NET, IAS, State-SET (KSET, WBSET, MPSET, etc.), GATE, CUET, Olympiads etc.: World Regional Agriculture: Europe and CIS

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Settlement Geography & Rural Land Use

Wheat

Despite their intensive system of wheat cultivation by which yields, sometimes three times as high as those of the average extensive wheat farm, are obtained, Western European nations are not wheat exporters.

Ukraine, France, Turkey, Germany, Romania and Italy are major producers.

  • The continent as a whole is the greatest wheat importer. Mainly comes from Canada, the USA, Argentina and Australia.
  • Denmark which used to be a wheat exporter has switched to dairying and market gardening,

Areas in Europe Where Wheat is Grown

  1. Steppes (Ukraine Black Earth)
  2. 2. The Paris Basin
  3. 3. TheLombardy Plains of Italy
  4. 4. The Puztaz of Hungary
  5. 5. The lower Danube Basin of Romania and Bulgaria
  6. Scania in Sweden and
  7. Central Spain

Characteristics of Wheat Cultivation in Europe

Rice

In the North Italian Plain, the Ebro Basin of Spain, the Rhone Delta of France and scattered areas in the Balkans.

Corn Used as a green fodder or winter feed as silage. West European countries are the chief importers of maize where it is used as an animal feed and for industrial uses.

Cotton

  • Leading producer: Uzbekistan
  • Azerbaijan and Armenia also grow cotton.
  • The large state and collective farms are highly mechanized and almost all of the cotton is grown in irrigated fields.
  • The hottest area in Central Asia, where the relative humidity is very low, have the highest cotton yields.
  • Cotton textile industry around Moscow Others Leningrad , the Baltic states of Estonia and Latvia and Ukraine, Armenia,

Flax

  • Largest producer CIS, Second largest Poland - Areas North European Plain
  • Largest producer in W. Europe France. Production in Belgium and the Netherlands, long famous for their high quality Linen, has declined North Ireland is the traditional linen manufacturing area.

Silk

  • Silk manufacture, originally based on locally produced silk is now dependent on important supplies.
  • Frances, Italy and Switzerland Traditional silk manufacturing countries are major importers.
  • Manufacturing centers Lyons, Grenoble France Milan Italy Krefield, Germany, Britain Wool
  • CIS has largest number of sheep in the world (mostly in Asiatic Russia) but has lower wool production than Australia.
  • Most textile production are in European Russia including Moscow and Leningrad, Kiev (Ukraine) and Alma Ata (Kazakhstan) Britain, Italy, Germany and France are only minor producers today, but once they were important.

Tea

  • Many of the large British tea companies, which have been in business for generations, especially in Mincing Lane in London, blend and market tea as well as own tea estates in various parts of the Commonwealth. More than half the world՚s tea trade goes through London, where much is loaded, packed and re exported. CIS countries also grow some tea for home consumption

Wine

  • About two third of the world՚s wine come from the Mediterranean countries.
  • Italy and France Greatest producer and consumers.
  • France is a major exporter but is a net importer of wine.
  • Apart from climate, pedagogical factors and the unrivalled wine preparation skills handed down from generation to generation have contributed to the superiority of the wine industry.
  • In Spain, the major vine growing areas are along the coasts in Valencia and Andalusia, and in the river basins of Ebro, Douro, Tagus, Guadiana and Guadalquivir.
  • Frelburg is the centre of the German wine industry.

Types of Wine

  1. Asti Turin- (Italy)
  2. Chianti Tiber basin- (Italy)
  3. Marsalis Sicily- (Italy)
  4. Champagne Paris Basin- (France)
  5. Burgundy Upper Rhone, Saone Valleys (France)
  6. Beaujolais Upper Rhone, Saone valleys (France)
  7. Cognac Aquitaine (brandy) basin (France)
  8. Sherry Cadiz (Spain)
  9. Malaga Port of Malaga (Spain)
  10. Port Oporto and Douro basin (Portugal)
  11. Tokay - (Hungary)
  12. Hocks- (Germany) Rhine

Sugar Belt

  • Sugarcane is the major source of sugar in tropical and subtropical areas, where as the colder countries of temperate region are dependent on Sugar beet for local sugar production. Russia and other countries of CIS are jointly the largest producers.
  • Ukraine Grows it in a belt between Kiev and Voronezh along with the northern shores of the Black sea. Poland, Germany, Italy, France, Britain, Czech Republic and Slovakia are major producers. Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and the Scandia region of Sweden are other producing areas.

Olives

Mainly grown in the Mediterranean shore land. -Italy, Spain, Greece, Tunisia, Turkeys, Portugal, Morocco and Syria.

Tobacco

Greece, Turkey, Bulgaria, Italy and Poland