AP Human Chp. 10 (Agriculture)

What is the agricultural practice that preserves and enhances environmental quality? There is more sensitive land management and better integration of crops and livestock. Some commercial farmers are converting their operations into this agriculture practice.

Sustainable Agriculture

Cotton production was stimulated in the 1790s with the invention of what?

The cotton gin

Although less than 2% of the people in the US and Canada are farmers, the farmers are able to produce enough food for people in the US and Canada at a very high standard. Why is that?

The farmers have access to advanced technology

What happens to the debris that is left over from slash-and burn?

The rain washes the fresh ashes into the soil, providing needed nutrients

What is the most important crop grown?

Wheat

How does the large-scale destruction of the rain forests also contribute to global warming?

When a large number of trees are cut, their burning and decay release large volumes of carbon dioxide. The gas can build up in the atmosphere

Boserup Hypothesis

based on the observation that explains how population increase necessitates increased inputs of labor and technology to compensate for reductions in the natural yields of swidden farming

In densely populated East, South, and Southeast Asia, most farmers practice which type of subsistence agriculture?

intensive subsistence agriculture

Broad climate patterns influence the crops planted in a _____________ , and local soil conditions influence the crops planted on an ___________________________.

region ; individual farm

The domestication of animals was most likely achieved by...

sedentary farmers

Shifting cultivation and pastoral nomadism are forms of which type of agriculture?

subsistence agriculture

What is intensive subsistence agriculture

term applied to subsistence agriculture that means that farmers must work more intensively to subsist on a parcel of land

i give up. i go night night

that was all of the stuff from the TB that seemed important

What is the ring surrounding a city from which milk can be supplied without spoiling called?

the Milkshed

What do you call the seed from various grasses (such as wheat, corn, oats, barley, rice, millet, etc.)

Grains

Von Thunen's model was first introduced in Thunen's book called what?

"The Isolated State" was the title of the book

Over thousands of years, plants cultivation apparently evolved from a combination of what two things?

(1) the accidental occurrence of dropping fruits and seeds and (2) deliberate experiment

What are GMOs?

(genetically modified organisms) Are living organisms whose genetic material has been artificially manipulated in a laboratory through genetic engineering, or GE. Example) a banana is genetically modified. Real bananas are smaller and have have much larger seeds.

What are two examples of pastoral nomadic groups?

(possible answers) The Bedouins of Saudi Arabia and North Africa The Masai of East Africa

What are the two distinguishing hallmarks of shifting cultivation?

1. Farmers clear land for planting by slashing vegetation and burning the debris 2. Farmers grow crops on a cleared field for only a few years until soil nutrients are depleted and then leave it fallow (nothing planted) for many years so that the soil can recover. The process repeats

When was barbed wire first commercially produced?

1873

The typical nomadic family needs how many goats or sheep and how many camels?

25-60 goats or sheep 25 camels

When railroads were first used for transporting dairy products, they rarely had a radius beyond 30 miles. Today, refrigerated rail cars and trucks enable farmers to ship milk more than _______ miles

300

US farms average about how many acres?

435 acres (175 hectares)

What is a crop?

A crop is any plant that is cultivated (or cared for) by people.

Hunters lived in small groups with usually less than 50 persons. Why did they keep their groups small?

A large number of persons would have quickly exhausted the available resources within walking distance

What is a swidden?

A patch of land cleared for planting through slashing and burning.

What is a plantation?

A plantation is a large farm that specializes in one or two crops

What is the system of commercial farming found in the US and other relatively developed countries called?

Agribusiness

What is agriculture?

Agriculture is the deliberate modification of Earth's surface through the cultivation of plants and the rearing of animals in order to obtain sustenance or economic gain.

When did agriculture originate? (not a date, but a time period)

Agriculture originated when humans domesticated plants and animals for their use

What is the First Agricultural Revolution?

Also known as the Neolithic Revolution, is the transformation of human societies from hunting and gathering to farming. This transition occurred worldwide between 10,000 BC and 2000 BC, with the earliest known developments taking place in the Middle East. The wide-scale transition of many human cultures from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement, allowing the ability to support an increasingly large population. Achieved plant domestification and animal domestification.

Because they had domesticated animals but not plants, pastoral nomads were considered more advanced than ______________ and ______________ , but less advanced than _____________________________

Because they had domesticated animals but not plants, pastoral nomads were considered more advanced than HUNTERS and GATHERERS, but less advanced than SETTLED FARMERS

What innovative strategy has Bolivia agreed to make in exchange for the cancellation of $650,000,000 of its debt to developed countries?

Bolivia has agreed to set aside 1.5 million hectares (3.7 million acres) in a forest reserve

Why were cattle the first brought to the Americas by Columbus in his second voyage?

Cattle were sufficiently hardy to survive the ocean crossing

What is commercial agriculture?

Commercial agriculture is the production of food primarily for sale off the farm

What is the name of the economic activity that still depends very much on the local diversity of environmental and cultural conditions of each place?

Farming

In the US and Canada, what percentage of the population are farmers?

Fewer than 2% of the people in the US and Canada are farmers

How do GPS units aid commercial farmers?

GPS units determine the precise coordinates for spreading different types and amounts of fertilizers. GPS units also monitor the location of cattle on large ranches

Before agriculture, how did humans obtain the food that they needed for survival?

