AP Human Geography-Agriculture

1st 2nd 3rd Agricultural Revolution

1st: allowed humans to become more sedentary and avail themselves of a more reliable source of food 2nd: agricultural benefited from the Industrial revolution 3rd: corresponded with the exponential growth occurring around the world, a direct result of the second agricultural revolution and its profound effect on Europe's ability to feed itself.

Ranching

Definition: A form of commercial agriculture in which livestock graze over an extensive area. Example: Cattle Ranching in West Texas

Pastoral Nomadism

Definition: A form of subsistence agriculture based on herding domesticated animals. Example: Camel Herders

Intensive Subsistence Agriculture

Definition: 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. Example: Families in LDCs must undergo intensive subsistence agricultural practices in order to provide for themselves.

Shifting Cultivation

Definition: 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. Example: Field Rotation

Plantation

Definition: 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. Example: Sugar Cane plantation grows more than sugar. Application: Plantations are used in order to increase efficiency.

Subsistence Agriculture

Definition: Agriculture designed primarily to provide food for direct consumption by the farmer and the farmer's family Example: Family in LDC

Commercial Agriculture

Definition: Agriculture undertaken primarily to generate products for sale off the farm. Example:Tyson farms

Slash-and-Burn Agriculture

Definition: Another name for shifting cultivation, so named because fields are cleared by slashing the vegetation and burning the debris. Example: RUINS SOIL-VERY BAD

Agribusiness

Definition: Commercial agriculture characterized by integration of different steps in the food-processing industry, usually through ownership by large corporations. Example: Tyson Chicken or Smithfield Pork

Truck Farming

Definition: Commercial gardening and fruit farming, so named because truck was a Middle English word meaning bartering or the exchange of commodities. Example: Crops may now be transported a lot further than previously done. Application: Truck farming offers and entirely new agricultural market.

Sustainable Agriculture

Definition: 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. Example: Crop Rotation

Pasture

Definition: Grass or other plants grown for feeding grazing animals, as well as land used for grazing. Example: Open Meadow Application: A pasture is where a herd of animals graze.

Double Cropping

Definition: Harvesting twice a year from the same field. Example: Winter Wheat is grown in addition to normal crop rotation

Wet Rice

Definition: Rice planted on dry land in a nursery, then moved to a deliberately flooded field to promote growth. Example: Seen primarily in the East

Ridge Tillage

Definition: System of planting crops on ridge tops, in order to reduce farm production costs and promote greater soil conservation. Example: no real example of this

Milkshed

Definition: The area surrounding a city from which milk is supplied. Example: A milkshed could be 100 miles around a city.

Agriculture

Definition: 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. Example: Growing Crops.

Horticulture

Definition: The growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers. Example: Lots of Horticulture in the Mediterranean Region

Crop Rotation

Definition: The practice of rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year, to avoid exhausting the soil. Example: Feild A grows x crop one year, y crop the next year, z crop the year after that, and then goes back to x crop once the cycle has restarted.

Transhumance

Definition: The seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pastures. Example: Commonly seen in the UK

Boserup hypothesis

Definition: agricultural methods depend on the size of the population. Example:

Fallow

Definition: plowed and harrowed but left unsown for a period in order to restore its fertility as part of a crop rotation or to avoid surplus production.

Dairying

Definition: the business of producing, storing, and distributing milk and its products. Example: Wal-Mart

Domestication

Definition: the process of adapting wild plants and animals for human use Example: tomatoes, corn, wheat, lettuce

Mediterranean Agriculture

Mediterranean Agriculture An agricultural system practiced in the Mediterranean-style climates of Western Europe, California, and portions of Chile and Australia Example: Olives, Grapes

Luxury Crops

Non-subsistence crops Example: tobacco

Feedlot

Places where livestock are concentrated in very small area and raised on hormones and hearty grains that prepare them for slaughter at a much more rapid rate than grazing Example: factory farm

vertical integration

Practice where a single entity controls the entire process of a product, from the raw materials to distribution Example: Tyson

Market Gardening

The small scale production of fruits, vegetables, and flowers as cash crops sold directly to local consumers Example: Farmers market

Thomas Malthus

The theory that the more food there is, the more overpopulated we would be Example: none

Subsidy

a government payment that supports a business or market Example: a farm in need of money

Von Thünen's model

a model showing the different types of farming in different areas Example: Von Thünen's mode

Green Revolution

a set of research, development, and technology transfer initiatives occurring between the 1930s and the late 1960s Example: 3rd Agricultural Revolution

Plantation

an estate where cash crops are grown on a large scale (especially in tropical areas) Example: a plantation in south america

Genetically Modified Organisms

any organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques Example: long lasting tomatoes

primogeniture

right of inheritance belongs exclusively to the eldest son Example: kings

"Tragedy of the Commons"

situation in which people acting individually and in their own interest use up commonly available but limited resources, creating disaster for the entire community Example: none

Hydroponics

the process of growing plants in sand, gravel, or liquid, with added nutrients but without soil. Example: flowers, basil, herbs

Neolithic Revolution

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 Example: farmers living in a community

Intertillage

tillage between rows of crop plants Example: tilling between rows of tomatoes