Agriculture Flashcards
Which of the following best explains how the expansion of feedlots for raising cattle has affected environmental sustainability in rural areas?
Runoff from animal waste has increased the pollution in local water supplies.
The two images represent two different methods of raising livestock in the United States. Which of the following statements most accurately compares these two agricultural practices?
Feedlots can minimize costs associated with livestock production because feedlots do not use as much space as cattle ranching.
During the winter months in North America, the primary source of fruits and vegetables found in grocery stores is
Chile
During the first half of the twentieth century, which of the following facilitated the transportation of beef over long distances to global markets?
Refrigerated ships
Dramatic increases in global grain production since 1950 have been made possible by
an increase in the use of energy and technology
A set of economic and political relationships that organizes food production from the development of seed to marketing the products is known as
agribusiness
According to Carl Sauer, which of the following is true about plant domestication?
It first occurred in diversified habitats with a variety of species.
According to the theory of environmental deter-minism, which of the following areas would have the most productive settlements?
Temperate regions
Which of the following agricultural practices has the most significant long-term environmental impact in tropical regions?
Burning extensive areas of forested land to create pasture, which decreases biodiversity
Which of the following best explains the potential impact of rising global temperatures on agricultural regions?
Polar regions will dry out, making cultivation impossible.
Which of the following best explains the importance of climate to agricultural practices?
Midlatitude climates tend to support similar agricultural crops and practices, such as wheat farming in the United States and China.
Agriculture practiced in California differs from forms practiced in other Mediterranean agricultural regions because in California
Farms use more irrigation
All of the following statements about the geography of meat production in the United States and Canada are true EXCEPT
Consumer demand for organic foods has significantly decreased the amount of meat produced by most agribusiness firms .
Based on the different types of land use shown in the image, which of the following best explains why soil salinization is a concern in the arid landscape shown?
Irrigation increases the salt content of the soil, which disrupts the growth of crops and degrades soil fertility.
Compared to North American ranchers, commercial ranchers in the Pampas of Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil are more likely to
raise livestock primarily for export
Palm oil, an edible vegetable oil used in processing packaged food products, is obtained from the fruit of the oil palm tree, grown only in the tropics. Which of the following explains how global demand for palm oil has proved beneficial and detrimental for countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia?
Palm oil exports provided substantial corporate profits, but the growth in the industry resulted in heavy deforestation in both countries.
Which of the following best explains the economic advantage of the type of farm-produced goods shown in the images?
Compared to plain milk or fresh fruit, these value-added agricultural goods significantly increase the price of the farm products sold and increase earnings for farmers.
Corn (maize) was first domesticated in
Central Mexico
Which of the following explains why multiple early hearths of domestication and diffusion of plants and animals arose across the world in Central America, the Fertile Crescent, the Indus River valley, and Southeast Asia?
Domestication of plants and animals evolved in each hearth independently of one another as societies in each area learned and applied the process to local plants and animals.
Genetic engineering of agricultural crops has primarily increased the productivity of modern farming by
increasing plants’ drought resistance and resistance to pests
Which of the following explains an impact of globalized agricultural commodity chains on consumers as compared to producers?
Drought and depletion of groundwater sources in developing countries cause a rise in global grain prices and associated higher costs for food.
In less developed countries, pesticides are typically applied by hand, whereas pesticides are typically applied by tractors or aircraft in more developed countries. Which of the following best explains the risks associated with pesticide applications?
Farmers’ health is at risk in less developed countries, whereas environmental pollution is a risk in more developed countries.
Between 1950 and 1990, wheat production in India in average pounds per acre more than tripled, which allowed India to meet its population’s need for food. Which of the following best explains this change?
The use of improved plant hybrids and agricultural chemicals
During the Green Revolution, agricultural practices from more developed countries diffused to less developed countries in Asia and Africa. Which of the following best explains the Green Revolution’s highly variable level of success in increasing agricultural yields?
Small-scale farmers in Asia often lacked the resources necessary to acquire the hybrid seeds and the chemical inputs to grow them, leaving large gaps in the success of the Green Revolution outside of urban cores.
Green Revolution technology has resulted in which of the following in modern agriculture?
The development of high-yield grains and the expansion of cultivated areas
In North America, which of the following frequently consumed items is most likely to be supplied by a trans-national corporation?
coffee
In which of the following areas was wheat most probably domesticated earliest?
