The Cumberland Plateau is the southern part of the Appalachian Plateau in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States. It includes much of eastern Kentucky and Tennessee , and portions of northern Alabama and northwest Georgia . The terms " Allegheny Plateau " and the "Cumberland Plateau" both refer to the dissected plateau lands lying west of the main Appalachian Mountains . The terms stem from historical usage rather than geological difference, so there is no strict dividing line between the two. Two major rivers share the names of the plateaus, with the Allegheny River rising in the Allegheny Plateau and the Cumberland River rising in the Cumberland Plateau in Harlan County, Kentucky .
31-852: The Clear Fork (also known as the Clear Fork River or Clear Fork Creek ) is a 27.2-mile-long (43.8 km) stream draining part of the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee , United States . It is a tributary of the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River . By that river, the Cumberland River , and the Ohio River , it is part of the Mississippi River watershed. The Clear Fork rises on
62-653: A poverty alleviation strategy, specifically as a safety net for food-price shocks and for food security . Poor countries are limited in fiscal and institutional resources that would allow them to contain rises in domestic prices as well as to manage social assistance programs, which is often because they are using policy tools that are intended for middle- and high-income countries. Low-income countries tend to have populations in which 80% of poor are in rural areas. More than 90% of rural households have access to land, yet most of these poor have insufficient access to food. Subsistence agriculture can be used in low-income countries as
93-455: A fresh piece of land elsewhere in the forest as the process continues. While the land is left fallow the forest regrows in the cleared area and soil fertility and biomass is restored. After a decade or more, the farmer may return to the first piece of land. This form of agriculture is sustainable at low population densities, but higher population loads require more frequent clearing which prevents soil fertility from recovering, opens up more of
124-421: A part of policy responses to a food crisis in the short and medium term and provide a safety net for the poor in these countries. Agriculture is more successful than non-agricultural jobs in combating poverty in countries with a larger population of people without education or who are unskilled. However, there are levels of poverty to be aware of to target agriculture towards the right audience. Agriculture
155-639: Is common in parts of central and western Asia, India, east and southwest Africa and northern Eurasia. Examples are the nomadic Bhotiyas and Gujjars of the Himalayas. They carry their belongings, such as tents, etc., on the backs of donkeys, horses, and camels. In mountainous regions, like Tibet and the Andes, yak and llama are reared. Reindeer are the livestock in arctic and sub-arctic areas. Sheep, goats, and camels are common animals, and cattle and horses are also important. In intensive subsistence agriculture,
186-624: Is largely practiced today, such as India and other regions in Asia, have seen a recent decline in the practice. This is due to processes such as urbanization, the transformation of land into rural areas, and integration of capitalist forms of farming. In India, the increase in industrialization and decrease in rural agriculture has led to rural unemployment and increased poverty for those in lower caste groups. Those that are able to live and work in urbanized areas are able to increase their income while those that remain in rural areas take large decreases, which
217-437: Is less than that of consumers in countries with modern complex markets, they use these markets mainly to obtain goods, not to generate income for food; these goods are typically not necessary for survival and may include sugar, iron roofing-sheets, bicycles, used clothing, and so forth. Many have important trade contacts and trade items that they can produce because of their special skills or special access to resources valued in
248-407: Is particularly susceptible to the ill effects of climate change in areas where weather patterns are already very erratic. doi:10.3390/atmos11121287 In this type of farming, a patch of forest land is cleared by a combination of felling (chopping down) and burning, and crops are grown. After two–three years the fertility of the soil begins to decline, the land is abandoned and the farmer moves to clear
279-774: Is the transition from the Cumberland Plateau to the Bluegrass in the north and the Pennyrile in the south, there are many spectacular cliffs, gorges , rockhouses , natural bridges , and waterfalls . In Tennessee, the Cumberland Plateau's western border is the Highland Rim east of the Nashville Basin , and its eastern edge is marked by Walden Ridge , which continues south into Alabama as Sand Mountain . Walden Ridge and Sand Mountain are separated from
