Agriculture Flashcards
What is agriculture?
The production of crops or livestock
What is aquaculture?
The farming of aquatic plants and animals
What is pastoral farming?
The rearing of animals
What is arable farming?
The growing of crops
What is subsistence farming?
Farming that only involves rearing enough animals and growing enough crops to support that family
What is sedentary farming?
Farming that takes place in a permanent location
What is shifting cultivation?
Farming that moves from one location to another every year
What is commercial farming?
Farming for the purpose of profit
What is extensive farming?
Where there are relatively few inputs (and possibly outputs) per hectare of land
What is intensive farming?
Where there are relatively high inputs and outputs per hectare of land
What are properties of an extensive farm?
Larger farm, few inputs, workers and yield
What are properties of an intensive farm?
Smaller farm, higher inputs, workers, yield
How big is a hectare?
10,000m squared
What are the human inputs of a farm?
Labour, machinery, buildings, animals, crop seeds and fertilisers
What are physical inputs of a farm?
Soil, precipitation, sun, relief, drainage, alluvium,
What are the processes of a farm?
Rearing, shearing, ploughing, fertilising, weeding, slaughtering, irrigating and cultivating
What are the outputs of a farm?
Profits, meat products, wool, milk, waste, methane and crops
What is a silo?
A large tall building designed to store and protect harvested crops
What are barns?
A large wooden structure to store machinery, animals and harvested crops
What is an irrigation channel?
Diverting more water onto farmland making the ground more moist and easier to farm
What is a drainage channel?
Allowing previously flooded land to be farmed and drain water quicker
What was the green revolution?
The introduction of modern western farming techniques in LEDCs during the late 60s and 70s
What were some successes of the Green revolution?
Food prices fell, more reliable crops grown, variety of crops, wealthier farmers, more self-sufficient countries
What were some failures of the Green revolution?
Large amounts of fertilisers polluted water, susceptible to disease and drought, more water needed, mechanisation led to unemployment, some couldn’t afford seed
How can subsistence farmers increase yields?
Buy more land, use fertilisers, mechanisation, irrigation, use GM crops, two crops growing
What is diversification?
Increasing the range of products
What is a subside?
Financial help given to industries to make their production cheaper
Why may a country produce surplus?
Profit, subsides -> Give to LEDCs
What are cash crops?
Crops grown for the purpose of selling
What is monoculture?
Growing of only one type of crop
What are some problems with a monoculture farm?
Disease, price fluctuation, changing demands
What are advantages of organic crops?
Better flavour, minimal run-off of fertilisers, fewer chemicals consumed, higher price
What are disadvantages of organic crops?
Not uniform, susceptible to disease, longer to grow, more water to grow
What are advantages of GM crops?
Uniform, shorter growing season, less water used, can be drought resistant
What are disadvantages of GM crops?
Native species could die, taste not as good, development of super-weeds, long term impacts not known
What is soil degradation?
A reduction in quality of soil
What is desertification?
The process of soil becoming degraded and turning into desert
What are the human causes of famine?
Overpopulation, grazing cultivation, pollution, deforestation, conflict and corruption
What are physical causes of famine?
Temp, rainfall, flooding, natural disasters, fertility of soil
What are problems caused by famine?
Livestock death, crop failure, illness and death, conflict, loss of income
What are some solutions to famine and land degradation?
Crop rotation, irrigation, reforestation, GM crops, fertilisers, distribution of crops
