AP TEST

Agribusiness

Commercial agriculture characterized by the integration of different steps in the food-processing industry.

Aquaculture

The cultivation of seafood under controlled conditions.

Bid-rent curve

A model showing that the amount a farmer is willing to pay for land declines with increasing distance from the market.

Cash crop

A crop that is grown for sale rather than for the farmer’s own use.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of plants and animals, as well as people, culture, and technology, between the Western Hemisphere and Europe.

Commercial agriculture

Agriculture undertaken primarily to generate products for sale off the farm.

Conservation tillage

A method of soil cultivation that reduces soil erosion and runoff.

Crop rotation

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

Dairy farm

A form of commercial agriculture that specializes in the production of milk and other dairy products.

Desertification

Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions such as excessive crop planting and grazing.

Double cropping

Harvesting twice a year from the same field.

First agricultural revolution

The process that began when human beings first domesticated plants and animals.

Food security

Physical, social, and economic access at all times to safe and nutritious food.

Genetically modified organism (GMO)

A living organism that possesses a novel combination of genetic material obtained through biotechnology.

Green revolution

The rapid diffusion of new agricultural technology, especially new high-yield seeds and fertilizers.

Intensive subsistence agriculture

A form of subsistence agriculture in which farmers expend a large amount of effort to produce maximum yield from a parcel of land.

Mixed crop and livestock farming

Commercial farming characterized by integration of crops and livestock, with most crops fed to animals.

Monocropping

The practice of growing the same, single crop year after year.

Organic agriculture

Farming that depends on naturally occurring substances while prohibiting synthetic substances.

Overfishing

Capturing fish faster than they can reproduce.

Pastoral nomadism

A form of subsistence agriculture based on herding domesticated animals.

Plantation

A large farm in a developing country that specializes in one or two crops for sale.

Ranching

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

Second agricultural revolution

An increase in agricultural productivity through improved crop rotation and livestock breeding.

Shifting cultivation

A form of subsistence agriculture where people shift activity from one field to another.

Subsistence agriculture

Agriculture designed primarily to provide food for direct consumption by the farmer and their family.

Transhumance

Seasonal migration of livestock between mountain and lowland pasture areas.

Truck farming

Commercial gardening that involves the exchange of commodities.

Undernourishment

Dietary energy consumption that is continuously below the minimum requirement for a healthy life.

Wet rice

Rice planted on dry land in a nursery and then moved to a flooded field to promote growth.

Agriculture

The deliberate effort to modify a portion of Earth’s surface through the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock.

Agricultural Revolution

major, transformative shift in farming, enabling vastly increased food production through new techniques, tools, and crops, allowing societies to move from nomadic hunting/gathering to settled life, supporting population growth, and paving the way for complex civilizations and industrialization

Cereal Grain

A grass that yields grain for food.

Market/Commercial gardening

the small-scale, intensive, commercial growing of diverse vegetables, fruits, and flowers, often using intensive methods on small plots (acres or less) to sell directly to local consumers, restaurants, and markets for profit, focusing on high yields and fresh, diverse produce

Crop

A plant cultivated by people.

Dietary energy consumption

The amount of food that an individual consumes, measured in kilocalories (Calories in the United States)

Fishing

The capture of wild fish and other seafood living in the waters.

Grain

 Seed of a cereal grass.

Herbicide

A chemical used to control unwanted plants.

Horticulture

Growing of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and tree crops.

Milkshed

The area surrounding a city from which milk is supplied.

No Tillage

A farming practice that leaves the soil undisturbed and the entire residue of the previous year’s harvest left untouched on the fields.

Organic agriculture

Farming that depends on the use of naturally occurring substances while prohibiting or strictly limiting synthetic substances, such as herbicides, pesticides, and growth hormones.

Paddy

The Malay word for “wet rice”; increasingly used to describe a flooded field.

Ridge Tillage

A system of planting crops on ridge tops in order to reduce farm production costs and promote greater soil conservation.

Sawah

A flooded field for growing rice.

Third Agricultural Revolution

a mid-20th-century transformation involving scientific advancements, new technologies (like high-yielding crop varieties, fertilizers, and pesticides), and improved irrigation to drastically increase food production, especially in developing nations, significantly reducing global hunger but also raising environmental concerns. 