310-832: Is why there was no large decline in poverty. This effectively widens the income gap between lower and higher castes and makes it harder for those in rural areas to move up in caste ranking. This era has marked a time of increased farmer suicides and the "vanishing village". Most subsistence agriculture is practiced in developing countries located in tropical climates . Effects on crop production brought about by climate change will be more intense in these regions as extreme temperatures are linked to lower crop yields. Farmers have been forced to respond to increased temperatures through things such as increased land and labor inputs which threaten long-term productivity. Coping measures in response to variable climates can include reducing daily food consumption and selling livestock to compensate for
341-591: The Cumberland Plateau in southern Fentress County, Tennessee . It is composed of two major components, the North Prong and the South Prong, and numerous smaller tributaries. The North Prong drains an area adjacent to and east of U.S. Highway 127 . The South Prong is slightly further east; it and its tributaries form an important portion of the border between Fentress County and Morgan County . The former English settlement of Rugby, Tennessee , promoted in
SECTION 10
#1732798690546372-619: The New River . From this point the combined stream is known as the Big South Fork of the Cumberland River ; the upper reaches of the stream are the focal point of a National Recreation Area . 36°25′27″N 84°37′25″W / 36.42424°N 84.62355°W / 36.42424; -84.62355 Cumberland Plateau The Cumberland Plateau is a deeply dissected plateau , with topographic relief commonly of about 400 feet (120 metres), and frequent sandstone outcroppings and bluffs. At Kentucky's Pottsville Escarpment , which
403-442: The knobs region , whereas areas near Black Mountain have a relief exceeding 2,500 feet (760 m). The Cumberland Plateau is a physiographic section of the larger Appalachian Plateau province, which in turn is part of the larger Appalachian Highlands physiographic division. The Plateau rises about 1,000 feet (300 m) above the surrounding areas in the region (Tennessee Vacation, 2018). The rough topography that makes up
434-744: The Cumberland Plateau has caused a development of isolated settlements and the local economies based on subsistence agriculture (Britannica, 2016). The sedimentary rocks that compose the Cumberland Plateau and larger Appalachian Plateau are of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian geological age, composed of near-shore sediments washed westward from the Appalachian Mountains . Some rock layers were laid down in shallow coastal waters, some, including bituminous coal seams were laid onshore in swampy environments. These are interlaced with delta formations of cross-bedded sandstones and occasionally conglomerate. There are numerous discontinuities in
465-719: The Cumberland Plateau include The Nature Conservancy , the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation , and the Natural Resources Defense Council . 36°N 85°W / 36°N 85°W / 36; -85 Subsistence agriculture Subsistence agriculture occurs when farmers grow crops on smallholdings to meet the needs of themselves and their families. Subsistence agriculturalists target farm output for survival and for mostly local requirements. Planting decisions occur principally with an eye toward what
496-425: The beds, where they were raised high enough to be eroded, then lowered to have more sediments added on top near Cumberland Falls, 400 feet (120 m) below the top of the formation, going by the age of the bedrock which has moved less than 0.1 inches (2.5 mm) for the last 300 million years, caused mainly by lateral erosion of the plateau. The plateau contains some of the largest stretches of contiguous forest in
527-800: The decreased productivity. These responses often threaten the future of household farms in the following seasons as many farmers will sell draft animals used for labor and will also consume seeds saved for planting. Measuring the full extent of future climate change impacts is difficult to determine as smallholder farms are complex systems with many different interactions. Different locations have different adaptation strategies available to them such as crop and livestock substitutions. Rates of production for cereal crops, such as wheat, oats, and maize have been declining largely due to heat's effects on crop fertility. This has forced many farmers to switch to more heat tolerant crops to maintain levels of productivity. Substitution of crops for heat tolerant alternatives limits
558-498: The eastern United States. Regionally, forests are intermediate between oak ( Quercus ) and hickory ( Carya ) forest types with pines ( Pinus ) occurring on dry, upland sites and mesophytic species occurring in protected coves. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory is involved with the conservation of the mixed mesophytic forests within the Northern Cumberland Plateau. Conservation organizations active on
589-467: The family will need during the coming year, and only secondarily toward market prices. Tony Waters, a professor of sociology , defines "subsistence peasants" as "people who grow what they eat, build their own houses, and live without regularly making purchases in the marketplace ". Despite the self-sufficiency in subsistence farming, most subsistence farmers also participate in trade to some degree. Although their amount of trade as measured in cash
620-458: The farmer cultivates a small plot of land using simple tools and more labour. Climate with large number of days with sunshine and fertile soils, permits growing of more than one crop annually on the same plot. Farmers use their small land holdings to produce enough for their local consumption, while remaining produce is used for exchange against other goods. It results in much more food being produced per acre compared to other subsistence patterns. In
