Studied by 3 people
Unit 5 Study Guide
Agriculture
The process by which humans alter the landscape in order to raise crops and livestock for consumptions and trade.
First (Neolithic) Agricultural Revolution
The origin of farming, marked by the first domestication of plants and animals.
Domestication
Raising plants and animals for human use.
Subsistence Farming
When farmers consume the crops that they grow and raise.
The Columbian Exchange
The global movement of plants and animals between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas following the voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492.
Second Agricultural Revolution
Beginning the the 1700's, the advances of the Industrial Revolution were used to increase food supplies and support population growth.
The Industrial Revolution
A set of changes in technology that dramatically increased manufacturing productivity, reshaping how people worked, behaved, and where they lived.
The Enclosure Acts
A series of laws enacted by the British Government that enabled landowners to purchase and enclose land for their own use that had previously been common land used by peasant farmers.
Commercial Farming
Farming in which framers focus on raising one specific crop to sell for profit.
The Green Revolution
Beginning in the 1960's, it was the third agricultural revolution which involved the development of better and more efficient faming equipment and practices that led to increased production around the world.
Seed Hybridization
The process of breeding together two plants that have desirable characteristics.
GMOs
Genetically Modified Organisms, produced when humans use engineering techniques to change the DNA of a seed.
Intensive Farming
Agriculture that involved greater inputs of capital and paid labor relative to the space being used.
Extensive Farming
Agriculture that uses fewer inputs of capital and paid labor relative to the amount of space being used.
Shifting Cultivation
A form of subsistence, extensive agricultural farming involving moving plantings from one field to another, clearing the land by burning the vegetation.
Pastoral Nomadism
A form of subsistence, extensive agricultural farming involving the movement of herds of animals to different pastures within a territory.
Plantation Farming
A form of commercial, intensive agricultural farming that involves large farming specializing in one crop.
Mixed Crop/Livestock Farming
A form of commercial, intensive agricultural farming that involved an integrated system where the crops grow are used to feed the livestock on the same farm.
Grain Farming
A form of commercial, extensive agricultural farming that involve growing of grains, primarily wheat for the consumption of people.
Market Gardening
A form of commercial, intensive agricultural farming that involves the growing of fruits and vegetables, primarily for the purpose of freezing and canning.
Dairy Farming
A form of commercial, intensive agricultural farming involving raising cattle for the purpose of harvesting milk.
Mediterranean Agriculture
A form of commercial, intensive agricultural farming involving agriculture practiced in regions with hot dry summers and mild winters, narrow valleys, and simple vegetation systems.
Livestock Ranching
A form of commercial, extensive agricultural farming involving the grazing of animals confined to a specific area.
Settlement Pattern
The distribution of houses, farms, villages, towns, and cities in an area.
Clustered Settlements
A rural settlement pattern where homes and farm building are located close together with farmland surrounding them.
Dispersed Settlements
A rural settlement pattern characterized by isolated farms rather than clustered villages.
Linear Settlements
A rural settlement pattern in which farms are clustered along a road with field behind them.
Land Survey
A study performed to locate, describe, and map the boundaries of a plot of land.
Metes + Bounds
A rural survey method where land is divided into parcels based on features of the landscape, stance, and direction.
Township + Range
A rural survey method where land is divided using lines of altitude and longitude, resulting gin a grid pattern.
Long Lot
A rural survey method where land is divided into long, narrow lots that run perpendicular to a river, road, or canal.
Von Thunen's Land Use Model
An economic model that suggested a pattern for the types of products farmers would produce at different positions relative to the market where they sold their goods.
Horticulture
A type of agriculture that includes market gardening and dairy farming.
Distance Decay
A geographical theory that Staes that the interaction between two places decreases as the distance between them increases.
Bid Rent Theory
A geographical economic theory that explains that price and demand for real estate decreases as the distance from the city center (market) increases. There is less land close to the center/market, so it is more expensive there.
Hectares
A metric unit of square measure, equal to 100 acres.
Agribusiness
The integration of various steps of production in the food-processing industry.
Commodity Chain
A process used by corporations to gather resources, transform them into goods, and the transport them to customers.
Economy of Scale
The cost advantage experience by a company when it increases its level of output.
The Global Supply Chain
How goods or services move from the supplier to the customer.
Organic Food
Food produced without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, or other unnatural processes.
Community-Supported Agriculture
Agriculture where community members can buy a share of a farm or a subscription to receive a share of the crops.
Fair Trade
Trade between companies in developed countries and producers in developing countries that tries to ensure farmers are paid a fair wage.
Value-Added Specialty Crops
Crops that have some other product added to them to make them unique and able to sell at a higher price.
Luxury Crops
Crops grown for profit rather than to feed the population.
Food Security
Access by all people at all times to enough food to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Food Desert
A community where there is no access to fresh, healthy, affordable food options because there is a lack of grocery stores for farmer's markets.
Urban Agriculture
The practice of cultivating, processing, and distributing food in our around towns or cities.
Community Gardens
Plots of land used for growing food that are farmed collectively and used to benefit the whole community.
Double Cropping
Planting and harvesting on the same parcel of land twice per year.
Intercropping
When farmers grow two or more crops simultaneously on the same field.
Terrace Farming
When humans build a series of steps into the side of a hill, creating flat surfaced for the purpose of agriculture.
Monoculture
Specializing in one crop.
Irrigation
The process of diverting water from its natural course of location to help grow crops.
Soil Salinization
When water evaporates quickly, leaving salt residue behind.
Overgrazing
Excessive grazing in an area to the point that the land becomes permanently damaged.
Soil Degradation
When soil loses its ability to support plant growth and is much more easily eroded by wind or water.
Desertification
The transition of land from fertile to desert.
Slash and Burn Agriculture
Farming where all vegetation from an area is cut down and burned in place.
Deforestation
The removal of large tracts of forest.
Peticides
Chemicals sprayed on crops to ward off our kill any insects or animals that might try to eat them.
Fertilizers
Any substance added to soil to increase its productivity.
Feedlots
A place where livestock are fed and fattened up.
Aquaculture
The practice of raising and harvesting fish and other forms of food that live in the water.
