Unit 5 All Words Flashcards
Agribusiness
farming engaged in as a large-scale business operation embracing the production, processing, and distribution of agricultural products and the manufacture of farm machinery, equipment, and supplies;
commercial agriculture characterized by integration of different steps in the food-processing industry, usually through ownership by large corporations
Agribusiness is like a huge farming business that does a lot more than just grow crops or raise animals. It’s not only about farming, but also about making and selling things needed for farming, like tractors and fertilizers. Plus, it includes turning the crops and livestock into food products that you can buy in stores.
So, agribusiness is not just about farming; it’s about the whole process of making food, from start to finish.
Examples
- John Deere
- Tyson Foods (make chicken)
Agricultural Location Theory
AKA von Thünen Model; a model that explains the location of agricultural activities in a commercial, profit-making economy;
process of spatial competition allocates various farming activities into rings around a central market city, with profit-earning capability the determining force
This is about a way to understand where different kinds of farming happen in areas where people farm to make money. Imagine a big city at the center, like the middle of a target. Around this city, there are rings, like the circles around a bullseye. Each ring has different types of farming. The type of farming in each ring depends on how much money the farmers can make. The closer a crop is to the city, the more expensive it is to transport, so only the crops that make a lot of money are grown close to the city. As you move further away from the city, you start to see crops that don’t need to be sold as quickly or are cheaper to transport. This idea helps us understand why farmers in how far a crop locates from the market
Agriculture
deliberate modification of Earth’s surface through cultivation of plans and rearing of animals to obtain sustenance or economic gain
Aquaculture
use of river segments or artificial bodies of water such as ponds for the raising and harvesting of food products including fish, shellfish, and seaweed
Bid-rent Theory
a geographical economic theory that refers to how the price and demand for real estate changes as the distance from the Central Business District (CBD) decreases
Biodiversity
the diversity of plant and animal life in a particular habitat
Biotechnology
use of genetically engineered crops in agriculture and DNA manipulation in livestock in order to increase production
British Enclosure Movement
the process of consolidating small landholdings into a smaller number of larger farms in England during the eighteenth century
Cash crop
an agricultural crop that is purposely made strictly to be sold in a market environment for as much money as possible;
most cash crops, which include cotton, opium, grains, and many other products, are grown in a monoculture environment, where they are the only product grown on a piece of land
Center pivot irrigation
a method of crop irrigation in which equipment rotates around a pivot and crops are watered with sprinklers
Columbian Exchange
the exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus’s voyages
Commercial agriculture
agriculture undertaken primarily to generate products for sale off the farm
Commercialization
the organization of something in a way intended to make a profit
Commodity chain
(global supply chain) series of links connecting the main places of production and distribution and resulting in a commodity that is then exchanged on the world market
Community-supported agriculture (CSA)
network between agricultural producers and consumers whereby consumers pledge support to farming operation in order to receive a share of the output from farming operation
Conservation
sustainable use and management of Earth’s natural resources to meet human needs such as food, medicine, and recreation
Corn Belt
area of the United States (Midwest) in which more land is used for the cultivation of corn than any other crop
Crop
any plant cultivated by people
Crop rotation
the practice of growing different crops in succession on the same land chiefly to preserve the productive capacity of the soil
Debt-for-nature swap
financial transactions in which a portion of a developing nation’s foreign debt is forgiven in exchange for local investments in environmental conservation measures
Deforestation
the destruction of forest or forested areas by human or natural means; notable human-based causes are slash and burn agriculture and production of forest products (i.e. logging)
Desertification
a type of land degradation in drylands involving loss of biological productivity caused by natural processes or induced by human activities whereby fertile areas become increasingly more arid
Double cropping
the planting and harvesting on the same parcel of land twice per year
Economy of scale
lower production costs as a result of larger volume of production
Extensive agriculture
an agricultural production system that uses small inputs of labor, fertilizers, and capital, relative to the land area being farmed
- Small amounts of input (people/labor, fertilizers, money) compared to amount of land
