AP Human unit 5 vocab part 1

Agribusiness

The economic and political relationships that organize food production for commercial purposes

Agriculture

The art/science of producing food from the land and tending livestock for human consumption

Commercial Agriculture

Farming practices that focus on producing crops and livestock to sell for profit, usually on large-scale farms.

Crop

A plant grown for food or selling

Crop Rotation

The practice of changing the crop grown on a plot of land to avoid depleting nutrients in the soil

Desertification

The process where fertile land slowly becomes arid

Double Cropping

Growing two crops per season to increase harvest

Extensive Agriculture

A type of agriculture associated with low labor inputs per unit of land

Extensive Commercial Agriculture

A type of agriculture that uses larger land areas and lower labor inputs to produce food for selling

Extensive Subsistence Agriculture

A type of agriculture where farmers cultivate large farms with minimal labor to produce enough to feed their family

Grain Farming

The cultivation and harvesting of cereal crops

Green Revolution

The development of higher-yield and fast-growing crops through increased technological advances and development of fertilizers and pesticides

Horticulture

The growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers

Intensive Agriculture

A type of agriculture that focuses on maximizing outputs on small plots of land through high labor input

Intensive Commercial Agriculture

A type of agriculture which focuses on maximizing yields on small plots of land through high amounts of labor in order to sell the crops

Intensive Subsistence Agriculture

A type of agriculture which focuses on maximizing yields on small plots of land through high amounts of labor in order to feed the farmer’s family

Milkshed

The area surrounding a source of milk where fresh milk can be delivered without spoiling

Mediterranean Agriculture

A type of agriculture that focuses on producing olives, grapes, citrus, etc.

Market Gardening

The small scale production of fruits, vegetables, and flowers as cash crops to sell to local customers

Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming

An agricultural system that combines the cultivation of crops and raising livestock on the same farm

Pastoral Nomadism

A type of agriculture that mainly focuses on herding animals due to environmental conditions that make traditional farming difficult

Plantation

A large-scale farm that primarily focuses on one crop

Prime Agricultural Land

Land that is suitable for growing crops and has all the nutrients and resources plants need to grow

Ranching

A type of agriculture where animals are confined to a large area of land and raised for meat, milk, or other materials they provide

Reaper

A machine designed to make harvesting crops more efficient

Ridge Tillage

A system of planting crops on ridge tops to reduce farm production costs and conserve soil

Seed Agriculture

Farming through planting seeds

Shifting Cultivation

The practice of changing fields every growing season to avoid depleting the nutrients in the soil

Slash-Burn Agriculture

The practice where farmers cut down all of the crops on a field and burn everything to restore nutrients to the soil

Subsistence Agriculture

The process of growing crops in order to feed one’s family

Sustainable Agriculture

Farming methods that preserve long-term productivity of land and avoid pollution

Threshed

Husks of grain separated from the seed

Transhumance

The seasonal moving of people and their livestock

Transnational Corporations

A company that conducts research, operates factories, and sells products in multiple countries

Truck Farming

Commercial gardening and fruit farming, using trucks to transport products

Vegetative Planting

Cutting off part of a plant and planting the part to grow a new, identical plant

Wet Rice

The practice of growing rice on dry land, then moving the seedlings to flooded fields to grow

Winter Wheat

Wheat planted in the fall and harvested in the early summer

Spring Wheat

Wheat planted in the spring and harvested in late summer

Value-added Crops

Agricultural products that are enhanced through processing, packaging, or marketing to increase economic value

Value-added Farming

Growing crops that can be processed or packaged to enhance economic value

Vertical Farms

Large, indoor spaces where plants are grown in layers stacked on top of each other

Vertical Integration

When one company controls all aspects of its production process

Von Thunen Model

A theory that predicts humans will use land in relation to the cost of land and the cost of transporting products