Unit 5 APHUG

Agribusiness

Large companies that grow, process, and sell food and farm products. They often control many steps, from planting crops to selling food in stores.

Agriculture

The practice of growing plants and raising animals for food, clothing, and other needs.

Aquaculture

Farming fish, shellfish, or other water animals and plants in ponds, tanks, or the ocean.

Biodiversity

The variety of different plants, animals, and other living things in an area or on Earth.

Biopharming

Using plants or animals to produce medicines or chemicals instead of making them in a factory.

Biotechnology

Using science and technology to change living things for human purposes, like making crops grow faster or resist disease.

Boserup Hyphothesis

The idea that as a population grows, people find new ways to produce more food, like using better tools or farming methods.

Capital intensive agriculture

Farming that uses a lot of machines, technology, and money instead of human labor to grow crops.

Carrying capacity of land

The maximum number of people an area can support with its resources, like food and water, without harming the environment.

Center-pivot irrigation

A system that waters crops by spraying water from a long arm that moves in a circle around a central point, creating a round field.

Clustered rural settlement pattern

A type of rural area where homes and buildings are grouped close together, often around a church, market, or main road.

Columbian Exchange

The movement of plants, animals, people, and diseases between the Americas and Europe/Africa after Columbus arrived in 1492.

Commercial Agriculture

Farming mainly to sell crops and livestock for profit, not just to feed the farmer’s family.

Commercial Livestock Production

Raising animals like cows, pigs, or chickens on a large scale to sell meat, milk, or other products.

Commerical Grain Garming

Growing grains like wheat, corn, or rice in large amounts to sell, often using machines and technology.

Commodity Chains

The steps a product goes through from being made to being sold, like growing coffee beans, shipping them, and selling coffee in stores.

Community Support Agriculture

A system where people pay farmers ahead of time and then get regular boxes of fresh food from the farm.

Crop Rotation

Planting different crops in the same field each year to keep the soil healthy and prevent pests.

Deforestation

Cutting down large areas of trees, often to make space for farms or cities.

Desertification

When land becomes more like a desert because of overuse, drought, or cutting down too many trees.

Dispersed rural settlement pattern

A rural area where homes and farms are spread out over a large space instead of being close together.

Domestication

Taming and breeding plants or animals so they can be used by humans for food, work, or companionship.

Economies of scale

When producing more of something makes it cheaper per unit, like buying in bulk or using big machines to farm.

Extensive farming practices

Farming that uses a lot of land but not much labor or money, often with lower crop yields.

Extesnsive Subsistence Agriculture

Farming that uses a lot of land and simple tools to grow food mainly for the farmer’s family, not for sale.

Factory Farm

A large farm where animals are raised in big buildings or pens, often in crowded conditions, to produce meat, milk, or eggs quickly and cheaply.

Fair Trade

A system that makes sure farmers and workers in developing countries get a fair price and better working conditions for their products.

Fallow

Land that is left unplanted for a season or more so the soil can recover and stay healthy.

Family Farm

A farm owned and worked by a family, often passed down through generations.

Farm subsidies

Money or support given by the government to farmers to help keep food prices stable or protect farmers’ income.

Feedlots/CAFOs

Places where large numbers of animals are kept and fed in small spaces to grow quickly before being sold for meat.

Fertile Crescent

An area in the Middle East where farming first began thousands of years ago because the land was very good for growing crops.

First agrictulural revolution

The time when humans first started farming and domesticating animals instead of only hunting and gathering.

Fishing

Catching fish or other water animals for food or sale.

Food desert

Food Desert: An area where people have little access to fresh, healthy food like fruits and vegetables.

Food Swamp

Food Swamp: An area with lots of unhealthy food options like fast food, but few healthy choices.

Food Insecurity

When people don’t know if they will have enough safe and healthy food.

Food Security

When people always have access to enough safe and healthy food.

Food Regime

A system that shows how food production and trade are organized globally, often controlled by powerful countries or companies.

Forestry

Managing and using forests for wood, paper, and other products.

Genetically modified organisms

Plants or animals that have had their genes changed by scientists to make them grow better, resist pests, or last longer.

Globalization of Agriculture

How farming and food trade have become connected worldwide, with crops and products moving across countries and continents.

Green Revolution

A period when new farming methods, seeds, and technology greatly increased food production, especially in developing countries.

Hunting and gathering

Getting food by hunting animals and collecting plants, fruits, and nuts instead of farming.

Hybridization

Crossing two different types of plants or animals to create a new variety with better traits, like disease resistance or higher yield.

Intensive subsistence agriculture

Farming small plots of land using lots of labor to grow enough food for the farmer’s family, often in densely populated areas.

