Unit 5: Part 1 Flashcards
Agriculture
The process by which humans alter the landscape in order to raise crops and livestock for consumption and trade
Climate
The long term weather patterns in a region
Subsistence agriculture
Mainly used to grow enough food and raise enough livestock to meet the immediate needs of the farmer and their family
Commercial agriculture
To grow enough crops and raise enough livestock to sell for profit
Intensive agriculture
Use large amounts of inputs to maximize yields
Extensive agriculture
Fewer inputs and less yields
Intensive commercial agriculture
Heavy investments in labor and capital usually resulting in high yields and profits
Intensive subsistence agriculture
Often labor and animal intensive
Extensive subsistent agriculture
Few inputs and often practiced in areas with climatic extremes
Extensive commercial agriculture
Low inputs of resources but has the goal of selling the profit for profit
Capital
Money invested in land, equipment, and machines
Pastoral nomadism
Arid and semi-arid climate and mostly based on animals for survival
Shifting cultivation
When the oil in one field loses fertility the farmers move to another field
Plantation
A large commercial farm that specializes in one crop
Mixed crop and livestock farming
An intensive commercial integrated system that demonstrates an interdependence between crops and animals
Grain farming
In dry regions farmers often raise wheat
Commercial gardening
Growth of certain things for profit
Market gardening
Fruits and veggies are grown near urban markets and sold to local stores, restaurants, etc.
Dairy farming
Local farms that supply products to customers in small geographic areas
Milk shed
The geographic distance milk is delivered
Mediterranean agriculture
Practices in regions with hot dry summers, mild winters, narrow valleys, and often some irrigation
Transhumance
Seasonal herding of animals from high ground in the summer to low ground in the winter
Livestock ranching
Commercial grazing of animals confined to a specific area
Clustered (nucleated) settlements
Clustered homes surrounded by fields with crops and animals
Dispersed settlements
Usually in north america and lots of cattle and the US gave them the land if they agreed to live on it for several years to promote westward expansion
Linear settlement
Homes are located close to transport or a body of water
Metes and Bounds
Metes were used for short distances and often referred to features of specific points and bounds covered larger area and were based off larger things like streams or roads
Public Land Survey System/Township & Range System
Created rectangular plots of consistent size
Townships
Areas six miles by six miles
Section
Each square mile
French long-lot system
Farms are long thin section of land that run perpendicular to a river
First (Neolithic) Agricultural Revolution
The origin of farming marked by the domestication of plants and animals
Animal domestication
Originated in central asia and is humanizing animals for use
Plant domestication
After domestication of animals, seeds, stems
Fertile Crescent
The first major hearth of agriculture in southwest asia
Independent innovation
Crops and animals domesticated in multiple regions with no interaction among the people
Columbian Exchange
The global movement of plants and animals between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas
Second Agricultural Revolution
Used the advances of the industrial revolution to increase food supplies and support population growth
Enclosure Acts
A series of laws enacted by the British government that enabled landowners to purchase and enclose land for their own use
Crop rotation
The process of rotating which crops are being planted in a sequence to restore nutrients back into the soil
Irrigation
The process of applying controlled amounts of water using human made methods other than rainwater
Third Agricultural Revolution
Expanded mechanics of farming, developed new global agricultural systems, and used technology to further advance agriculture
Green Revolution
The advances in plant biology in the mid 20th century
Hybridization
The process of breeding two seed that have desirable characteristics to create one seed with both characteristics
Genetically modified organism (GMO)
Humans use engineering techniques to change the DNA of a seed to resist diseases, increase yields, and withstand pesticides
