Agriculture Vocabulary Words

plant domestication

The process where plants are artificially selected and become accustomed to human provision and control.

Sawah

A flooded field for growing rice

Ranching

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

Pastoral nomadian

A form of subsistence agriculture based on herding domesticated animals

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 a relatively few years and left fallow for a relatively long period

Cereal grain

A grass yielding 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

Swidden

A patch of land cleared for planting through slashing and burning

Pastoralism

A type of agricultural activity based on nomadic animal husbandry or the raising of livestock to provide food, clothing, and shelter

Subsistence agriculture

Agriculture designed primarily to provide food for direct consumption by the farmer and the farmer's family

Commercial agriculture

Agriculture undertaken primarily to generate products for sale off the farm

First Agricultural Revolution

Also Neolithic Revolution. The period of time about 12,000 years ago when the humans transitioned from hunting and gathering communities to agriculture and settlement bands due to the use of plant and animal domestication.

Animal husbandry

An agricultural activity associated with the raising of domesticated animals, such as cattle, horses, sheep, and goats

Planned agricultural economy

An agricultural economy found in communist nations in which the government controls both agricultural production and distribution

von Thunen Model

An agricultural model that spatially describes agricultural activities in terms of rent. Activities that require intensive cultivation and cannot be transported over great distances pay higher rent to be close to the market. Conversely, activities that are more extensive, with goods, that are easy to transport, are located farther from the market where rent is less.

extensive agriculture

An agricultural system characterized by low inputs of labor per unit land area

Slash-and-burn agriculture

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

Intensive cultivation

Any kind of agricultural activity that involves effective and efficient use of labor on small plots of land to maximize crop yield

Fertile Crescent

Area located in the crescent-shaped zone near the southeastern Mediterranean coast (including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey), which was once a lush environment and one of the first hearths of domestication and thus agricultural activity

Pesticides

Chemicals used on plants that do not harm the plants, but kill pests and have negative repercussions on other species who ingest the chemicals

Agribusiness

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

Truck farming

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

Specialty crops

Crops including items like peanuts and pineapples, which are produced, usually in developing countries, for export

luxury crops

Crops not grown for sustenance to include tea, cacao, coffee, and tobacco

organic agriculture

Crops produced without the use of synthetic or industrially produced pesticides or fertilizers

Desertification

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

Thunian patterns

Each town or market is surrounded by a cet of more-or-less concentric rings within which particular commodities or crops dominated.

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 inputs of fertilizer and pesticides

Genetically modified foods

Foods that are mostly products of organisms that have had their genes altered in a laboratory for specific purposes, such as disease resistance, increased productivity, or nutritional value allowing growers greater control, predictability, and efficiency

capital-intensive agriculture

Form of agriculture that uses mechanical goods such as machinery, tools, vehicles, and facilities to produce large amounts of agricultural goods - a process requiring very little human labor

Crop

Grain or fruit gathered from a field as a harvest during a particular season

Pasture

Grass or other plants grown for feeding grazing animals, as well as land used for grazing

Double cropping

Harvesting twice a year from the same field

Chaff

Husks of grain separated from the seed by threshing

mechanization

In agriculture, the replacement of human labor with technology or machines

Topsoil loss

Loss of the top fertile layer of soil is lost through erosion. It is a tremendous problem in areas with fragile soils, steep slopes, or torrential seasonal rains

Paddy

Malay word for wet rice, commonly but incorrectly used to describe a sawah

feedlots

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

Salinization

Process that occurs when soils in arid areas are brought under cultivation through irrigation. In arid climates, water evaporates quickly off the ground surface, leaving salty residues that render the soil infertile

Green Revolution

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

Vegetative planting

Reproduction of plants by direct cloning from existing plants

Seed agriculture

Reproduction of plants through annual introduction of seeds, which result from sexual fertilization

Wet rice

Rice planted on dryland in a nursery, then moved to a deliberately flooded field to promote growth

Grain

Seed of a cereal grain

Ridge tillage

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

Milkshed

The area surrounding a city from which milk is supplied

Agriculture

The deliberate modification of Earth's surface through the cultivation of plants and the rearing of animals to obtain sustenance or economic gain

Horticulture

The growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers

Prime agricultural alnd

The most productive farmland

Hull

The outer covering of a seed

Third Agricultural Revolution

The period of time approximately 250 years after the start of the Second Agricultural Revolution continuing into the present, with three distinctive features. The lines distinguishing agriculture as primary, secondary, and tertiary activities are removed as the farmers perform more than just the primary activities. More intensive mechanization and biotechnology are also used.

Second Agricultural Revolution

The period of time in 17th and 18th century Europe where farming underwent significant changes. Tools and equipment were modified. Methods of soil preparation, fertilization, crop care, and harvesting improved. The general organization of agriculture, food storage, and distribution was made more efficient. Productivity increased to meet rising demands, including the demand from the growing cities.

Crop rotation

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

Urban sprawl

The process of urban areas expanding outwards, usually in the form of suburbs, and developing over fertile agricultural land

animal domestication

The process where animals are artificially selected and become accustomed to human provision and control.

Industrial Revolution

The rapid economic changes that occurred in agriculture and manufacturing in England in the late 18th century and that rapidly spread to other parts of the developed world

Transhumance

The seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pastures

metallurgy

The technique of separating metals from ores.

biotechnology

The use of genetically engineered crops in agricutlure and DNA manipulation in livestock in order to increase production. Example: radiation of meats and vegetables to prolong their freshness

Thresh

To beat out grain from stalks by trampling it

Winnow

To remove chaff by allowing it to be blown away by the wind

Labor-intensive agriculture

Type of agriculture that requires large levels of manual labor to be successful

Mediterranean agriculture

Type of specialized farming occuring only in the areas where the dry-summer Mediterranean climate prevails along the shores of the Mediterranean sea

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

plantation agriculture

When cash crops are grown on large estates

agricultural origin

agricultural hearth