Unit 5: Agriculture & Rural Land Use

These flashcards cover essential terms and definitions related to agriculture and agribusiness based on the provided lecture notes.

Agribusiness

The integration of various steps of production in the food-processing industry.

Aquaculture

The practice of raising and harvesting fish and other forms of food that live in water.

Arable Land

Land that is capable of producing food and suitable for farming.

Bid-Rent Theory

The theory that land closer to the city center is more expensive because more people want it and there is not a lot of it.

Biodiversity

The variety of life in the world or in a particular habitat or ecosystem.

Carrying Capacity

The maximum number of people that an environment can support.

Clustered Settlement

A rural settlement pattern where family homes and farm buildings are located close together, with farmland surrounding them.

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of plants and animals between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas following the voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492.

Commercial Agriculture

When crops are grown for profit rather than personal consumption.

Community-Supported Agriculture

Agriculture where community members can buy a share of a farm or a subscription to receive a share of a farm’s crops.

Crop Rotation

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

Dairy Farming

Raising cattle for the purpose of harvesting milk.

Deforestation

The removal of large tracts of forest by natural or manmade means.

Desertification

The transition of land from fertile to desert.

Dispersed Settlement

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

Distance Decay

A geographical theory that states that the interaction between two places decreases as the distance between them increases.

Domestication

Raising plants and animals for human use.

Double Cropping

The planting and harvesting of the same parcel of land twice a year.

Eat Local Movement

An agricultural trend where people seek out food that was produced nearby.

Enclosure Acts

A series of laws enacted by the British government that enclosed and sold land to private owners that had previously been common land used by peasant farmers.

Extensive Farming

Agriculture that uses fewer inputs of capital and paid labor relative to the amount of space being used.

Fair Trade Movement

Trade between companies in developed countries and producers in developing countries that tries to ensure farmers are paid a fair wage.

Feedlot

Places where livestock are concentrated in a very small area and raised on hormones and hearty grains that prepare them for slaughter at a fast rate.

Fertile Crescent

A bountiful region of land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in the Middle East.

Fertilizer

A chemical or natural substance added to soil to increase its fertility.

Food Desert

A community where there is no access to fresh, healthy, affordable food options due to a lack of grocery stores or farmers markets.

Food Security

Access by all people at all times to enough food to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO)

A crop whose genetic structure has been altered to make it more useful for human purposes.

Grain Farming

Growing grains, primarily wheat, for human consumption or sale.

Green Revolution

Beginning in the 1960s, the third agricultural revolution involved the development of better and more efficient farming equipment and practices that led to increased production around the world.

Horticulture

A type of agriculture that produces perishable items that farmers need to get to the market quickly (includes market gardening and dairy farming).

Intensive Farming

Agriculture that involves greater inputs of capital and paid labor relative to the amount of space being used.

Irrigation

The process of diverting water from its natural course or location to aid in the production of crops.

Land Survey

The process of measuring, mapping, and recording the boundaries, features, and dimensions of a piece of land.

Linear Settlement

A rural settlement pattern in which homes are clustered along a road or river with fields behind them.

Long Lot

A rural survey method used by the French and in regions of North America previously colonized by the French, characterized by long rectangular plots of farmland along rivers that have equal access to the water.

Luxury Crops

Crops that are not essential to human survival but have a high profit margin.

Market Gardening

Growing fruits and vegetables, primarily for the purpose of freezing and canning.

Mechanization

Using machinery to perform tasks that were previously done by hand or using animal labor.

Mediterranean Farming

Agriculture practiced in regions with hot, dry summers and mild winters, narrow valleys, and simple vegetation systems.

Metes and Bounds

A rural survey method where land is divided based on the features of the physical landscape and distance and direction.

Milkshed

A region around a dairy farm that can be supplied with milk without spoilage.

Mixed Crop Livestock Farming

An integrated system where crops grown are used to feed the livestock on the same farm.

Monoculture

Specializing in the growing of a single crop in a given area.

Neolithic Revolution

The origin of farming, marked by the initial domestication of plants and animals.

Organic Food

Food produced without the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, or other unnatural processes.

Overgrazing

Excessive grazing in an area, to the point that the land becomes permanently damaged.

Pastoral Nomadism

The seasonal movement of herds of animals to different pastures within a territory.

Pesticides

A substance used for destroying insects or other organisms that are harmful to crops or animals.

Plantation Farming

Large commercial farming specializing in one crop, usually for sale rather than local use.

Ranching

The commercial grazing of animals confined to a specific area.

Second Agricultural Revolution

The agricultural revolution that began in the 1700s and used the advances of the Industrial Revolution to increase food supplies.

Seed Hybridization

The process of breeding together two plants to produce a new plant that combines their desirable traits.

Settlement Pattern

The distribution of houses, farms, villages, towns, and cities in an area.

Shifting Cultivation

Farming that involves moving crops from one field to another, clearing the land by burning the vegetation.

Soil Degradation

When soil loses its ability to support plant growth and is more easily eroded by wind or water.

Soil Salinization

When soil in an arid climate has been irrigated for use as farmland and the water evaporates, leaving salt residue behind that eventually causes the land to become infertile.

Subsistence Agriculture

When farmers grow crops to feed themselves and their families.

Supply Chain

How goods and services move from the supplier to the consumer.

Sustainability

Use of the earth’s resources in a way that ensures their availability for future generations.

Terrace Farming

Building a series of steps into the side of a hill, creating flat surfaces for the purpose of agriculture.

Township & Range

A rural survey method where land is divided using latitude and longitude. Land is split into large squares that can be subsequently divided into smaller squares.

Urban Agriculture

The practice of growing, processing, and distributing food in or around towns or cities.

Value-Added Speciality Crops

Crops that have another product added to them to make them more valuable and able to be sold for higher prices.

Von Thünen's Land Use Model

An economic model that suggests a pattern for the types of products that farmers produce at different positions relative to the market where they sell their goods.

Yield

The amount of crops harvested per unit of land.