Agriculture Flashcards
Agriculture
Deliberate tending of crops and livestock to produce food, feed, fiber, and fuel.
Primary economic activity
-Extracting resources from the ground - raw material.
-Extract from the ground/earth. like hunting, fishing, agriculture etc.
Subsistence agriculture
Growing only what u need to survive, not selling a surplus (no surplus for sale) there may be a surplus but not for sale. Usually smaller in scale then commercial farming and it’s usually done by hand or done by animals.
Extensive subsistence agriculture
A lot of land with not much labor. Live stock, ranching and herding, and slash and burn. U don’t need as many people and it takes up a lot of space. Livestock and ranching and herding is with an arid climate. Slash and burn is with a tropical climate.
Intensive subsistence agriculture
Small amount of land with a lot of labor needed. intense=hard work, needs a lot of people to do it.
Ex. wet rice cultivation, it’s hard work and u need a lot of people for it, it’s done by hand in flooded fields taking the rice out. Temperate with the wet season (asia).
Shifting cultivation/Slash-and-burn
-In tropical climates
-A method of agriculture in which existing vegetation is cut down and burned off before new seeds are sown, typically used as a method for clearing forest land for farming.
-Largest % of agricultural land use
2nd agriculture revolution
-Took place during the industrial revolution
-New technologies like tractors, seed drills, railroads, and iron plows.
Von thunen model
The point was the perishability of the goods and the cost of transportation (weight and distances) and the labor. Land gets cheaper as you move away.
-# 1 gardening and dairy farming-that’s the most perishable, it’s heavy, and that’s the most intensive labor.
-#2 forest zone-wood is heavy
-#3 extensive grain crops
-#4 ranching- doesn’t cost a lot because the animals walk by themselves. Land is further from the market so it’s cheaper.
3rd Agricultural Revolution-Green revolution
-The goal was to reverse famine in LDC countries like india, pakistan, and mexico
-hybrid seeds/fertilizers in wheat/rice
-GMO’s
GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms)
Genetically altered foods done by splicing of genes from different species. Makes plants drought and disease resistant, you can sell more because you’re getting a higher yield.
Township-and range system
When they handed land out on a grid pattern, to make it more organized. It leads to a dispersed settlement pattern, people living throughout the farmland. Same as the rectangular survey system.
Commercial agriculture
Are large corporate owned farms where goods are sold for profit. They sell so good because of transportation and refrigeration. Commercial farmers use GMOs in the crops, which allows for a high yield and a cheaper price.
Monoculture
When you focus on one singular crop, LDC countries do it because they were set up that way by their own colonizer.
Plantation agriculture
when cash crops are grown on large estates. Plantations are colonial legacies that persist in poorer, primarily tropical, countries along with subsistence farming.
Livestock ranching/Nomadic herding
-In arid/semi-arid climates (dry)
-Extensive form of agriculture
-The raising of domesticated animals for the production of meat and byproducts, such as leather and wool
