Agricultural Terminology-- pearson

These flashcards cover essential vocabulary related to agriculture, agribusiness, and farming practices.

Agribusiness

Commercial agriculture characterized by the integration of different steps in the food-processing industry.

Aquaculture

The cultivation of seafood under controlled conditions.

Bid-rent curve

A model showing that the amount a farmer is willing to pay for land declines with increasing distance from the market.

Cash crop

A crop that is grown for sale rather than for the farmer’s own use.

Columbian Exchange

The transfer of plants and animals, as well as people, culture, and technology, between the Western Hemisphere and Europe.

Commercial agriculture

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

Conservation tillage

A method of soil cultivation that reduces soil erosion and runoff.

Crop rotation

The practice of rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year to avoid exhausting the soil.

Dairy farm

A form of commercial agriculture that specializes in the production of milk and other dairy products.

Desertification

Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions such as excessive crop planting and grazing.

Double cropping

Harvesting twice a year from the same field.

First agricultural revolution

The process that began when human beings first domesticated plants and animals.

Food security

Physical, social, and economic access at all times to safe and nutritious food.

Genetically modified organism (GMO)

A living organism that possesses a novel combination of genetic material obtained through biotechnology.

Green revolution

The rapid diffusion of new agricultural technology, especially new high-yield seeds and fertilizers.

Intensive subsistence agriculture

A form of subsistence agriculture in which farmers expend a large amount of effort to produce maximum yield from a parcel of land.

Mixed crop and livestock farming

Commercial farming characterized by integration of crops and livestock, with most crops fed to animals.

Monocropping

The practice of growing the same, single crop year after year.

Organic agriculture

Farming that depends on naturally occurring substances while prohibiting synthetic substances.

Overfishing

Capturing fish faster than they can reproduce.

Pastoral nomadism

A form of subsistence agriculture based on herding domesticated animals.

Plantation

A large farm in a developing country that specializes in one or two crops for sale.

Ranching

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

Second agricultural revolution

An increase in agricultural productivity through improved crop rotation and livestock breeding.

Shifting cultivation

A form of subsistence agriculture where people shift activity from one field to another.

Subsistence agriculture

Agriculture designed primarily to provide food for direct consumption by the farmer and their family.

Transhumance

Seasonal migration of livestock between mountain and lowland pasture areas.

Truck farming

Commercial gardening that involves the exchange of commodities.

Undernourishment

Dietary energy consumption that is continuously below the minimum requirement for a healthy life.

Wet rice

Rice planted on dry land in a nursery and then moved to a flooded field to promote growth.

Agriculture

The deliberate effort to modify a portion of Earth’s surface through the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock.

Agricultural Revolution

major, transformative shift in farming, enabling vastly increased food production through new techniques, tools, and crops, allowing societies to move from nomadic hunting/gathering to settled life, supporting population growth, and paving the way for complex civilizations and industrialization

Cereal Grain

A grass that yields grain for food.

Market/Commercial gardening

the small-scale, intensive, commercial growing of diverse vegetables, fruits, and flowers, often using intensive methods on small plots (acres or less) to sell directly to local consumers, restaurants, and markets for profit, focusing on high yields and fresh, diverse produce

Crop

A plant cultivated by people.

Dietary energy consumption

The amount of food that an individual consumes, measured in kilocalories (Calories in the United States)

Fishing

The capture of wild fish and other seafood living in the waters.

Grain

 Seed of a cereal grass.

Herbicide

A chemical used to control unwanted plants.

Horticulture

Growing of fruits, vegetables, flowers, and tree crops.

Milkshed

The area surrounding a city from which milk is supplied.

No Tillage

A farming practice that leaves the soil undisturbed and the entire residue of the previous year’s harvest left untouched on the fields.

Organic agriculture

Farming that depends on the use of naturally occurring substances while prohibiting or strictly limiting synthetic substances, such as herbicides, pesticides, and growth hormones.

Paddy

The Malay word for “wet rice”; increasingly used to describe a flooded field.

Ridge Tillage

A system of planting crops on ridge tops in order to reduce farm production costs and promote greater soil conservation.

Sawah

A flooded field for growing rice.

Third Agricultural Revolution

a mid-20th-century transformation involving scientific advancements, new technologies (like high-yielding crop varieties, fertilizers, and pesticides), and improved irrigation to drastically increase food production, especially in developing nations, significantly reducing global hunger but also raising environmental concerns. 

Grain

Seed of cereal grass