Agriculture Flashcards

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts in agriculture.

Sustainable agriculture

Farming methods that do not deplete resources or degrade the environment, ensuring long-term agricultural productivity.

Surplus

An excess of production or supply over demand.

Terrace Farming

A farming system consisting of steps built into the side of a mountain or hill for cultivation.

Third Agricultural Revolution

The development of genetic engineering and biotechnology.

Transhumance

The seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pastures.

Truck farm

Farms producing vegetables for the market.

Urban Farming

Cultivating land within urban boundaries for growing crops and raising animals.

Vegetative Farming

Reproducing plants by direct cloning from existing plants.

Vertical Farms

Farming in vertically stacked layers, often indoors and in controlled environments.

Yield

The amount of crop produced per unit of land.

Agrarian

Relating to cultivated land or the cultivation of land.

Agribusiness

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

Agricultural landscape

The visible imprint of human activity on the land that is used for agriculture.

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 gain.

Aquaculture

The farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, shellfish, and aquatic plants.

Bid-Rent Theory

A geographical economic theory that describes how the price and demand for real estate change as the distance from the central business district (CBD) increases.

Biotechnology

The use of living systems and organisms to develop or make products.

Cereal Grains/Staple Grains

Grains that are produced in large quantities and provide a major proportion of the diet.

Collective farm

A cooperative association of farmers who work together.

Commodity Chains

A process used by firms to gather resources, transform them into goods or commodities, and finally, distribute them to consumers.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the Americas, West Africa, and the Old World in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Combine

A machine that reaps, threshes, and cleans grain while moving over a field.

Commercial Agriculture

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

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

A system in which consumers pay farmers in advance for a share of their harvest, often delivered weekly.

Conservation

The sustainable use and management of natural resources, including wildlife, water, air, and earth deposits to meet human needs.

Crop Rotation

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

Crossbreeding

Breeding two different species or varieties.

Dairying

An agricultural activity involving the raising of livestock, most commonly cows and goats, for dairy products such as milk, cheese, and butter.

Debt-for-nature swap

Financial transactions in which a portion of a developing nation's foreign debt is forgiven in exchange for local investments in environmental conservation measures.

Desertification

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

Domestication

The process of converting wild plants or animals into cultivated crops or domesticated animals.

Double Cropping

Harvesting twice a year from the same field.

Economic activity: primary

Extracting raw materials from the earth.

Economic activity: secondary

Manufacturing products from raw materials.

Economic activity: tertiary

Providing services to businesses and consumers.

Economic activity: quaternary/quinary

Information-based services/high-level decision-making.

Economies of Scale

Cost advantages reaped by companies when production becomes efficient.

Extensive Agriculture

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

Feedlot

An area or building where livestock are fed and fattened.

Fertile Crescent/Mesopotamia

A region in the Middle East that is considered one of the cradles of civilization and agriculture.

First Agricultural Revolution

The transition from hunting and gathering to sedentary agriculture.

Food Chain

A series of steps in which organisms transfer energy by eating and being eaten.

Food Desert

An area that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food.

Forestry

The science and craft of creating, managing, using, conserving and repairing forests, woodlands, and associated resources for human and environmental benefits.

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO)

Plants or animals that have been genetically engineered with DNA from bacteria, viruses, or other plants and animals.

Green Revolution

The introduction of pesticides and high-yield grains and related management techniques to developing countries.

Growing Season

The period of the year when temperature and rainfall allow successful cultivation.

Herbicide

A substance used to kill unwanted plants.

Horticulture

The growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers.

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 Agriculture

A form of agriculture that involves the intensive application of labor and/or capital.

Intertillage

The practice of planting taller, stronger crops to shelter lower, fragile ones from tropical downpours.

Irrigation

The artificial application of water to land to assist in the production of crops.

Livestock Ranching

The raising of domesticated animals for the production of meat and other byproducts such as leather and wool.

Local Food Movements

Movements which aim to connect food producers and consumers in the same geographic region.

Market Gardening

The relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables, and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants.

Mediterranean Agriculture

Specialized farming that occurs only in areas where the dry-summer Mediterranean climate prevails.

Milkshed

The area surrounding a city from which milk is supplied.

Mixed Crop and Livestock

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

Monoculture/Monocropping

The practice of growing one crop species in a field at a time.

Nomadic Herding/Pastoralism

A form of subsistence agriculture based on herding domesticated animals.

Organic Farming

A form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost, and biological pest control.

Pasture

Grass or other plants grown for feeding grazing animals, as well as land used for grazing.

Pesticides

Substances used for destroying insects or other organisms harmful to cultivated plants or animals.

Plant Domestication

The process of genetically adapting plants to suit human needs.

Plantation Agriculture

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.

Primogeniture

The right of inheritance belongs exclusively to the eldest son.

Renewable/Nonrenewable

Resources that can be replenished/Resources that cannot be replenished.

Rural Settlement: Dispersed

Characterized by farmers living on individual farms isolated from neighbors.

Rural Settlement: Nucleated

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

Rural Settlement: Linear

Settlements arranged in a line, often along a road or river.

Second Agricultural Revolution

Improved methods of cultivation, harvesting, and storage of farm produce.

Seed Agriculture

Reproduction of plants through annual planting of seeds.

Shifting Cultivation

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

Slash-and-burn

A farming method involving the cutting of trees, then burning them to provide ash-enriched soil for the planting of crops.

Soil Erosion

The removal of soil by wind or water.

Soil Salinization

The process by which water-soluble salts accumulate in the soil.

Specialization

The concentration of productive efforts on a limited number of activities.

Subsistence Agriculture

Agriculture designed primarily to provide food for direct consumption by the farmer and the farmer's family.

Survey Patterns: Long lots

Land is divided into narrow parcels stretching back from rivers, roads, or canals.

Survey Patterns: Metes and bounds

A system that uses physical features of the local geography, along with directions and distances, to define the boundaries of a particular piece of land.

Survey Patterns: Township-and-range

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