AP HUG VOCAB
Agribusiness – Large-scale commercial farming controlled by corporations, integrating production, processing, and distribution.
Agriculture – The deliberate modification of Earth's surface through crop cultivation and livestock raising for food and other products.
Aquaculture – The breeding, raising, and harvesting of fish, shellfish, and aquatic plants in controlled environments.
Bid-rent theory – The idea that land prices and demand increase as you get closer to the central business district (CBD) due to accessibility.
Biodiversity – The variety of plant and animal life in a particular habitat or ecosystem, essential for stability and resilience.
Biotechnology – The use of scientific techniques, such as genetic modification and cloning, to improve agricultural productivity.
Carrying capacity – The maximum number of people or organisms that an environment can sustainably support with its available resources.
Columbian Exchange – The widespread transfer of crops, animals, technology, and diseases between the Americas and the Old World after 1492.
Commercial agriculture – Large-scale farming focused on producing crops and livestock for sale rather than local consumption.
Commodity chain – The sequence of steps involved in producing, processing, distributing, and selling a product from start to finish.
Conservation – The sustainable use and management of natural resources to prevent depletion and ensure long-term availability.
Core countries – Wealthy, developed nations with advanced economies, high incomes, and strong political and technological influence.
Deforestation – The large-scale removal of trees, often for agriculture or urban development, leading to habitat loss and climate change.
Desertification – The degradation of land into desert-like conditions due to overgrazing, deforestation, and poor agricultural practices.
Domestication – The selective breeding of plants and animals to make them more useful for human purposes, such as farming and labor.
Economies of scale – Cost advantages that arise with increased production, leading to lower per-unit costs for large-scale farms or businesses.
Extensive agriculture – A farming system that uses large areas of land with minimal labor or input per unit of land, such as ranching.
Fertile Crescent – A historically rich agricultural region in the Middle East where early civilizations first practiced farming.
First Agricultural Revolution – The transition from hunting and gathering to settled farming around 10,000 years ago, leading to population growth.
Food desert – An area, often urban, where access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food is limited due to a lack of grocery stores.
Food insecurity – The lack of reliable access to sufficient, nutritious food due to economic or social constraints.
GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) – Crops or animals that have been genetically altered to enhance traits like yield, pest resistance, or shelf life.
Green Revolution – A period of agricultural advancement in the mid-20th century that introduced high-yield crops, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides to boost food production.
Intensive agriculture – A farming system that requires high levels of labor and inputs per unit of land to maximize yields, such as market gardening.
Irrigation – The artificial application of water to land to support crop growth, commonly used in dry regions.
Local-food movement – A push for consumers to buy food from nearby farms to support local economies and reduce environmental impact.
Long lots – A land division system used in French-influenced areas, where narrow plots extend from a river or road for equal access to resources.
Market gardening – The small-scale production of fruits, vegetables, and flowers sold directly to consumers or local markets.
Mechanized farming – The use of machinery, such as tractors and harvesters, to increase efficiency and productivity in agriculture.
Mediterranean climate – A climate with warm, dry summers and mild, wet winters, ideal for crops like olives, grapes, and citrus fruits.
Metes and bounds – A system of land surveying using natural landmarks, common in the eastern U.S. before adopting the grid-based system.
Mixed crop/livestock system – A farming system that integrates growing crops and raising animals, where crops feed livestock and manure fertilizes fields.
Monocropping/monoculture – The practice of growing a single crop species over a large area, increasing efficiency but risking soil depletion and pest vulnerability.
Nomadic pastoralism – A subsistence practice in which people move with their livestock to find fresh pastures, common in arid and semi-arid regions.
Periphery countries – Less developed nations with weaker economies that rely on core countries for trade and investment.
Plantation agriculture – Large-scale commercial farming of cash crops such as sugar, cotton, and coffee, often requiring intensive labor and found in tropical regions.
Ranching – The commercial grazing of livestock over large open areas, commonly practiced in regions with vast grasslands.
Second Agricultural Revolution – A period of agricultural advancements during the Industrial Revolution that introduced new tools, crop rotation, and improved transportation.
Shifting cultivation – A form of subsistence farming in which land is cleared, farmed for a few years, then abandoned to allow soil recovery.
Slash-and-burn agriculture – A farming method in which vegetation is cut and burned to clear land and fertilize the soil before planting crops.
Soil salinization – The accumulation of salt in soil due to excessive irrigation, reducing its fertility and harming crops.
Subsistence agriculture – Farming primarily to feed the farmer’s family with little surplus for trade or sale.
Sustainability – The practice of using resources in a way that meets current needs without compromising future generations.
Terrace farming – A technique of building stepped fields on slopes to reduce erosion and maximize arable land, common in mountainous regions.
Township and range – A grid-based land survey system used in the U.S. to divide land into square-mile sections for organized settlement.
Value-added specialty crops – Crops that are processed to increase their economic value, such as organic produce, artisan cheese, or gourmet coffee.
Vertical integration – A system where a single company controls multiple stages of production, from growing crops to distributing final products.
Von Thünen Model – A theoretical model that explains how agricultural land use is arranged in concentric rings around a central market based on cost and perishability.