Unit 5: Agriculture

Question 1

Mediterranean agriculture

Answer 1

an agricultural practice that consists of growing hardy trees and shrubs and raising sheep and goats (ex. orchards)

Question 2

subsistence agriculture

Answer 2

an agricultural practice that provides crops or livestock to feed one’s family and close community using fewer mechanical resources and more people to care for the crops and livestock

Question 3

commercial agriculture

Answer 3

an agricultural practice that focuses on producing crops and raising animals for the market for others to purchase

Question 4

bid-rent theory

Answer 4

The most desirable land is located at or near urban centers, therefor that land is limited and more expensive

Question 5

intensive agriculture

Answer 5

a large amount of labor or capital, small plots of land, high population density

Question 6

monocropping

Answer 6

the cultivation of one or two crops that are rotated seasonally

Question 7

monoculture

Answer 7

the agricultural system of planting one crop or raising one type of animal annually

Question 8

crop rotation

Answer 8

the practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area across a sequence of growing seasons

Question 9

plantation agriculture

Answer 9

a type of large-scale commercial farming of one particular crop grown for markets often distant from the plantation

Question 10

market gardening

Answer 10

a type of farming that produces fruits, vegetables, and flowers and typically serves a specific market or urban area

Question 11

mixed crop and livestock systems

Answer 11

both crops and livestock are raised for profit

Question 12

extensive agriculture

Answer 12

fewer inputs of labor, large plots of land, away from major population centers/rural

Question 13

shifting cultivation

Answer 13

taking your crops and moving it to a different parcel of land after a period of time usually when the nutrients run out

Question 14

slash and burn

Answer 14

existing vegetation is cut down and burned off before new seeds are sown; often used when clearing land

Question 15

nomadic herding

Answer 15

people moving their domesticated animals seasonally or as needed to allow the best grazing

Question 16

transhumance

Answer 16

movement of herds between pastures at cooler, higher elevations during the summer months and lower elevations during the winter

Question 17

domestication

Answer 17

deliberate effort to grow plants and raise animals, making plants and animals adapt to human demands and using selective breeding to develop desirable characteristics

Question 18

Fertile Crescent

Answer 18

hearth in Southwest Asia (arcs from the eastern Mediterranean coast into western Turkey)

Question 19

Columbian Exchange

Answer 19

exchange of goods and ideas between the Americas, Europe, and Africa that began after Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492

Question 20

first agricultural revolution

Answer 20

shift from foraging for food to farming about 11,000 years ago (marks the beginning of agriculture)

Question 21

Second agricultural revolution

Answer 21

a change in farming practices, marked by new tools and techniques, that diffused from Britain and the Low Countries starting in the early 18th century/industrial revolution

Question 22

Green Revolution

Answer 22

beginning in the 1950s and 1960s in which scientists used knowledge of genetics to develop new high-yield strains of grain crops

Question 23

agribusiness

Answer 23

the large-scale system that includes the production, processing, and distribution of agricultural products and equipment

Question 24

dual agricultural economy

Answer 24

an economy having two agricultural sectors that have different levels of technology and different patterns of demand

Question 25

vertical integration

Answer 25

combining of a company’s ownership of and control over more than one stage of the production process of goods

Question 26

commodity chain

Answer 26

network of people, information, processes, and resources that work together to produce, handle, and distribute a commodity or product

Question 27

von thunen model

Answer 27

suggests that perishability of the product and transport costs to the market each factor into the location of agricultural land use and activity

Question 28

cash crop

Answer 28

a crop produced mainly to be sold and usually exported to larger markets

Question 29

fair trade

Answer 29

a movement that tries to provide farmers and workers in peripheral and semi-peripheral countries with a fair price for their products by providing more equitable trading conditions

Question 30

agroecosystem

Answer 30

an ecosystem modified for agricultural use

Question 31

agricultural landscape

Answer 31

a landscape resulting from the interactions between farming activities and a location’s natural environment

Question 32

terracing

Answer 32

the process of carving parts of a hill or mountainside into small, level growing plots

Question 33

reservoirs

Answer 33

artificial lake used to store water

Question 34

aquifers

Answer 34

layers of sand, gravel, and rocks that contain and can release a usable amount of water

Question 35

desertification

Answer 35

a form of land degradation that occurs when soil deteriorates to a desertlike condition

Question 36

biodiversity

Answer 36

the variety of organisms living in a location

Question 37

salinization

Answer 37

the process by which water-soluble salts build up in the soil, which limits the ability of crops to absorb water

Question 38

Biotechnology

Answer 38

the science of altering living organisms, often through genetic manipulation, to create new products for specific purposes, such as crops that resist certain pests

Question 39

precision agriculture

Answer 39

a farming management concept that uses technology to apply inputs with pinpoint accuracy to specific parts of fields to maximize crop yields, reduce waste, and preserve the environment

Question 40

food security

Answer 40

reliable access to safe and nutritious food that can support an active and healthy lifestyle

Question 41

food insecurity

Answer 41

the disruption of food intake or eating patterns because of poor access to food

Question 42

suburbanization

Answer 42

the shifting of population away from cities into surrounding suburbs

Question 43

food deserts

Answer 43

area where residents lack access to healthy, nutritious foods because stores selling these foods are too far away

Question 44

economy of scale

Answer 44

the reduced cost of producing food items as the quantity of production increases