Summer Course - Agriculture Flashcards
Agriculture
The deliberate effort to modify a portion of Earth’s surface through the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock for sustenance or economic gain.
Agrarian
Concerning farms, farmers, or the use of land.
Agribusiness
Commercial agriculture characterized by integration of different steps in the food-processing industry, usually through ownership by large corporations.
Crop Rotation
The practice of rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year, to avoid exhausting the soil.
Primary Economic Activity
Economic activity concerned with the direct extraction of natural resources from the environment– such as mining, fishing, lumbering, and especially agriculture.
Desertification
Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting.
Animal Domestication
When animals are tamed and used for food and profit.
Biotechnology
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.
Green Revolution
Rapid diffusion of new agricultural technology, especially new high-yield seeds and fertilizers.
Extensive Subsistence Agriculture
Involves large plots of land, and small amounts of labor.
Subsistence Agriculture
Growth of crops in order to sustain oneself.
Intensive Subsistence Agriculture
Involving smaller plots of land, using a large labor force in an attempt to increase yield.
Transhumance
The seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pastures.
Shifting Cultivation
Clearing of large plots offerest in order to farm on it.
Commercial Agriculture
Farming in order to sell yields for profit.
Intensive Commercial Agriculture
Farming that uses small amounts of technological and scientific input for each plot of farmland. Generally applied to crops which have high yields, and a high market demand (fruit, vegetables, dairy)
Extensive Commercial Agriculture
Large amounts of land that are not intensively worked upon (wheat, livestock).
Neolithic Revolution
Marked by the domestication of animals and the planting and tending of plants.
2nd Agricultural Revolution
Began in Europe with the use of the 3 field system, crop rotation, introduction of new plants to Europe from the Americas and improved technology.
Horticulture
The growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
Surplus
An amount of something left over when requirements have been met.
Aquaculture
The rearing of aquatic animals or the cultivation of aquatic plants for food.
Slash-and-Burn
The method of agriculture in which existing vegetation is cut down and burned off before new seeds are sown, typically used as a method for clearing forest land for farming.
Scarcity
The state of being scarce or in short supply.
