Agriculture Supplemental Vocabulary

Agricultural Revolutions

Was a period of technological improvement and increased crop productivity that occurred during the 18th and early 19th centuries in Europe.

Animal Husbandry

An agricultural activity associated with the raising of domesticated animals, including cattle, horses, sheep and goats

Aquaculture

the use of river segments or artificial bodies of water such as ponds for the raising and harvesting of food products including fish, shellfish, and seaweed.

Bid rent curve/theory

is a geographical economic theory that refers to how the price and demand for real estate change as the distance from the central business district increases. It states that different land users will compete with one another for land close to the city center.

Biotechnology

A form of technology that uses living organisms, usually genes, to modify products, to make or modify plants and animals, or to develop other microorganisms for specific purposes.

Blue Revolution

Refers to the time of intense growth in the worldwide aquaculture industry from the mid-1960s to present. The aquaculture industry has been growing at an average rate of 9% a year.

Capital- intensive Agriculture

Form of agriculture that uses mechanical goods such as machinery, tools, vehicles and facilities to produce large amounts of agricultural goods; a process requiring very little human labor.

Carrying capacity

the largest number of people that the environment of a region can support

Columbian Exchange

bridged the gap between the Americas and the rest of the world. Basically, any form of trade between the Americas and the rest of the world. (refers to a period of cultural and biological exchanges between the New and Old Worlds. Exchanges of plants, animals, diseases and technology transformed European and Native American ways of life.)

Commercial agricultural economy

All agricultural activity generated for the purpose of selling, not necessarily for local consumption

Commodity chain

is a process used by corporations to gather resources and transform them into goods and then transport them to consumers

Community-supported agriculture (CSA)

is a system that connects the farmers and consumer within the food system more closely by allowing the consumer to support to the harvest of a certain farm or group of farms

Dairying

an agricultural activity involving the raising of livestock, most commonly cows and goats, for dairy products such as milk, cheese and butter

desertification

the action of clearing a wide area of trees

Domestication

The conscious manipulation of plant and animal species by humans in order to sustain themselves

The Enclosure Act

series of laws enacted by the British government that enabled landowners to purchase and enclose land for their own use

Farmland protection policies

Policies enacted by governments that protect farmland and prevent it from being sold into other use. Use zoning to identify areas of agricultural land use.

Feedlots

Places where livestock are concentrated in a very small area and raised on hormones and hearty grains that prepare them for slaughter at much more rapid rate than grazing; often referred to as “factory farms”

Fertilizer

a chemical or natural substance added to soil or land to increase its fertility

Food desert

is an area that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food, in contrast with an area with higher access to supermarkets or vegetable shops with fresh foods, which is called a food oasis

Food insecurity

the state of being without reliable access to enough quantity of affordable, nutritious food

Genetically modified foods

Foods that are mostly products of organisms that have had their genes altered in a laboratory for specific purposes such as disease resistance, increased productivity or nutritional value allowing growers greater control, predictability and efficiency

High-yield seeds

crops that produce more food per farming cycle than other wild varieties. They are often genetically modified to produce desirable shapes and sizes for increased food production

hybridization

the process of breeding two plants that have desirable characteristics to produce a single seed with both characteristics

Infrastructure

includes roads, bridges, tunnels, ports, electrical grids, sewers, telecommunication, etc. of a country

irrigation

bringing water for crops from a distance using canals, ditches, hoses, or machines

labor-intensive agriculture

type of agriculture that requires large levels of manual labor to succeed

local food movement

sales of foods and demand for food at local farmers markets across the USA have increased in recent years. while the food is the main draw there are also less tangible forces at play such as community and the experience of shopping at a local food event

long lot

this one was put in by the French and used in French regions of North America such as Canada and Louisiana. Most farmland was along rivers and the system created long rectangular plots of farmland to give equal access to the river.

luxury crops

ones not essential to human survival but have a high profit margin ex. pineapples, coffee, cocoa

mechanization

in agriculture, replacing human labor with technology or machines

metes and bounds system

a method of describing land, real property (in contrast to personal property) or real estate. typically, the system uses physical features of the local geography, along with directions and distances, to define and describe the boundaries of a parcel of land

monoculture

the commercial growing of only one crop

neolithic revolution (first agricultural)

started 12,000 years ago with the first seed farming and use of animals, slowly started to replace hunter and gather lifestyle, and created the ability to produce more food without traveling led to a growth in populations and first civilizations

nomadic herding

management of animals into larger groups or herds by humans for the production of food and other resources the animal can renew

planned agricultural economy

an agricultural economy found in communist nations in which the government controls both agricultural production and distribution

plantation farming

uses of unfair wages and can be tied in with present day slave labor. tropical and subtropical regions of Latin america, africa, asia

subsistence agricultural economy

any farm economy in which most crops are grown for nearly exclusive family or local consumption

organic farming

a natural approach to farming that uses biological diversity to fight the pests so as to not use any pesticides or fertilizers. results in lower yields than commercial farming but has health and environmental benefits.

pesticides

chemicals used on plants that do not harm the plants, but kill pests and can have negative repercussions on other species who ingest the chemicals (including humans)

salinization

process that occurs when soils in arid areas are brought under cultivation through irrigation. In arid climates, water evaporates quickly off the ground surface, leaving salty residues that render the soil infertile

Second Agricultural Revolution

occurred mainly on the industrial revolution in modern day MDC’s, people started moving to cities to work and rural farmers invented tools and machines to aid in farming, more food was available which caused the population to spike

specialty crops

crops including items like peanuts and pineapples, which are produced, usually in developing countries, for export

subsidies

government financial support

terrace farming

usually used in hilly of mountainous landscapes to create flat land areas to store water and allow crops to dig in soil. very common in Southeast Asia

third agricultural revolution

occurred in the 1950s-60s (referred to as the green revolution), when chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and new irrigation practices were diffused to LDC’s, high yield seeds also used

urban farming

is the practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in or around urban areas. This can also involve animal husbandry, aquaculture, agroforestry, urban beekeeping, and horticulture

value added specialty crops

goods that have some other product in them or item attached to them to make them unique and able to sell at higher price

wetland draining

clearing water from wetlands and swamps to make lands accessible for farming. can lead to the destruction of an ecosystem if not done properly