Grain

Seed of cereal grass

basic business

A business that sells its products or services primarily to consumers outside the settlement.

business service

A service that primarily meets the needs of other businesses, including professional, financial, and transportation services.

central place

A market center for the exchange of services by people attracted from the surrounding area.

central place theory

A theory that explains the distribution of services based on the fact that settlements serve as centers of market areas for services; larger settlements are fewer and farther apart than smaller settlements and provide services for a larger number of people who are willing to travel farther.

clustered rural settlement

A rural settlement in which the houses and farm buildings of each family are situated close to each other, with fields surrounding the settlement.

consumer service

A business that provides services primarily to individual consumers, including retail services and education, health, and leisure services.

dispersed rural settlement

A rural settlement pattern characterized by isolated farms rather than clustered villages.

economic base

A community’s collection of basic businesses.

enclosure movement

The process of consolidating small landholdings into a smaller number of larger farms in England during the eighteenth century.

global city

A major center for the provision of services in the global economy.

gravity model

A model that holds that the potential use of a service at a particular location is directly related to the number of people in a location and inversely related to the distance people must travel to reach the service.

market area, hinterland

The area surrounding a central place from which people are attracted to use the place’s goods and services.

media market area

An area where the population receives the same TV and radio station broadcasts and newspapers and consumes similar internet content.

mega city

An urban settlement with a total population in excess of 10 million people.

metacity

An urban settlement with a total population in excess of 20 million people.

nonbasic business

A business that sells its products primarily to consumers in the community where the business is located.

periodic market

A collection of individual vendors who come together to offer goods and services in a location on specified days.

primate city

The largest settlement in a country, if it has more than twice as many people as the second-ranking settlement.

primate city rule

A pattern of settlements in a country such that the largest settlement has more than twice as many people as the second-ranking settlement.

public service

A service offered by the government to provide security and protection for citizens and businesses.

range

(of a service) The maximum distance people are willing to travel to use a service.

rank-size rule

A pattern of settlements in a country such that the nth largest settlement is 1/n the population of the largest settlement.

rural settlement

A community where most people are engaged in agriculture.

service

Any activity that fulfills a human want or need and returns money to those who provide it.

settlement

A permanent collection of buildings and inhabitants.

social heterogeneity

People from varied racial, ethnic, and national backgrounds and with diverse lifestyle preferences.

threshold

The minimum number of people needed to support a service.

urban settlement

A community where people are employed in secondary and tertiary-sector jobs.

urbanization

An increase in the percentage and in the number of people living in urban settlements.

Apparel

An item of clothing

Break of bulk point

A location where transfer is possible from one mode of transportation to another.

Bulk Gaining Industry

An industry in which the final product weighs more or comprises a greater volume than the inputs.

Bulk Reducing Industry

An industry in which the final product weighs less or comprises a lower volume than the inputs.

Cottage Industry

Manufacturing based in homes rather than in factories, most common prior to the Industrial Revolution.

Fordist Production

A form of mass production in which each worker is assigned one specific task to perform repeatedly.

Industry

The manufacturing of goods in a factory.

Just in Time Delivery

Shipment of parts and materials to arrive at a factory moments before they are needed.

Labor Intensive Industry

An industry for which labor costs comprise a high percentage of total expenses.

Maquiladora

A factory built by a U.S. company in Mexico near the U.S. border to take advantage of the much lower labor costs in Mexico.

New International Division of Labor

Transfer of some types of jobs, especially those requiring low paid, less-skilled workers, from developed countries to developing countries.

Outsourcing

A decision by a corporation to turn over much of the responsibility for production to independent suppliers.

Post Fordist Production

Adoption by companies of flexible work rules, such as the allocation of workers to teams that perform a variety of tasks.

Right to work Law

A U.S. law that prevents a union and a company from negotiating a contract that requires workers to join the union as a condition of employment.

Site Factors

Location factors related to the costs of factors of production inside a plant, such as land, labor, and capital.

Situation Factors

Location factors related to the transportation of materials into and from a factory.

Textile

A fabric made by weaving, used in making clothing.

Vertical Integration

An approach typical of traditional mass production in which a company controls all phases of a highly complex production process.

Adolescent fertility rate

The number of births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 19.

Cooperative

An association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned enterprise.

Developed country

A country that has progressed relatively far along a continuum of development.

Developing country

A country that is at a relatively early stage in the process of development.

Development

A process of improvement in the conditions of people through diffusion of knowledge and technology.