unit 5: agricultural geography Flashcards
Subsistence agriculture
self-sufficient agriculture that is small scale and low technology and emphasizes food production for local consumption, not for trade
Seed crops
crop that is reproduced by cultivating the seeds of the plants
Root crops
crop that is reproduced by cultivating the roots or cuttings from the plants
1st Agricultural Revolution
Dating back 10,000 years, achieved plant domestication and animal domestication starting with domestication of seed crops in Nile River Valley
2nd Agricultural Revolution
same time as Industrial Revolution (16-1700s), improved methods of cultivation, harvesting, and storage of farm produce
3rd Agricultural Revolution
Currently in progress, (since 1930s) development of GMO’s
Shifting cultivation
cultivation of crops in tropical forest clearings in which the forest vegetation has been removed by cutting and burning. These clearings are usually abandoned after a few years in favor of newly clear forestland
Slash-and-burn agriculture
A kind of shifting cultivation, where Machetes/knives slash trees down and existing vegetation is burned off. The ash from the fire fertilizes the soil
Von thunen model
a model that explains the location of agricultural activities in a commercial, profit-making economy.
rings:market-fruits,veggies, dairy-forest-grains-ranching livestock
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
Biotechnology
tech designed to manipulate seed varieties to increase crop yields
GMO’s
genetically modified organisms, crops that carry new traits that have been inserted through advanced genetic engineering methods
mixed farming
integrated agricultural system where crops are grown and fed to livestock
factors on what is grown where3
- environment (rice needs a lot of water)
- culture (no pork in islamic or jewish areas)
- economic (von thunen model)
labor-intensive agriculture
employs large #s of people and small capital (machines), most work done by hand
intensity of agricultural land use2
- intensive agriculture: yields large output per acre through concentrated application of labor and/or capital, usually to small land holdings
- extensive agriculture: yields smaller output per acre, labor and capital spread over large area of land
sedentary
farmers who live and work in a single location
nomadism
livestock herders who move place to place in search of a fresh pasture
irrigation
artificial watering of farmland (wells, tunnels, dams)
types of agricultural land ownership7
- family farm:traditional american farm
- tenant farm: farmers rent land and struggle to produce enough to pay rent
- sharecroppers: farmers pay rent in form of percentage of crop
- plantations: located in LDC, historical leftover from colonialism
- state-owned farms: experiment in socialist countries where farms are state owned
- garden farms: state-owned farm where worker has small garden plot where they farm very intensively
- agribusiness: industrialized agriculture organized into integrated networks of agricultural inputs and outputs controlled by a small # of big corps
comparative advantage
when one region is relatively more efficient at producing a particular product compared with other regions
monoculture
agriculture that uses a large area of land for production of a single crop every year
global-local continuum
interaction between global processes and local lifestyles, how they shape each other
land use vs land cover
use: class of activity for which land is used by humans in an area
cover: class of material or vegetation that dominates the surface of the land
Township-and-range system
a rectangular land division scheme to disperse settlers evenly across farmlands of the US interior
Metes-and-bounds survey
system of land surveying east of the Appalachian Mts that relies on descriptions of land ownership and natural features (streams/trees). US abandoned technique in favor of rectangular survey system
Long-lot survey system
distinct regional approach to land surveying where land is divided into narrow parcels stretching back from rivers, roads or canals
Commercial agriculture
arge scale farming and ranching operations that employ vast land bases, large mechanized equipment, factory type labor forces and the latest tech
Climatic regions
area of the world with similar climatic characteristics
Plantation agriculture
production system based on large estate owned by an individual/family/corporation and organized to produce a cash crop
Livestock ranching
raising of domesticated animals for the production of meat and other byproducts such as leather and wool