Human Geography- Chapter 11 Agriculture
Shifting cultivation occupies about _________% of the world's land area and about __________% of the world's population.
twenty-five; five
Mediterranean agriculture
Specialized farming that occurs only in areas where the dry-summer, wet-winter Mediterranean climate prevails. Western Europe, California, and portions of Chile, South Africa and Australia, in which diverse specialty crops such as grapes, avocados, olives, and a host of nuts.
What type of agriculture is practiced to feed the farmer and the farmer's family?
Subsistence (Explanation Pg 330)
Why is shifting cultivation called shifting cultivation instead of shifting agriculture? What is the primary difference between the two?
scale
________ is wheat planted in the spring and harvested in the late summer. the Dakotas, Montana, and southern Saskatchewan in Canada
spring wheat
Vegetative planting diffused in all compass directions-northward, eastward, southward, and westward- from the hearth in Southeast Asia.(true or false)
true
____________ is wheat planted in the fall, develops a strong root system, and survives the winter to be harvested in the beginning of summer. This type of wheat growing is found in Colorado, Kansas, and Oklahoma
winter wheat
Neolithic revolution (1st agricultural revolution)
cultivation of seed crops, the shift from hunting of animals and gathering of food to the keeping of animals and the growing of food on a regular basis around 8,000 BC
The process of obtaining two harvests per year from the same field is called
double cropping
What are the two most important cash crops grown in regions that practice Mediterranean agriculture?
grapes; olives
The Kayapo people of the Amazon plant their crops in what shape?
circle; Pg 337 The crops that require the most nutrients are planted on the outer rings. It is on the outer rings that leaves fall on, and the rotting of these leaves releases nutrients into the soil
Milkshed
the area surrounding a city from which milk is supplied
Homestead Act (township/range)
1862 - Provided free land in the West to anyone willing to settle there and develop it. Encouraged westward migration.
Primogeniture
A system of inheritance in which the eldest son in a family received all of his father's land.
Ranching
A form of commercial agriculture in which livestock graze over an extensive area
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.
Green revolution (3rd)
Agricultural revolution that increased production through improved seeds, fertilizers, and irrigation; helped to support rising Asian populations.
Commercial agriculture
Agriculture undertaken primarily to generate products for sale off the farm.
Norman Borlaug
American agricultural scientist who introduced specially bred crops to developing nations in the 20th century, helping to spur the green revolution.
Monocropping
An agricultural method that utilizes large plantings of a single species or variety
Slash-and-burn (milpa, patch)
Another name for shifting cultivation, so named because fields are cleared by slashing the vegetation and burning the debris.
What type of agriculture is practiced to produce food for sale off the farm
Commercial
Horticulture
Cultivation of crops carried out with simple hand tools such as digging sticks or hoes.
Who made the most widely used map that shows regional distribution of subsistence and commercial agriculture
Derwent Whittlesey (page 333)
Truck farming
Synonym to market gardening, happens near the city, think farmers market, commercial gardening
Pastoral nomadism
Form of subsistence agriculture based on herding domesticated animals in dry climates
In what kind of a region is shifting cultivation practiced
Humid Low-Latitude
Fallow
Inactive, plowed but not sowed
The primary differences between agriculture practices in the world are between those of what two types of regions/countries
MDCs and LDCs (page 330)
Agriculture definition
Modification of Earths surface to obtain sustenance or money
Luxury crops
Non-subsistence crops such as tea, cacao, coffee, and tobacco
Intertillage
Plant complementing crops together, not in rows
Commodity chain
Process product goes through to get from field to store
What are the differences between pastoral nomadism and ranching?
Ranchers raise livestock but nomads grow crops as well as livestock, Nomads migrate a longer distance with their livestock than ranchers, Pastoral nomadism is a form of subsistence agriculture whereas ranching is a form of commercial agriculture
What do critics say about shifting cultivation?
Shifting cultivation is not an effective use of land, Shifting cultivation is an inefficient way to feed people in LDCs (Critics say that logging, cattle ranching, and growing cash crops are more efficient ways for development than shifting cultivation. Also, LDCs see that shifting cultivation is an inefficient way to grow food to feed people)
Which of the following is/are primary hearths of seed agriculture?
South Asia, East Asia, East Africa, Central America, northwestern South America (page 331 map)
Which of the following is/are primary hearths of vegetative planting?
Southeast Asia, West Africa, northwestern South America
Boserup hypothesis
States how population growth compels subsistence farmers to consider new farming approaches that produce enough food to take care of the additional people. (came up with five different stages in the intensification of farmland)
Agribusiness
The connection between farming and food-production jobs (such as processing, packaging, storing, distributing, retailing, tractor manufacturing, fertilizer production, and seed distribution)
Domestication
The conscious manipulation of plant and animal species by humans in order to sustain themselves.
Urban encroachment
The process of urban areas expanding outwards, usually in the form of suburbs, and developing over fertile agricultural land. (urban sprawl)
Transhumance
The seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pastures.
