Unit 5 Vocabulary Flashcards
Agribusiness
A large-scale commercial business characterized by integration of different steps in the food-processing industry
Agricultural Hearth
The origin of a type of agriculture or crop
Agriculture
The science, art, and business of cultivating soil, producing crops, and raising livestock; farming.
Biotechnology
A form of agricultural technology that uses living organisms, usually genes, to modify products, to make or modify plants or
animals, or to develop other microorganisms for specific purposes
Cash Crop
A crop grown for its commercial use rather than use by the grower.
Cereal Grains
A crop yielding from grain.
Columbian Exchange
The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following
Columbus’s voyages and resulted in commercial agriculture and the trade of it
Combine
A machine that reaps, threshes, and cleans grain while moving over a field.
Commercial Agriculture
A form of agriculture undertaken in order to generate products for sale off of the farm in order to make a profit
Commercial Fruit and Gardening Agriculture
Selling of fruits, vegetables, and flowers, trees or shrubbery. Predominant type of agriculture in the US Southeast; also known
as truck farming so named because truck was a Middle English word meaning bartering or the exchange of commodities.
Commodity Chain
Series of links connecting the many places of production and distribution and resulting in a commodity that is then
exchanged on the world market.
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO)
An animal rearing system that confines livestock (such as pigs, cattle, hogs, chickens, etc) in high density cages only large
enough for the animal’s body to grow and to accommodate equipment for feeding and waste removal
Corn Belt
Formal region where main growth of corn agriculture is present in the USA
Crop Rotation
Switching fields crop to crop so that you do not overuse the soil.
Dairy Farming
Raising cattle to sell dairy products.
Desertification
The encroachment of desert conditions on moister zones along the desert margins, where plant cover and soils are threatened
by desiccation-through overuse, in part by humans and their domestic animals, and, possibly, in part because of inexorable
shifts in the Earth’s environmental zones.
Double Cropping
Harvesting twice a year from the same field.
Economies of Scale
Cost advantages that can come with a larger scale of operations; ie big companies can control their costs more than small
companies can
Erosion
The process of being eroded by wind water or other natural agents
Export Commodity
A cash crop that is produced for export to wealthier countries at the expense of crop production for local consumption
Extensive Subsistence Agriculture
A form of subsistence agriculture characterized by low inputs of labor per unit land area, often uses vast tracts of land
Fallow
This is the stage of crop rotation in which the land is left uncultivated.
Fertilizers
Any substance, such as manure, or a mixture of nitrates, added to soil or water to increase its productivity
Food Desert
Urban or rural neighborhoods with limited access to fresh nutritious foods - low income neighborhoods where consumers
have little access to medium and large grocery stores.
Food Insecurity
Occurs when large numbers of people experience long periods of inadequate diets due to wealth or environmental causes
Genetically Modified Organisms
Refers to a crop whose genetic structure has been altered to make it more useful and efficient for human purposes. GMOs are
often controversial because some scientists claim that their health effects are questionable
Grain Farming
Farming of cereal grains such as grasses, corn, wheats, oats, and barley
Green Revolution
Umbrella term for agricultural improvements such as new agricultural technology, new high-yield seeds and fertilizers.
Increased production of food led to increased populations.
Horticulture
The intensive production of fruits and vegetables for market rather than for processing or canning (synonym for truck
farming)
Intensive Subsistence Agriculture
A form of subsistence agriculture that involves effective and efficient use of labor on small plots of land to maximize crop
yields. Popular in East, South, and Southeast Asia, because the ratio between farmers and arable land is so high, most of the
work is done by the family by hand or by animal with processes refined over thousands of years.
Intertillage
Subsistence practice of planting taller, stronger crops to shelter lower, more fragile ones from tropical downpours to mimic
the natural structure of the rainforest – often shifting cultivation
Irrigation
Water movement systems devoted to the hydration of crops, mainly on large scales today
Land Reclamation
The process of draining land inundated with either fresh or salt water to increase land available for agricultural production
Livestock Ranching
The raising of domestic animals for the production of meat and other byproducts such as leather and wool
Luxury Crops
High-priced, relatively rare crops which are not necessary for human survival.