651-632: The forest canopy, and encourages scrub at the expense of large trees, eventually resulting in deforestation and soil erosion . Shifting cultivation is called dredd in India, ladang in Indonesia and jhumming in North East India. While shifting agriculture's slash-and-burn technique may describe the method for opening new land, commonly the farmers in question have in existence at the same time smaller fields, sometimes merely gardens, near
SECTION 20
#1732798690546682-435: The homestead there they practice intensive "non-shifting" techniques. These farmers pair this with " slash and burn " techniques to clear additional land and (by the burning) provide fertilizer (ash). Such gardens near the homestead often regularly receive household refuse. The manure of any household chickens or goats are initially thrown into compost piles just to get them out of the way. However, such farmers often recognize
713-514: The late 19th century as a settlement for the "second sons" of English nobility who did not receive hereditary peerages , is located on the Plateau above the Clear Fork valley; swimming in its pools provided the "Rugby Colony" with an important recreational diversion. The stream crosses into Scott County through an oil field developed by the petroleum industry and reaches its confluence with
744-648: The main portion of the Cumberland Plateau by the Sequatchie Valley . The Sequatchie River empties into the Tennessee River just below Nickajack Dam and the valley extends into Jackson County, Alabama , as part of the Tennessee Valley . In Kentucky , the height of the plateau's hills increases from northwest to southeast, with the westernmost areas of the plateau having a relief of around 200 feet (61 m) and an appearance similar to
775-409: The marketplace. Subsistence farming today is most common in developing countries . Subsistence agriculture generally features: small capital/finance requirements, mixed cropping , limited use of agrochemicals (e.g. pesticides and fertilizer ), unimproved varieties of crops and animals, little or no surplus yield for sale, use of crude/traditional tools (e.g. hoes, machetes, and cutlasses), mainly
806-537: The most intensive situation, farmers may even create terraces along steep hillsides to cultivate rice paddies. Such fields are found in densely populated parts of Asia, such as in the Philippines . They may also intensify by using manure, artificial irrigation and animal waste as fertilizer . Intensive subsistence farming is prevalent in the thickly populated areas of the monsoon regions of south, southwest, and southeast Asia. Subsistence agriculture can be used as
837-676: The movement of sharecroppers and tenant farmers out of the American South and Midwest during the 1930s and 1940s. In Central and Eastern Europe, semi-subsistence agriculture reappeared within the transition economy after 1990 but declined in significance (or disappeared) in most countries by the accession to the EU in 2004 or 2007. Subsistence farming continues today in large parts of rural Africa, and parts of Asia and Latin America. In 2015, about 2 billion people (slightly more than 25% of
868-453: The overall diversity of crops grown on smallholder farms. As many farmers farm to meet daily food needs, this can negatively impact nutrition and diet among many families practicing subsistence agriculture. Water availability has a crucial role in determining the productivity of subsistence agriculture, especially in dryland regions. Rain-needed farming, common in many areas, relies only on natural precipitation. Because of this, dryland farming
899-537: The production of crops, small scattered plots of land, reliance on unskilled labor (often family members), and (generally) low yields. Subsistence agriculture was the dominant mode of production in the world until recently, when market-based capitalism became widespread. Subsistence agriculture largely disappeared in Europe by the beginning of the twentieth century. It began to decrease in North America with
930-680: The value of such compost and apply it regularly to their smaller fields. They also may irrigate part of such fields if they are near a source of water. In some areas of tropical Africa, at least, such smaller fields may be ones in which crops are grown on raised beds. Thus farmers practicing "slash and burn" agriculture are often much more sophisticated agriculturalists than the term "slash and burn" subsistence farmers suggests. In this type of farming people migrate along with their animals from one place to another in search of fodder for their animals. Generally they rear cattle , sheep, goats, camels and/or yaks for milk, skin, meat and wool. This way of life
961-496: The world's population) in 500 million households living in rural areas of developing nations survive as " smallholder " farmers, working less than 2 hectares (5 acres ) of land. Around 98% of China's farmers work on small farms, and China accounts for around half of the total world farms. In India, 80% of the total farmers are smallholder farmers; Ethiopia and Asia have almost 90% being small; while Mexico and Brazil recorded 50% and 20% being small. Areas where subsistence farming