Southeastern Turkey
In which of the following countries is terracing LEAST likely to be used by farming groups to create additional space and minimize erosion on steep slopes?
Niger
In which of the following world regions has the Green Revolution had the least impact on agriculture?
Sub-Saharan Africa
Why have many family farms in North America been replaced by agribusiness farms since the 1980s?
Agribusiness farms have the resources to take advantage of economies of scale.
Isolated farmsteads in the United States evolved as a result of all of the following EXCEPT
physical barriers preventing communal farm practices
Land parcels in the American Midwest tend to be rectilinear because
the federal survey system adopted in the late eighteenth century imposed a geometric pattern on the landscape
On the map, the shaded area is most associated with which of the following types of agriculture?
Rice cultivation
Which of the following explains the diffusion and successful cultivation of many plants and animals in new regions of the world through the Columbian Exchange?
The plants and animals diffused to a region with climate and geography similar to that of their point of domestication.
Which of the following best explains the diffusion of plants and animals from their hearths of domestication?
Both domesticated plants and animals spread across the globe through contagious diffusion in early years by farmers and traders, and later by relocation diffusion through European exploration and colonialism.
Production of agricultural products destined primarily for direct consumption by the producer rather than for market is called
subsistence agriculture
Which of the following best explains why the New England region, located in the northeastern United States, would specialize in market gardening agriculture rather than other types of agriculture, such as grain farming?
Several large cities on the East Coast provide a growing market and shorter distances for transporting market gardening products.
Which of the following best explains the differences between the patterns of land use in the township-and-range system and the long-lot system, as shown in the images?
The township-and-range survey system was based on a geometric grid pattern, while the long-lot system was a rectilinear pattern based upon waterways or roads.
Which of the following best explains the reasons for the similarities and differences between the two land survey systems shown?
Both systems require geometric calculations to survey property lines. However, the township-and-range system uses simplified calculation to create a more ordered landscape.
The two images represent different agricultural land survey patterns. Comparing the two images, which survey system was more efficient in terms of trade?
The river in the long lot survey system provided better access to waterways to transport goods to market.
The images shown illustrate a change that took place as the Second Agricultural Revolution coincided with the Industrial Revolution. Which of the following compares this geographic relationship between these revolutions
The mechanization of farm work allowed many young people to migrate and join a growing urban industrial workforce
The images show devices developed during the Second Agricultural Revolution. Which of the following best describes the impacts of the Second Agricultural Revolution?
Technological innovations, such as the devices shown in the images, and increased agricultural productivity led to better diets, longer life expectancies, and more people available for work in factories.
The two images show different agricultural methods. In the context of the Second Agricultural Revolution, which of the following trends is represented in these images?
The mechanization of farming in the Second Agricultural Revolution resulted in more reliable crop harvests and healthier populations in areas where the mechanization was adopted.
Which of the following explains the role of commodity chains in the average size of farms?
Commodity chains have led to changes in the spatial organization of agriculture from dispersed family farms to large corporate farms that produce, process, and distribute the products.
Which of the following is an explanation for the similar impact of large-scale commercial agriculture in developed countries and plantation agriculture in developing countries?
Both farming practices involve the consolidation of family farms and displacement of rural communities.
Subsistence agriculture is always characterized by
production only for family consumption
Subsistence agriculture is most common in which of the following regions?
Amazon Basin
The clearing of tropical rain forest for agriculture frequently results in
a shift to animal raising
Which of the following realities would NOT be accounted for by the theoretical predictions shown on the map?
Florida’s government has a Department of Citrus.
The shaded areas on the map most likely indicate regions that are affected or threatened by which of the following?
Desertification
The growth potential of alternative agricultural practices such as the growing of amaranth grain and the raising of deer, elk, emus, and buffalo for meat is limited because
the growers have not established an integrated commodity chain
The industrialization and mechanization of agriculture in the United States during the past 70 years have resulted in
a decrease in the number of farms and an increase in the size of farms
Traditional labor-intensive agriculture often involves which of the following?
Field terracing
Which of the following social or environmental impacts is most directly related to the use of chemicals in agriculture?
An increase in land and water pollution from agricultural runoff
Von Thünen emphasized which of the following factors in his model of agricultural land use?
