AP Human Geography Unit 5: Agriculture and Rural Land Use

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the origins of agriculture, agricultural revolutions, types of farming, land survey systems, the Von Thunen model, and environmental impacts.

Agriculture

The deliberate cultivation of crops and raising of livestock for food, fiber, and other products, which began approximately $10,000$ to $12,000$ years ago.

Neolithic Revolution

The transition from hunting-gathering to settled agriculture beginning around $10,000$ BCE in the Fertile Crescent, enabling permanent settlement and population growth.

Agricultural Hearth

A region where agriculture independently originated, such as the Fertile Crescent, East Asia, Mesoamerica, and the Andes.

Fertile Crescent

A hearth in Southwest Asia where wheat, barley, lentils, sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs were domesticated around $10,000$ BCE.

Mesoamerica

An agricultural hearth in Mexico where maize (corn), squash, beans, chili peppers, and cacao were domesticated around $5,000$ BCE.

Second Agricultural Revolution

A period between $1700$ and $1900$ CE in Western Europe that introduced crop rotation, the seed drill, and selective breeding to increase food surpluses.

Green Revolution (Third Agricultural Revolution)

A period from the $1940s$ to the $1970s$ characterized by high-yield variety (HYV) seeds, synthetic fertilizers, and expanded irrigation to increase global food production.

Norman Borlaug

The father of the Green Revolution who developed high-yield dwarf wheat and won the Nobel Peace Prize in $1970$.

Subsistence Agriculture

Farming primarily to feed the farmer's family with little to no surplus, common in the developing world.

Commercial Agriculture

Large-scale farming for profit where crops and livestock are sold on the market, characteristic of developed nations.

Shifting Cultivation (Slash-and-Burn)

A form of subsistence farming where forests are cleared by burning and farmed for $2$ to $5$ years until soil is exhausted, then moved to a new plot.

Nomadic Herding (Pastoralism)

Extensive subsistence agriculture moving livestock seasonally to find pasture in arid environments like the Sahara or Central Asia.

Transhumance

A specialized form of pastoralism involving the seasonal vertical migration of livestock between lowlands and highlands.

Mixed Crop and Livestock

Commercial farming where crops like corn and soybeans are grown to feed livestock on the same farm, common in the US Corn Belt.

Mediterranean Agriculture

Specialty farming adapted to hot-dry summers and mild-wet winters, producing grapes, olives, and citrus in regions like California and Southern Europe.

Plantation Agriculture

Large commercial estates in tropical regions growing a single export monoculture crop, such as coffee, rubber, or bananas.

Truck Farming (Market Gardening)

Intensive commercial cultivation of fruits and vegetables for urban markets, often heavily dependent on migrant labor.

Von Thunen Model

An $1826$ model predicting agricultural land use in concentric rings around a city based on transportation costs and perishability.

Bid-Rent Theory

The economic concept that farmers bid for land closer to the market based on its profitability and transportation costs.

Metes and Bounds

A land survey system using natural features and compass bearings to define irregular land parcels, common in the original $13$ American colonies.

Township and Range

The US federal land survey system from the Land Ordinance of $1785$ that divides land into a rectangular grid of $6$-mile-square townships.

Long Lot System

A land survey system of narrow strips perpendicular to a river or road, reflecting French colonial traditions in places like Quebec and Louisiana.

Nucleated Settlement

A rural settlement pattern where homes and buildings are clustered together in a village with fields radiating outward.

Food Security

Condition where all people have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food.

Agribusiness

The industrialization of agriculture integrating seeds, chemicals, distribution, and retail under corporate control.

Monoculture

The cultivation of a single crop species over a large area, making it efficient but vulnerable to disease and pests.

Salinization

The toxic buildup of salts in soil caused by over-irrigation in arid regions, a major problem in the Aral Sea region.

Desertification

The degradation of dryland areas into desert-like conditions due to overgrazing, deforestation, and poor management, notably in the Sahel.

CAFO (Feedlot)

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation; an industrial facility where large numbers of livestock are confined and fattened before slaughter.

Eutrophication

Water pollution caused by fertilizer runoff that creates hypoxic 'dead zones,' such as in the Gulf of Mexico.