Chapter 9: Geographies of Food and Agriculture

Question 1

agrarian

Answer 1

referring to the culture of agricultural communities and the type of tenure system that determines access to land and the kind of cultivation practices employed there.

Question 2

agribusiness

Answer 2

a set of economic and political relationships that organizes agro-food production from the development of seeds to the retailing and consumption of the agricultural product

Question 3

agricultural density

Answer 3

ratio between the number of agriculturists per unit of arable land and a specific area.

Question 4

agricultural industrialization

Answer 4

process whereby the farm has moved from being the centerpiece of agricultural production to becoming one part of an integrated string of vertically organized industrial processes including production, storage, processing, distribution, marketing, and retailing.

Question 5

agriculture

Answer 5

a science, art, and business directed at the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock for sustenance and profit.

Question 6

aquaculture

Answer 6

the cultivation of fish and shellfish under controlled conditions, usually in coastal lagoons.

Question 7

biofuels

Answer 7

renewable fuels derived from biological materials that can be regenerated.

Question 8

biopharming

Answer 8

an application of biotechnology in which genes from other life forms (plant, animal, fungal, bacterial, or human) are inserted into a host plant.

Question 9

biotechnology

Answer 9

technique that uses living organisms (or parts of organisms) to make or modify products, to improve plants and animals, or to develop microorganisms for specific uses.

Question 10

biorevolution

Answer 10

the genetic engineering of plants and animals with the potential to exceed the productivity of the Green Revolution.

Question 11

borlaug hypothesis

Answer 11

restricting crop usage to traditional low-yield methods (such as organic farming) in the face of rising global food demand would require either the world population to decrease or the further conversion of forest land into cropland.

Question 12

chemical farming

Answer 12

application of synthetic fertilizers to the soil—and herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides to crops—in order to enhance yields.

Question 13

commercial agriculture

Answer 13

farming primarily for sale, not direct consumption.

Question 14

contract farming

Answer 14

an agreement between farmers and processing and/or marketing firms for the production, supply, and purchase of agricultural products—from beef, cotton, and flowers to milk, poultry, and vegetables.

Question 15

conventional farming

Answer 15

approach that uses chemicals in the form of plant protectants and fertilizers, or intensive, hormone-based practices in breeding and raising animals.

Question 16

crop rotation

Answer 16

method of maintaining soil fertility in which the fields under cultivation remain the same but the crop being planted is changed.

Question 17

double cropping

Answer 17

practice used in the milder climates whereby intensive subsistence fields are planted and harvested more than once a year.

Question 18

famine

Answer 18

acute starvation associated with a sharp increase in mortality

Question 19

fast food

Answer 19

edibles that can be prepared and served very quickly, sold in a

Question 20

food desert

Answer 20

a geographic area where access to affordable and nutritious food is highly limited, especially for individuals without automobiles.

Question 21

food justice

Answer 21

enabling communities to enact the principles just mentioned, which is simply to be able to grow, eat, and sell healthy food and care for the well-being of the local ecosystem in culturally appropriate ways.

Question 22

food manufacturing

Answer 22

adding value to agricultural products through a range of treatments—such as processing, canning, refining, packing, and packaging— that occur off the farm and before products reach the market.

Question 23

food miles

Answer 23

the distance that food travels from the farm to the consumer.

Question 24

food regime

Answer 24

specific set of links that exists among food production and consumption and capital investment and accumulation opportunities.

Question 25

food security

Answer 25

assured access by a person, household, or even a country to enough food at all times to ensure active and healthy lives

Question 26

food shed

Answer 26

Local food is usually also organically grown and its designation as local means that it is produced within a fairly limited distance from where it is consumed, an area known as a food shed.

Question 27

food sovereignity

Answer 27

right of peoples, communities, and countries to define their own agricultural, labor, fishing, food, and land policies that are eco- logically, socially, economically, and culturally appropriate to their unique circumstances.

Question 28

food supply chain

Answer 28

a special type of commodity chain composed of five cen- tral and connected sectors with four contextual elements acting as external mediating forces.

Question 29

globalized agriculture

Answer 29

system of food production increasingly dependent upon an economy and set of regulatory practices that are global in scope and organization.

Question 30

GMO

Answer 30

any organism that has had its DNA modified in a laboratory rather than through cross-pollination or other forms of evolution.

Question 31

green revolution

Answer 31

export of a technological package of fertilizers and high- yielding seeds from the core to the periphery to increase global agricultural productivity.

Question 32

hunting and gathering

Answer 32

activities whereby people feed themselves through killing wild animals and fish and gathering fruits, roots, nuts, and other edible plants to sustain themselves.

Question 33

intensive subsistence agriculture

Answer 33

practice that involves the effective and efficient use—usually through a considerable expenditure of human labor and application of fertilizer—of a small parcel of land in order to maximize crop yield.

Question 34

intertillage

Answer 34

practice of mixing different seeds and seedlings in the same swidden.

Question 35

local food

Answer 35

food that is organically grown and produced within a fairly lim- ited distance from where it is consumed.

Question 36

malnutrition

Answer 36

the condition that develops when the body does not get the right amount of the vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients it needs to maintain healthy tissues and organ function

Question 37

mechanization

Answer 37

replacement of human farm labor with machines.

Question 38

nontraditional agricultural exports

Answer 38

new export crops that contrast with traditional exports.

Question 39

organic farming

Answer 39

farming or animal husbandry done without commercial fertilizers, synthetic pesticides, or growth hormones.

Question 40

pastoralism

Answer 40

subsistence activity that involves the breeding and herding of animals to satisfy the human needs of food, shelter, and clothing.

Question 41

shifting cultivation

Answer 41

system in which farmers aim to maintain soil fertility by rotating the fields within which cultivation occurs.

Question 42

slash and burn

Answer 42

system of cultivation in which plants are cropped close to the ground, left to dry for a period, and then ignited.

Question 43

subsistence agriculture

Answer 43

farming for direct consumption by the producers; not for sale.

Question 44

swidden

Answer 44

land that is cleared using the slash-and-burn process and is ready for cultivation.

Question 45

transhumance

Answer 45

warmer, lowland areas in the winter; cooler, highland areas in the summer.

Question 46

undernutrition

Answer 46

inadequate intake of one or more nutrients and/or calories.

Question 47

urban agriculture

Answer 47

establishment or performance of agricultural practices in or near an urban or citylike setting.