Transportation Costs
Which of the following correctly explains the placement of an agricultural product within von Thünen’s agricultural land-use model?
Tomatoes are grown closest to the market because they spoil quicker than beef or grain.
Based on the diagram of von Thünen’s model of agricultural land use, which statement best explains the connection between land value and agricultural production regions?
Grain crops require extensive acreage and are grown on land that is less costly and farther away from the market than other agricultural land uses.
Grain crops require extensive acreage and are grown on land that is less costly and farther away from the market than other agricultural land uses.
The ring farthest from the market, because the land is less expensive and outweighs transportation costs to get the livestock to market.
What kind of agriculture is primarily practiced in the dark-shaded areas on the map?
Mediterranean
Which of the following activities is most likely to be found in the outermost zone of von Thünen’s model of agricultural land use?
Extensive grain or stock raising
Which of the following developments is predicted by the von Thünen model of land use around cities?
Large-scale growing of flowers and vegetables in the Netherlands
Which of the following environmental problems is most associated with the African Sahel?
Desertification
Which of the following includes the world’s earliest centers of plant domestication?
Southeast Asia, Mesoamerica, Middle East
Which of the following is a characteristic of shifting cultivation?
Multicropping
Which of the following is a subsistence crop?
corn
Which of the following is indicated on the graph?
Worldwide fertilizer use is increasing but faster in peripheral developing countries.
Which of the following is the best example of extensive land use in agriculture?
A sheep ranch
Which of the following is the essential requirement of lowland rice production?
Abundant water
Which of the following is the most often cited environmental benefit of the eat-local movement?
Less fossil fuel is used in transporting food to market.
Which of the following pairs of agricultural types occupies the largest percentage of the world’s total land area?
Shifting cultivation and nomadic herding
Which of the following statements best describes the impact of improvements in transportation systems on agriculture?
Corporate farms have gained a greater advantage over family farms.
Why is the traditional classification of agriculture as a primary economic activity a problem when considering the geography of agriculture?
Modern farmers are engaged in production, research, marketing, and some manufacturing of their products.
Compare the two maps and examine the data for Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. Which of the following statements is supported by the comparison of the two maps?
Many women in these regions work on farms and grow food for their families, but not all are paid to do this work.
Based on the map, which of the following explains the similarities of the world regions where at least 51 percent of women work in agriculture?
These regions are composed of less-developed countries with large rural populations.
Which of the following explains the significance of the similarities between Asia and sub-Saharan Africa in terms of the percent of women working agriculture?
In the subsistence-based rural economies in these regions, female farmers produce much of the food that their families need for survival.
Women played a crucial role in the domestication of plants because they
were engaged in collecting plant resources
Based on von Thünen’s model of rural land use in an isolated state, which statement explains the most suitable place for a farmer to purchase a large parcel of land necessary for raising livestock?
The ring farthest from the market, because the land is less expensive and outweighs transportation costs to get the livestock to market.
Which of the following types of value-added products best describes the kind of agriculture shown in the image?
Free-range
Which of the following best describes the roles of women in the rural, agricultural economies of sub-Saharan Africa?
Nonwage workers on small, family-run farms
Which of the following agricultural inputs were the most recent technological innovations employed in less developed countries during the Green Revolution?
Chemical fertilizers and pesticides
In which of the following world regions has the Green Revolution had the least impact on agriculture?
Sub-Saharan Africa
Which of the following best explains a neo-Malthusian perspective on the Green Revolution?
The Green Revolution represents a jump in agricultural technology, but population will still grow faster than our ability to produce food will over the long run.
According to Carl Sauer, which of the following is true about plant domestication?
It first occurred in diversified habitats with a variety of species.
Traditionally, the Ganges Valley and the Nile Valley have had comparatively high population densities because of their
intensive agriculture based on irrigation
The images show devices developed during the Second Agricultural Revolution. Which of the following best describes the impacts of the Second Agricultural Revolution?
Technological innovations, such as the devices shown in the images, and increased agricultural productivity led to better diets, longer life expectancies, and more people available for work in factories.
The images shown illustrate a change that took place as the Second Agricultural Revolution coincided with the Industrial Revolution. Which of the following compares this geographic relationship between these revolutions?
The mechanization of farm work allowed many young people to migrate and join a growing urban industrial workforce
