Ap human unit 5 - agriculture and agricultural processes

Agribusiness

The set of economic and political relationships that organize food production for commercial purposes. It includes activities ranging from seed production, to retailing, to consumption of agricultural products.

Agricultural hearths

areas of settlement during the neolithic period, especially along major rivers, from where farming and cultivation of livestock eminates. Ex. Southwest Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia (indus valley), east Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, mesoamerica

animal domestication

genetic modification of an animal such that it is rendered more amenable and pleasant to human control

Aquaculture (or aquafarming)

the rearing of aquatic animals or the cultivation of aquatic plants for food.

Biotechnology

The manipulation of living organisms or their components to produce useful products.

Building Material Rural Settlement

houses and buildings are typically built from materials that are abundant in the area, whatever they can find in their surroundings

Collective Farming

a large government-controlled farm formed by combining many small farms

Crop rotation

the system of growing a different crop in a field each year or season to preserve the fertility of the land

debt-for-nature swap

Agreement in which a certain amount of foreign debt is canceled in exchange for local currency investments that will improve natural resource management or protect certain areas in the debtor country from harmful development.

Dessertification

the process by which fertile land becomes desert, typically as a result of drought, deforestation, or inappropriate agriculture.

dispersed rural settlement

rural settlements in which farmers live in homes spread throughout the country side.

double cropping

the planting and harvesting on the same parcel of land twice or three times a year

Extensive Commercial Agriculture

A type of agriculture that uses low inputs of resources but has the goal of selling the product for profit. example- ranching

extensive subsistence agriculture

The type of farming uses low inputs to sustain a family of local community. Example: nomadic herding

extractive industry

primary activities involving the mining and quarrying of nonrenewable metallic and nonmetallic mineral resources

Feedlot

an area or building where livestock are fed and fattened

First Agricultural Revolution

Dating back 10,000 years, the First Agricultural Revolution achieved plant domestication and animal domestication

Green Revolution

The advances in plant biology of the mid-20th century that scientifically increased food supply

Hunting and gathering

The killing of wild animals and fish as well as the gathering of fruits, roots, nuts, and other plants for sustenance.

Intensive Commercial Agriculture

yields a large amount of output per acre through concentrated application of labor and/or capital for profit

intensive subsistence agriculture

A form of substinence agriculture that is labor and animal intensive. that occurs In periphery and semi-periphery countries

Intertillage

the clearing of rows in the field through the use of hoes, rakes, & other manual equipment to prepare the land for growing crops

Johann Heinrich (Von thunen)

Developed an Agricultural Land Use Model that suggested that certain crops were grown in direct relation to their distance to market.

Long Lots Survey Patterns

farms are long thin sections of land running perpendicular to a river. ex; places like Quebec and Louisiana

Market gardening

Small scale, labor and capital intensive production of fruits, vegetables, and flowers near an urban market

Mediterranean agriculture

practiced in regions with hot dry summers, mild winters, narrow valleys, and often some irrigation. Often grow figs, dates, olives, and grapes. They also often practice transhumance. ex; southern Europe, north Africa, southwestern Africa Australia and Asia, California, and central Chile.

metes and bounds survey system

type of survey system measuring irregular parcels of land, where metes referred to short distances often referring to features of specific points ex. ( from the oak tree, 100 yards north, to the corner of the barn) and bounds covered larger areas and where also based on larger areas ( streams, roads )

Nomadic herding

Is a way of life where families move along with their herds according to the seasons and trade and rely on their animals for food, shelter and clothing. They can tend to cattle, camels, goats, horses, reindeer, or sheep.

Nucleated Rural Settlement

settlements where homes are located near each other in a village/ town fostering a strong sense of place and often utilizing shared services

Pastorialism

a type of agriculture activity based on nomadic animal care/cultivation or the raising of livestock to provide food, clothing, and shelter

plant domestication

deliberately planted and tended by humans that is genetically distinct from its wild ancestors as a result of selective breeding.

primary economic activity

An economic activity that takes something from the ground (farming, mining, forestry)

quaternary economic activity

Service sector industries concerned with the collection, processing, and manipulation of information and capital. Examples include finance, administration, insurance, and legal services.

Sauer, Carl O.

professor of geography at the university of California \--- Berkley who was the first to argue that people in various times and locations developed agricultural hearths independently.

Second Agricultural Revolution

beginning in the 1700's coat-tailing off the advances of the Industrial revolution agriculture began to mechanize, increasing food supplies to support population growth, and became more knowledgeable on fertilizers and soils. innovations include; the steel plow and mechanized harvesting.

secondary economic activity

economic activity involving the processing of raw materials and their transformation into finished industrial products; the manufacturing sector

shifting cultivation

A form of extensive subsistent whereby farmer grow crops on a piece of land for a year or two and when the soil loses fertility they move into another field.

slash-and-burn

aka swidden agriculture, whereby farms clear the land by burning the vegetation. This enriches the poor soil by adding nitrogen to it.

sustainable yield

Highest rate at which a potentially renewable resource can be used indefinitely without reducing its available supply.

tertiary economic activity

Economic activity associated with the provision of services - such as transportation, banking, retailing, education, and routine office-based jobs.

third agricultural revolution

born in the mid 20th century out of science, research, and technology. It is happening currently, expanding the previous advances in the mechanization of agriculture and agricultural productions .

township-and-range survey system

rectangular survey system used by the U.S. federal government to divide the land into a grid like pattern with 6x6 mile townships. It was developed by Thomas Jefferson.

Transhumance

A seasonal periodic movement of pastoralists and their livestock between highland and lowland pastures

Village Form Rural Settlement

a number of families live in close proximity to each other, with fields surrounding the collection of houses and farm buildings