ABSTRACT
Agricultural geographers have concentrated upon supply conditions when studying spatial variations in agricultural activity, yet the pattern of demand is of great importance. Agriculture provides a wide range of products. Crops provide not only foodstuffs but also fibres, perfumes, drugs, oils for lubrication and paint, dyes and alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks. Livestock provide not only meat and milk, but hides, bristles, wool and fats, and in much of the world they are the main source of draught power on the farm. But although agriculture provides a wide range of goods for industry, foodstuffs are by far the most important products. In the USA 90 per cent of the value of farm produce is consumed as food, and 93 per cent of the farmland is sown with food crops. No comparable figures are available for other parts of the world, but even in countries often thought of as mainly producers of industrial raw materials, food crops are dominant. In Bangladesh, for example, jute occupies only 7 per cent of the arable area.
