Unit 4 - Human Geography - Key Vocabulary

Human Geography - Agriculture

Fertile Crescent

the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Mesopotamia where agriculture first began.

First Agricultural Revolution

the change from hunter-gathering to living in permanent settlements that relied on planting and sustaining crops

Cereal crops

grains like wheat, rice and corn that have high yields (many grains per plant)

Domestication

the process of adapting plants and animals for human use

Hearth

where something begins, area of origin

Columbian Exchange

the exchange of biological organisms, mainly foods and diseases, between the Old World of Europe and Africa and the New World in the Americas

Second Agricultural Revolution

increased production of food as a result of changes in selective breeding and the application of new tools and mechanized labor

Selective breeding

The use of observation and experiments to naturally breed animals and plants for desirable traits.

Third Agricultural Revolution

the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides on farms to allow commercial farmers to grow more food with less labor

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

an organism whose genetic material has been altered through genetic engineering by scientists in a laboratory

Green Revolution

the spread of Western style agricultural practices to the rest of the world

Commercial Agriculture

farming done for the purpose of selling products

Subsistence Agriculture

when farmers primarily produce food for their own family to eat

Pastoral nomadism

a form of subsistence agriculture in which farmers graze herds of grass eating animals, moving from one location to another.

Shifting cultivation/ slash and burn

where farmers cut down forests and burn the trees to provide nutrients to the soil

Intensive Subsistence, wet rice dominant

rice plants are grown in nurseries and then transplanted to flooded rice paddies, most of the work is done by people

Intensive Subsistence

wet rice not dominant - farmers grow cereal crops using subsistence methods, mostly by people and animals

Plantations

growing cash crops in LDCs using a large labor force on farms mainly owned by corporations

Mixed Crop and livestock

a form of commercial agriculture where the focus is growing crops to feed livestock for sale at markets

Crop rotation

changing what crops are grown on a field each year to prevent the soil from using up its nutrients

Factory farms

large enclosures for feeding livestock with the goal of producing as many animals as fast as possible

Free range farming

livestock production where animals are allowed space to roam

Dairying

focused on the production of milk and cheese products

Commercial grain

wheat and other grain crops are grown for sale at market using large scale farming practices

Livestock ranching

animals are raised to be sold for their meat, typically on large grasslands

Mediterranean Agriculture/ horticulture

growing of fruits and vegetables that require warm wet winters and dry hot summers

Commercial Gardening

production of fruits and vegetables using modern machines and chemicals for sale in markets often far from farms

Market gardening

producing smaller amounts of fruits and vegetables closer to urban centers for sale in local markets.