Studied by 17 people
Agribusiness
Large corporation that provides a vast array of goods and services to support the agricultural industry
Aquaculture
The cultivation and harvesting of aquatic organisms under controlled conditions
Bid-Rent Theory
Explains how the demand for and price of land decrease as its distance from the central business district increases
Cadastral Survey
Systematic documentation of property ownership, shape, use, and boundaries
Cash Crop
A crop raised to be sold for profit rather than to feed the farm family and the livestock; common cash crops are cotton, flax, hemp, coffee, and tobacco
Central Business District (CBD)
A dense cluster of offices and shops located at a city’s most accessible point, usually its center
Cereal grains
Seeds that come from a wide variety of grasses cultivated around the world, including wheat, barley, sorghum, millet, oats, and maize (corn)
Clustered settlement or farm village
A tightly bunched farm settlement that has anywhere from a few dozen to several hundred inhabitants
Columbian Exchange
The interaction and widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, disease, and ideas between the Americas, West Africa, and the Old World in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries
Commercial agriculture
Farming oriented exclusively toward the production of agricultural commodities for sale in the market
Commodity
A primary agricultural product or raw material that is bought, sold, and traded
Commodity Chain
A series of links connecting a commodity’s many places of production and distribution
Concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO)
Animal rearing system that confines livestock (such as cattle, sheep, turkeys, chickens, and hogs) in high-density cages only large enough to allow the animal body to grow and to accommodate equipment for feeding and waste removal
Crossbreeding
The act of mixing different species or varieties of plants or animals to produce hybrids
Dairying
A farming system that specializes in the breeding, rearing, and utilization of livestock (primarily cows) to produce milk and its various by-products, such as yogurt, butter, and cheese
Dispersed settlement or isolated settlement pattern
A settlement pattern in which families live relatively distant from one another
Domesticated animal
An animal that depends on people for food and shelter and is different from its wild ancestors in looks and behavior as a result of close contact with humans
Domesticated plant
A plant that is deliberately planted, protected, cared for, and used by humans and is genetically distinct from its wild ancestors
Double-cropping
Planting another crop on the same plot of land as soon as the first crop has been harvested
Extensive Agriculture
Crop cultivation and livestock rearing systems that require little hired labor or monetary investment to successfully raise crops and animals
Fair trade
A certification program that supports good crop prices for farmers and environmentally sound farming practices
Feedlot
A fenced enclosure used for intensive livestock feeding that serves to limit livestock movement and associated weight loss
Fertile Crescent
Area in Southwest Asia that includes the river valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates; the earliest center for domestication of seed plants
First Agricultural Revolution
Period during which the early domestication and diffusion of plants and animals and the cultivation of seed crops led to the development of agriculture
Food desert
Area with limited access to fresh, nutritious foods
Genetically Modified Organism (GMO)
A living organism, including crops and livestock, that is produced through genetic engineering
Grain farming
A highly mechanized commercial farming system that specializes in the production of cereal grains; requires large farms and widespread use of machinery, synthetic fertilizer, pesticides, and genetically engineered seeds
Green Revolution
The U.S.-supported development of high-yield seed varieties that increased the productivity of cereal crops and accompanying agricultural technologies for transfer to less developed countries
Hearth
A center where innovations or new practices develop and from which the innovations or new practices spread or diffuse
Herbicide
Pesticide designed to kill or inhibit the growth of unwanted plants (weeds) that compete with crops
Hybrid
The offspring of two plants or animals of different species or varieties
Intensive Agriculture
Crop cultivation and livestock rearing systems that use high levels of labor and capital relative to the size of the landholding
Intercropping
The farming practice of planting multiple crops together in the same clearing
Irrigated agriculture
Farming that relies on the controlled application of water to cultivated fields
Large-scale commercial operation
A large-scale farm oriented exclusively toward the production of agricultural commodities for sale in the market
Linear settlement pattern
A settlement pattern in which buildings are arranged in a line, often along a road or river; limited to areas where legal systems dictated that property lines must be rectangular
Livestock ranching
The practice of using extensive tracts of land to rear herds of livestock to sell as meat, hides, or wool
Long-lot survey system
A unit-block surveying system whose basic unit is a rectangle that is typically 10 times longer than it is wide
Market gardening
A small-scale farming system in which a farmer plants one to a few acres that produce a diverse mixture of vegetables and fruits, mostly for sale in local and regional markets
Mechanical reaper
A machine used to harvest grain crops mechanically; patented by Cyrus McCormick in 1831
Metes and bounds
Survey system that uses natural features such as trees, boulders, and streams to delineate property boundaries
Mixed crop/livestock agriculture
A diversified system of agriculture based on the cultivation of cereal grains and root crops (such as potatoes and yams) and the rearing of herd livestock
Monocropping (monoculture)
The cultivation of a single commercial crop on extensive tracts of land
Multicropping
Planting two or three crops per year on the same land
Nomadic herding (nomadic pastoralism)
A system of breeding and rearing herd livestock, such as cattle, sheep, or goats, by following the seasonal movement of rainfall to areas of open pasturelands
Organic farming
The production of crops and livestock using ecological processes, natural biodiversity, and renewable resources rather than industrial practices and synthetic inputs
Pesticide
Material used to kill or repel animals or insects that can damage, destroy, or inhibit crop growth
Plantation
Large landholding devoted to capital-intensive, specialized production of a single tropical or subtropical crop for the global marketplace
Second Agricultural Revolution
Period that brought improved methods of cultivation, harvesting, and storage of farm produce that began in the late 1600s and continued through the 1930s
Shifting cultivation
The cultivation of a plot of land until it becomes less productive, typically over a period of about three to five years; when productivity drops, the farmer shifts to a new plot of land that has been prepared by slash-and-burn agriculture
Subsidies
Guaranteed prices for staple food crops
Subsistence agriculture
Food production mainly for consumption by the farming family and local community, rather than principally for sale in the market
Township and range
Land survey system created by the U.S. Land Ordinance of 1785, which divides most of the country’s territory into a grid of square-shaped townships with 6-mile sides
Truck farm
A scaled-up version of market gardening, with more acreage, less crop diversity, and a stronger orientation toward more distant markets
Urban farming
The practice of growing fruits and vegetables on small private plots or shared community gardens within the confines of a city
