Human Geography Unit 5 Vocab

Agribusiness

Commercial agriculture characterized by integration of different steps in the food-processing industry, usually through ownership by large corporations.

Agricultural Hearths

Places where agriculture first developed and originated

Aquaculture

The cultivation of seafood under controlled conditions

Bid-Rent Theory

geographical economic theory that refers to how the price and demand on real estate changes as the distance towards the Central Business District (CBD) increases.

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.

Clustered Settlement Pattern

a settlement where buildings are clustered around a particular point.

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of plants, animals, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the rest of the world following Columbus's voyages.

Commercial Agriculture

Agriculture undertaken primarily to generate products for sale off the farm.

Commodity Chain

A chain of activities from the manufacturing to the distribution of a product

Community-Supported Agriculture

A system in which consumers pay farmers in advance for a share of their yield, usually in the form of weekly deliveries of produce.

Deforestation

The removal of trees faster than forests can replace themselves.

Desertification

Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting.

Dispersed Settlement Pattern

A rural settlement pattern characterized by isolated farms rather than clustered villages.

Economies of Scale

factors that cause a producer's average cost per unit to fall as output rises

Extensive Agriculture

An agricultural system characterized by low inputs of labor per unit land area.

Fair Trade

Alternative to international trade that emphasizes small businesses and worker owned and democratically run cooperatives and requires employers to pay workers fair wages, permit union organizing, and comply with minimum environmental and safety standards.

Fertilizer

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

Food Desert

An area characterized by a lack of affordable, fresh and nutritious food.

Food insecurity

The condition in which people live with chronic hunger and malnutrition

Genetically Modified Organisms

An organism/crop whose genetic material has been altered through some genetic engineering technology or technique.

Green Revolution

Agricultural revolution that increased production through improved seeds, fertilizers, and irrigation; helped to support rising Asian populations.

intensive agriculture

A form of subsistence agriculture in which farmers must expend a relatively large amount of effort to produce the maximum feasible yield from a parcel of land.

Irrigation

The process of supplying water to areas of land to make them suitable for growing crops.

linear settlement pattern

Settlements are in long, thin rows often along roads or tracks or valley bottoms

Local food movement

Purchasing food from nearby farms because you want to minimize the pollution created from the transportation of food around the world

long-lot system

distinct regional approach to land surveying found in the Canadian Maritimes, parts of Quebec, Louisiana, and Texas whereby land is divided into narrow parcels stretching back from rivers, roads, or canals

Market Gardening (Truck Farming)

The small scale production of fruits, vegetables, and flowers as cash crops sold directly to local consumers.

mechanized farming

Farming with machines, is easy on the large expanses of flat land.

Mediterranean agriculture

An agricultural system practiced in the Mediterranean style climates of Western Europe, California, and portions of Chile and Australia, in which diverse specialty crops such as grapes, avocados, olives, and a host of nuts, fruits, and vegetables comprise profitable agricultural operations.

Metes and Bounds

A method of land description which involves identifying distances and directions and makes use of both the physical boundaries and measurements of the land.

mixed crop and livestock farming

Commercial farming characterized by integration of crops and livestock; most of the crops are fed to animals rather than consumed directly by humans.

Monoculture

farming strategy in which large fields are planted with a single crop, year after year

Nomadic herding

migratory but controlled movement of livestock solely dependent on natural forage

pesticide

A chemical intended to kill insects and other organisms that damage crops.

plantation agriculture

Growing specialized crops such as bananas, coffee, and cacao in tropical developing countries, primarily for sale to developed countries.

Ranching

A form of commercial agriculture in which livestock graze over an extensive area.

Rural Settlement Patterns

farms, villages, or towns that have any of the following patterns- dispersed, clustered, or linear

shifting cultivation

A form of subsistence agriculture in which people shift activity from one field to another; each field is used for crops for relatively few years and left fallow for a relatively long period.

subsistence farming

farming that provides for the basic needs of the farmer without surpluses for marketing

Terrace Farming

The cutting out of flat areas (terraces) into near vertical slopes to allow farming. Terrace farms appears as steps cut into a mountainside. This adaptation allowed both the early Chinese, and the Inca of Mesoamerica to grow enough food for their large populations.

township and range system

A rectangular land division scheme designed by Thomas Jefferson to disperse settlers evenly across farmlands of the U.S. interior.

Von Thunen Model

A model that explains the location of agricultureal activities in a commercial, profit-making economy. A process of spatial competition allocates various farming activities into rings around a central market city, with profit-earning capability the determining force in how far a crop locates from the market