Chapter 10-Food and Agriculture vocab

Adaptive strategies

The way humans adapt to the physical and cultural landscape they are living in.

Agrarian

Characteristic of farmers or their way of life.

Agribusiness

The set of economic and political relationships that organize food production for commercial purposes.

Agricultural industrialization

The transformation of farming practices through the adoption of advanced technologies, machinery, and scientific methods to increase productivity and efficiency.

Agricultural landscape

A geographical area that has been modified by human activity to cultivate crops and raise livestock.

Agricultural location model

Often agricultural land is cheapest in rural areas far away from city centers.

Agricultural origins

Can be traced back to various regions around the world, including the Fertile Crescent, Mesoamerica, and East Asia.

Agriculture

The art and science of producing food from the land and tending livestock for the purpose of human consumption.

Animal domestication

The process by which wild animals are cultivated into a resource supply for humans.

Aquaculture

The cultivation or farming (in controlled conditions) of aquatic species, such as fish.

Biorevolution

The rapid transformation or evolution into posthumanism.

Biotechnology

Any technological innovation designed to improve the usefulness of plant and animal species for human agricultural purposes.

Collective farm

An agricultural production unit including a number of farm households or villages working together under state control.

Commercial agriculture

Large-scale farming practices that are primarily geared towards producing crops and livestock for sale in the marketplace rather than for personal consumption.

Crop rotation

The practice of rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year to avoid exhausting the soil.

Cultivation regions

Areas characterized by specific climate factors, soil conditions, and agricultural practices that are favorable for the cultivation and production of crops, plants, or livestock.

Dairying

The agricultural practice of raising cattle and other animals to produce milk and dairy products.

Debt-for-nature swap

Financial transactions in which a portion of a developing nation's foreign debt is forgiven in exchange for local investments in environmental conservation measures.

Diffusion

The spread of an idea or characteristic over time.

Double cropping

Harvesting twice a year from the same field.

Economic activity

The various actions and processes that individuals, businesses, and governments engage in to produce, distribute, and consume goods and services.

Environmental modification

The ways in which humans alter natural landscapes and ecosystems to suit their needs.

Extensive subsistence agriculture

Farming style that relies heavily on the natural environment and climate conditions.

Extractive industry

Prospecting and exploring for a nonrenewable resource, getting them, further exploring them, or extracting them from the earth.

Farm crisis

The mass production of farm products that lowers the prices and profits for farmers.

Farming

The deliberate effort to modify a portion of Earth's surface through the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock.

Feedlot

Places where livestock are concentrated in a very small area and raised for slaughter at a rapid rate.

First agricultural revolution

The slow change from hunter-gatherer societies to more agriculturally based ones.

Fishing

The practice of catching fish and other seafood for sale in the market.

Food chain

The interconnected systems through which food is produced, processed, transported, and consumed.

Forestry

The science and practice of managing, using, conserving, and repairing forested lands.

Globalized agriculture

A system of agriculture built on economic and regulatory practices that are global in scope.

Green revolution

The development of higher-yield and fast-growing crops through increased technology.

Growing season

The season in which crops grow best.

Hunting and gathering

The first way humans obtained food.

Intensive subsistence agriculture

A farming system characterized by high labor input and use of small plots of land for local consumption.

Intertillage

Tillage between rows of crops.

Livestock ranching

Commercial grazing of livestock over an extensive area.

Market gardening

The small scale production of fruits, vegetables, and flowers as cash crops.

Mediterranean agriculture

A farming system characterized by specialized crops suited to the Mediterranean climate.

Mineral fuels

Hydrocarbons formed from dead plants and animals.

Mining

The process of extracting minerals and resources from the earth.

Monoculture

Deliberate cultivation of only one single crop in a large land area.

Planned economy

The government controls all aspects of the production, sale, and exchange of agricultural produce.

Plant domestication

The process by which wild plants are cultivated into productive crops.

Plantation agriculture

The production of one or more usually cash crops on a large swathe of land.

Renewable/nonrenewable

Resources produced by nature at different rates.

Rural settlement

Sparsely settled places away from the influence of large cities.

Sauer, Carl O.

Developer of the cultural landscape theory.

Second agricultural revolution

Mechanization and advances in transportation and irrigation.

Specialization

The process where specific regions focus on producing particular types of agricultural products.

Staple grains

Grains such as rice, wheat, and corn.

Suitcase farm

A farm owned by someone who lives somewhere else; usually a crops-only farm.

Survey patterns

Include interviews, questionnaires, and observational techniques.

Sustainable yield

The maximum level of resource extraction that can be maintained over time.

Third agricultural revolution

Hybridization and genetic engineering of agricultural products.

Tragedy of the commons

A situation where individuals with access to a public resource deplete the resource.

Transhumance

The seasonal movement of livestock between mountains and lowland pastures.

Truck farm

A farm producing fruits and vegetables to be sold and shipped.

Von Thünen, Johann Heinrich

Developer of a model explaining the spatial organization of agriculture.