Unit Five: Agriculture and Rural Land-Use Patterns and Processes

Question 1

Hearth

Answer 1

The region from which innovative ideas originate. Agriculture was spread from these through contagious and relocation diffusion.

Question 2

Agricultural/Crop Hearths

Answer 2

-Mesopotamia, -Huang He River Valley (China), -Sahael (Central Africa), -Mexico’s Highlands -Southeast Asia

Question 3

Cultural and Environmental

Answer 3

What two factors create agricultural variances around the world?

Question 4

hunting and gathering societies

Answer 4

societies whose mode of subsistence is gained from hunting animals, fishing, and gathering edible plants. Still practiced today despite modernization of agriculture.

Question 5

shifting cultivation

Answer 5

A form of subsistence agriculture in which people shift activity from one field to another; each field is used for crops for relatively few years and left fallow for a relatively long period. Found primarily in LDC’s in the humid low latitudes.

Question 6

intensive subsistence agriculture

Answer 6

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. Uses animal power, and practiced by the most people around the world.

Question 7

Pastoral Nomadism

Answer 7

A form of subsistence agriculture based on herding domesticated animals. Found in dry climates.

Question 8

Mixed crop and livestock

Answer 8

Commercial farming characterized by integration of crops and livestock; most of the crops are fed to animals rather than consumed directly by humans.

Question 9

dairy farming

Answer 9

A form of commercial livestock production where cattle is used for the processing of milk and other dairy products. Prevalent in Northern Europe and in the Northern United States.

Question 10

Grain Farming

Answer 10

The mass planting and harvesting of grain crops, such as wheat, barley, and millet.

Question 11

Livestock Ranching

Answer 11

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.

Question 12

Mediterranean agriculture

Answer 12

specialized farming that occurs only in areas where the dry-summer Mediterranean climate prevails

Question 13

Commercial Gardening

Answer 13

The intensive production of nontropical fruits, vegetables, and flowers for sale off the farm.

Question 14

plantation agriculture

Question 15

Von Thunen Model

Answer 15

An agricultural model that spatially describes agricultural activity in terms of rent. Activities that require intensive cultivation and cannot be transported over great distances pay higher rent to be close to the market. Conversely, activities that are more extensive , with goods that are easy to transport, are located farther from the market where rent is less.

Question 16

Von Thunen First Ring

Answer 16

Market-oriented gardens and milk producers (Dairy Farms). These products are expensive to deliver and must reach the market quickly because they are perishable

Question 17

Von Thunen Second Ring

Answer 17

Wood - Timber is used for construction and fuel. Close to the market because it is heavy and difficult to transport.

Question 18

Von Thunen Third Ring

Answer 18

Various crops and pasture. Crops are rotated from year to year. Grain crops require extensive acreage but land is less costly and farther away from the market.

Question 19

Von Thunen Fourth Ring

Answer 19

Animal grazing and ranching, requires a lot of land. Land is less expensive because it doesn’t not need to account for transportation cost for livestock.

Question 20

Urban Areas (Urban Sprawl)

Answer 20

In the United States today agricultural land is being replaced by this.

Question 21

Population Growth

Answer 21

This has influenced subsistence farmers to consider new farming approaches to generate higher yields

Question 22

Where are plantations found?

Answer 22

Less Developed Countries

Question 23

Subsistence

Answer 23

What type of farmers are able to increase food supply by intensifying production through increased labor supply and the addition of new techniques.

Question 24

Green Revolution

Answer 24

Agricultural revolution that increased production through improved seeds, fertilizers, and irrigation; helped to support rising Asian populations. Wheat was the miracle seed. Least impactful on Sub-Saharan Africa.

Question 25

GMO (genetically modified organism)

Answer 25

An organism that is created when scientists take one or more specific genes from one organism and introduce them into another organism thus creating a new version. Does not occur naturally. Can increase plants’ resistance to drought and pest resistance.

Question 26

What three things have aided commercial farmers in MDC’s?

Answer 26

• Electronics
• Transportation Improvements
• Scientific Advancements.

Question 27

Why has the number of farmers decreased in MDC’s?

Answer 27

There are more opportunities in urban areas that pay more.

Question 28

extensive farming

Answer 28

An agricultural system characterized by low inputs of labor per unit land area. Ex. Sheep Ranching

Question 29

Double Cropping

Answer 29

What type of practice in east Asia can increase crop yields.

Question 30

Crop Rotation

Answer 30

The practice of rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year, to avoid exhausting the soil.`

Question 31

Deforestation

Answer 31

The removal of trees faster than forests can replace themselves. Result of clearing land for farming.

Question 32

Agribusiness

Answer 32

Commercial agriculture characterized by the integration of different steps in the food-processing industry, usually through ownership by large corporations. Makes distribution more efficient and takes advantage of the economies of scale.

Question 33

Intensive farming

Answer 33

farming that requires a lot of labor to produce food

Question 34

Transhumance

Answer 34

The seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pastures.

Question 35

What is a problem shared by farmers in MDC’s and LDC’s?

Answer 35

Inadequate Income

Question 36

Undernourishment

Answer 36

the result of a diet that consistently supplies less chemical energy than the body requires. 99% of undernourished people are in developing countries like China & India.

Question 37

Desertification

Answer 37

Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting.

Question 38

Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming

Answer 38

Commercial farming characterized by integration of crops and livestock; most of the crops are fed to animals rather than consumed directly by humans. Can be commonly found in Europe

Question 39

Truck Farming

Answer 39

Commercial gardening and fruit farming, so named because truck was a Middle English word meaning bartering or the exchange of commodities. Practiced near large cities.

Question 40

Ranching

Answer 40

A form of commercial agriculture in which livestock graze over an extensive area.

Question 41

Food Prices

Answer 41

The greatest challenge to world food supply

Question 42

sustainable agriculture

Answer 42

farming methods that preserve long-term productivity of land and minimize pollution, typically by rotating soil-restoring crop with cash crops and reducing use of fertilizer and pesticides

Question 43

carrying capacity

Answer 43

Largest number of individuals of a population that a environment can support

Question 44

Women

Answer 44

In LDC’s 51% of this group works in subsistence based agriculture and are not necessarily paid to do it.

Question 45

Township and Range

Answer 45

The rigid grid-like pattern used to facilitate the dispersal of settlers evenly across rural settlements.

Question 46

longlot survey system

Answer 46

Farms were divided into long thin sections of land that ran perpendicular to a river.

Question 47

Mechanization / Industrialization

Answer 47

the replacement of human labor with technology or machines. Decreased the number of farms but increased farm size. Young people began to work in industry rather than in agriculture.

Question 48

Commodity Chain

Answer 48

A chain of activities from the manufacturing to the distribution of a product. Led to the changes of family farms to large corporate farms.

Question 49

Second Agricultural Revolution

Answer 49

improved methods of cultivation, harvesting, and storage of farm produce through technological innovations.

Question 50

Colombian Exchange

Answer 50

The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus’s voyages. As a result, plants and animals diffused to a region similar to where they were domesticated.

Question 51

Bid-Rent Theory

Answer 51

Geographical economic theory that refers to how the price and demand on real estate changes as the distance towards the Market increases. Uses concentric rings of different agricultural activities.

Question 52

monoculture/monocropping

Answer 52

farming strategy in which large fields are planted with a single crop, year after year