AP Human Geography Unit 5 Vocabulary

286. Agribusiness - commercial agriculture characterized by the integration of different steps in the food processing industry, usually through ownership by large corporations

287. Agricultural revolution - the time when human beings first domesticated plants and animals and no longer relied entirely on hunting and gathering.

288. Agriculture - the deliberate effort to modify a portion of earth's surface through the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock for sustenance or economic gain.

289. Aquaculture/aquafarming - the cultivation of seafood under controlled conditions

290. Cereal grain - a grass that yields grain for food.

291. Commercial agriculture - agriculture undertaken primarily to generate products for sale off the farm.

292. Crop - any plant gathered from a field as a harvest during a particular season.

293. Crop rotation - the practice of rotating the use of different fields from crop to crop each year to avoid exhausting the soil.

294. Dairy Farm - a form of commercial agriculture that specializes in the production of milk and other dairy products.

295. Desertification - degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions, such as excessive crop planting, animal, grazing, and tree cutting. Also known as semiarid land degration.

296. Dietary energy consumption - the amount of food that an individual consumes, measured in kilocalories (calories in the United States).

297. Double cropping - harvesting twice a year from the same field.

298. Fishing - the capture of wild fish and other seafood living in the waters.

299. Food security - physical, social, and economic access at all times to safe and nutritious food sufficient to meet dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life.

300. Genetically modified organism (GMO) - a living organism that possesses a novel combination of genetic material obtained through the use of modern biotechnology.

301. Grain - seed of cereal grass.

302. Green revolution - rapid diffusion of new agriculture, technology, especially new high-yield seeds and fertilizers.

303. Horticulture - the growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers.

304. Intensive subsistence agriculture - a form of substance agriculture characteristics of Asia’s major population concentrations in which farmers must expand a relatively large amount of effort to produce the maximum feasible yield from a parcel of land.

305. Milkshed - the area surrounding a city from which milk is supplied.

306. Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming - commercial farming, characterized by integration of crops and livestock; most of the crops are fed to animals rather than consumed directly by humans.

307. No tillage - a farming practice that leaves all of the soil undisturbed and the entire residue of the previous year's harvest left untouched on the fields.

308. Overfishing - capturing fish faster than they can reproduce.

309. Paddy - the Malay word for white rice, increasingly used to describe a flooded field.

310. Pastoral nomadism - a form of subsistence agriculture based on herding and domesticating animals.

312. Plantation - a large farm in tropical and subtropical climates that specializes in the production of one or two crops for sale, usually to a more developed country.

313. Prime agricultural land - the most productive farmland

314. Ranching - a form of commercial agriculture in which livestock graze over an extensive area.

315. Ridge tillage - a system of planting crops on ridge tops in order to reduce farm production costs and promote greater soil conservation.

316. Sawah - a flooded field for growing rice.

317. Shifting cultivation - a form of subsistence agriculture in which people shift activity from one field to another; each field is used for crops for a relatively few years and left fallow for a relatively long period.

318. Slash-and-burn agriculture - another name for shifting cultivation, so named because fields are cleared by slashing the vegetation and burning the debris.

319. Subsistence agriculture - agriculture designed primarily to provide food for direct consumption by the farmer and the farmer’s family.

320. Swidden - a patch of land cleared for planting through slashing and burning.

321. Transhumance - the seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pastures.

322. Truck farming - commercial, gardening and fruit farming, so named for the middle English word truck meaning barter or exchange of commodity.

323. Undernourishment - dietary energy consumption that is continuously below the minimum requirement for maintaining a healthy life and carrying out light physical activity.

324. Wet rice - rice planted on dry land in a nursery and then moved to a deliberately flooded field to promote growth.

325. Biotechnology - The use of living organisms or biological systems to develop agricultural products, such as genetically modified crops or livestock.

326. Chaff - The husks of grains separated from the seed during threshing.

327. Combine - A machine that harvests, threshes, and cleans grain crops in one operation.

328. Conservation agriculture - Farming practices that aim to conserve soil, water, and energy, such as no-till farming and crop rotation.

329. Enclosure System - The consolidation of small landholdings into larger farms in England during the 18th century, leading to increased agricultural efficiency.

330. First Agricultural Revolution - The transition from hunting and gathering to settled agricultural practices, which began around 10,000 years ago.

331. Feedlot - A confined area where livestock are fed and fattened for slaughter.

332. Hull - The outer covering of a seed or grain.

333. Hunting and Gathering - A subsistence lifestyle where people rely on hunting animals and gathering plants for food.

334. Intertillage - The practice of planting different crops in the same field to reduce soil erosion and maximize land use.

335. Long Lot Survey System - A land division system that creates long, narrow plots of land, often found in areas colonized by the French, such as Quebec.

336. Metes and Bounds System - A land surveying method that uses natural landmarks and measurements to define property boundaries.

337. Monoculture - The agricultural practice of growing a single crop over a large area.

338. Organic farming - Farming that avoids synthetic chemicals and emphasizes natural processes and biodiversity.

339. Pasture - Land covered with grass and other plants suitable for grazing animals.

340. Polyculture - The practice of growing multiple crops in the same space to mimic natural ecosystems.

341. Primary economic activity - Economic activities that involve the extraction of natural resources, such as farming, fishing, and mining.

342. Reaper - A machine used to cut and gather crops during harvest.

343. Rectangular Survey System - A land division system that divides land into rectangular parcels, commonly used in the United States.

344. Sauer, Carl (cultural landscape) - A geographer who emphasized the interaction between humans and their environment in shaping cultural landscapes.

345. Second Agricultural Revolution - A period of agricultural innovation during the 18th and 19th centuries that increased food production and supported population growth.

346. Sedentary - A lifestyle characterized by permanent settlement in one location.

347. Shifting agriculture - A farming method where fields are cultivated temporarily and then abandoned to allow soil recovery.

348. Specialty farming - The production of crops that are in high demand but limited in geographic distribution, such as wine grapes or organic produce.

349. Spring Wheat - Wheat planted in the spring and harvested in late summer.

350. Sustainable Agriculture - Farming practices that meet current food needs without compromising future generations' ability to produce food.

351. Threshing - The process of separating grain from the husks and straw.

352. Township and Range System - A land division system that divides land into square townships and sections, used in the United States.

353. Urban subsistence farming - Small-scale farming in urban areas to provide food for local consumption.

354. Vertical integration - A business model where a company controls multiple stages of production, from raw materials to finished products.

355. Winnowed - The process of separating lighter chaff from heavier grain by blowing air through it.

356. Winter Wheat - Wheat planted in the fall and harvested in early summer.