AP Human Geography - Unit 5

Climatic Conditions

How weather affects agricultural practices and products

Tropical Climate

A hot, humid climate that produces plants such as cassava, banana, sugar cane, sweet potato, papaya, rice, maize, etc.

Mediterranean Climate

A dry, summer climate that produces certain fruits, veggies, and grains (grapes, olives, figs, dates, tomatoes, etc..)

Market Gardening

Small scale food production of fruits and veggies for sale at local markets. Located near cities. Intensive commercial.

Plantation Agriculture

Cash crops (cotton, coffee, sugar, tea) grown on large estates, usually for export, a legacy of colonization. Specializes in one crop per plantation, intensive commercial.

Mixed crop/livestock systems

Combination of cash crops and livestock to compliment land and labor demands across the year. Crops are grown to feed the livestock, which are sold for profit. Intensive commercial.

Intensive Farming

Farming that uses significant amounts of labor/money.

Extensive Farming

Farming that uses smaller amounts of labor/money in relation to the land area.

Shifting Cultivation

Cultivation of crops in tropical forest clearings using a natural rotation system. Forest vegetation cleared by cutting and burning, leaving behind a layer of ash that contributes to the soil’s fertility. Farmers move to another parcel of land when the soil becomes infertile. Extensive.

Nomadic Herding/Pastoral Nomadism/Transhumance

Seasonal migration of domesticated livestock, usually fixed territory between highlands and lowlands. Extensive.

Ranching

The business of raising livestock (cattle, sheep). Extensive.

Rural Land Use Patterns

Shaped by agricultural practices

Rural Settlement Patterns

Clustered, Dispersed, and Linear

Long-Lot

Everyone got equal access to rivers, roads, or canals, leading to long, stretched out lots so each lot got access. French.

Metes and Bounds

Irregularly shaped tracts of land that are based on descriptions of land ownership in reference to natural features such as streams, hills, trees, etc. English.

Township and Range

Rectangular survey system to divide the land into a grid-like pattern, designed by Thomas Jefferson to disperse settlers evenly across farmlands. American.

Early Agricultural Hearths

Southwest Asia (Fertile Crescent)

Indus River Valley (India)

Southeast Asia

Central America (Mesoamerica)

Fertile Crescent

The first agricultural hearth, the cradle of civilization. Most credited with Southwest Asia (Tigris and Euphrates floodplains)

First Agricultural Revolution

~10,000 years ago, when humans achieved plant and animal domestication

Colombian Exchange

Facilitated the global diffusion of plants, animals, diseases, human population, culture, technology, and ideas between East and West Hemispheres

Globalization of Agriculture

Improvements in transportation and communication technologies created a variety of goods offered year-round, when they traditionally were only available seasonally (due to global trade)

Second Agricultural Revolution

Improved methods of cultivation, harvesting, and storage of food that started in the Middle Ages and then benefited from the Industrial Revolution with the use of machines and new technology. Iconically goes hand in hand with Industrial Revolution.

Better diets, longer life expectancy, increase in population, and more people available to work in factories

Industrial Revolution

The transformation from an agricultural society to an industrial society with the introduction of power driven machines in manufacturing, mining, transportation, and agriculture.

Green Revolution/Third Agricultural Revolution

High yield seeds (hybrid and/or GMOS), increased use of chemicals, mechanized farming, and elaborate irrigation systems

Positive Impacts of Green Revolution

Increase in food supply

More crops grown on same size land

Improvement in varieties

Negative Impacts of Green Revolution

Destroying local land and traditional modes of agriculture production

Decreasing biodiversity (b/c hybrid seeds diminish local plant diversity)

Impact of chemicals

Subsistence Agriculture

Only enough food is cultivated to survive (no surplus to sell), just trying to feed families

Commercial Agriculture

The production of crops for sale (profit)

Monoculture

Growing one crop in a farm system at a given time

Monocropping

Growing one crop in a farm system year after year

Multicropping

Growing several crops in a farm system at the same time

Bid Rent Theory

Theory that shows what various land users are prepared and able to pay for access to the center market.

The farther from the market, the lower the cost of land is

Intensive and extensive farming practices are in part by land costs.

Extension of the Von Thunen model.

Agribusiness

A large scale mechanized farming business that’s controlled by corporate interests, agriculture is gradually being controlled by a small number of large corporations instead of many independent farmers.

Feedlots/CAFOS

Animals kept and raised in confined spaces and given hormones and/or antibiotics and/or fattening grains to prepare them for slaughter at a much quicker pace than traditional forms.

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations

CAFO Abbreviation

Commodity Chain

The production steps a product goes through: design, production of raw materials, manufacturing and assembly, distribution.

Economies of scale

Cost advantages gained by an increased level of production (Think cost benefits from buying from Costco)

Von Thunen Model

A model that explains what economic activities are located where and why (according to market location)

Based on land and transportation costs, illustrated in rings, specialty farming does not always conform to these rings.

Global Supply Chain

A worldwide network to maximize profits in production, extremely complex.

