5. US Ag: Descriptive Terms Flashcards
What defines conventional agriculture in the early 1900’s?
Farm
Household
Family
Business
Intertwined
What caused the industrialization of conventional agriculture?
Hired labor, specialized tasks
Purchased inputs
Financing, business planning, management
Organized business model
Define: Conventional Agriculture
Supplies vast majority of food in US
Less well understood/publicized than alternative systems
High tech, industrial, high output
Define: Intensive Production
Intensivity of inputs are the primary production level
E.g. nutrition, housing, animal management
Define: Extensive Production
Intensive feeding operations vs ranching (extensive)
E.g. housed poultry systems, housed dairy vs grazing systems
What are advantages and disadvantages of extensive production?
Advantages: control over production inputs
Disadvantages: increased production costs
Define: Specialized vs Diversified Production
Specialized: single production component and output for the enterprise
Diversified: multiple different production components and outputs for the enterprise; have different types of production on the same operation
Define: Integrated System of Production
Combine multiple phases of a production chain
Breeding, production, harvesting, processing
Define: Segmentation of Production
Each phase of production conducted by separate owners
Define: Consolidation/Concentration
Decreasing the number of entities in a phase of a food system
Associated with economies of size
Fewer, larger production enterprises
Beef production is an example of what?
Segmented industry
Consolidation most prominent in the harvesting and processing phase
Define: Alliances/Cooperatives
Horizontal cooperation: producers banding together to market product, decrease cost
Define: Commodity
Undifferentiated raw products
Cattle, beef, milk, corn, etc.
Retail sales are usually highly differentiated
Define: Value Added Products
A special quality is offered to the consumer or it is produced in a special way
Ex. it is pre-cooked