- low production per unit of land
- Farmers work with the environment (little fertilizers/chemicals)
- Types
- shifting cultivation
- nomadic herding
- livestock ranching
Factory farm
a large industrialized farm; a farm on which large numbers of livestock are raised indoors in conditions intended to maximize production at minimal cost
Fair Trade
global movement to improve the lives of farmers and workers in developing countries by ensuring that they have access to export markets and are paid a fair price for their products
Fallow
a field not being used for any productivity
Fertile Crescent
the region where the first settled agricultural communities of the Middle East and Mediterranean basin are thought to have originated by the early 9th millennium BCE;
area of fertile land in the Middle East stretching in a broad semicircle from the Nile to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers
First Agricultural Revolution
(Neolithic Revolution)
- the transformation of human societies from hunting and gathering to farming;
- occurred worldwide between 10,000 BC and 2000 BC, with the earliest known developments taking place in the Middle East;
- farming and the raising of livestock tied people to land for cultivation and grazing grounds, and this transition gave rise to permanent settlements;
- for tens of thousands of years, the dominant structure of human life had been small nomadic bands;
- from this point on, most humans would live in fixed locations that ranged from villages to cities;
- this settlement, in turn, led to the development of job specialization, complex political structures, non-portable possessions, architecture, and the rise of industry and commerce
Food desert
an area that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food, in contrast with an area with higher access to supermarkets or vegetable shops with fresh foods, which is called a food oasis
Food insecurity
the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food
Genetically modified crop / GMO
crops that carry new traits that have been inserted through advanced genetic engineering methods
Green Revolution
AKA Third Agricultural Revolution; the development of higher-yield and fast-growing crops through increased technology, pesticides, and fertilizers transferred from the developed to developing world to alleviate the problem of food supply in those regions of the globe
High-yield seeds
seeds that have been bred, genetically modified, or fertilized to increase their production yields
Horticulture
AKA market gardening; cultivation, processing, and sale of fruits, nuts, vegetables, and ornamental plants
Hunter-gatherer
the killing of wild animals and fish as well as the gathering of fruits, roots, nuts, and other plants for sustenance
Indus River Valley
one of the original agricultural hearths; located in the valley of the Indus River in South Asia
Industrial agriculture
modern farming that refers to the industrialized production of livestock, poultry, fish, and crops
Intensive agriculture
a type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per cubic unit of agricultural land area
Intensive subsistence agriculture
a form of subsistence agriculture in which farmers must expend a relatively large amount of effort to produce the maximum feasible yield from a parcel of land
Livestock ranching
an extensive commercial agricultural activity that involves the raising of livestock over vast geographic spaces typically located in semi-arid climates like the American West
Local-food movement
a principle of sustainability relying on consumption of food products locally grown
Long lot
long, narrow land divisions, usually lined up along a waterway
Luxury crop
a crop that is grown to serve some purpose other than sustaining human life
Mediterranean agriculture
practice of crop cultivation undertaken in areas with Mediterranean climates; named for climate prevalent in the Mediterranean sea, but found anywhere that has such a climate;
features crops like grapes and olives and is practiced in countries like Italy, Greece, and Spain on the Mediterranean and in regions of other countries such as Chile, Australia, the United States, and Argentina
Mediterranean climate
a climate distinguished by warm, wet winters under prevailing westerly winds and calm, hot, dry summers, as is characteristic of the Mediterranean region and parts of California, Chile, South Africa, and southwestern Australia
Metes and bounds
limits or boundaries of a tract of land as identified by natural landmarks, such as rivers, or by man-made structures, such as roads, or by stakes or other markers;
a principal legal type of land description in the United States, metes-and-bounds descriptions are commonly used wherever survey areas are irregular in size and shape
Milkshed
the ring surrounding a city from which milk can be supplied without spoiling
Mixed crop and livestock
Integration of crops and livestock on a single farm
Monocropping / Monoculture
the deliberate cultivation of only one single crop in a large land area
Multicroppping
when farmers grow two or more crops simultaneously on the same field
(AKA intercropping)
Organic Farming
