Unit 5 Vocab

Question 1

To grow enough food or raise enough livestock to meet the immediate needs of the farmer and his or her family.

Answer 1

Subsistence Practices

Question 2

To grow enough crops or raise enough livestock to sell for profit.

Answer 2

Commercial Farming

Question 3

Farmers or ranchers use large amounts of inputs, such as energy, fertilizers, labor, or machines, to maximize yields.

Answer 3

Intensive Agriculture

Question 4

Type of subsistent extensive agriculture practiced in arid and semi-arid climates around the world. Nomads rely on animals for survival.

Answer 4

Pastoral Nomadism

Question 5

A farming practice where farmers clear a plot of land, cultivate crops for a few years until the soil becomes depleted, and then move on to a new area, allowing the previously used land to regenerate naturally during a fallow period. This is a type of subsistent extensive agriculture.

Answer 5

Shifting Cultivation

Question 6

A large-scale commercial farming practice that involves growing a single crop for sale.

Answer 6

Plantation Agriculture

Question 7

An agricultural practice where farmers cultivate crops and raise livestock on the same farm.

Answer 7

Mixed Crop/Livestock Systems

Question 8

The small-scale production of fruits, vegetables, and flowers as cash crops sold directly to local consumers.

Answer 8

Market Gardening

Question 9

Refers to a method of land surveying that defines property boundaries by using natural features like rivers, roads, or other landmarks, along with precise distances and directions, to create a detailed description of a parcel of land, particularly useful for irregularly shaped plots that don’t fit into a grid system; “metes” signifying the measured distances, and “bounds” representing the identifiable natural or man-made features that mark the property lines.

Answer 9

Metes and Bounds System

Question 10

Refers to a system of land surveying used in the United States, where land is divided into a grid of square “townships” (typically six miles by six miles) and further subdivided into smaller, one-square-mile “sections,” creating a highly organized pattern for land distribution and settlement.

Answer 10

Township and Range

Question 11

The origin of farming. Marked by the domestication of plants and animals.

Answer 11

Neolithic (First) Agricultural Revolution

Question 12

First major hearth of agriculture, located in Southwest Asia.

Answer 12

Fertile Crescent

Question 13

Global movement of plants and animals between Afro-Eurasia and the Americas.

Answer 13

Columbian Exchange

Question 14

Began in the 1700’s, used the advances of the Industrial Revolution to increase food supplies and support population growth. Agriculture benefited from mechanization, improved knowledge of fertilizers, soils, and selective breeding practices for plants and animals.

Answer 14

Second Agricultural Revolution

Question 15

Process of applying controlled amounts of water to crops.

Answer 15

Irrigation

Question 16

A period of significant agricultural advancements, primarily between the 1940s and 1970s, where new technologies like high-yield crop varieties, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and improved irrigation systems were introduced to rapidly increase food production globally, particularly in developing countries, aiming to alleviate hunger issues; often associated with the work of Norman Borlaug, considered the “father of the Green Revolution.”

Answer 16

Green Revolution

Question 17

The process of breeding two plants that have desirable characteristics to produce a single seed with both characteristics.

Answer 17

Hybridization of seeds

Question 18

Humans using engineering techniques to change the DNA of a seed.

Answer 18

GMOs

Question 19

Shows that as one moves away from the central business district, the price of land decreases. This relationship means that businesses which depend on high foot traffic or quick access to customers will pay more to be located near the CBD.

Answer 19

Bid-Rent Theory

Question 20

The practice of cultivating and raising aquatic organisms like fish, shellfish, and algae in controlled environments, essentially considered “farming in water,” as opposed to catching wild fish through commercial fishing.

Answer 20

Aquaculture

Question 21

An increase in efficiency to lower the per-unit production cost, resulting in greater profits.

Answer 21

Economies of Scale

Question 22

A process used by corporations to gather resources, transform them into goods, and then transport them to consumers.

Answer 22

Commodity Chains

Question 23

The number of people that U.S. farmers can support given the available resources.

Answer 23

Carrying Capacity

Question 24

An economic model that suggested a pattern for the types of products that farmers would produce at different positions relative to the market where they sold their goods.

Answer 24

von Thunen Model

Question 25

A global movement that aims to ensure producers in developing countries receive fair prices for their goods, promoting sustainable practices and economic equity by guaranteeing better working conditions and wages, often focusing on agricultural products, while challenging traditional trade practices that can exploit farmers and workers.

Answer 25

Fair Trade

Question 26

Alteration of the natural vegetation in arid areas causes fertile land to become infertile.

Answer 26

Desertification

Question 27

Farmers build a series of steps into the side of a hill.

Answer 27

Terrace Farming

Question 28

An agricultural technique where farmers clear land for cultivation by cutting down vegetation and then burning it, creating a temporary field to grow crops, often associated with shifting cultivation where farmers move to a new plot after a few years to allow the land to regenerate.

Answer 28

Slash and Burn

Question 29

When farmers process their crops into high-value products, rather than simply selling it as it comes from the field.

Answer 29

Value-Added Farming

Question 30

A farming model where consumers purchase shares of a farm's harvest in advance, essentially providing the farmer with upfront capital while securing fresh produce for themselves throughout the growing season; it represents a direct connection between consumers and local producers, sharing the risks and benefits of food production.

Answer 30

Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA)

Question 31

When households lack access to adequate food because of limited money or other resources.

Answer 31

Food Insecurity

Question 32

A neighborhood where residents have little to no access to healthy and affordable food.

Answer 32

Food Desert

Question 33

The variety of life forms present on Earth, encompassing the different species, genetic variations within those species, and the ecosystems they inhabit.

Answer 33

Biodiversity

Question 34

Refers to the use of living organisms, like cells and genes, to develop products and processes that can improve human life, often applied in agriculture through genetic modification to create crops with desired traits, like pest resistance or increased yield, also known as GMOs

Answer 34

Biotechnology

Question 35

The process by which humans selectively breed and cultivate wild plants and animals to develop traits that are beneficial for human use, essentially transforming them from wild species into forms that can be reliably utilized for food, labor, or companionship, marking a key step in the development of agriculture.

Answer 35

Domestication

Question 36

Local food (or locavore) movements aim to connect food producers and consumers in the same geographic region, to develop more self-reliant and resilient food networks, improve local economies, or to affect the health, environment, community, or society of a particular place.

Answer 36

Local-Food Movements

Question 37

A type of subsistence agriculture where people move their livestock seasonally across large areas in search of fresh pasture and water, essentially following migratory patterns to find the best grazing land for their animals, often practiced in arid and semi-arid regions with limited arable land.

Answer 37

Nomadic Herding

Question 38

Reluctance to use biotechnology in farming.

Answer 38

Organic Agriculture

Question 39

Occurs when soil in an arid climate has been made available for agricultural production using irrigation.

Answer 39

Soil Salinization

Question 40

The use of Earth's resources in ways that ensure their availability in the future.

Answer 40

Sustainability