Humans hunted for animals, fished, and gathered plants

Before agriculture, groups of people traveled frequently, establishing new home bases or camps. What two things did the direction and frequency of movement of these groups depend on?

It depended on the movement of game and the seasonal growth of plants at various locations

What is Ridge Tillage?

It is a system of planting crops on ridge tops

Farmers in what type of countries generally practice subsistence agriculture?

LDCs

Farmers in what type of countries generally practice commercial agriculture?

MDCs

In most African and Asian countries, what percentage of people are farmers?

More than 50%

What is the predominant type of agriculture in the Middle East? (dry climate)

Pastoral nomadism

What is pastoral nomadism?

Pastoral nomadism is a form of subsistence agriculture based on the herding of domesticated animals

What is a pasture?

Pasture is grass or other plants grown for feeding grazing animals, as well as land used for grazing

For what reasons did prehistoric people domesticate animals?

Prehistoric people may have originally domesticated animals for noneconomic reasons such as sacrifices and other religious ceremonies. Other animals were probably domesticated as household pets

What is "prime agricultural land"?

Prime agricultural land is the farmland that is most productive

What is the commercial grazing of livestock over an extensive area?

Ranching

What was the Green Revolution?

Rapid diffusion of new agricultural technology, especially new high yield seeds and fertilizers. Successful recent development of higher yield, faster growing varieties of rice & other cereals in certain developing countries (ie. Mexico, India, China, Vietnam, ...) that led to increased productivity and reduced the gap between growing population and food needs.

What system does sustainable agriculture use to protect soil?

Ridge Tillage

Which form of cultivation is practiced by most farmers today?

Seed agriculture

What is seed agriculture?

Seed agriculture is the reproduction of plants through the annual planting of seeds that result from sexual fertilization.

What is the predominant type of agriculture in Central Africa? (tropical climate)

Shifting Cultivation

What animal is most frequently desired in North Africa and the Middle East and why?

The camel. Camels are well suited to arid climates because it can go long periods without water, carry heavy baggage, and move rapidly

Which type of agriculture occupies approximately 1/4 of the world's land area?

Shifting cultivation

Where is vegetative planting believed to have originated from and why?

Southeast Asia The regions diversity of climate and topography is likely to have encouraged growth of a wide variety of plants suitable for dividing and transplanting. Also, the people of this region obtained food primarily by fishing rather than by hunting and gathering, so they may have been more sedentary and therefore able to devote more attention to growing plants

What was the point of origin for squash and maize?

Southern Mexico

What is subsistence agriculture?

Subsistence agriculture is is the production of food primarily for consumption by the farmer's family

In what decade were railroads first used for transporting dairy products?

The 1840s

What was the Second Revolution?

The 2 revolutions occurred from 1700 to 1900 in developed countries. They used technology provided by the Industrial Revolution to increase production and distribution of products. fields were now doubled or tripled in size but still the same amount of labor. this increased in productivity and allowed population to increase on both a local and a global scale. Benefiting from the Industrial Revolution, improved methods of cultivation, harvesting, and storage of farm produce

What is a paddy?

The Malay word for wet rice, commonly but incorrectly used to describe a sawah, a flooded field used to grow rice. A field where rice is grown.

What does the McCormick reaper do?

The McCormick Reaper is a machine that cuts grain standing in the field

The amount of land that a nomadic group controls depends on what two things?

The groups wealth and power

What is horticulture?

The growing of fruits vegetables and flowers.

In Central Asia, what animal is particularly important?

The horse.

What does "cultivate" mean?

The word "cultivate" means to care for

African Bushmen of Namibia and Botswana and the Aborigines of Australia are examples of what?

They are examples of contemporary hunting and gathering societies that exist today. They are isolated groups.

What was the big flaw in Thunen's model?

Thunen did not consider site or human factors in his model. The model assumed that all land in a study area had similar site characteristics and of uniform quality.

What is transhumance?

Transhumance is the seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pasture areas. (Some pastoral nomads practice this)

The type of agriculture frequently practiced in the Southeast Region of the US is often called ______________________?

Truck Farming

What are the two types of cultivation?

Vegetative planting and Seed agriculture

What is vegetative planting?

Vegetative planting is the reproduction of plants by direct cloning from existing plants (ie. cutting stems and dividing roots)

Pastoral nomadism is typically exercised on what type of land?

arid and semiarid land (such as that of the Middle East and North Africa) Pastoral nomadism is adapted to dry climates, where planting crops is impossible

How are both push and pull factors responsible for the decline in the number of farmers in the US?

people were pushed away from farms by lack of opportunity to earn a decent income and sat the same time, they have been pulled to higher-paying jobs in urban areas

What is Crop Rotation?

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

What is desertification?

process in semiarid regions where human actions are causing land to deteriorate to a desert-like condition

What is domestication?

process of making something commercialized for larger production

Pastoral nomads select the type and number of animals for the herd according to the characteristics of what two things?

the local cultural characteristics and physical characteristics (the relative prestige of the animals and their ability to adapt o a particular climate and vegetation)

How farmers deal with their physical environment varies according to what?

their dietary preferences, availability to technology, and other cultural traditions

Explain the process where farmers use the "fallow" method

when farmers grow crops on a clear field for only a few years until the soil nutrients are depleted. The farmers then leave the soil for a few year so the nutrients in the soil can be restored; uncropped land