approach to farming and ranching that avoids the use of herbicides, pesticides, growth hormones, and other similar synthetic inputs
Overgrazing
excessive grazing which causes damage to grassland
Overproduction
production of more of a product, commodity, or substance than is wanted or needed
Paddy / sawah
a field where rice is grown (sawah in Indonesia)
Pastoral Nomadism / Pastoralism
people travel from place to place with their herds of domesticated animals seeking pastureland
Pesticide
a substance used for destroying insects or other organisms harmful to cultivated plants or to animals
Plantation Farming
agriculture featuring a large commercial farm that specializes in one crop, usually found in the low latitudes (tropics), and in hot, humid climates with substantial precipitation;
typically labor intensive and exploitive of cheap labor available in nearby villages and towns
Primary Sector
any industry involved in primary production, that is the extraction and collection of natural resources;
such as farming, forestry, hunting, fishing and mining
Ridge Tillage
system of planting crops on ridge tops, in order to reduce farm production costs and promote greater soil conservation
Saturated Market
a market with little or no chance of further sales as all prospective customers have the product or a substitute that will do the same job
Second Agricultural Revolution
the introduction of new crop rotation techniques and selective breeding of livestock that led to a marked increase in agricultural production and coincided with the Industrial Revolution
Shifting Cultivation
subsistence agriculture in which farmers, usually in tropical climate regions, move from one field to another;
alternately known as slash-and-burn or swidden agriculture because farmers sometimes clear the land by vegetation, plant and harvest crops until the land becomes less fertile, then move to another are of dense, wild vegetation and repeat the process
Slash-and-burn
all vegetation in an area of forest is cut down and burned in place, providing nutrients to the soil so it can be farmed
Soil salinization
occurs when soil in an arid climate has been made available for agricultural production using irrigation;
water evaporates quickly off the newly irrigated land, leaving residues of salt lying in the earth;
over time this causes the land to become infertile
Subsidies
sums of money granted by the government or a public body to assist an industry or business so that the price of a commodity or service may remain low or competitive
Subsistence agriculture
farming primarily to provide food for direct consumption by the farmer and the farmer’s family
Suitcase farm
a grower of wheat or other crops who lives outside the community except during the plowing, seeding, and harvesting seasons, often has a farm without buildings, and does much of the farming by hired custom operators
Sustainability
the ability to meet humanity’s current needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs
Sustainable agriculture
farming that has as its goal to meet society’s food and textile needs in the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs
Terraced agriculture
method of growing crops on sides of hills or mountains by planting on graduated terraces built into the slope
Township and Range
a rectangular land division scheme designed by Thomas Jefferson to disperse settlers evenly across farmlands of the U.S. interior
Tragedy of the Commons
the observation that in the absence of collective control over the use of a resource available to all, it is to the advantage of all users to maximize their separate shares even though their collective pressures may diminish total yield or destroy the resource
- over pumping (mining) of groundwater
- diverting of fresh water from rivers for agriculture, cities and industry that very little reaches the sea
- overfishing of seafood in the Atlantic and Pacific
- Air pollution (adding GHG and smog to the air)
- water pollution (nitrogren, phosphorus, pesticides, heavy metals and so on)
- Uncontrolled human population growth leading to overpopulation
- Deforestation for agriculture
- Habitat disruption and fragmentation
Transhumance
seasonal herding of animals from higher elevations in the summer to lower elevations and valleys in the winter
Tropical climate
a climate characteristic in areas from the Equator to the Tropic of Capricorn in the south and to the Tropic of Cancer in the north;
a non-arid, frost-free climate in which the mean temperature is about 64°F throughout the year;
temperatures in tropical climates, remain relatively constant all year long as variations for different seasons are dominated by rainfall;
comprise of only two seasons which are the dry season and the wet season
Truck Farming
commercial gardening and fruit farming, so named because truck was a Middle English word meaning bartering or the exchange of commodities
Urban Farming
the production, distribution, and marketing of food and other products within the geographical limits of a metropolitan area
Value-added speciality crop
a crop whose physical state or form has been changed, allowing the producer to charge a higher price (such as organic crops or fruit preserves)
Wheat Belt
the part of the North American Great Plains where wheat is the dominant crop