Irrigation

Bringing water to crops through systems like canals, pipes, or sprinklers when rainfall isn’t enough.

Labor intensive agriculture

Farming that needs a lot of human work instead of machines to grow crops.

Linear rural settlement pattern

A rural area where homes and buildings are arranged in a line, often along a road, river, or canal.

Local Food production

Growing and selling food within the same area or region instead of shipping it from far away.

Long-lot survey

A land division system where farms are long and narrow, stretching back from a river or road so each farm has access to water or transportation.

Luxury Crops

Crops grown for enjoyment or profit, not basic survival, like coffee, tea, cocoa, or tobacco.

Maladaptive Diffusion

When an idea or practice spreads to a new place but doesn’t work well there, like using farming methods that harm the environment.

Market gardening

Growing fruits, vegetables, and flowers near cities to sell fresh to local markets.

Metes and bounds survey

A way of dividing land using natural features like rivers, trees, or hills and straight lines with measurements.

Milkshed (urban milkshed)

The area around a city where milk is produced and delivered quickly so it stays fresh.

Mining and Quarrying

Taking minerals, metals, or stone from the earth for use in building or manufacturing.

Mixed crop/livestock

Farming that grows crops and raises animals on the same farm, often using crops to feed the animals.

Monoculture

Growing only one type of crop in a field.

Polyculture

Growing many different crops together in the same area.

Neolithic Revolution

The time when humans first started farming and domesticating animals instead of only hunting and gathering, leading to permanent settlements.

Nomadic herding

Moving animals like sheep, goats, or cattle from place to place to find fresh grass and water instead of staying in one spot.

Organic food production

Growing food without using chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or genetically modified seeds.

Overgrazing

When animals eat too much grass in one area, damaging the land and making it hard for plants to grow back.

Plantation/Tropical plantation

A large farm in a warm climate that grows one main crop, like coffee, sugar, or bananas, often for export.

Polder

Land that has been drained of water and reclaimed from a lake or sea, often used for farming (common in the Netherlands)

Primary economic activities

Jobs that take natural resources directly from the Earth, like farming, fishing, mining, or forestry.

Ranching

Raising animals like cattle or sheep on large areas of land, often for meat or wool.

Rectangular survey

A way of dividing land into square or rectangular plots using straight lines and grids.

Root crops

Plants that grow underground and store food in their roots, like carrots, potatoes, and beets.

Rural Settlement

A community in the countryside where people live and work, usually focused on farming or natural resources.

Rural Settlement Types

Different patterns of rural communities, like clustered (homes close together), dispersed (homes spread out), or linear (homes in a line).

Rural Survey Methods

Ways of dividing and measuring land in rural areas, like metes and bounds, long-lot, or rectangular survey systems.

Second Agricultural Revolution

A period during the Industrial Revolution when farming became more efficient with machines, better tools, and new techniques.

Seed crops

Plants grown from seeds, like wheat, rice, or corn, instead of roots or cuttings.

Selective breeding

Choosing specific animals or plants to reproduce so their offspring have desired traits, like bigger size or better milk production.

Shifting Cultivation

A farming method where people clear land, grow crops for a few years, then move to a new area and let the old land recover.

Single-crop economy

An economy that depends mostly on one crop for income, like coffee or sugar, which can be risky if prices drop.

Slash and burn

A farming method where people cut down trees and burn them to clear land for crops.

Soil salinization

When too much salt builds up in the soil, often from irrigation, making it hard for plants to grow.

Specialty farming

Growing crops that are unique or high-value, like organic vegetables, flowers, or herbs, often for local markets.

Supply chain

The steps a product goes through from being made to reaching the customer, like growing, processing, shipping, and selling.

Swidden

Another word for land cleared by slash-and-burn farming.

Terracing

Cutting steps into hillsides to create flat areas for farming and prevent soil erosion.

Topsoil

The upper layer of soil where most plants grow because it has the most nutrients.

Township and range survey

A system that divides land into square sections using a grid, common in the U.S.

Transhumance

Moving livestock seasonally between mountains and valleys to find fresh grass.

Urban Agriculture

Growing food in or near cities, like rooftop gardens or community farms.

Urban Sprawl

When cities spread out into the countryside, creating suburbs and taking up farmland.

Vertical integration

When one company controls several steps in making and selling a product, like growing crops, processing them, and selling the food.

Von Thunen’s Model

A theory that explains where different types of farming happen around a city based on distance and cost.

Waterlogging (of soil)

When soil gets too wet and roots can’t get enough oxygen, harming plants.

Wetland removal (draining)

Taking water out of wetlands to use the land for farming or building.

Wind Farm

A group of wind turbines that produce electricity from wind.