Mediterranean Agriculture
Specialized farming that occurs only in areas where the dry-summer Mediterranean climate prevails.
Milkshed
The ring surrounding a city from which milk can be supplied without spoiling.
Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming
Crops are consumed directly by livestock instead of humans.
Monoculture
Dependence on a single agricultural commodity
Neolithic Revolution
The Neolithic revolution happened around 10000-12000 years ago. Humans transitioned from hunter gathering to farming.
This was the beginning of the agricultural/farming revolution
Organic Agriculture
Approach to farming and ranching that avoids the use of herbicides, pesticides, growth hormones, and other similar synthetic
inputs
Paddy
Malay word for wet rice, commonly but incorrectly used to describe a sawah.
Pastoral Nomadism
A form of agriculture where livestock are herded either seasonally or continuously in order to find fresh pastures on which to
graze.
Pasture
Grass or other plants grown for feeding grazing animals, as well as land used for grazing.
Pesticides
Chemicals used on plants to keep away pests such as bugs.
Plantation Farming
Production of usually one main cash crop (or often luxury crop) on a large swathe of land. It is most common in tropical
climates.
Primary Sector
Economic activity concerned with the direct extraction of natural resources from the environment.
Such as: mining, fishing, lumbering, and especially agriculture.
Prime Agricultural Land
The most productive farmland
Primogeniture
System which the eldest son in a family–or in exceptional cases daughter– inherits all of a dying parent’s land.
Quarternary Sector
Service sector industries concerned with the collection, processing, and manipulation, of information and capital. Examples
include finance, administration, insurance, and legal services.
Quinary Sector
Service sector industries that require a high level of specialized knowledge or technical skill. Examples include scientific
research and high-level management.
Reaper
Machine that cuts grain from the field
Root Crops
Crop that is reproduced by cultivating the roots of or the cuttings from the plants such as potatoes or carrots
Sawah
A wet field for growing rice
Secondary Sector
Economic activity involving the processing of raw materials and their transformation into finished industrial products.
Seed Agriculture
Agriculture done by planting a seed.
Shifting Cultivation
Cultivation of crops in tropical forest clearings in which the forest vegetation has been removed by cutting and burning. These
clearings are usually abandoned after a few years in favor of newly cleared farmland. Also known as slash-and-burn
agriculture.
Slash and Burn Agriculture
Cultivation of crops in tropical forest clearings in which the forest vegetation has been removed by cutting and burning in
order to provide nutrients in the soil.
Soil Salinity
The high concentration of dissolved salts in the soil from poor irrigation and is toxic to plants soil organisms
Spring Wheat
Spring Wheat is grown in the spring and North United States and Canada. Spring wheat has to be planted later due to
climate.
Subsidies
A form of financial assistance paid to farmers and agribusinesses to supplement their income, manage the supply of
agricultural commodities, and influence the cost and supply of such commodities. Subsidies can be given to any business or
market, not just agricultural businesses
Sustainable Agriculture
Farming that meets human needs without poisoning the environment or using up water and soil resources. Sustainable
farming can be done in ways that ensure environmental availability in the future.
Swidden
An area cleared for temporary cultivation by cutting and burning the vegetation.
Tertiary Sector
Economic activity associated with the provision services-such as transportation, banking, retailing, education, and routine
office-based jobs.
Transhumance
The seasonal movement of people with their livestock over relatively short distances, typically to higher pastures in summer
and to lower valleys in winter.
Truck Farming
The intensive production of fruits and vegetables for market rather than for processing or canning
Vegetative Planting
The growing of plants by taking parts of an existing plant and plant in the ground.
Von Thunen Zone Model
A model that explains the location of agricultural activities in a commercial profit making economy. A process of spatial
competition allocates various farming activities into rings around central market city, with profit earning capability the
determining force in how far a crop locates from the market
Wattle
Traditional dwellings built using poles and sticks that are woven tightly together and then plastered with mud.
Winter Wheat
Wheat grown in the winter and the central United States like Kansas. Type of wheat that can be planted earlier.
