Lecture 8: crop production

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms related to cocoa, coffee, the history of agriculture, and modern agricultural practices based on the lecture notes.

Cacao vs Cocoa

The same thing. Cacao is the tree and pods before roasting.

Forastero

a cacao tree of a widely grown variety that provides the bulk of the world's cocoa beans.

Criollo

A high-quality but low-yield type of cocoa.

Trinitario

A type of cocoa that is a combination of Criollo and Forastero, not grown in large areas.

Cocoa Butter

Constitutes 54% of the fat content in cocoa beans.

C. arabica

Accounts for about 75-80% of the world’s coffee production, a popular choice suited for high altitude.

C. robusta

Accounts for 20% of the world’s coffee production, considered an inferior bean with higher caffeine levels than arabica.

Kopi luwak

Also known as civet cat coffee, where civet cats eat berries and digest the seed, which is then collected from their droppings.

Domestication

A two-step process involving cultivation (planting where you want to produce) and selection (plant breeding for desired traits).

Cultivation

The act of planting crops in a desired location for production.

Selection

A process similar to plant breeding where plants and seeds are chosen based on desired traits.

Slash and burn

An ancient agricultural method where trees and bushes are cut down and burned to clear land, used temporarily for crops by mobile societies.

Plow

The first instrument widely adopted for agriculture.

The Columbian Exchange

The global exchange or flow of plants, animals, humans, diseases, and ideas between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.

Dr. Norman E. Borlaug

Known as the father of the Green Revolution, he saved millions of lives by breeding high-yielding crop varieties.

Lodging

A condition where tall wheat plants cannot stand upright, especially when fertilizer is applied, a problem addressed by dwarf varieties.

Green Revolution

A period of significant agricultural innovation focused on developing technology and new varieties to increase food production, particularly in developing countries.

Precision agriculture

A modern agricultural approach that uses data for planning and calculations to optimize farming practices, involving computerized planning.

which country is the biggest producer of coffee

Brazil

Nacional

one of the four cacao varieties that is difficult to grow but has sought after aroma qualities.

Which country is the biggest producer of chocolate

the ivory coast

food dollar application

3% of price paid at the grocery store for chocolate goes to the farmers. 43% of the price goes to marketing and processing.

theories about agriculture’s origin

climate change, population pressure, cultural progress

multiple birth

Several crops were domesticated in multiple locations. Rice, millets, yams and squash are examples of crops with multiple centres of domestication.

A common ancestor would have different varieties because of regional differences in selection processes

how did agriculture impact society?

larger population, new social classes (birth of middle class) Economic (new jobs such as artists, priests and shopkeepers) Food was a currency used for services, Future planning, Wars and politics based off of land value and the Explosion of technology

How did agriculture change the human genome?

differing gluten tolerance based off of regional eating habits, lactose intolerance

climate change as a theory for the birth of agriculture

After the ice age, the environment was welcoming to plant crops and cultivate. Plants started exhibiting traits that made manageable production.

why is population pressure a theory for the birth of agriculture?

More food needed to sustain large groups of people

cultural progress 

People discovered that having food close to where they live was more convenient

Where did agriculture originate?

The birth of agriculture happened simultaneously in multiple locations. Some locations have more evidence to being origin spots than other. Some potential locations include northern and southern china, Mesoamerica, The andes, The fertile crescent

where agriculture started is no longer capable of supporting modern agriculture