Unit 5: Agriculture (Vocabulary)

Question 1

Intensive agriculture

Answer 1

requires high level of physical labor and many resources. ex. plantation farming

Question 2

Extensive agriculture

Answer 2

requires little labor or resourses. ex. ranching and nomadic herding

Question 3

Plantation farming

Answer 3

intensive farming large swathes of land - usually cash crops

Question 4

Market gardening

Answer 4

intensive
farming fruits, flowers, and vegetables on a small scale to be sell directly to customers (think farmers market)

Question 5

Mixed crop/livestock systems

Answer 5

intensive
mix between animals and plants; both cultivated on the same land

Question 6

Nomadic herding

Answer 6

extensive
continuously moving animals around in search of grazing land

Question 7

Ranching

Answer 7

extensive
allowing livestock to roam freely over a certain area of land.

Question 8

Shifting cultivation

Answer 8

farm one place, then move to a new place while the old place returns to its natural state.

Question 9

Subsistence farming

Answer 9

Farming to support yourself and your family (ex. clustereed villages in India) –> usually produce 2-3 different crops

Question 10

Commercial farming

Answer 10

industrial farming projects (farming for profit) (ex. dispersed, isolated midwest United States - monocultures)

Question 11

Clustered

type of rural settlement

Answer 11

several houses close to one another surrounded by fields (farming villages in India).

Question 12

Dispersed

rural settlement

Answer 12

Isolated farmed (midwest United States.

Question 13

Linear

rural settlement

Answer 13

communities established along a street or river to access communication (ex. River settlements, the Nile)

Question 14

Metes and Bounds

land survey method

Answer 14

ancient, used landmarks and paces. Pro: easy to understand and funnctional, Con: landmarks can disappear, inconsistent metrics.

Question 15

Township and Range

Land surveying method

Answer 15

Government sets of equal (usual square townships) Pro: easy and standardized, Con: may disrupt existing, unofficial boundaries.

Question 16

Long lots

Land survey method

Answer 16

allocation of farmland along rivers - used long rectangular lots to maximize access to the river (common to linear rural settlements).

Question 17

Bid Rent Theory

Answer 17

the closer land is to the main city (Central Business District - CBD), the more expensive it is to rent. Businesses are willing to pay high prices to be closer to the CBD because they benefit from being closer to consumers, paying lower prices for transportation, and having easy access to the main marketplace (dairy products expire easily so close distant is beneficial for these industries.)

Question 18

Carrying Capacity

Answer 18

The impact of population distribution and density on the environment and natural resources; how many people can land sustain?

Question 19

Von Thünen’s model

Answer 19

relates transportation costs to distance from main city.
…
1. main city
2. intensive farming and dairying
3. forest (fuel source)
4. increasingly extensive field crops
5. ranching, animal products

Question 20

Banana republic

Answer 20

countries whose economies are reliant on one crop/export commodity.
ex. Guatemala is reliant on exporting bananas to the US. The US government has interfered with Guatemalan politics in order to continue benefiting from their banana industry.

Question 21

Economies of Sale

Answer 21

the idea that the cost per unit of production decreases as volume of product increases

Question 22

Urban farming

type of food production

Answer 22

the practice of cultivating, processing, and distributing food in or around a village, town, or city

Question 23

Value added specialty crops

type of food production

Answer 23

goods that have some other product in them or item attached to them to make them unique and able to sell at higher price (Ex. making wheat into flour)

Question 24

Fair Trade

Type of food producion/consumption

Answer 24

farmers are paid fair prices for their products and workers get fair wages; eliminates the likelihood of monopolies, enables unions, helps working conditions

Question 25

Local food movements

Type of food production/consumption

Answer 25

connects food producers and food consumers in the same geographic region in order to develop more self-reliant and resilient food networks, and improve local economies by eliminating middlemen

Question 26

Organic farming

Answer 26

reluctance to use biotechnology (pesticides, fertilizers, GMOs) in farming