Agricultural and Rural Land Use Patterns and Processes Part 2 Flashcards
Agribusiness
Farms run as corporations.
Transnational Corporations
Corporations that operate in many countries. These large-scale operations are commercial, highly mechanized, and often use chemicals and biotechnology in raising crops and animals.
Vertical Integration
The ownership of other businesses involved in the steps of producing a particular good.
Economies of Scale
An increase in efficiency to lower the per-unit production cost, resulting in greater profits.
Commodity Chain
A process used by corporations to gather resources, transform them into goods, and then transport them to consumers.
Carrying Capacity
The number of people that U.S. farmers can support given the available resources.
Cool Chains
Transportation networks that keep food cool throughout a trip.
Location Theory
Deals with why people choose certain locations for various types of economic activity — factories, stores, restaurants, or agriculture.
Von Thünen Model
An economic model that suggested a pattern for the types of products that farmers would produce at different positions relative to the market (community) where they sold their goods, is the start of location theory.
Isotropic Plain
Flat and featureless with similar fertility and climate throughout.
Horticulture
A type of agriculture that includes market gardening/truck farming and dairy farming.
Bid-Price Curve (Bid-Rent Curve)
A graph used to determine the starting position for each land use relative to the market, as well as where each land use would end.
Free-Market Economy
Supply and demand, not government policy, determines the outcome of competition for land.
Comparative Advantage
Naturally occurring beneficial conditions.
Supply Chain
All the steps required to get a product or service to customers.
Luxury Crops
Not essential to human survival but have a high profit margin.
Neocolonialism
The use of economic, political, and social pressures to control former colonies.
Fair Trade Movement
Started with the Fair Trade certificates for coffee in 1988. It is an effort to promote higher incomes for producers and more sustainable farming practices.
Subsidies
Public financial support.
Infrastructure
Includes the roads, bridges, tunnels, ports, electrical grids, sewers, telecommunications, etc. of a country.
Land Cover Change
The study of how land is used and impact of changing land use.
Desertification
Fertile land becomes infertile. Caused by the removal of forests or overgrazing livestock which can allow for increased wind erosion and result in the loss of the topsoil.
Salinization
Occurs when salts from water used by plants remain in the soil. This decreases a plant’s ability to uptake water and nutrients, which results in lower yields and may render soil useless.
Terrace Farming
Farmers build a series of steps into the side of a hill.
Irrigation
The process of applying controlled amounts of water to crops using dams, canals, pipes, sprinkler systems, or other manufactured devices rather than relying on just rainfall.
Center-Pivot Irrigation
A system developed in the mid-20th century in which watering equipment rotates around a pivot and delivers specific amounts of water, fertilizer, or pesticides to the field.
Wetlands
Low-lying areas that contain a significant amount of water at or near the surface.
Deforestation
The removal of large tracts of forest.
Slash-and-Burn Agriculture
An early agricultural practice and type of shifting cultivation that takes place when all vegetation in an area of forest is cut down and burned in place. The ash provides nutrients to the soil, and the land can be farmed for a few years before the soil becomes depleted and the plot is abandoned.
Blue Revolution
The water equivalent of the green revolution, the Blue Revolution primarily refers to aquaculture.
Overgraze
Occurs when the density of animals is greater than grasslands can support.
Organic Foods
Crops that are non-GMO, produced without pesticides or synthetic fertilizers, and use sustainable growing practices. Animals must be fed 100 percent organic feed and ranchers cannot administer antibiotics or hormones to the animals.
Value-Added Crops
Those for which consumers are willing to pay more because of special qualities or because they are difficult to acquire.
Value-Added Farming
Occurs when farmers process their crops into high-value products, rather than simply selling it as it comes from the field.
Local-Food Movement
Seeking out food produced nearby.
Urban Farming
Refers to the production of farm goods within an urban area with the goal of providing locally grown food.
Community Gardens
These garden plots allow people to grow and harvest their own fresh food, grown organically, if they wish.
Vertical Farms
Grow crops inside in stackable trays, using greenhouses, artificial lights, and hydroponics.
Hydroponics
Allows crops to grow without soil using mineral-enriched solutions.
Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA)
Brings producers and consumers into a type of partnership. Consumers buy a share, or subscribe to a certain quantity of crops for a season. The food is made available to the consumer throughout the growing season. Consumers usually develop an appreciation of the challenges of production, while producers develop a better understanding of consumer wants.
Food Insecurity
When households lack access to adequate food because of limited money or other resources.
Food Desert
A neighborhood where residents have little to no access to healthy and affordable food.
Food Distribution System
A network of trade and transportation that gets food from farms to consumers.
Food Processing
The transformation of agricultural products into food or taking food items and transforming them into a different type of food.
Tariff
A tax on imports.
Quota
A limit on the quantity of a good imported.
Gender Inequality
The unequal opportunities, treatment, or rights of a person based on gender.
Gender-Specific Obstacles
Discriminatory practices that prevent female farmers from reaching their potential productivity.
Crop Gap
The 20 to 30 percent gap of productivity between male and female farms.
