Unit 2- Agriculture
Types of economic activity 1-Primary 2-Secondary 3-Tertiary 4-Quaternary 5-Quinary
1- Directly related to natural resources 2- Receiving raw materials and modifying them 3- The selling businesses 4- Information and knowledge based source 5- Government/media Example: citrus farms in Florida, packaging companies, Dole, insurance companies, FDA geography.about.com
Plantation agriculture
Big commercial farms in developing areas Example: coffee plantations in Brazil Textbook pg. 364
Biotechnology
Changing genetics of plants and animals for industrial or other reasons Example: high yield seeds of corn oxforddictionaries.com
Pesticides/herbicides
Chemicals used to kill weeds and animals to protect crops. dictionary.com
Livestock ranching
Commercial grazing of animals in large areas of land unfit for plant farming Example: cattle ranching in Texas Textbook pg. 372
Organic agriculture
Crops produced without pesticides or fertilizers Example: organic strawberries are more expensive because they don't use enhancers so the yield is less quizlet.com
Monoculture
Dependence on a single plant over a large space of land Example: corn farming quizlet.com
Agribusiness
Farming commercially in developed countries Example: cotton farms in North Carolina Textbook pg. 366
Subsistence agriculture
Farming for food, mainly for the farmer's family. Textbook pg. 350
Commercial agriculture
Farming to sell; farmers rarely consume much of what they produce Example: Dole oranges Textbook pg. 351
Intensive agriculture
Farms using as many people as possible to do hard work. Example: rice fields in China Textbook pg. 362
Truck farm
Fruit and vegetable farms selling to developed countries, generally packaged and frozen Textbook pg. 367
Debt for nature swap
Governments pay farmers to use more protective farming techniques. businessdictionary.com
Cereal grains/staple grains
Grain for eating that comes from grass Example: oats Textbook pg. 352
Horticulture
Growing fruits, vegetable, and flowers Example: strawberry fields Textbook pg. 371
Commodity chains
Links between production and distribution; is sold on the world market quizlet.com
Survey patterns- long lots, metes and bounds, Township and range
Long lots- houses along a river with equal access Metes and bounds- uses physical feature of geography to determine location and distance Township and range- land is divided into six mile square blocks called townships then further into one mile square blocks called ranges.
Extensive subsistence agriculture
Lots of land and minimal labor is used to raise plants and animals for the farmer's family reference.com
Transhumance
Moving from mountains to pastures seasonally Textbook pg. 359
Fertilizer
Natural or unnatural materials to support plant growth. Example: manure, potassium thefreedictionary.com
Luxury crops
Non-subsistence agriculture, plants grown for pleasure, not for sustenance Example: coffee, tea
Collective farm
A collection of farmers who work in socialist or communist countries but who mostly own their own farm tools. dictionary.com
Feedlot
A plot of land where animals are fattened for market dictionary.com
Renewable resource
A resource produced in nature faster than humans can consume it. Example: wood, forestry Textbook pg. 30
Non-renewable resource
A resource produced in nature slower than humans can consume it. Example: oil, gasoline Textbook pg. 30
Mediterranean agriculture
Agriculture based around mild seaside climates Example: olive farms in Italy Textbook pg. 371
Genetically modified organisms (GMO)
Altering the genetic makeup of plants and animals to yield a bigger and/or better payout; GMOs make up about 90% of crops in the US Textbook pg. 385
Tragedy of the commons
As human population increases, limited resources become strained, and sustainability is put into question. sustainable-environment.org
Double cropping
Planting and harvesting twice in one year; common in countries with warm winters like China Textbook pg. 363
Intertillage
Planting different crops in between already planted crops in the same field Example: generally done in less developed countries with little space quizlet.com
Intensive subsistence agriculture
Planting for food; takes hard work; generally worked by many people Example: wet rice planting in China Textbook pg. 362
Ridge tillage
Planting on ridge tops to protect soil Textbook pg. 386
Shifting cultivation -slash and burn, milpa, Swidden
Plants and slashed and burned to clear land, which is called Swidden or milpa, then planted and after a few years, left fallow Textbook pg. 360
Aquaculture
Raising seafood in a controlled environment Textbook pg. 382
Cadastral system
Recording the area, boundaries, and locations of land. Oxford Reference
Rural settlement- dispersed settlements/ nucleated settlements
Settlements away from a city, in the country, generally farmland. Dispersed settlements are far apart from each other, nucleated are closer. reference.com
Market gardening
Small horticulture farms where production is generally sold directly to consumers businessdictionary.com
Chemical farming
Using chemicals and fertilizers to maximize outcome of a farm. stonybrook.edu
Paddy
What Americans and Europeans wrongly call flooded rice fields Textbook pg. 363
Sustainable yield
Keeping and helping environmental quality; generally gets less money but costs less in the first place Textbook pg. 386
Dairying
Labor intensive raising of cows for milk Textbook pg. 368
Extensive agriculture
Large farms using minimal labor. Example: farms in the US with lots of machine use reference.com
Pastoralism
Herding animals and moving around with them Textbook pg. 359
Crop rotation
Switching crops from field to field so as not to strip the soil Textbook pg. 364
Extractive industry
Taking raw materials from the earth and selling to consumers Example: mining businessdictionary.com
Milkshed
The area around a city that can supply milk without going bad Textbook pg. 368
Agriculture/farming
The domestication of plants and animals for food or money Example: cattle ranches in Texas Textbook pg. 347
Green revolution
The invention of higher yield seeds and the more extensive use of fertilizers that began in the 1970s and 1980s Textbook pg. 385
Primogeniture
The passing of land to the oldest son. encyclopedia.com
Soil erosion
The removal of topsoil faster than it can naturally replace itself businessdictionary.com
Spring wheat/ winter wheat
Winter wheat is planted in fall and grows strong roots to survive winter and is harvested early summer; summer wheat is planted in spring and harvested in late summer Textbook pg. 370