unit 5 Flashcards
Domestication
The long-term process through which humans selectively breed, protect, and care for individuals taken from populations of wild plant and animal species to create genetically distinct species, known as domesticates
The First Agricultural Revolution
Period during which the early domestication and diffusion of plants and animals and the cultivation of seed crops led to the development of agriculture
Hearths
A center where innovations or new practices develop and from which the innovations or new practices spread or diffuse
Colombian exchange
The interaction and widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, disease, and ideas between the Americas, West Africa, and the Old World in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
Green Revolution
The U.S.-supported development of high-yield seed varieties that increased the productivity of cereal crops and accompanying agricultural technologies for transfer to less developed countries
Dispersed / isolated settlement
A settlement pattern in which families live relatively distant from one another
Linear settlement patterns
A settlement pattern in which buildings are arranged in a line, often along a road or river; limited to areas where legal systems dictated that property lines must be rectangular
Survey methods
The methods used by surveyors to lay out property lines
Clustered settlements (farm villages)
A tightly bunched farm settlement that has anywhere from a few dozen to several hundred inhabitants
Settlement patterns
The ways in which people organize themselves on the land
Farmstead
Center of farm operations, which includes the farmhouse, barns, shed, livestock pens, and family garden
Metes and bounds
Survey system that uses natural features such as trees, boulders, and streams to delineate property boundaries
Township and range
Land survey system created by the U.S. Land Ordinance of 1785, which divides most of the country’s territory into a grid of square-shaped townships with 6-mile sides
Cadastral survey
Systematic documentation of property ownership, shape, use, and boundaries
Long-lot survey
A unit-block surveying system whose basic unit is a rectangle that is typically 10 times longer than it is wide
The Second Agricultural Revolution
Period that brought improved methods of cultivation, harvesting, and storage of farm produce that began in the late 1600s and continued through the 1930s
Agribusiness
Large corporation that provides a vast array of goods and services to support the agricultural industry
Arid climate
A climate that receives less than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain annually
Semiarid / steppe climate
A climate that receives about 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters) of rain annually that can support farming
Moderate climate
A climate with an average year-round temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 degrees Celsius); found north and south of the equator on the edges of tropical climates
Humid subtropical climate
A climate with long, hot summers and short, mild winters with variable precipitation; found on east coasts of continents
Marine west coast climates
A climate found along western coasts of continents closer to the poles; characterized by moderate temperatures during long summers and cool winters
Mediterranean climate
A climate with winter precipitation, unusually mild winters, and clear skies with abundant sunshine; found along the Mediterranean Sea and a few coastal regions
Continental climates
A climate that has a large range of temperatures and moderate precipitation; found in the interior of continents, north of the moderate climate zones
Bid-rent theory
Explains how the demand for and price of land decrease as its distance from the central business district increases
Central business district (CBD)
A dense cluster of offices and shops located at a city’s most accessible point, usually its center
Biodiversity
The variety and variability among species and ecosystems
Cadastral survey
Systematic documentation of property ownership, shape, use, and boundaries
Cash crops
A crop raised to be sold for profit rather than to feed the farm family and the livestock; common cash crops are cotton, flax, hemp, coffee, and tobacco
Intensive agriculture
Crop cultivation and livestock rearing systems that use high levels of labor and capital relative to the size of the landholding
Subsistence farming
Food production mainly for consumption by the farming family and local community, rather than principally for sale in the market
Commercial agriculture
Farming oriented exclusively toward the production of agricultural commodities for sale in the market
Market gardening
A small-scale farming system in which a farmer plants one to a few acres that produce a diverse mixture of vegetables and fruits, mostly for sale in local and regional markets
Truck farm
A scaled-up version of market gardening, with more acreage, less crop diversity, and a stronger orientation toward more distant markets
Plantation
Large landholding devoted to capital-intensive, specialized production of a single tropical or subtropical crop for the global marketplace
Mixed crop / livestock agriculture
A diversified system of agriculture based on the cultivation of cereal grains and root crops (such as potatoes and yams) and the rearing of herd livestock
Cereal grains
Seeds that come from a wide variety of grasses cultivated around the world, including wheat, barley, sorghum, millet, oats, and maize (corn)
Root crops
Vegetables that form below ground and must be dug at maturity, such as cassava, potatoes, and yams
Paddy rice farming
A system of wet rice cultivation on small level fields bordered by impermeable dikes; the fields (paddies) are flooded with 4–6 inches (10–15 centimeters) of water for about three-quarters of the growing season
Grain farming
A highly mechanized commercial farming system that specializes in the production of cereal grains; requires large farms and widespread use of machinery, synthetic fertilizer, pesticides, and genetically engineered seeds
Livestock fattening
An intensive system of animal feeding utilizing fenced enclosures to fatten livestock, mostly cattle and hogs, for slaughter and processing for the market
Feedlots
A fenced enclosure used for intensive livestock feeding that serves to limit livestock movement and associated weight loss
Dairy farming
A farming system that specializes in the breeding, rearing, and utilization of livestock (primarily cows) to produce milk and its various by-products, such as yogurt, butter, and cheese
Extensive agriculture
Crop cultivation and livestock rearing systems that require little hired labor or monetary investment to successfully raise crops and animals
Shifting cultivation
The cultivation of a plot of land until it becomes less productive, typically over a period of about three to five years; when productivity drops, the farmer shifts to a new plot of land that has been prepared by slash-and-burn agriculture
Slash-and-burn / Swidden agriculture
Agriculture that involves cutting small plots in forests or woodlands, burning the cuttings to clear the round and release nutrients, and planting in the ash of the cleared plot
Intercropping
The farming practice of planting multiple crops together in the same clearing
Nomadic herding / pastoralist
A system of breeding and rearing herd livestock, such as cattle, sheep, or goats, by following the seasonal movement of rainfall to areas of open pasturelands
Livestock ranching
The practice of using extensive tracts of land to rear herds of livestock to sell as meat, hides, or wool
Contract farming
Arrangement between an independent farmer and an agribusiness company to produce a crop; the agribusiness provides the farmer with all the supplies needed to produce a crop in exchange for a guaranteed price and buyer
Deforestation
Clearing and destruction of forests to clear land for agriculture use
Desertification
The process by which once-fertile land becomes desert as a result of climate variation or human activities
Double-cropping
Planting another crop on the same plot of land as soon as the first crop has been harvested
Environmental contamination
Chemical residue that builds up with each application of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides
Soil salinization
The concentration of dissolved salts in the soil
Genetically modified organism (GMO)
A living organism, including crops and livestock, that is produced through genetic engineering
Long-lot survey
A unit-block surveying system whose basic unit is a rectangle that is typically 10 times longer than it is wide
