Unit 5: Agriculture and Land Use

Flashcards covering key terms and concepts related to agriculture and land use, essential for understanding topics in human geography.

Commercial Agriculture

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

Subsistence Agriculture

Agriculture designed primarily to provide food for direct consumption by the farmers and their families.

Pesticides

Chemicals used to kill pests that can damage crops.

Economies of Scale

Cost advantages that a business obtains due to the scale of its operation, with cost per unit of output generally decreasing with increasing scale as fixed costs are spread out over more units of output.

Slash-and-Burn Agriculture

A form of agriculture in which existing vegetation is cut and burned to clear land for cultivation; also known as shifting cultivation.

Pastoral Nomadism

A form of subsistence agriculture based on herding animals and moving them from one pasture to another.

Transhumance

The seasonal migration of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures.

Neolithic Agricultural Revolution

The first agricultural revolution, occurring approximately 10,000 years ago, marked by the transition from nomadic hunting and gathering to farming societies.

Second Agricultural Revolution

A movement that coincided with the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s and 1800s, characterized by mechanization and improved crop rotation.

Green Revolution

A period of agricultural transformation between the 1940s and late 1960s, characterized by high-yield crops, chemical fertilizers, and pesticides.

Intensive Agriculture

Agricultural production systems characterized by high inputs of labor, capital, or resources per unit of land to achieve maximum yield.

Extensive Agriculture

Agricultural production systems that use low inputs of labor and capital per unit of land, typically seeking to maximize the total area cultivated.

Plantation Agriculture

A large-scale commercial farming system that specializes in the production of one or two crops (e.g., coffee, sugar) for sale, often in tropical climates.

Von Thünen Model

A model explaining agricultural land use patterns based on the concept of bid rent and transportation costs to the central market.

Agribusiness

A term referring to the various businesses involved in the production, processing, and distribution of agricultural products.

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

Organisms whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques to provide traits like pest resistance or increased nutrition.

Sustainable Agriculture

Farming methods that preserve long-term productivity of land and minimize environmental damage, often through crop rotation and reduced chemical use.

Mediterranean Agriculture

Specialized farming that occurs in areas with a Mediterranean climate, focusing on crops like grapes, olives, citrus, and figs.

Dairy Farming

A form of commercial agriculture specializing in milk and dairy production, typically located within the 'milkshed' near urban centers.

Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming

Commercial farming where most of the crops are grown as feed for animals rather than for direct human consumption.

Livestock Ranching

The commercial grazing of livestock over an extensive geographical area, practiced in regions where the soil is too poor for crops.

Market Gardening (Truck Farming)

The small-scale production of fruits, vegetables, and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers or local processors.

Aquaculture

The cultivation of seafood, such as fish or shellfish, under controlled conditions.

Organic Farming

An approach to agriculture that avoids the use of herbicides, pesticides, growth hormones, and other synthetic inputs.

Food Desert

An area, typically in lower-income urban neighborhoods, where healthy and affordable food is difficult to obtain.

Bid-Rent Theory

A geographical economic theory stating that the price and demand for real estate change as the distance from the Central Business District (CBD) increases.

Terrace Farming

The practice of cutting flat areas into hilly or mountainous terrain to grow crops and reduce soil erosion.

Desertification

The process by which fertile land becomes desert, often due to drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agricultural practices like overgrazing.

Salinization

The accumulation of salts in the soil, often caused by improper irrigation in arid regions, which eventually makes the land infertile.

Commodity Chain

A series of links connecting the many places of production and distribution, resulting in a commodity that is exchanged on the world market.

Double Cropping

A method of intensive agriculture where two different crops are harvested from the same field in a single year.

Monoculture

The cultivation of a single crop in a given area, often associated with commercial plantation farming.

Biorevolution

The rapid expansion of biotechnology and its application to agriculture, specifically genetic engineering and cloning.

Luxury Crops

Non-subsistence crops that are not essential to human survival, such as tobacco, cocoa, tea, and coffee.

Fair Trade

An alternative trade model that emphasizes paying fair wages to farmers in developing countries and maintaining sustainable environmental standards.

Vertical Integration

A business strategy where a company controls multiple stages of the production process, such as a farm owning its own processing plant and transport trucks.

Feedlots (CAFOs)

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations where animals are kept and fed in high densities to maximize weight gain before slaughter.

Crop Rotation

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

Intertilling

The practice of planting different crops in the same field to utilize the space between rows and reduce the risk of total crop failure.

Food Security

The condition in which all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food.

Township and Range System

A rectangular land division scheme based on a grid system: Townships are 36 square miles and Sections are 1 square mile (640 acres).

Metes and Bounds

A land surveying system using natural features and geometric descriptions to define property boundaries, leading to irregular shapes.

Long-Lot Survey System

A land survey system where land is divided into narrow parcels stretching back from rivers or roads to provide water access.

Clustered Rural Settlement

A settlement pattern where buildings for multiple families are situated close together, with fields surrounding the village.

Dispersed Rural Settlement

A settlement pattern characterized by isolated farms scattered throughout the countryside.

Linear Rural Settlement

A settlement pattern where buildings are clustered along a road, river, or dike.

Prime Agricultural Land

The most productive farmland, highly susceptible to loss from urban sprawl.

Columbian Exchange

The global transfer of plants, animals, and diseases between the Americas and the Old World after 1492.

Arid Climate

A dry climate receiving less than 10 inches of rain annually, requiring irrigation for crop growth.

Semi-Arid Climate

A climate receiving 10 to 20 inches of rain annually, often used for ranching.

Major Agricultural Hearth Regions

Independent regions of domestication: Southwest Asia (wheat), East Asia (rice), Sub-Saharan Africa (sorghum), and Mesoamerica (maize).

Fertile Crescent

An early hearth in the Middle East stretching from the Nile to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

Primary Sector

Economic activities involving the direct extraction of raw materials, such as agriculture and mining.

Secondary Sector

Economic activities involving the processing and manufacturing of raw materials into products.

Tertiary Sector

Economic activities providing services rather than goods, such as retail and banking.

Milkshed

The ring surrounding a city from which milk can be supplied without spoiling.

Wet Rice

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

Spring Wheat

Wheat planted in the spring and harvested in late summer; grown in colder regions like the Dakotas.

Winter Wheat

Wheat planted in the autumn and harvested in the early summer; grown in warmer regions like Kansas.

Horticulture

The growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers.