Agriculture : Chapter 8

Question 1

Swidden cultivation

Answer 1

type of agriculture characterized by land rotation in which temporary clearings are used for several years and then abandoned to be replaced by new clearings;
also known as slash and burn agriculture

Question 2

shifting cultivation

Answer 2

based on growing crops in different fields on a rotating basis;
example is Maya in Yucatan growing maize by rotating fields on a seven year cycle

Question 3

paddy rice farming

Answer 3

the cultivation of rice on a paddy, or small flooded field enclosed by mud dikes, practiced in the humid areas of the Far East;
typically only 3 acres and is adequate to support a family because irrigated rice provides a very large output of food per unit of land

Question 4

market gardening

Answer 4

farming devoted to specialized fruit, vegetable, or vine crops for sale rather than consumption

Question 5

suitcase farming

Answer 5

in American commercial grain agriculture, a farm on which no one lives;
planting and harvesting are done by hired migratory crews

Question 6

dairying

Answer 6

specialized production of dairy goods;

dairy belts near large urban areas usually produce milk and those further away produce utter, cheese, or processed milk

Question 7

domesticated plant

Answer 7

plant deliberately planted and tended by humans that is genetically distinct from its wild ancestors as a result of selective breeding

Question 8

Carl Sauer

Answer 8

defined cultural landscape as an area fashioned from nature by a cultural group;
combination of cultural features such as language and religion, economic features such as agriculture and industry, and physical features such as climate and vegetation

Question 9

indigenous technical knowledge

Answer 9

highly localized knowledge about environmental conditions and sustainable land-use practices

Question 10

green revolution

Answer 10

recent introduction of high-yield hybrid crops and chemical fertilizers and pesticides into traditional Asian agricultural systems, most notably paddy rice farming, with attendant increases in production and ecological damage

Question 11

von Thunen

Answer 11

developed the core-periphery model to explain the distribution and intensity of agriculture based on distance to the market;
perishable foods are closest to the market;
land closest to the market is taxed more heavily and requires greater intensity
market gardens and feedlots are closest, followed by dairying, livestock fattening, grain farming, livestock ranching

Question 12

cool chain

Answer 12

the refrigeration and transport technologies that allow for the distribution of perishables

Question 13

monoculture

Answer 13

raising of only one crop on a huge tract of land in agribusiness

Question 14

intensive culture

Answer 14

system of agriculture using large amounts of labor and capital for each unit of land;
results in significantly higher crop yields;

Question 15

extensive culture

Answer 15

system of agriculture that uses small amount of labor and capital for each unit of land;
requires large amounts of land

Question 16

desertification

Answer 16

process wherein human actions unintentionally turn productive lands into deserts through agricultural and pastoral misuse, destroying vegetation and soil to the point where they cannot regenerate

Question 17

organic agriculture

Answer 17

form of farming that relies on manuring, mulching, and biological pest control and rejects the use of synthetic fertilizers, insecticides, herbicides, and genetically modified crops

Question 18

long-lot survey

Answer 18

landholding pattern in which long, narrow blocks of land stretch back from a road, river, or canal;
occur widely in the hills and marshes of central and western Europe, parts of Brazil, and French-settled Quebec

Question 19

metes and boundary survey

Answer 19

landholding pattern with irregular shapes resulting from natural features such as trees, boulders, and streams

Question 20

First Agricultural Revolution

Answer 20

transition from hunter-gatherer to the use of seed agriculture and farm and draft animals;
emerged simultaneously in about nine different culture hearths around the world

Question 21

Second Agricultural Revolution

Answer 21

dramatic increase in crop production and distribution efficiency in the 17th century;
initiated with the horse-drawn hoe and seed drill in England and surplus of crops allowing movement of people to the city

Question 22

Third Agricultural Revolution

Answer 22

also known as the Green Revolution;

began in the mid-1970s with hybrid higher-yielding seeds and new fertilizers

Question 23

mechanization

Answer 23

process of using agricultural machinery to mechanize the work of agriculture;
results in greatly increased productivity

Question 24

chemical farming

Answer 24

use of pesticides and herbicides for agriculture;

opposite of organic farming

Question 25

agriculture

Answer 25

cultivation of domesticated crops and the raising of domesticated animals

Question 26

intercropping or interillage

Answer 26

the practice of growing two more different types of crops in the same field at the same time;
allows taller, stronger crops to shelter lower, weaker ones

Question 27

crop rotation

Answer 27

changing up which crops are planted;

better for soil, some crops add certain nutrients, others deplete

Question 28

subsistence agriculture

Answer 28

farming to supply the minimum food and materials necessary to survive

Question 29

adaptive strategy

Answer 29

unique way in which each culture uses its particular physical environment

Question 30

double cropping

Answer 30

harvesting twice a year from the same parcel of land

Question 31

peasant

Answer 31

farmer belonging to a folk culture and practicing a traditional system of agriculture

Question 32

plantation agriculture

Answer 32

system of monoculture for producing export crops requiring relatively large amounts of land and capital

Question 33

livestock fattening

Answer 33

commercial type of agriculture that produces fattened cattle and hogs for meat

Question 34

sedentary cultivation

Answer 34

farming in fixed and permanent fields

Question 35

ranching

Answer 35

commercial raising of herd livestock on a large landholding