agriculture
deliberate modification of Earth's surface through cultivation of plants and rearing of animals to obtain sustenance or economic gain.
crop
any plant cultivated by people.
vegetative planting
reproduction of plants by direct cloning from existing plants, such as cutting stems and dividing roots.
seed agriculture
reproduction of plants through annual planting of seeds that result from sexual fertilization.
subsistence agriculture
found in LDCs, the production of food primarily for consumption by the farmer's family.
commercial agriculture
found in more developed countries, the production of food primarily for sale off the farm.
prime agricultural land
the most productive farmland.
agribusiness
commercial agriculture characterized by integration of different steps in the food-processing industry, usually through ownership by large corporations.
slash-and-burn agriculture
another name for shifting cultivation, so named because fields are cleared by slashing the vegetation and burning the debris.
swidden
a patch of land cleared for planting through slashing and burning.
pastoral nomadism
a form of subsistence agriculture based on the herding of domesticated animals.
transhumance
seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pasture areas.
pasture
grass of other plants grown for feeding grazing animals, as well as land used for grazing.
intensive subsistence agriculture
a form of subsistence agriculture in which farmers must expend a relatively large amount of effort to produce the maximum feasible yield from a parcel of land.
wet rice
the practice of planting rice on dry land in a nursery and then moving the seedlings to a flooded field to promote growth.
sawah
a flooded field for growing rice.
paddy
Malay word for wet rice, commonly but incorrectly used to describe a sawah.
chaff
husks of grain separated from the seed by threshing.
thresh
to beat out grain from stalks by tramping it.
winnow
to remove chaff by allowing it to be blown away by the wind.
hull
the outer covering of a seed.
double cropping
harvesting twice a year from the same field.
crop rotation
the practice of rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year to avoid exhausting the soil.
cereal grain
a grass yielding grain for food.
milkshed
the ring surrounding a city from which milk can be supplied without spoiling.
winter wheat
wheat planted in the fall and harvested in the early summer.
spring wheat
wheat planted in the spring and harvested in the late summer.
reaper
a machine that cuts grain standing in the field.
combine
a machine that reaps, threshes, and cleans grain while moving over a field.
horticulture
the growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers.
truck farming
commercial gardening and fruit farming, so named because truck was a Middle English word meaning bartering or the exchange of commodities.
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.
sustainable agriculture
farming methods that preserve long-term productivity of land and minimize pollution, typically by rotating soil-restoring crops with cash crops and reducing in-puts of fertilizer and pesticides.
ridge tillage
system of planting crops on ridge tops, in order to reduce farm production costs and promote greater soil conservation.
desertification
degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting.
green revolution
rapid diffusion of new agricultural technology, especially new high-yield seeds and fertilizers.
grain
seed of cereal grass.
ranching
a form of commercial agriculture in which livestock graze over an extensive area.
shifting cultivation
a form of subsistence agriculture in which people shift activity from one field to another; each field is used for crops for relatively few years and left fallow for a relatively long period.