This video was made in partnership with Gates Ventures. The shape of a farm can tell you a surprising amount about the land it's on and the people that use it.

LEARN MORE

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To learn more about this topic, start your googling with these keywords:

• Central pivot irrigation: an irrigation system that moves in a circular pattern around a central pivot point
• Contour farming: tilling sloped land along lines of consistent elevation in order to conserve rainwater and to reduce soil losses from erosion
• Strip cropping: partitioning a field into long, narrow strips which are alternated in a crop rotation system
• Terracing: a method of farming consisting of building platforms along a slope

At 3:10 we show a collage of Google Earth images from the video. Here are the coordinates for each (from left to right and top to bottom): 1: 1°15'60.0"S 37°24'11.5"E 2: 1°15'40.8"S 37°23'57.2"E 3: 7°51'04.2"S 61°35'47.1"W 4: 32°53'48.7"S 71°21'33.4"W 5: 38°53'11.2"N 35°36'11.4"E 6: 25°09'55.7"N 55°35'09.2"E 7: 37°11'37.0"N 26°47'45.7"E 8: 42°50'39.1"N 143°03'10.9"E 9: 53°58'24.5"N 0°44'01.8"W 10: 16°37'22.1"S 62°54'38.5"W 11: 46°58'13.1"N 70°51'28.5"W 12: 27°10'19.5"N 81°48'21.2"W 13: 25°48'55.2"N 110°09'02.3"E 14: 43°39'27.2"N 90°55'17.7"W 15: 28°58'14.4"S 23°55'12.6"E 16. 24°08'14.0"N 23°13'17.0"E 17. 25°48'20.4"N 110°08'57.6"E 18: 43°44'38.1"N 141°52'07.6"E

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CREDITS

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Kate Yoshida | Script Writer, Narrator and Director Sarah Berman | Illustration, Video Editing and Animation Nathaniel Schroeder | Music

MinuteEarth is produced by Neptune Studios LLC https://neptunestudios.info

OUR STAFF

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Lizah van der Aart • Sarah Berman • Cameron Duke Arcadi Garcia i Rius • David Goldenberg • Melissa Hayes Alex Reich • Henry Reich • Peter Reich Ever Salazar • Leonardo Souza • Kate Yoshida

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REFERENCES

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Hazlett, R. & Peck, J. (2018) An Image Reconnaissance: Agricultural Patterns and Related Environmental Impacts Viewed From Space. Environmental Science. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780199389414.013.557

NASA Earth Observatory, 2022. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/

Oksanen, T (2013). Shape-describing indices for agricultural field plots and their relationship to operational efficiency. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture, 98, 252–259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2013.08.014

Pulliam, A. (1948). Farm layout and farmstead planning. : Corvallis, Or. : Federal Cooperative Extension Service, Oregon State College. https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/administrative_report_or_publications/n870zv71w