Chapter 10

Grain

The seed from a cereal grass.

Agribusiness

The set of economic and political relationships that organize food production for commercial purposes. It includes activities ranging from seed production, to retailing, to consumption of agricultural products.

Desertification

Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting.

Agriculture

Deliberate modification of Earth's surface through cultivation of plants and rearing of animals to obtain sustenance or economic gain.

Double cropping

Harvesting twice a year from the same field.

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.

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.

Cereal

A grass that yields grain for food.

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.

Reaper

A machine that cuts grain standing in the field.

Combine

A machine that reaps, threshes, and cleans grain while moving over a field.

Green revolution

Agricultural revolution that increased production through improved seeds, fertilizers, and irrigation; helped to support rising Asian populations.

Dietary energy consumption

Amount of food that an individual consumes.

Truck farming

Commercial gardening and fruit farming, so named because truck was a Middle English word meaning batering or the exchange of commodities.

How are the subsistence agriculture and commercial agriculture similar and different?

Farmers in developing countries practice subsistence agriculture and developed farmers practice commercial agriculture. Commercial agriculture is the production of food primarily for sale off the farm. Subsistence agriculture is primarily for consumption by the farmer's family.

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.

Pastoral nomadism

Form of subsistence agriculture based on the herding of domesticating animals.

Explain the differences in farming in developed regions; including mixed crop and livestock farming, dairy farming, grain farming, and livestock ranching.

In mixed crop and livestock farming, farmers feed the animals the crops, and the animals produce manure to fertilize more crops which are then sold. Dairy farming can be done anywhere in a developed country because of refrigeration and Pasteurization. Grain farming is practiced for purpose of human consumption. Livestock ranching is done commercially in developed countries and the animals are grown for meat consumption.

How are the diets of people living in developed countries different from those living in developing countries?

People in developed countries tend to consume more food from different sources. People in developed countries can import food with multiple nutritional values and nourish their body. But people in developing countries don't have the money to import those goods so they consume the local food. There isn't a variety of nutrients for them because they eat just the same food, like corn. This leads developing countries to be malnourished.

Subsistence agriculture

Production of food primarily for consumption by the farmer's family (developing countries)

Commercial agriculture

Production of food primarily for sale off the farm. (Developed countries)

Explain the major hearths for crops and livestock around the world

Southwest Asia is the hearth of barley and wheat. East Asia domesticated rice and millet. Sub-Saharan Africa domesticated sorghum and possibly yams. Latina America is the hearth of beans, cotton, potatoes, and corn. Southwest Asia is the animal hearth of cattle, goats, pigs, and sheep.

What is the role of sustainable agriculture in the future of farming? Explain.

Sustainable farming is necessary for the future. It is farming but it preserves the land in the process. To ensure that we will have future success in growing foods we need to practice this sustainable agriculture. Although it produces a lower revenue, it also costs less than conventional farming and saves the soil.

Ridge tillage

System of planting crops on ridge tops, in order to reduce farm production costs and promote greater soil conservation.

Identify and briefly explain the 11 major agricultural regions

The 11 major agricultural regions are; pastoral nomadism(dry lands of Asia and North Africa), shifting cultivation(tropical regions of Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia), intensive subsistence (white rice dominant, east and South Asia), intensive subsistence (crops other than white rice, east and South Asia), plantation (tropical and sub tropical regions of Latin America), mixed crop and livestock(US Midwest and Central Europe), dairying(population clusters), grain(US and Central Europe), ranching(dry lands of western America), Mediterranean(Mediterranean sea), and commercial gardening(southeastern US and Australia).

Crop rotation

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

Agricultural Revolution

Time when human beings first domesticated plants and animals and no longer relied entirely on hunting and gathering.

Explain Von Thunen's Model of access to markets

Von Thunen proposed that certain crops and types of farming are more profitable in different proximities from a major city. Dairy farming requires to be the closest to a major city because it spoils very quickly. Ring 2 has timber and firewood, this is relatively close to the city because wood is heavy to haul. The third ring consists of extensive crop fields such as grain because it is very light and ideal to transport long distances into the city. Ranching is the final ring and is the farthest from the city because the animals can transport themselves to the city by walking which doesn't require fuel.

Slash-and-burn agriculture

another name for shifting cultivation, so named because fields are cleared by slashing the vegetation and burning the debris

Aqua Farming

reduced pressure on wild populations

Prime agricultural land

the most productive farmland