AP Human Geography Unit 5 Agriculture

VonThunen

he was the first to spatially analyze an economic activity.

Borlaug

he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 for his efforts in producing the "miracle wheat seed' of the Green Revolution. He has been nicknamed "the man who saved a billion lives." (last name).

mixed crop and livestock farming

ideally this type of agriculture practiced in the Midwestern US, Central Europe and other MDC regions would use integrated farming methods but has become more dependent on chemicals, monocultures and factory farming techniques in recent decades (four words).

Terraces

in intensive subsistence wet rice dominant farming these are often built in hilly areas so that farmers can flood the fields to create paddies. Creating these is an example of intensive land use (plural).

Milkshed

this is the name for an area of dairy farming that surrounds population centers

Plantation

this is the only type of commercial agriculture practiced PRIMARILY in LDCs in which crops are grown for export to MDCs and workers are usually imported and temporarily housed in barracks.

Land Ordinance

this law passed in 1785 under the Articles of Confederation period of American Government established the township-and-range system which is the cadastral system that dominates 75% of the United States (two words).

Export Crops

this term describes items (usually luxury) grown in LDCs mostly for sale to consumers in MDCs. There has been great pressure on subsistence farmers to dedicate valuable land and effort to growing these instead of food (two words/plural).

Sustainable

this type of agriculture attempts to preserve and enhance environmental quality through the limited use of chemicals, better integration of crops and livestock and sensitive land management.

Livestock Ranching

this type of agriculture has undergone intensification in recent decades as the animals are no longer free- range grazers but concentrated at feeding operations usually located along major highways for easy access (two words).

Seed

this type of crop is believed to have been domesticated around 10,000 years ago (8,000 BCE) in the Fertile Crescent and led to the 1st Agricultural or Neolithic Revolution.

Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO)

this type of feedlot represents an intensification of ranching (acronym).

shifting cultivation

this type of subsistence agriculture is practiced primarily in areas with high temperatures and abundant rainfall and covers the greatest area of any agricultural region (two words).

subsistence farming

A major distinction in agricultural types. It is found primarily in LDCs and its main characteristic is that the food grown is primarily for consumption by the farmer's family or village.

Agricultural Density

In MDCs, fewer workers are involved in farming leading to a lower ____________________________ (two words). This implies that farming is more efficient and mechanized in MDCs (two words).

Factory Farming

Industrial farming process (especially in the production of meat) that employs assembly line methods (two words).

Disepersed

North America is one of the few places on Earth where farmers live in this type of distribution with families living at significant distances from each other and employing mechanized methods to farm large areas of land.

Commercial

One of the major types of agriculture when differentiated by purpose. It is found mainly in MDCs and its defining characteristic is that crops are grown primarily for sale off the farm.

Agribusiness

a corporate-owned food-producing enterprise. This type of business controls the American food supply and the commodity chain from farm to dinner table.

Extensive

a distinction between types in agriculture, this characterizes farming that doesn't use land to an extreme and/or uses a wide area and lower amounts of labor.

Fallow

a field that has been left unplanted so as to regain its fertility.

Root

according to Carl Sauer, this was the first type of crop domesticated in Indonesia 14,000 years ago.

Mediterranean agriculture

agricultural region usually found on the western coasts of landmasses with short wet winters and hot dry summers which are conducive to growing products like grapes and olives.

Pastoral Nomadism

agriculture practiced in dry marginal regions in LDCs in which herders move their flocks around familiar territories to water sources and usually barter animal products (milk, wool, etc) for foodstuffs (two words).

truck farming

another name for commercial gardening and fruit farming which derives from the Middle English word for "bartering" or "the exchange of commodities". This is coincidental because crops grown in this region are usually transported short distances to major population centers like the megalopolis.

hunting and gathering

before humans adopted sedentary agriculture, this is how they survived (three words).

township and range system

cadastral survey system that dominates 75% of the United States and gives the country a rectangular patterned landscape (hyph./three words)

Metes and Bounds

cadastral survey system which sets boundaries based on physical features and results in an irregularly patterned landscape (hyph./three words)

Longlot

cadastral system in which the main objective is to allow access to important physical features such as a road, river or canal and which is more prevalent in areas originally settled by the French (hyph., two words)

Desertification

environmental problem caused by overgrazing and other practices in which arable land becomes infertile.

Monoculture

farm dedicated to the massive production of one single commodity (plant or animal).

Hearths

for agriculture these include SW Asia (the Fertile Crescent), SE Asia, South/Central America, Northern China, and Africa. In each case it is believed that the domestication of different types of crops and animals happened through independent innovation rather than from diffusion from other areas (plural).

Pasture

grass or other plants grown to feed grazing animals or the land used for grazing.

