Unit 5 Vocab - Agriculture & Economics Flashcards
Agribusiness
The system of commercial farming found in more developed countries.
Agricultural Hearths
Areas from where the origins of agricultural ideas & innovation began and spread.
Agriculture
The deliberate tending of crops and livestock in order to produce food & fiber.
Biotechnology
The use of genetically altered crops in agriculture and DNA manipulation in livestock in order to increase production.
Cash Crops
Crops that are raised for export to high-consumption developed countries.
Cereal Grains
Oats, wheat, rye, or barley.
Columbian Exchange
Began in the late 15th & 16th centuries when products were carried both ways across the Atlantic & Pacific Oceans.
Commercial Agriculture
The production of food surpluses, with most crops destined for sale to people outside the farmer’s family.
Crop Rotation
Each field is planted on a planting cycle.
Desertification
A deterioration of land to a desert-like condition by over-grazing and over-planting.
Dispersed Settlement Pattern
Seen in an area of extensive agricultural practices where individual farmhouses lie far apart.
Enclosure
The practice of fencing or hedging in large blocks of land for experiments with new techniques of farming.
Erosion
The geological process in which materials are worn away and transported by natural forces such as wind and water.
Extensive Agriculture
Farmed land that is further away from markets/cities and is in large units.
Extensive Subsistence Agriculture
The cultivation of large areas of land and minimal labor per land area.
Green Revolution
The introduction of two new agricultural techniques during the 1970s:
a) The use of new higher-yield seeds.
b) The expanded use of fertilizers.
Hamlets
Small clusters of buildings or slightly larger settlements of villages.
Horticulture
The growing of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and tree crops from the commercial base of Mediterranean farming.
Hunters & Gatherers
A group of people who forage and hunt food from their environment.
Industrial Agriculture
Modern farming that refers to the industrialized production of livestock, poultry fish, and crops.
Intensive Agriculture
Farmed land that is closer to markets/cities and is in smaller units.
Intensive Subsistence Agriculture
The cultivation of small areas of land through the use of great amounts of labor; yields per unit/area and population densities if both are high.
Intertillage
The growing of various types of crops.
Irrigation
The channeling of water to fields.
Labor Intensive Agriculture
A process that employs large numbers of people and requires relatively little capital to produce food.
Location Theory
A theory involving the locational pattern of economic activity and the manner in which its producing areas are interrelated (Von Thunen Model).
Long-Lot Survey System
A survey system that divides land into narrow parcels that extend from rivers, roads, or canals.
Mediterranean Agriculture
A type of agriculture that only exists in the land that borders the Mediterranean Sea, California, central Chile, SW parts of South Africa, & SW Australia.
Mercantilism
An economic system developed by the British & the Dutch where private companies under charter from the government carry out the trade.
Metes & Bounds
A survey system where natural features are used to mark irregular parcels of land.
Milkshed
A ring of milk production that surrounds a major city.
Mixed Crop & Livestock Farming
The most common form of commercial agriculture in the US west of the Appilacions; farmers grow and raise livestock on the same land spread as their crops.
Neolithic Revolution
The wide-scale transition of going from hunting & gathering to agriculture & settlement from 10000 BC to 2200 BC.
Nomadism
The practice of moving frequently from one place to another.
Nucleated Settlement Pattern
A settlement pattern where villages are located close together with relatively small surrounding fields.
Organic Agriculture
Crops that are grown without fertilizers or pesticides ensure the consumer will not suffer adverse health effects.
Pampas
Large areas of prairie found in South America.
Pastoral Nomadism
A form of pastoralism in which livestock are herded in order to seek fresh pastures on which to graze.
Plantation
A large farm that specializes in one or two crops; is mostly found in Latin America, Africa, and Asia.
Post-Industrial Societies
Countries where most people are no longer employed in industry (factories).
Primary Sector (agriculture)
The part of the economy that draws raw materials from the natural environment.
Primogeniture
A family practice where all land is passed to the eldest son, resulting in land parcels that are large and tended individually.
Quaternary Sector
The subset of the tertiary sector; includes service jobs concerned with research & development, management & administration, and processing & disseminating information.
Rectangular Survey System
A survey system that encouraged settlers to disperse evenly across interior farmlands; the section lines were often drawn in grids without reference to the terrain.
Second Agricultural Revolution
Began in Western Europe during the 1600s and intensified agriculture by promoting higher yields per acre and per farmer.
Secondary Sector (industry)
The part of the economy that transforms raw materials into manufactured goods.
Seed Agriculture
The production of plants through the annual planting of seeds.
Seed Drill
A device that plants seeds into the earth instead of on the surface which would cause the seeds to be blown away or eaten by animals.
Shifting Cultivation (swidden agriculture)
A farming method that primarily exists in rainforest zones of South America.
Specialization
The growing of specialized crops because they seem to be more profitable.
Spring Wheat Area
Only in North and South Dakota and Montana; the wheat crop cannot survive the winter.
Subsistence Agriculture
The production of only enough food to feed the farmer’s family, with no surpluses to sell.
Tertiary Sector (services)
The part of the economy that involves services rather than goods.
Third Agricultural Revolution
Began in the mid-20th century and is still going on in the form of industrial agriculture.
Truck Farming
A farming method predominantly in the SE US because of the region’s long growing season, humid climate, and accessibility to markets in the NE US.
Vegetative Planting
New plants are produced by direct cloning of existing plants, such as cutting stems and dividing roots.
Village
A term used to describe a small number of people who live in a cluster of houses in a rural area. Village forms include round, walled, grid, linear, and cluster.
Von Thunen’s Model
A ring model that is used to describe the relativity of different types of farming to a central point (usually a city). Ring 1 is the closest and 4 is the farthest. The rings are as follows:
1 - Market gardening & Dairy.
2 - Forest
3 - Field Crops
4 - Animal Grazing
Wattle
Poles and sticks that are tightly woven together and then covered in mud in order to build huts.
Wet/Lowland Rice
Rice that is planted on dry land in a nursery and then moved as seedlings to a flooded field to promote growth.
Winter Wheat Area
Only in Kansas, Colorado, & Oklahoma; the wheat crop is planted in the autumn, survives the winter, and ripens the following summer.
“World’s Breadbasket”
A term used to describe the prairie states of the US.