Market gardening
The small scale production of fruits, vegetables, and flowers as cash crops sold directly to local consumers. Distinguishable by the large diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, during a single growing season. Labor is done manually
Carl Sauer
Who developed the two types of cultivation
Plantation/plantation system
a form of subsistence agriculture where an MDC owns the farm and orders the locals to grow certain crops for sale to that MDC
Thomas Malthus vs cornucopian view
believed that populations grew faster than available resources Cornucopians point to rising human numbers, levels of consumption, and life expectancy as evidence of overall and steadily increasing success in the use and management of the Earth
How many agricultural regions did Whittlesey identify, excluding the region where agriculture was nonexistent?
eleven
Von Thunen's model
explains and predicts agricultural land use. more INTENSIVE land uses closer to the market place. more EXTENSIVE land farther from the market place. Inner ring is (City), 2nd (Intensive Agriculture), 3rd (Forest resources), 4th (Grain Farming), 5th (Livestock farming
Agriculture probably had one hearth (true or false)
false (Pg 329 Agriculture probably had many hearths instead of just one)
In LDCs, the production of food to sell to the government or private firms is the main priority.(true or false)
false (Pg 331 In LDCs, food is produced to feed the farmer and the farmer's family)
Seed agriculture diffused in all compass directions- northward, eastward, southward, and westward- from the hearth in China.(true or false)
false (Pg 331 Map Seed agriculture diffused northward, eastward, and southward from the hearth in China, but it never diffused westwards)
The low percentages of farmers in MDCs explain why MDCs are not able to provide LDCs with food.(true or false)
false (Pg 331-332 There are low percentages of farmers in MDCs, but some MDCs, like the United States and Canada, produce enough food to "not only provide for themselves and the rest of the region (North America) but also a surplus to feed people elsewhere.")
What is the main reason that dairy farms are in the first ring of the von Thunen model?
fast perishable time
What did people in Southeast Asia do before they started practicing vegetative planting?
fished; Pg 329 People in Southeast Asia got food from fishing. This sedentary lifestyle allowed for the people to have more time to accomplish other tasks, such as growing and harvesting crops.
Farmers in MDCs grow crops and raise animals to sell directly to ____________________.
food-processing companies (Pg 331 Farmers in MDCs grow crops and raise animals to sell them to food-processing companies, who then sell the processed food to the supermarket or store, where consumers purchase them)
A region with a humid low-latitude climate would have (high/low) temperatures with (abundant/scarce) rainfall.
high; abundant
Farmers in LDCs use what for power?
human, animal, hand tools
There are ____________ percentages of the populations in MDCs that work directly with farming and _____________ percentages of the population of LDCs that work directly with farming.
low; high (page 331)
Farmers in MDCs use what for power
machinery (page 332)
Shifting cultivation
movement from place to place in search of better land. found primarily in tropical and subtropical zones, where farmers had to abandon plots of land after the soil became infertile
What is the main reason that grazing is in the outermost ring of the von Thunen model?
needs lots of space
Farmers in MDCs grow (one/many) crop(s) over a wide area. Farmers in LDCs grow (one/many) crop(s) over a wide area.
one; many Explanation (Pg 337 Farmers in MDCs grow one crop in a large area to make money off of that one crop. Farmers in LDCs grow many crops to provide intermingled food for their own family)
If the von Thunen model was modified by a river running through the scenario, then all of the land that was used for the different products would run ______________ to the river.
parallel
Industry (2nd agricultural revolution)
period of technological change from the 1600s to mid-1900s beginning in Western Europe with industrial innovations to replace human labor with machines and to supplement natural fertilizers and pesticides with chemical ones
What are the two types of cultivation
seed agriculture; vegetative planting
Specifically, how do farmers clear the land for shifting cultivation?
slashing the vegetation and burning the debris
swidden
the land cleared by slash-and-burn agriculture
The number of farmers have decreased during the twentieth century.(true or false)
true (Explanation: Pg 332 The number of farmers have decreased because of push and pull migration factors. The income of farmland was not enough to make a decent living, and there were higher paying jobs in cities)
The size of a farm in a MDC is bigger than the size of a farm in an LDC.(true or false)
true (page 333; Farmers have larger farms in MDCs to produce much more food to sell than in LDCs, where 1) food is produced only for the survival of the farmer and the family, so there does not need to be a lot of land area and 2) there is a large population and a small land area, so there can only be so much land for each person)
One way to increase food supply is to make rarely consumed foods more appealing. (true or false)
true Explanation Pg 358 The increased palatability of certain foods, such as insects, would increase the food supply substantially.
Only 2 percent of the United States' population works directly in the farming business, but around _______% of the population works with agribusiness.
twenty
Which country is the largest commercial producer of grain
united states
what is NOT a reason why fields are abandoned in shifting cultivation
water scarcity
When was seed agriculture starting to become widely practiced in the Western Hemisphere?
when the Europeans brought agriculture with them from Europe