Chapter 9 Vocab - Agriculture

AP Human Geography key terms on agriculture

Agricultural Revolution

The process that began when human beings first domesticated plants and animals and no longer relied entirely on hunting and gathering

Second Agricultural Revolution

An increase in agricultural activity through the improvement of crop rotation and breeding of livestock beginning in the UK in the seventeenth century; the development of improved sanitation, storage, and fertilization techniques, allowing for greater food output; coincided with the Industrial Revolution in England and a higher population growth rate

Third Agricultural Revolution

Also known as the Green Revolution, started in Mexico to increase wheat production and led to the creation of miracle seeds, new fertilizers, pesticides, and GMOs

Green Revolution

The rapid diffusion of new agricultural technology, especially high-yield seeds and fertilizers; also known as the Third Agricultural Revolution

Primary Economic Activity

Any economic activity pertaining to the collecting, harvesting, and obtaining of raw materials; extraction from Earth (growing chickens, planting soybeans, oil drilling, lumberjack, mining, fishing)

Secondary Economic Activity

Any economic activity pertaining to the manufacturing of useful products through processing, transforming, and assembling raw materials (slaughter, packaging, polishing minerals, making plywood)

Tertiary Economic Activity

Any economic activity pertaining to the provision of services (transportation, banking, retailing, education, marketing, stocking stores, teachers, truck drivers, hairdressers)

Quaternary Economic Activity

Any economic activity pertaining to the collection, processing, and manipulation of information, capital, and culture; evaluation and decision-making (finance, government, insurance, legal services, scientist, urban planner)

Quinary Economic Activity

High education and high decision-making power (high level in gov. or business, president)

Subsistence Agriculture

The providing of food for direct consumption by the farmer and farmer's family

Intensive Subsistence 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

Crop Rotation

The planting of different crops each year to replenish the soil's nutrients that were lost to a previous crop and avoids exhausting the soil (Subsistence)

Shifting Cultivation

The moving of farm fields after several years in search of more productive soil after depleting the previous one (Subsistence)

Pastoral Nomadism

A form of subsistence agriculture based on herding domesticated animals (Subsistence)

Commercial Agriculture

The farming of products for sale off the farm

Market Gardening and Fruit Farming

Relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables, and other horticulture crops (Commercial)

Truck Farming

Gardening and fruit farming, so titled because the name came from a Middle English word meaning "bartering" (Commercial)

Plantation Agriculture

Agriculture performed on a large farm in tropical and subtropical climates that specializes in the production of one or two crops for sale, usually to a more developed country (Commercial)

Dairy Farm

A form of commercial agriculture that specializes in the production of milk and other dairy products (Commercial Intensive)

Ranching

Livestock graze over an extensive area (Commercial)

Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming

The integration of crops and livestock; most of the crops are fed to animals rather than consumed directly by humans (Commercial)

Conservation Tillage

A method of oil cultivation that reduces soil erosion and run-off

Monocropping (Monoculture)

The practice of growing the same single crop every year

No Tillage

A farming practice that leaves all of the soul undisturbed and the entire residue of the previous year’s harvest left untouched on the fields

Transhumance

The seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pastures

Aquaculture (Aquafarming)

The cultivation of seafood under controlled conditions

Organic Agriculture

Plants grown without green technology

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

Organisms whose genetic material has been modified for increased agricultural output

Herbicide

A chemical to control unwanted plants

Paddy

The Malay word for wet rice, increasingly used to describe a flooded field

Pesticide

A substance to control pests, including weeds

Sawah

A field deliberately flooded for growing rice

Wet Rice

Rice planted on dry land in a nursery, then moved to a deliberately flooded field to promote growth

Luxury Crops

Crops like tobacco that are grown for profit but are not necessarily needed by a population

Crop

A yield of a plant that is grown in abundance to be harvested as food, fodder, fuel, or commercial sale

Cash Crop

A crop that is grown for sale rather than the farmer’s own use (tobacco)

Cereal Grain

A grass with starchy grains, which are used in many different foods

Township and Range Survey System

Uses longitude, latitude, baselines, grids, and cardinal directions

Rectangular Survey System

idk

Long-Lot Survey System

Narrow parcels by transportation

Metes and Bounds Survey System

Short distances from key features

Agribusiness

Commercial agriculture is characterized by the integration of different steps in the food-processing industry, usually through ownership by large corporations; a term referring to every business involved in commercial farming in one - farms, factories, suppliers, ad agencies, processing, etc

Agriculture

The deliberate effort to modify a portion of Earth’s surface through the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock for sustenance or economic growth; the raising of animals or the growing of crops on tended land to obtain food for primary consumption by a farmer's family or for sale off the farm

Desertification

The extreme deterioration of land in arid/semiarid regions due to loss of vegetation and soil moisture, excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting

Dietary Energy Consumption

The amount of food that an individual consumes, measured in kilocalories

Food Security

Physical, social, and economic access at all times to safe and nutritious food sufficient to meet dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life

Horticulture

The growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers

Milkshed

The area surrounding a city from which milk is supplied

Undernourishment

Dietary energy consumption that is continuously below the minimum requirement for maintaining a healthy life and carrying out light physical activity