chapter 11: agriculture Flashcards
organic agriculture
Approach to farming and ranching that avoids the use of herbicides, pesticides, growth hormones, and other similar synthetic inputs.
agriculture
The purposeful tending of crops and livestock in order to produce food and fiber.
primary economic activity
direct extraction of natural resources mining, fishing, lumbering, and especially agriculture.
secondary economic activity
pro- cessing of raw materials and their transformation into finished industrial products
tertiary economic activity
provision of services
transportation, banking, retailing, educa- tion, and routine office-based jobs.
quaternary economic activity
collection, processing, and manipulation of information and capital.
finance, administration, insurance, and legal services.
quinary economic activity
scientific research and high-level management.
plant domestication
Genetic modification of a plant such that its re- productive success depends on human intervention.
root crops
Crop that is reproduced by cultivating the roots of or the cuttings from the plants.
propigation
seed crops
Crop that is reproduced by cultivating the seeds of the plants.
first agricultural revolution
Dating back 10,000 years, the First Agricultural Revolution achieved plant domestication and animal domestication.
animal domestication
Genetic modification of an animal such that it is rendered more amenable to human control.
subsistence agriculture
Self-sufficient agriculture that is small scale and low technology and emphasizes food production for local consump- tion, not for trade.
shifting cultivation
Cultivation of crops in tropical forest clearings in which the forest vegetation has been removed by cutting and burning.
slash and burn agriculture
Cultivation of crops in tropical forest clearings in which the forest vegetation has been removed by cutting and burning.
second agricultural revolution
Dovetailing with and benefiting from the Industrial Revolution, the Second Agricultural Revolution witnessed improved methods of cultivation, harvesting, and storage of farm produce.
von thunen model
1 inner central city- market gardening
2 forest
3 field crips and grains
4 ranching and livestock
third agricultural revolution
Currently in progress, the Third Agricultural Revolution has as its principal orientation the development of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs).
biotechnology
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green revolution
the recently successful development of higher- yield, fast-growing varieties of rice and other cereals in certain developing countries, which led to increased production per unit area and a dramatic narrowing of the gap between population growth and food needs.
genetically modified organisms
Crops that carry new traits that have been inserted through advanced genetic engineering methods.
rectangular survey system
Also called the Public Land Survey, the system was used by the U.S. Land Office Survey to parcel land west of the Appalachian Mountains. The system divides land into a series of rectangular parcels.
township and range system
A rectangular land division scheme de- signed by Thomas Jefferson to disperse settlers evenly across farmlands of the U.S. interior. See also rectangular survey system.
metes and bounds system
A system of land surveying east of the Appalachian Mountains. It is a system that relies on descriptions of land ownership and natural features such as streams or trees. Because of the im- precise nature of metes and bounds surveying, the U.S. Land Office Survey abandoned the technique in favor of the rectangular survey system.
