Chapter 9 (Unit 5 Agricultura and Land Patterns) Flashcards
Define food security.
Food security is good and affordable access to healthy food.
What are the three factors that define the amount of food consumption in an area?
Physical limitations
Cultural limitations
Level of development
Agriculture
deliberate modification of Earth’s surface through cultivation of plants and rearing of animals to obtain sustenance or economic gain
Agricultural revolution
The time when human beings first domesticated plants and animals and no longer relied entirely on hunting and gathering
Environmental Factors
End of the last ice age, resulting in a massive redistribution of humans, other animals, plants, etc. at the same time.
Cultural Factors
Preferences for living in a fixed place rather than being nomads.
SW Asia
barley, wheat, lentil, olive - 10,000 yrs ago
E Asia
Rice - 10,000 yrs ago, along the Yangtze River in China (East).
C and S Asia
Chickens - 4,000 yrs ago (South Asia). Horses (Central Asia)
Sub-Saharan Africa
Sorghum - 8,000 yrs ago, Yams maybe earlier. Millet and Rice.
Latin America
Mexico (Beans, Cotton) and Peru (Potato) - 4,000 to 5,000 yrs ago. Corn (Maize) is the most important contribution of the Americas to crop domestication.
Subsistence Agriculture
found in developing countries, is the production of food primarily for consumption by the farmer’s family
Commercial Agriculture
found in developing countries, is the production of food primarily for sale off the farm.
Level of Development
people in developed countries tend to consume more food and from different sources than do people in developing countries
Physical Conditions
Climate influences what can be easily grown and consumed in developing countries. In developed countries, food is shipped long distances.
Cultural Preferences
some food preferences and avoidances are expressed without regard for physical and economic factors
Dietary Energy Consumption
The amount of food that an individual consumes, measured in kilocalories
Cereal Grain
A grass yielding grain for food.
Grain
Seed of a cereal grass
Wheat
the principal cereal grain consumed in the developed regions of Europe and North America
Rice
the principal cereal consumed in the developing regions of East, South, SE Asia.
Maize
leading crop in the world (called corn in North America)
Other Crops
especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Cassava, Sorghum, Millet, Plantains, Sweet Potatoes, Yams. Sugar is the leading source of dietary energy in Venezuela.
Intensive Subsistence, wet-rice dominant
large population concentrations of East Asia and South Asia
Intensive Subsistence, crops other than rice
The large population concentration of East Asia and South Asia, where growing rice is difficult.
Pastoral Nomadism
drylands of SW Asia and North Africa, Central Asia, SE Asia
Shifting Cultivation
Tropical regions of Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia
Plantation
A form of commercial agriculture found in tropical and subtropical developing countries of LATAM, sub-saharan Africa, South Asia, and SE Asia
Mixed Crop and Livestock
US Midwest and Central Europe
focuses on growing crops for feeding animals
Swidden
patch of land cleared for planting through shlash and burn.
intensive subsistence agriculture
farmers must work intensively to subsist on a parcel of land
double cropping
2 harvests per year from one field
wet rice
Rice planted on dry land and then moved as seedlings to a flooded field to promote growth
Sawah
A flooded field for growing rice
Paddy
malay word for wet rice
Crop rotation
rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year to avoid exhausting the soil
Fishing
the capture of wild fish and other seafood living in the waters
Overfishing
capturing fish faster than they can reproduce
Agribusiness
commercial farming in developed countries where farming is integrated into a large food-production industry
Horticulture
The growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
Truck Farming
Middle English word truck means barter or exchange of commodities
First ring
Market-oriented gardens and milk producers were located in the first ring out from the cities. These products are expensive to deliver and must reach the market quickly because they are perishable.
Second ring
The next ring out from the cities contained wood lots, where timber was cut for construction and fuel; closeness to market is important for this commodity because of its weight
Third ring
The next ring was used for various crops and for pasture; the specific commodity was rotated from one year to the next.
Fourth ring
The outermost ring was devoted exclusively to animal grazing, which requires lots of space.
Key Issue 1 - Where did agriculture originate?
Before the invention of agriculture, most humans were hunters and gatherers. Agriculture was invented in multiple hearths aprox 10,000 yrs ago. Modern agriculture is divided between subsistence agriculture in developing countries and commercial agriculture in developed countries. They differ according to the percentage of farmers, use of machinery, farm size.
Key Issue 2 - Why do people consume different foods?
Most food is consumed in the form of cereal grains, especially wheat, rice, maize. People in developed countries consume more total calories and a higher percentage through animal products. Most humans consume more than the recommended minimum calories, and the number who are undernourished is declining, but undernourishment is still common in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Key Issue 3 - Where is Agriculture Distributed?
Agriculture can be divided into 11 major regions, including 5 subsistence and 6 commercial regions. In subsistence regions, pastoral nomadism is prevalent in drylands, shifting cultivation in tropical forests, and intensive subsistence in regions with high population concentrations. In commercial regions, mixed crop and livestock is the most common form of agriculture. Dairy, commercial gardening, grain, Mediterranean, and livestock ranching are also important.
