Ch 5: Agricultural and Rural Land Use Patterns and Processes Vocab

Question 1

Agribusiness

Answer 1

The set of economic and political relationships that organize food production for commercial purposes. It includes activities ranging from seed production, to retailing, to consumption of agricultural products.

Question 2

Agriculture

Answer 2

The art and science of producing food from the land and tending livestock for the purpose of human consumption.

Question 3

Animal Husbandry

Answer 3

An agricultural activity associated with the raising of domesticated animals, such as cattle, horses, sheep, and goats.

Question 4

Aquaculture

Answer 4

The cultivation or farming (in controlled conditions) of aquatic species, such as fish. In contrast to commercial fishing, which involves catching wild fish.

Question 5

Biotechnology

Answer 5

A form of technology that uses living organisms, usually genes, to modify products, to make or modify plants and animals, or to develop other microorganisms for specific purposes.

Question 6

Capital-Intensive Agriculture

Answer 6

Form of agriculture that uses mechanical goods, such as machinery, tools, vehicles, and facilities, to produce large amounts of agricultural goods–a process requiring very little human labor.

Question 7

Commercial Agricultural Economy

Answer 7

All agricultural activity generated for the purpose of selling, not necessarily for local consumption.

Question 8

Commodity Chains

Answer 8

A linked system of processes that gather resources, convert them into goods, package them for distribution, disperse them, and sell them on the market.

Question 9

Dairying

Answer 9

An agricultural activity involving the raising of livestock, most commonly cows and goats, for dairy products such as milk, cheese and butter.

Question 10

Desertification

Answer 10

The process by which formerly fertile lands become increasingly arid, unproductive, and desert-like.

Question 11

Domestication

Answer 11

The conscious manipulation of plant and animal species by humans in order to sustain themselves.

Question 12

Extensive Agriculture

Answer 12

An agricultural system characterized by low inputs of labor per unit land area.

Question 13

Feed Lots

Answer 13

Places where livestock are concentrated in a very small area and raised on hormones and hearty grains that prepare them for slaughter at a much more rapid rate than grazing; often referred to as factory farms.

Question 14

Fertile Crescent

Answer 14

Area located in the crescent shaped zone near the southeastern Mediterranean coast (including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey), which was once a lush environment and one of the first hearths of domestication and thus agricultural activity.

Question 15

Food Security

Answer 15

People’s ability to access sufficient safe and nutritious food to maintain a healthy and active life.

Question 16

Genetically Modified Foods

Answer 16

Foods that are mostly products of organisms that have had their genes altered in a laboratory for specific purposes, such as disease, resistance, increased productivity, or nutritional value, allowing growers greater control, predictability, and efficiency.

Question 17

Green Revolution

Answer 17

The development of higher-yield and fast-growing crops through increased technology, pesticides, and fertilizers transferred from the developed to developing world to alleviate the problem of food supply in those regions of the globe.

Question 18

Horizontal Integration

Answer 18

A form of corporate organization in which several branches of a company or several commonly owned companies work together to sell their products in different markets.

Question 19

Hunting and Gathering

Answer 19

The killing of wild animals and fish as well as the gathering of fruits, roots, nuts, and other plants for sustenance.

Question 20

Industrial Revolution

Answer 20

The rapid economic changes that occurred in agriculture and manufacturing in England in the late 18th century and that rapidly spread to other parts of the developed world.

Question 21

Intensive Cultivation

Answer 21

Any kind of agricultural activity that involves effective and efficient use of labor on small plots of land to maximize crop yield.

Question 22

labor-Intensive Agriculture

Answer 22

Type of agriculture that requires large levels or manual labor to be successful.

Question 23

Livestock Ranching

Answer 23

An extensive commercial agricultural activity that involves the raising of livestock over vast geographic spaces typically located in semiarid climates like the American West.

Question 24

Mechanization

Answer 24

In agriculture, the replacement of human labor with technology or machines.

Question 25

Mediterranean Agriculture

Answer 25

An agricultural system practiced in the Mediterranean-style climates of Western Europe, California, and portions of Chile and Australia, in which diverse specialty of crops such as grapes, avocados, olives, and a host of nuts, fruits, and vegetables make up profitable agricultural operations.

Question 26

Organic Agriculture

Answer 26

The use of crop rotation, natural fertilizers such as manure, and biological pest control–as opposed to artificial fertilizers, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, additives, and genetically modified organisms—to promote healthy, vigorous crops.

Question 27

Pastoralism

Answer 27

A type of agricultural activity based on nomadic animal husbandry or the raising of livestock to provide food, clothing, and shelter.

Question 28

Pesticides

Answer 28

Chemicals used on plants that do not harm the plants, but kill pests and have negative repercussions on other species that ingest the chemicals.

Question 29

Planned Agricultural Economy

Answer 29

An agricultural economy found in communist nations in which the government controls both agricultural production and distribution.

Question 30

Plantation

Answer 30

A large, frequently foreign owned piece of agricultural land devoted to the production of a single export crop.

Question 31

Salinization

Answer 31

Process that occurs when soils in arid areas are brought under cultivation through irrigation. In arid climates, waer evaporates quickly off the ground surface, leaving salty residues that render the soil infertile.

Question 32

Shifting Cultivation

Answer 32

The use of tropical forest clearings for crop production until their fertility is lost. Plots are then abandoned, and farmers move on to new sites.

Question 33

Slash and Burn Agriculture

Answer 33

System of cultivation that usually exists in tropical areas, where vegetation is cut close to the ground and then ignited. The fire introduces nutrients into the soil, thereby making it productive for a relatively short period of time.

Question 34

Specialty Crops

Answer 34

Crops, including items like peanuts and pineapples, that are produced, usually in developing countries for export.

Question 35

Subsistence Agricultural Economy

Answer 35

Any farm economy in which most crops are grown for nearly exclusive family or local consumption.

Question 36

Sustainability

Answer 36

A set of policies or practices by which societies can ensure that the people of the future have the same access to resources and thus the same economic and environmental opportunities as people living today.

Question 37

Swidden

Answer 37

Land that is prepared for agriculture by using the slash and burn method.

Question 38

Topsoil Loss

Answer 38

When the top fertile layer of soil is depleted through erosion. It is a tremendous problem in areas with fragile soils, steep slopes, or torrential seasonal rains.

Question 39

Transhumance

Answer 39

The movements of livestock according to seasonal patterns, generally lowland areas in the winter and highland areas in the summer.

Question 40

Urban Sprawl

Answer 40

The process of urban areas expanding outward, usually in the form of suburbs, and developing over fertile agricultural land.

Question 41

Vertical Integration

Answer 41

A form of corporate organization in which one firm controls multiple aspects or phases of a commodity chain.

Question 42

Von Thunen Model

Answer 42

An agricultural model that spatially describes agricultural activity in terms of rent. Activities that require intensive cultivation and cannot be transported over great distances pay higher rent to be close to the market. Conversely, activities that are more extensive, with goods that are easy to transport, are located farther from the market where rent is less.