AP Human Geography Unit 5 Vocabulary

Agriculture

Humans altering the landscape to raise crops and livestock

Climate

Weather patterns in a region over long periods of time

Mediterranean Climate

Warm dry summers and cool, rainy winters

Tropical Climate

High temperatures and heavy precipitation during at least part of the year

Market-gardening

Small scale production, sold directly to local consumers

Plantation agriculture

A large estate organized to produce a single cash crop for sale

Subsistence agriculture

Designed primarily to provide food for direct consumption by the farmer and family

Commercial agriculture

Undertaken primarily to generate products for sale off the farm

Capital

Money available for investment

Grain farming

Mass planting and harvesting of crops such as wheat, barley, and millet

Dairy farming

Producing milk or milk products, usually around big urban areas

Transhumance

Seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pastures

Enclosure Acts

Created legal property rights to land that was previously considered common, UK

Irrigation

Supplying water to areas of land to make them suitable for growing crops

Linear rural settlement

Buildings clustered along a road, river, or dike

Metes and Bounds

Descriptions of land ownership using natural features such as streams or trees, UK

Township and Range

Rectangular land division, designed to disperse settlers evenly across farmlands, US

Long-Lot System

Farms were thin sections of land that ran perpendicular to a river

Neolithic Revolution aka First Agricultural

Revolution People began to settle down and domesticate plants and animals

Fertile Crescent

Area of land in the Middle East from the Nile to the Tigris and Euphrates

Green Revolution 1950s

technology especially high-yield seeds and fertilizers, S Asia not Africa

High-yield seeds

Engineered to be stronger and more productive

Hybridization

Breeding plants that have desirable characteristics to produce both characteristics

Monocropping

Utilizes large plantings of a single species or variety

Double Cropping

Harvesting twice a year from the same field

Intercropping

Two or more crop species are planted in the same field at the same time

Aquaculture

Raising marine and freshwater fish in ponds and underwater cages, Blue Revolution

Carrying Capacity

Largest number of individuals of a population that an environment can support

Vertical Integration

A single entity controls the entire process of a product, raw material to distribution

Economies of Scale

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

Agribusiness

Commercial agriculture characterized by integration of steps of food processing

Isotropic Plain

Human and physical geographic features are uniform throughout the entire area

Horticulture

The growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers

Free market economy

Prices are not controlled by a government

Comparative Advantage

Producing a good at a more efficient or cheaper rate due to better climate or soil

Global supply chain

Integrated of network sourcing, production, and distribution on a worldwide scale

Export commodities

Goods or services sold to a foreign country

Supply Chains

Sequence of processes involved in the production and distribution of a commodity

Neocolonialism

Domination of newly independent countries by foreign businesses, often monoculture

Fair Trade

Movement Promotes environmentalism, fair wages, and alleviation of global poverty

Subsidies

Money granted by the government to assist and industry or business

Infrastructure

Buildings, roads, and power supplies needed for the operation of a society

Pollution

Release of harmful materials into the environment

Soil Salinization

In arid regions, irrigation water evaporates, leaving salt behind

Hydroponics Growing plants without soil

Vertical Farms

Growing crops inside stackable trays, uses greenhouses and artificial lights

Food insecurity

Being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food

Food desert

An area in a developed country where healthy food is difficult to obtain

Tariff

A Tax on imported goods

Quota

A limit placed on the quantities of a product that can be imported

Intensive farming

High inputs, produces more yield

Mixed crop/livestock

Large-scale, intensive, integrated, commercial farming

Extensive farming

Fewer amounts of inputs, and produces less yield

Shifting cultivation

Using new fields as current fields become unusable

Nomadic herding

Moving herds to different locations within a region

Ranching

Grazing animals in a specific area

Milk shed

The geographic distance milk travels to delivery

Clustered (nucleated)

settlement Homes located near each other in a village

Dispersed settlement

Homes spread throughout the countryside

Linear settlement

Buildings and human activities are organized close to a body of water or along a transportation route