Rice

intensive subsistence agriculture is divided into two geographic regions based on whether or not THIS CROP is mainly grown. IR36, developed in the Green Revolution, became the most widely grown variety of this crop by 1992.

Drugs

many subsistence farmers have turned to this export crop because it is very lucrative and there is high demand in MDCs. This has caused them to be targeted by their governments with US support and many areas have experienced crime and violence as a result (plural).

Intensive Subsistence

more humans are engaged in this type of agriculture whether it involves rice in wet, warm climates or other crops in drier, colder climates (two words).

Nucleated

most rural agricultural villages on a global scale can be described as having this pattern which means they are clustered around a focal point and come on round, grid, clustered and walled forms.

Fragmented

not using primogeniture results in farming plots that can be described as this and farmers who must work different fields each day.

Intensive

one way to differentiate between types of agriculture. This is characterized by land is used to an extreme and many people are involved in the labor of cultivating crops.

slash and burn agriculture

particular type of shifting cultivation in which fields are cleared with fire whose ash provides nutrients (hyph./three words).

Machinery

resulting in increased efficiency, agriculture in MDCs is more likely to be performed using this.

Round

rural settlement pattern which allows a central courtyard to protect a water source or to corral livestock.

Organic

selling food labelled as this requires certification that sustainable farming and other environmentally sound practices such as natural fertilizers, biological pest control, and mixed cropping are used in its cultivation.

Cadastral System

system by which property ownership is delineated.

beast of burden

term used for animals who perform heavy labor such as plowing on the farm (three words).

soybean

the Round-up Ready variety of this crop has made it the second-most planted crop after corn in the United States.

Subsidies

the United States spent about $16 billion a year on these agricultural supports which allows American farmers to produce crops below the cost of production and, according to Food Inc., encourages the production of bad calories (plural).

Refrigeration

the development of this in transportation allowed perishable items to be grown father away from the market.

Green Revolution

the diffusion of more productive commercial western farming techniques to subsistence farmers in LDCs during the 1970s and 1980s (two wo

crop rotation

the main purpose of this extensive agricultural practice is to encourage the soil to regain its fertility (two words)

Franshumance

the practice of animal herders in which they seasonally migrate between elevations.

Domestication

the process by which plants or animals are made suitable for human use.

high fructose corn syrup

the switch to the use of this by agribusiness as a sweetener in many products (including soft drinks) has been linked to the increase in obesity in the U.S. (four words).

Horticulture

the term used specifically for the growing of fruits, vegetables and flowers.

genetically modified organisms

these type of crops were the result of biotechnological engineering and have higher yields and are more resistant to climate change and insects. However, some people have concerns about their health consequences (allergens, etc.) and want foods made with them to be labeled. They are especially unpopular in Europe. On the other hand they have led to an increased food supply and greatly reduced hunger in many parts of the less developed world (three words/plural).

Pesticide

this chemical compound helps crops resist insects and other parasites.

Linear

this clustered rural settlement pattern is non- nucleated.

Monsanto

this corporation is on the cutting edge of genetically modified crops with its "roundup ready" seeds.

Transportation

this cost helps to determine the spatial pattern in von Thünen's model and is especially evidenced by the fact that forests/timber are located in the second closest ring to the market in the model.

Corn

this crop is the most grown in the mixed crop and livestock agricultural region of the US.

double cropping

this describes an intensive agriculture practice in which two harvests are produced from the same land each year (usually in warmer climates with plentiful rainfall) (hyph.)

Deforestation

this environmental problem is especially acute in the Amazon basin as land is cleared to produce crops and create grazing land for cattle eventually exported to feed the high meat consumption in MDCs.

Bidrent Theory

this idea underlies von Thunen's model and states that land values are more expensive closer to the market

Primogeniture

this inheritance custom results in farms sizes that are larger and in farmers who work one piece of land.

economies of scale

this is achieved when a proportionate saving in costs is gained by an increased level of production (three words/plural).

Pershible

this is one of the characteristics of crops that determines the spatial pattern in von Thünen's model and is especially evidenced by the fact that dairy and other vegetables are grown closest to market in the model.

Prime Agricultural Land

this valuable farming acreage is under threat especially from the growth of suburbs and development around cities because it has the characteristics of being flat and well-drained land which is desired by both developers and farmers (three words).

Second Agricultural Revolution

this was characterized by farm consolidation under the Enclosure Act and increased scientific experimentation in the use of fertilizers, crop rotation and selective breeding. Increased food supplies led to a decrease in the CDR and the displacement of rural farmers who would become the factory workers of the Industrial Revolution (three words).

Fertilizer

traditionally this was provided by animal manure but modern commercial farmers rely more heavily on chemical varieties.

Industrial

type of farming that dominates American agriculture in which the actual growing of food is just one part of a commodity chain from the farm to the dinner table and is largely controlled by huge agribusiness conglomerates.