Commodity Dependency

When a state is highly dependent on one or more export commodities. Ex: coffee from Haiti, Tea from Sri Lanka, etc. This is only really prevalent in LDCs.

Global Food Distribution

Networks that are affected by political relationships, infrastructure, and patterns of world trade

Desertification

Process by which fertile land becomes a desert as a result of human activity.

Soil Salinization

When the soil gets saltier due to irrigation. (Irrigated water waters the soil, and when it evaporates, it leaves behind a salty residue that builds up over time)

Land Cover Change

When the thing that covers the land changes (trees, wheat fields, cities, etc..) This is the process by which agricultural areas are lost to development.

Pollution

When soil, air, and water are contaminated by chemicals.

Conservation efforts of agricultural land

Improve soil structure to protect against erosion and nutrient losses.

Sustainable Agriculture

Farming methods that are profitable, environmentally sound and good for communities.

Slash And Burn/Shifting Cultivation

Clearing an area in a tropical forest for planting by burning the vegetation.

Terrace Farming

Flat steps are created on the sides of hills to create more land for farming.

Irrigation

The artificial application of water to land for the facilitation of agriculture.

Deforestation

The clearing of forest to make the land available for other uses (agriculture/livestock)

Draining Wetlands

Drainage for agricultural purposes (can be done with dikes)

Pastoral Nomadism

Pasture land that is used for animal grazing.. shift from pasture to pasture seasonally

Changing Diets

MDCs: Continued demand for meat

LDCs: Growing demand for meat, as well as processed foods (western diet)

Role of Women in Agriculture

Increased contributions to rural economies, especially in LDCs

Economic Purpose

Farmers in LDCs growing cash crops for consumers in MDCs instead of food for local people

Farmers in LDCs growing crops for illegal drugs instead of food crops

Farmers in MDCs and LDCs growing crops for bio-fuel

Agricultural Biotechnology

The use of scientific tools and techniques to modify plants/animals

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs)

Plants or animals whose DNA has been genetically modified, often through combination of DNA from a similar plant or animal species for desired traits

Positive Impact of GMOs

Greater outputs on smaller pieces of land, less need for chemicals

Negative Impact of GMOs

Unknown health effects, unknown effects on pollinating insect population

Aquaculture

Raising of fish and shellfish in ponds and controlled saltwater hatcheries

Issues with agricultural innovations

• sustainablility

• soil and water usage

• reductions in biodiversitiy

• extensive fertilizer/pesticide use

Value Added Foods

Foods that have increased in value due to alterations in production, size, shape, appearance, location, and/or convenience

Organic Farming

Crops produced without the use of synthetic or industrially produced pesticides and fertilizers or genetically engineered seeds

Urban Farming

Agriculture takes the form of rooftop, balcony, backyard gardening, as well as in vacant lots and parks in an urban area

Community Supported Agriculture

Individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the growers and consumers provide mutual support.. basically, consumers have a “monthly subscription” to a farmer so they get fresh crops delivered to their door, and farmers get revenue throughout the year instead of just at the end.

Fair Trade

Trade between companies in MDCs and LDCs in which fair prices are paid to the producers

Local Food Movements

Movement of people who prefer to eat foods which are grown relatively close to the places of sale and preparation

Dietary Shifts

Movement from a diet of processed food, meat, fat, and sugar to one that will promote good health, ideal weight, and prevent chronic disease (fruits, vegetables)

Food Insecurity

The state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.

Food Desert

Geographic area where large grocery stores are scarce or missing and residents have limited access to fresh nutritious foods, typically found in urban, low-income neighborhoods

Global Food Distribution

Global hunger and food insecurity are the result of complex factors including increased demand for grain to be used to feed animals. This is the process by which food is spread around the world, through supply chains and transporters, etc.

Food Distribution Problems

Inadequate transportation networks to markets, inability to afford the costs of production and consumption, inadequate number of markets and ways to access those markets.

Adverse Weather

Agricultural production can be affected by high temperatures, drought, flooding, storms, and freezes.

Suburbanization

Agricultural production can be affected by the growth of residential areas.

Urban Sprawl

Since cities often were successful by founding in a fertile area, now, big cities are growing and taking over valuable areas of fertile farmland. There’s only so much arable land.

Economic effects on food production practices

• The location of food processing facilities and markets

• Economies of scale

• Distribution systems

• Government policies

Role of females

Increased role in food production and consumption that varies depending on the region/community

Ugly Food Movement

20-40% of all produce is thrown out due to imperfections, and this movement seeks to stop that.

Hydroponics

Allow crops to grow without soil using mineral enriched solutions.

Hunger Vulnerability

Likelihood of current or future exposure of a group to undernourishment and undernutrition.

Economic Complementarity

When two parties mutually have things the other wants, so they both have equal dependency and neither will threaten to cut off the trade. This is ideal.

Horticulture

A type of agriculture that includes market gardening/truck farming and any dairy farming.

Milksheds

The area where your dairy comes from.

Vertical Integration

When one company owns all parts of the production process. For example, Starbucks, Nestle, or Frito Lay.

The Physical Environment

What impacts agriculture the most?