Agriculture

• Agribusiness


  System of food production involving everything from the development of the seeds to the marketing and sale of food products at the market.
• Cash Crops


  Planting large amounts of profitable crops for mass production and sell.
• Commercial Agriculture


  Agriculture undertaken primarily to generate products for sale off the farm.
• Double Cropping


  Planting and harvesting a crop on a field more than once a year.
• GMOs


  Foods that\have their genes altered in a laboratory for specific purposes, such as disease resistant, increased productivity, or nutrients value
• Intensive Subsistence Farming


  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.
• Monoculture


  Dependence on a single agricultural commodity.
• Mechanization


  In agriculture, the replacement of human labor with technology or machines.
• Primary Economy


  Any economic activity pertaining to the collecting, harvesting, and obtaining of raw materials.
• Plantation Agriculture


  Raising a large amount of a 'cash crop' for local sale or export.
• Transhumance


  Movement of animal herd to cooler highland areas in the summer to warmer lowland areas in the winter.
• Von Thunen Model


  Theory that a commercial farmer wull decide which crops to grow and which livestock to raise depending on the proximity to market.

  
• Green Revolution


  An outgrowth of the 3rd agricultural revolution, this effort began in the 1940s and developed new strains of hybrid seeds and fertilizers that dramatically increased the crop output possible from each farm.
• Nomadism


  Dry Areas

  Same climate as livestock ranching(commercial farms in MDCs)

  Marginalized land
• Mixed livestock and grain

  Raise domesticated animals and growing feed
• Commercial Grain Farming


  Wheat belt

  Bread-basket US

  Corn belt
• Mediterranean Agriculture


  An agricultural system practiced in the Mediterranean-style climates of Western Europe, California, and portions of Chile and Australia, in which diverse specialty crops such as grapes, avocados,
• Double cropping


  Harvesting twice in one year

  Employ crop rotation
• Truck Farms


  Farm where farmers produce fruits for the market

  Use mechanization to produce large quantities of fruits and veggies
• Agrarian


  relating to land; relating to the management or farming of land
• Agricultural Industrialization


  The use of machinery in agriculture, like tractors etc. - makes it easier for farmers to have higher crop yields.
• Agricultural Landscape


  The land that we farm on and what we choose to put were on our fields.
• Agricultural Location Model


  An attempt to explain the pattern of agricultural land use in terms of accessibility, costs, distance, and prices.
• Biotechnology


  A form of technology that uses living organisms, usually genes, to modify products, to make or modify plants and animals, or to develop other microorganisms for specific purposes.
• Cultivation Regions


  Regions were there is agricultural activity. Know these specifically! (ie. Southwestern US is cattle ranching, Mediterranean is crop trees).
• Dairy Farms


  specialized in dairy products, N. America, Europe, NOT Africa, South America, Asia
• Desertification


  Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting.
• Extensive Commercial Agriculture


  A crop or livestock system in which land quality or extent is more important than capital or labor inputs in determining output
• Feedlot


  a plot of land on which livestock are fattened for market
• Food Manufacturing


  The processes that are used to convert raw materials into finished food products
• Growing Season


  The season in which crops grow best. Growing season can vary by location, societies rely on their growing season to which crops they can or can't grow at their latitude.
• Hunting and Gathering


  the killing of wild animals and fish as well as the gathering of fruits, roots, nuts, and other plants for sustenance
• Intensive Commercial Agriculture


  Intensive farming in a commercial economy, crops have high yields and market value
• Livestock Ranching


  an extensive commercial agricultural activity that involves the raising of livestock over vast geographic spaces typically located in semi-arid climates like the American West
• Long-Lot Survey System


  A distinct regional approach to land surveying whereby land is divided into narrow parcels stretching back from rivers, roads, or canals
• Luxury Crops


  Non-subsistence crops such as tea, cacao, coffee, and tobacco
• Metes and Bounds System

  a system of land surveying east of the Appalachian Mountains. The system relies on descriptions of land ownership and natural features such as streams or trees.
• Pastoralism


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


  Approach to farming and ranching that avoids the use of herbicides, pesticides, growth hormones, and other similar synthetic inputs.
• 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.