APHG Unit 5: Agriculture & Rural Land Use

Agriculture

farming

Agribusiness

Commercial agriculture characterized by integration of different steps in the food-processing industry, usually through ownership by large corporations. Includes 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.

Aquaculture

The cultivation of marine and freshwater fish under controlled conditions

Bid rent theory

geographical economic theory that refers to how the price and demand on real estate changes as the distance towards the market increases.

Cadastral System

the method of land survey through which land ownership and property lines are defined

Carrying Capacity

Largest number of individuals of a population that an environment can support

Clustered rural settlement

an agricultural-based or rural community in which a number of families live in close proximity to each other, with fields surrounding the collection of houses and farm buildings

Columbian Exchange

The exchange of goods, foods, and ideas between the Americans and Europe

Commercial Agriculture

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

Commodity chain

A link of activities from the manufacturing to the distribution of a product

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

A system in which consumers pay farmers in advance for a share of their yield, usually in the form of weekly deliveries of food/produce.

Conservation Efforts

Human activities that help to keep the natural resources of Earth available and clear of pollution

Deforestation

The removal of trees faster than forests can replace themselves.

Desertification

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

Dispersed rural settlement

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

Eat Local Movement

to connect food producers and food consumers in the same geographic region, in order to develop more self-reliant and resilient food networks; improve local economies; or to have an impact on the health, environment, community, or society of a particular place.

Export commodities

goods or services sold to a foreign country

Extensive Farming Practices

an agricultural production system involving large area of land that uses relatively small inputs of labor, fertilizers, and capital (ranching, grain crops)

Fair trade

An alternative to international trade that emphasizes small businesses and worker-owned and democratically run cooperatives and requires employers to pay workers fair wages, permit union organization, and comply with minimum environmental and safety standards.

Farm to Table

Path of food from the growth of raw product, through processing, preparation, and presentation, to the final consumer. Usually in a small geographic area. Serving local food. Similar to eat local movement.

Feedlot

a small plot of land on which large numbers of livestock are fattened for market

CAFOs

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

Fertile Crescent

an area of rich farmland in Southwest Asia where the first civilizations and agricultural began

Fertilizer

a chemical or natural substance added to soil or land to increase its fertility

First Agricultural Revolution

Dating back 10,000 years, it achieved plant domestication and animal domestication.

Food desert

An area characterized by a lack of affordable, fresh and nutritious food. Often in poorer areas of a developed country

Food insecurity

a condition in which people do not have adequate access to food

GMO (genetically modified organism)

Plant or animal whose genetic makeup has been changed.

Green Revolution

Agricultural revolution that increased production through improved seeds, fertilizers, and irrigation; helped to support rising Asian populations.

Independent invention

development of the same culture trait or pattern in separate cultures as a result of comparable needs and circumstances

Intensive Farming Practices

requires a lot of labor and capital and usually a smaller amount of land area. market crops, dairy farming, feedlots, fruit/vegetable picking, wool

Intercropping

An agricultural method in which two or more crop species are planted in the same field at the same time in proximity to each other to promote a synergistic interaction.

Intertillage

Tillage (overturning the soil) between rows of crops of plants.

Irrigation

A way of artificially supplying water to an area of land, usually through canals, pipes, hose systems

Linear settlement

a pattern of settlements in which homes, other buildings, businesses, even farms follow paths like roads, rivers, canals, etc

Long-lot survey system

divided land into narrow parcels stretching back from rivers, roads, or canals. French did this a lot

Market gardening

The small scale production of fruits, vegetables, and flowers as cash crops sold directly to local consumers. Distinguishable by the large diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, during a single growing season. Labor is done manually.

Mediterranean climate

a climate marked by warm, dry summers and cool, rainy winters, good for grapes, olives, pine nuts

Metes and Bounds

A term used in describing the boundary lines of land, setting forth all the boundary lines together with their terminal points and angles. Metes (length or measurements) and Bounds (boundaries) description is often used when a great deal of accuracy is required.

Mixed crop

planting different crops together so they grow together

mixed crop and livestock farming

both animal and crops are farmed in the same area, it's helpful because farmers could distribute the workload more evenly through the year and help naturally fertilize the soil

Monocropping

practice of cultivating a single crop species each growing season

Monoculture

practice of cultivating one and the same crop on the same piece of land every cropping season (same crop grown year after year)

Multicropping

multiple crops grow in close proximity to each other (intercropping is an example)

Nomadic herding

the raising of livestock by moving herds from place to place to find pasture and water, extensive farming method

Organic farming

Use of natural substances rather than chemical fertilizers and pesticides to enrich the soil and grow crops. A method of farming that does not use artificial means such as synthetic pesticides and herbicides, antibiotics, and bioengineering. Refers to the farming practice

Pastoral Nomadism

move cyclically in an established territory with domesticated livestock

Pesticide

A chemical intended to kill insects and other organisms that damage crops. There are also natural pesticides like neem oil

Plantation agriculture

Production system based on a large estate owned by an individual, family, or corporation and organized to produce a cash crop. Many plantations were established within the tropics; in recent decades, many have been divided into smaller holdings or reorganized as cooperatives

Ranching

A form of commercial agriculture in which livestock, usually cattle, graze over an extensive area.

Rectangular survey system

Also called the Public Land Survey, the system was used by the US Land Office Survey to parcel land west of the Appalachian Mountains. The system divides land into a series of rectangular parcels. Use Google Earth to look at Iowa for an example

Regenerative farming

Farming techniques and land stewardship that restore the health and productivity of the soil by rotating crops, livestock, planting ground cover, protecting the surface with crop residue, and reducing synthetic chemical inputs and mechanical compaction.

Runoff

water that flows over the ground surface rather than soaking into the ground

Rural Settlement Patterns

farms, villages, or towns that have any of the following patterns- dispersed, clustered, or linear

Second Agricultural Revolution

improved methods of cultivation, harvesting, and storage of farm produce, increase in machinery, increase in yield, resulted in less farm workers, migration to urban areas

Shifting cultivation

A form of subsistence agriculture in which people shift activity from one field to another; each field is used for crops 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 and space for the planting of crops

Soil vs dirt

soil is living and vital to agriculture

dirt is dead

Soil sanitation

salt buildup in the soil, which can hinder the growth of crops

Subsistence agriculture

Self-sufficient agriculture that is small scale and low technology and emphasizes food production for family/local consumption, not for trade.

Sustainability

The ability to keep in existence or maintain. A sustainable ecosystem is one that can be maintained

Terracing

creating flat platforms in the hillside that provide a level planting surface, which reduces soil runoff from the slope.

Third Agricultural Revolution

Currently in progress, has as its principal orientation the development of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO's), highly efficient, technological, mechanized, profitable, large-scale

Township and range

rigid grid-like pattern used to facilitate the dispersal of settlers evenly across farmlands

Truck farming

Commercial gardening and fruit farming, so named because truck was a Middle English word meaning bartering or the exchange of commodities.

Urban farming

The growing of fruits, herbs, and vegetables and raising animals in towns and cities, a process that is accompanied by many other activities such as processing and distributing food, collecting and reusing food waste.

Value-added specialty crops

"value added" goods have some other product in them or item attached to them to make them unique and able to sell at higher price.

von Thunen Model

An agricultural model that spatially describes agricultural activity in terms of rent. Activities that require intensive cultivation and cannot be transported over great distances pay higher rent to be close to the market. Conversely, activities that are more extensive , with goods that are easy to transport, are located farther from the market where rent is less. concentric rings