AP Human Geo Unit 5: Agriculture

Agriculture

Purposefully growing crops and raising livestock to produce food, feed, and fiber

Primary Economic Activity

Activities that directly extract natural resources from the Earth

Secondary Economic Activity

Activities that process, manufacture, ir assemble raw materials into finished or semi-finished goods

Tertiary Economic Activity

Activities that provide services rather than goods to people and businesses

First Agricultural Revolution

Transition from hunting and gathering to settled agriculture and animal domestication, which led to permanent settlements, food, surpluses, and population growth (stage 2)

Second Agricultural Revolution

Period of agricultural improvements that increased food production through new farming methods, tools, and crop practices, supporting population growth and industrialization (stage 3)

Third Agricultural Revolution (Green Revolution)

Introduced high-yield crop varieties, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation, and mechanization to greatly increase food production worldwide (stage 4)

Intensive Subsistence Agriculture

Form of farming in which farmers work small plots of land very intensively to produce food for their own consumption using high labor input and low levels of mechanization

Extensive Subsistence Agriculture

Farming in which large areas of land are farmed with minimal labor and inputs to produce food mainly for the farmers family, rather than for sale

Shifting Cultivation/Agriculture

Type of extensive subsistence agriculture in which famers clear a plot of land by burning vegetation, cultivate it for a few years, move to a new plot, allowing old land to follow and regenerate.

Food Desert

Often in low-income or urban neighborhoods, where residents have limited access to affordable and nutritious food

Agribusiness

Large-scale, commercial farming operation where agriculture is integrated with business including production, processing, distribution and marketing of food

GMOs (Genetically Modifies Organisms)

Plants and animals whose genetic material has been altered using biotechnology to create positive traits

Commercial Agriculture

Farming primarily for sale and profit rather than for personal consumption, involving large-scale production and integration into global markets

Luxury Crops

Grown for profit rather than subsistence, usually nonessential and high-value, often sold to wealthier consumers or markets

Sustainable Agriculture

meet current food needs without harming the environment or depleting resources, aiming to preserve soil, water, and biodiversity for future generations

4 Rings of the Von Thunen Model

1. Dairy and market gardening

2. Forest

3. Grains and field crops

4. Ranching and livestock

Arid

Climate or region that is extremely dry, receiving very little precipitation, hard for crops to grow

Coincided

2 or more geographic patterns, trends, or distributions that occur in the same place or overlap

Commodity

Raw material or primarily agriculture product that can be bought, sold, or traded, often as part of global markets

Consume

Use goods or services, often for personal or societal needs. Often refers to how people use resources, food, or products

Cultivation

Preparation and use of land for growing crops. Involves planting, trending, and harvesting plants for food or other resources

Decimate

Destroying, killing, or drastically reduce a large portion of a population, species or area. Population loss due to disease, war, or environmental disasters

Degradation

Natural resources or the environment are worn down, depleted, or damaged, often due to human activity, reducing their quality or usefulness

Detrimental

Causing harm, damage, or negative effects to people, the environment, or systems

Domesticated

Plants or animals that have been adapted by humans over time for human use

Implementation

Putting a plan, policy or strategy into action

Infrastructure

Physical and organizational structures and facilities needed for society to function

Proximity

Closeness or nearness of a place, object, or feature to another

Provision

Supplying or making available of resources, goods, or services to meet human needs

Staple

Food eaten routinely in large quantities by a population, forming major part of the diet

Subsistence

People grow food primarily to feed themselves and their families, rather than sell for profit

Yield

Amount of crop or product produced per unit of land, area, or farming effort