Agriculture-AP Human Geography

Agribusiness

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

Agricultural hearths

Places where agriculture first developed and originated.

Agriculture

The art and science of producing food from the land and tending livestock for the purpose of human consumption

Animal Domestication

genetic modification of an animal such that it is rendered more amenable to human control

Aquaculture

use of river segments or artificial bodies of water such as ponds for the raising and harvesting of food products

Bio technology and GMO's

Using living organisms in a useful way to produce commercial products like pest resistant crops.

Commercial Agriculture

The production primarily for sale off of the farm

Intensive Commercial agriculture

yields a large amount of output per acre through concentrated application of labor and/or capital usually to small holdings

Extensive commercial agriculture

yields a much smaller output per acre as farmers spread their labor and capital over large areas of land.

crop rotation

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

Dairying

An agricultural activity involving the raising of livestock for dairy products

Double cropping

The process of having two harvests every year from the same field

Primary economic activity

economic activity concerned with the direct extraction of natural resources from the environment

Second economic activity

economic activity involving the processing of raw materials into finished industrial products, the manufacturing sector

tertiary economic activity

economic activity associated with the provision of services

Quaternary economic activity

service sector industries concerned with collection, processing, and manipulation of information and capital

Quinary economic activity

service sector industries that require a high level of specialized knowledge skill

pesticides

Chemicals used on plants that do not harm the human plants but kill plants that have a negative repercussion on the species that ingest the chemicals

Soil erosion

Movement of soil components, especially topsoil, from one place to another, usually by wind, flowing water, or both.

desertification

the process by which formally fertile lands become increasingly arid,unproductive and desertlike.

Deforestation

The removal of trees faster than forests can replace themselves.

irrigation

artifical watering of farmland

wetland destruction

when wetlands are disturbed, harmed, drained, or filled in by pollution

extensive subsistence agriculture

An agricultural production system that uses small inputs of hand labor, fertilizers, and capital, relative to the land area being farmed.

Shifting cultivation[slash and burn]

a type of agriculture where farmers cut the undergrowth and smaller trees than burn what is the left.

Nomadic herding/pastoralism

on the move people that live with animals and sell their products to buy grain which they eat-usually practiced in dry areas.

feedlot

a building where livestock are fattened for market

First agricultural revolution

Dating back 10,000 years, the First Agricultural Revolution achieved plant domestication and animal domestication

forestry

the science or practice of planting, managing, and caring for forests

Green revolution

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

Growing season

the part of the year during which rainfall and temperature allow plants to grow.

hunting and gathering

people who survive by eating animals that they have caught or plants they have gathered

intensive subsistence agriculture

a form of subsistence agriculture in which farmers must expand a relatively large amount of effort to produce the maximum sufficient harvest froma parcel of land

livestock ranching

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

market gardening

small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants.

Mediterranean Agriculture

specialized farming that occurs only in areas where the dry-summer Mediterranean climate prevails

plant domestication

genetic modification of a plant such that its reproductive success depends on human intervention

plantation agriculture

Production system based on a large estate owned by an individual, family, or corporation and organized to produce a cash crop.

Carl O. Sauer

geographer,possiblilst, that believed there were two types of plant cultivation

Second agricultural revolution

1600s-1800s/increase in food production/tools were modified/ urbanization/ happened alongside the industrial revolution

staple grains

Foods eaten regularly or in such quantities as to constitute the dominant part of the diet and supply a major proportion of energy and nutrients

Third agricultural revolution

dates as far back as the 1930s when scientists in the American midwest manipulated seed varieties/ success is debated

Truck farming

commercial gardening and fruit farming, so named because truck was an english word meaning bartering or the exchange of commodities

Industrial Agriculture

modern farming that refers to the industrialized production of livestock, poultry, fish, and crops.

vegetative planting

The reproduction of plants by direct cloning from existing plants.

seed planting

crop that is reproduced by cultivating the seeds of the plants

milk shed

the circle around a dairy farm in which its products can be sold without spoiling

horticulture

growing of fruits/vegetables/flowers for commercial use.

Luxury crops

Non-subsistence crops such as tea, cacao, coffee, and tobacco

Von Thuenen's model

a model that explains the location of agricultureal activities in a commercial, profit-making economy- rings around a city,

Biotechnological revolution

genetic engineering technology of the 21st century

monoculture

dependence on a single agricultural commodities

sustainable agriculture

Farming methods that preserve long-term productivity of land and minimize pollution,typically by rotating soil-resortign crops with cash crops and reducing inputs of fertilizers and pesticides.

organic agriculture

the production of crops and animals-naturally- without chemicals and hormones