: Geography of a Changing World. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2014. Print.

Web. 2 Dec. 2014. <http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01722/opium-tea_1722550a.jpg>.

Web. 2 Dec. 2014. <http://www.erdoclasses.com/images/where-children-work.gif>.