Unit 5 Vocab

Question 1

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

Answer 1

second agricultural revolution

Question 2

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

Answer 2

precision agriculture

Question 3

a form of aid and insurance given by the federal government to certain farmers and agribusinesses

Answer 3

farm subsidy

Question 4

cost reductions occur when production arises

Answer 4

economy of scale

Question 5

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

Answer 5

desertification

Question 6

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

Answer 6

agricultural landscape

Question 7

a method of agriculture in which existing vegetation is cut down and burned off before new seeds are sown; often used when clearing land

Answer 7

slash and burn

Question 8

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

Answer 8

von Thünen model

Question 9

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

Answer 9

fair trade

Question 10

a network of people, information, processes, and resources that work together to produce, handle, and distribute goods around the world

Answer 10

global supply chain

Question 11

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

Answer 11

commodity chain

Question 12

a plant or animal with specific characteristics obtained through the manipulation of its genetic makeup

Answer 12

genetically modified organism (GMO)

Question 13

a rural settlement pattern in which houses and buildings are isolated from one another, and all the homes in a settlement are distributed over a relatively large area

Answer 13

dispersed settlement

Question 14

a rural settlement pattern in which houses and buildings form in a long line that usually follows a land feature or aligns along a transportation route

Answer 14

linear settlement

Question 15

a rural settlement pattern in which residents live in close proximity to one another, with farmland and pasture land surrounding the settlement; also known as a nucleated settlement

Answer 15

clustered settlement

Question 16

a shift to further mechanization in agriculture through the development of new technology and advances that began in the early 20th century and continues to the present day

Answer 16

third agricultural revolution

Question 17

a theory that describes the relationships between land value, commercial location, and transportation (primarily in urban areas) using a bid-rent gradient, or slope; used to describe how land costs are determined

Answer 17

bid-rent theory

Question 18

a type of agriculture based on people moving their domesticated animals seasonally or as needed to allow the best grazing

Answer 18

nomadic herding

Question 19

a type of agriculture based
on people moving their domesticated animals
seasonally or as needed to allow the best
grazing; also called nomadic herding

Answer 19

pastoral nomadism

Question 20

a type of farming in which both crops and livestock are raised for profit

Answer 20

mixed crop and livestock systems

Question 21

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

Answer 21

market gardening

Question 22

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

Answer 22

plantation agriculture

Question 23

agreement between a bank and a peripheral country in which the bank forgives a portion of the country’s debt in exchange for local investment in conservation measures

Answer 23

debt-for-nature swap

Question 24

an agricultural practice in which farmers expend a great deal of effort to produce as much yield as possible from an area of land

Answer 24

intensive agriculture

Question 25

an agricultural practice that consists of growing hardy trees and shrubs and raising sheep and goats

Answer 25

Mediterranean agriculture

Question 26

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

Answer 26

commercial agriculture

Question 27

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

Answer 27

subsistence agriculture

Question 28

an agricultural practice with relatively few inputs and little investment in labor and capital that results in relatively low outputs

Answer 28

extensive agriculture

Question 29

an area that has similar climate patterns generally based on its latitude and its location on a coast or continental interior

Answer 29

climate region

Question 30

an area where different groups began to domesticate plants and animals

Answer 30

agricultural hearth

Question 31

an artificial lake used to store water

Answer 31

reservoir

Question 32

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

Answer 32

dual agricultural economy

Question 33

an ecosystem modified for agricultural use

Answer 33

agroecosystem

Question 34

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

Answer 34

food desert

Question 35

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

Answer 35

aquifer

Question 36

loss of forest lands

Answer 36

deforestation

Question 37

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

Answer 37

Green Revolution

Question 38

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

Answer 38

food security

Question 39

small, nomadic groups who had primarily plant-based diets and ate small animals or fish for protein

Answer 39

foragers

Question 40

system in which communal lands were replaced by farms owned by individuals, and use of the land was restricted to the owner or tenants who rented the land from the owner

Answer 40

enclosure system

Question 41

the agricultural practice of growing crops or grazing animals on a piece of land for a year or two, then abandoning that land when the nutrients have been depleted from the soil and moving to a new piece of land where the process is repeated

Answer 41

shifting cultivation

Question 42

the central location where the majority of consumer services are located in a city or town because the accessibility of the location attracts these services

Answer 42

central business district (CBD)

Question 43

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

Answer 43

vertical integration

Question 44

the cultivation of one or two crops that are rotated seasonally

Answer 44

monocropping

Question 45

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

Answer 45

domestication

Question 46

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

Answer 46

food insecurity

Question 47

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

Answer 47

Columbian Exchange

Question 48

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

Answer 48

agribusiness

Question 49

the many systems and facilities that a country needs in order to function properly

Answer 49

infrastructure

Question 50

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

Answer 50

transhumance

Question 51

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

Answer 51

salinization

Question 52

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

Answer 52

terracing

Question 53

the product created by breeding different varieties of species to enhance the most favorable characteristics

Answer 53

hybrid

Question 54

the purposeful cultivation of plants or raising of animals to produce goods for survival

Answer 54

agriculture

Question 55

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

Answer 55

biotechnology

Question 56

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

Answer 56

first agricultural revolution

Question 57

the shifting of population away from cities into surrounding suburbs

Answer 57

suburbanization

Question 58

the variety of organisms living in a location

Answer 58

biodiversity

Question 59

the variety and variability of plants, animals, and microorganisms that are used directly or indirectly for food and agriculture

Answer 59

agricultural biodiversity

Question 60

the varying of crops from year to year to allow for the restoration of valuable nutrients and the continuing productivity of the soil

Answer 60

crop rotation