Chapter 9: Agriculture

Agribusiness

Farming connected to large companies that control many steps of food production, like growing, processing, packaging, and selling.

Agriculture

The growing of crops and raising of animals for food, fiber, or other products.

Agricultural Revolution (1,2 and 3)

Major changes in how people farm: First: From hunting and gathering to farming. Second: Better tools, new crops, and new methods with the Industrial Revolution. Third: Green Revolution and modern technology like GMOs and chemicals.

Cash Crop

A crop grown mainly to sell for money, not for the farmer's own use.

Cereal Grain

A grass that produces grain we eat.

Commercial Agriculture

Farming done mainly to sell products for profit, usually with large farms and machines.

Crop Rotation

Planting different crops in the same field over several years to keep soil healthy.

Desertification

The process where fertile land becomes more desert-like, often from overfarming, overgrazing, and climate change.

Deforestation

Cutting down forests and not replacing them, often to create farmland or ranches.

Double-cropping

Harvesting two crops from the same field in one year.

Food Insecurity

Not having reliable access to enough safe, nutritious food.

Grain Farming

Commercial farming focused on growing grains.

GMO

A plant or animal whose DNA has been changed in a lab to give it new traits.

Green Revolution

The spread of new seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation to increase food production, especially in LDCs, starting mid-1900s.

Intensive Subsistence

Farming that uses a lot of labor on a small area of land to produce enough food for the farmer's family, with little left to sell.

Mediterranean

A farming system in areas with hot, dry summers and mild, wet winters.

Milkshed

The area around a city where milk can be produced and delivered without spoiling.

Mixed Crop and Livestock

Farming where crops and animals are raised together, and crops are often used to feed the animals.

Organic Farms

Farms that avoid synthetic chemicals and GMOs, using natural methods instead.

Pastoral Nomadism

A form of subsistence agriculture where people move with their herds to find fresh pasture.

Plantation

A large farm in a tropical or subtropical region that grows one or two cash crops for sale, often to other countries.

Ranching

A form of commercial agriculture where livestock graze over a large area.

Shifting Cultivation

A type of subsistence farming where land is cleared by cutting and burning, farmed for a few years, then left so the soil can recover.

Slash-and-Burn (Swidden)

A method of clearing land by cutting vegetation and burning it; the cleared field is called a swidden.

Subsidy

Money or support the government gives to farmers to help their income, control supply, or keep food prices stable.

Subsistence Agriculture

Farming mainly to feed the farmer's family, with little or no surplus to sell.

Sustainable Agriculture

Farming that protects the environment, is fair to workers and animals, and is still profitable over time.

Terrace Farming

Cutting steps into hillsides to create flat land for farming and reduce soil erosion.

Transhumance

The seasonal movement of livestock between lowland and highland pastures.

Truck farming/commercial (Commercial Gardening)

Growing fruits, vegetables, and flowers for sale, often near markets and using mechanization and migrant labor.

Gardening

Small-scale growing of plants, often near the home, sometimes to eat and sometimes to sell locally.

Undernourishment

When a person doesn't get enough calories over a long period to live a healthy, active life.

Von Thunen's Model

A model that explains how different types of farming are arranged around a city based on land cost and transportation cost.

Wet Rice

Rice grown in flooded fields (paddies) that need a lot of water and labor.