Agriculture Flashcards
The process by which humans alter the landscape in order to raise crops and livestock for consumption and trade.
Agriculture
Farmers focus on raising one specific crop to sell for profit
Commercial Agriculture
People travel from place to place with their herds of domesticated animals
Subsistence Agriculture
The growing of crops that people planted, raised, and harvested, probably began after animal domestication
Plant Domestication
Raising and caring for animals by humans for protection or food
Animal Domesication
Origin of farming, marked by the first domestication of plants and animals, farming consisted of subsistence farming
First Agricultural Revolution
Farmers build a series of steps into the side of a hill
Terrace Farming
The removal of large tracts of forests
Deforestation
The transition from fertile soil to desert
Desertification
Accompanied the Industrial Revolution, began in Great Britain in the 18th century, involved the mechanization of agricultural production, advances in transportation, development of large scale irrigation, and changes to consumption patterns of agricultural goods.
Second Agricultural Revolution
A series of laws enacted by the British government that enabled landowners to purchase and enclose land for their own use that had previously been common land used by peasant farmers
Enclosure Acts
Started in the mid-20th century, advances in science, research, and technology; better more efficient farming equipment and practices, particularly in the area of vastly improved varieties of grain
Third Agricultural Revolution
The development of higher-yielding, disease-resistant, faster-growing varieties of grains
Green Revolution
A process by which humans use engineering techniques to change DNA of a seed
GMOs
Practiced in rid and semi-arid climates, nomad rely on the animals for survival
Pastoral Nomadism
A form of commercial agriculture found in the developing world, livestock graze over large ares while the owners remain in the same place
Ranching
Subsistence agriculture in which farmers, usually in tropical climates regions, move from one field to another
Shifting Cultivation
A large commercial farm that specializes in one crop, usually found in the low latitudes (tropics), and in hot, humid climates with substantial precipitation
Plantation
Found mostly in California and the Southeast in order to take advantage of long growing seasons
Market Gardening
Similar to Market Gardening, products are traditionally driven to urban markets a sold
Truck Farming
The geographic distance that milk is delivered
Milk Shed
Practiced in regions with hot-dry summers, mild winters, narrow valleys, and often some type of irrigation system
Mediterranean Agriculture
Agriculture that uses fewer inputs of capital and paid labor relative to the amount of space being used
Extensive Farming
Agriculture that involves greater inputs of capital and paid labor relative to the space being used
Intensive Farming
The planting and harvesting on the same parcel of land twice per year
Double-cropping
When farmers grow more than two or more crops simultaneously on the same field
Intercropping
Confined spaces in which cattle and hogs have limited movement
Feed Lots
The integration of various steps of production in the food processing industry
Agribusiness
System of resources, producer transportation, communication, information, and consumers
Supply Chain
A process used by corporations to gather resources and transform them into goods a the transport them to consumers
Commodity Chain
The raising of a single cash crop on large plots of land
Monoculture
A farm in which no one lives on the farm and the harvesting and planting is performed by farmers who live nearby or by migratory labor
Suitcase Farm
Transportation networks that keep food cool throughout a trip
Cool Chains
Crops not essential to human survival but that have a high profit margin
Luxury Crops
An effort to promote higher income for producers and for more sustainable farming practices
Fair Trade Movement
Groups of homes located near each other in a hamlet or village
Clustered Settlement
A pattern in which farmers live in homes spread throughout the countryside
Dispersed Settlement
In England, fields often had irregular shapes that reflected the location of physical features and traditional patterns of use. Plot boundaries were described using this
Metes and Bounds
The government organized land into townships, areas six miles long and six miles wide. Each square mile, or section, consisted of 640 acres, and it could be divided into smaller lots, such as half sections or quarter sections.
Township and Range
Farms were long thin sections of land that ran perpendicular to a river
French Long-lot System
An economic model that suggested a pattern for the types of products that farmers would produce at different positions relative to the market where they sold their goods
Von-Thunen Model
A type of culture that includes market gardening/truck farming, and dairying would occur
Horticulture
Can be used to indicate the starting position for each land use relative to the market
Bid Rent Culture
Naturally occurring beneficial conditions that would prompt farmers to plant crops different from those predicted by von Thunen’s model
Comparative Advantage
An area of recreational parks or other undeveloped land
Greenbelt
Food produced without the use of pesticides
Organic Food
The practice of raising and harvesting fish and other forms of food that live in water
Aquaculture
The fastest growing form of food production on the planet and responsible for approximately 50 percent of the world’s seafood
Blue Revolution
The savings in cost per unit due to increasing the level of production
Economies of Scale