Public Lands Survey

System Township and range system- started in the US as it expanded west

Indus River Valley

Agricultural Hearth Barley, cotton, wheat, and peas diffused to: Indian subcontinent, southwest Asia

Southeast Asia

Agricultural Hearth Mangoes, taro, cocoanuts diffused to: Southeastern Asia

Central America (Mesoamerica)

Agricultural Hearth Squash, peppers, maize, potato, cassava diffused to: North America, South America

Columbian Exchange

The global exchange of goods, disease, plants, and animals between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas following Columbus' discovery of the Americas in 1492

Independent Innovation

Crops and animals are domesticated at the same time in different areas of the world with no contact between the two civilizations

Specialization of Labor

Happened as agriculture became more efficient. People could spend less time growing food and more time on other jobs

Crop Rotation

Planting different corps in a specific rotation on the same plot of land in order to restore nutrients to the soil

Mechanized farming

Techniques that rely on machines to more efficiently produce crops

Third Agricultural

Revolution Based around new science and technology that led to scientific intervention in the architectural process

Genetically Modified Organism (GMO)

Humans using engineering techniques to change the DNA of a seed

Bid-Rent Theory

Changing value and demand for land as the distance from the market changes

Land costs effects

If land is plentiful and costs little, it is used extensively; if land is scarce and expensive, it is used intensively

Feedlots

Confined spaces in which cattle and hogs have limited movement

Factory farming

Capital intensive livestock operation in which many animals are kept in close quarters and fed and bred in a controlled environment

Capital intensive

A lot a money is required

Labor intensive

A lot of labor (human capital) is required

Cool chains

Transportation networks that keep food (and plants/flowers) refrigerated throughout a trip

Luxury crops

Crops not essential to human survival, but which have a high profit margin

Land cover change

The study of how land is used and the impact of changing land use

Desertification

Alteration of the natural vegetation in arid areas. Causes land to become infertile

Slash and Burn (Swidden)

An early agricultural practice whereby all vegetation in a forest is cut down and burned to be used as pasture land. Temporarily increased soil fertility

Terraces

A series of steps built into the side of a hill. Risk is mudslides

Deforestation

Clear cutting trees or forest, used to create pastures, occurs mostly in SE Asia, parts of Africa and in the rainforests of South America

Center-Pivot Irrigation

Water equipment rotates around a pivot and delivers a specific amount of water, fertilizer, or pesticides

Wetlands

Low-lying areas that contain a significant amount of water at or near the surface

Soil degradation

When the soil does not fully or partially recover after overgrazing, overtilling, or poor planning techniques

Organic foods

Became popular in response to use of pesticides, hormones, and synthetic fertilizers. Must be produced without the use of pesticides, hormones, and synthetic fertilizers, or GMOs

Community garden

When a community grows crops in an urban area in a shared space

Local food movement

Community-supported agriculture that brings producers and consumers into a type of partnership

Value-added farming

When farmers process their crop into high value products rather than selling it as it comes from the field ex: making jelly, jam or wine

Food processing

The transformation of agricultural products into food or taking food items and transforming them into a different type of food.

Aquaculture AKA Aquafarming

A type of intensive farming raising of fish, shellfish, or water plants are raised in netted areas in sea tanks or other bodies of water

Overgrazing

Occurs when animals consume more grasses than the land can support, results in soil degradation

Biodiversity

The variety of plants, animals, and microorganisms that are used directly or indirectly for good and agriculture.

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.

Dietary Shifts

The changing of the diet of a large number of people to the point of influencing agricultural companies. dispersed. scattered, spread, broken up

Gender Inequality

Unequal opportunities, treatments, or rights of a person based on gender

Crop Gap

A gap in productivity between male-run and female-run farms. Typically, a female-run farm produces 20-30% less than a male-run farm of the same type and size