Vocab unit 5

Question 1

agricultural biodiversity

Answer 1

the variety and variability of plants, animals, and microorganisms that are used directly or indirectly for food and agriculture

Question 2

agricultural landscape

Answer 2

a landscape resulting from the interactions between farming activities and a location’s natural environment

Question 3

agroecosystem

Answer 3

an ecosystem modified for agricultural use

Question 4

aquifer

Answer 4

layers of sand, gravel, and rocks that contain and can release a usable amount of water

Question 5

biodiversity

Answer 5

the variety of organisms living in a location

Question 6

biotechnology

Answer 6

the science of altering living organisms, often through genetic manipulation, to create new products for specific purposes, such as crops that resist certain pests

Question 7

food security

Answer 7

reliable access to safe and nutritious food that can support an active and healthy lifestyle

Question 8

precision agriculture

Answer 8

a farming management concept that uses technology to apply inputs with pinpoint accuracy to specific parts of fields to maximize crop yields, reduce waste, and preserve the environment

Question 9

reservoir

Answer 9

artificial lake used to store water

Question 10

salinization

Answer 10

the process by which water-soluble salts build up in the soil, which limits the ability of crops to absorb water

Question 11

suburbanization

Answer 11

the shifting of population away from cities into surrounding suburbs

Question 12

terracing

Answer 12

the process of carving parts of a hill or mountainside into small, level growing plots

Question 13

debt-for-nature swap

Answer 13

agreement between a bank and a peripheral country in which the bank forgives a portion of the country’s debt in exchange for local investment in conservation measures

Question 14

desertification

Answer 14

a form of land degradation that occurs When soil deteriorates to a desertlike condition

Question 15

deforestation

Answer 15

loss of forest lands

Question 16

economies of scale

Answer 16

cost reductions that occur when production rises

Question 17

food desert

Answer 17

area where residents lack access to healthy, nutritious foods because stores selling these foods are too far away

Question 18

food insecurity

Answer 18

the disruption of food intake or eating patterns because of poor access to food

Question 19

agribusinesses

Answer 19

the large-scale system that includes the production, processing, and distribution of agricultural products and equipment

Question 20

commodity chain

Answer 20

a network of people, information, processes, and resources that work together to produce, handle, and distribute a commodity or product

Question 21

dual agricultural economy

Answer 21

an economy having two agricultural sectors that have different levels of technology and different patterns of demand

Question 22

fair trade

Answer 22

a movement that tries to provide farmers and workers in peripheral and semi-peripheral countries with a fair price for their products by providing more equitable trading conditions

Question 23

farm subsidy

Answer 23

a form of aid and insurance given by the federal government to certain farmers and agribusinesses

Question 24

global supply chain

Answer 24

a network of people, information, processes, and resources that work together to produce, handle, and distribute goods around the world

Question 25

hybrid

Answer 25

the product created by breeding different varieties of species to enhance the most favorable characteristics

Question 26

agriculture

Answer 26

the purposeful cultivation of plants or raising of animals to produce goods for survival

Question 27

agricultural hearth

Answer 27

an area where different groups began to domesticate plants and animals

Question 28

bid-rent theory

Answer 28

a theory that describes the relationships between land value, commercial location, and transportation (primarily in urban areas) using a bid-rent gradient, or slope; used to describe how land costs are determined

Question 29

central business district (CBD)

Answer 29

the central location where the majority of consumer services are located in a city or town because the accessibility of the location attracts these services

Question 30

climate region

Answer 30

an area that has similar climate patterns generally based on its latitude and its location on a coast or continental interior

Question 31

clustered settlement

Answer 31

a rural settlement pattern in which residents live in close proximity to one another, with farmland and pasture land surrounding the settlement; also known as a nucleated settlement

Question 32

commercial agriculture

Answer 32

an agricultural practice that focuses on producing crops and raising animals for the market for others to purchase

Question 33

Columbian Exchange

Answer 33

the exchange of goods and ideas between the Americas, Europe, and Africa that began after Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492

Question 34

genetically modified organism (GMO)

Answer 34

a plant or animal with specific characteristics obtained through the manipulation of its genetic makeup

Question 35

Green Revolution

Answer 35

movement beginning in the 1950s and 1960s in which scientists used knowledge of genetics to develop new high-yield strains of grain crops

Question 36

intensive agriculture

Answer 36

an agricultural practice in which farmers expend a great deal of effort to produce as much yield as possible from an area of land

Question 37

linear settlement

Answer 37

a rural settlement pattern in which houses and buildings form in a long line that usually follows a land feature or aligns along a transportation route

Question 38

market gardening

Answer 38

a type of farming that produces fruits, vegetables, and flowers and typically serves a specific market or urban area

Question 39

crop rotation

Answer 39

the varying of crops from year to year to allow for the restoration of valuable nutrients and the continuing productivity of the soil

Question 40

dispersed settlement

Answer 40

a rural settlement pattern in which houses and buildings are isolated from one another, and all the homes in a settlement are distributed over a relatively large area

Question 41

domestication

Answer 41

the deliberate effort to grow plants and raise animals, making plants and animals adapt to human demands and using selective breeding to develop desirable characteristics

Question 42

enclosure system

Answer 42

system in which communal lands were replaced by farms owned by individuals, and use of the land was restricted to the owner or tenants who rented the land from the owner

Question 43

extensive agriculture

Answer 43

an agricultural practice with relatively few inputs and little investment in labor and capital that results in relatively low outputs

Question 44

first agricultural revolution

Answer 44

the shift from foraging for food to farming about 1 1 ,000 years ago, marking the beginning of agriculture

Question 45

foragers

Answer 45

small, nomadic groups who had primarily plant-based diets and ate small animals or fish for protein

Question 46

Mediterranean agriculture

Answer 46

an agricultural practice that consists of growing hardy trees and shrubs and raising sheep and goats

Question 47

mixed crop and livestock systems

Answer 47

a type of farming in which both crops and livestock are raised for profit

Question 48

monocropping

Answer 48

the cultivation of one or two crops that are rotated seasonally

Question 49

nomadic herding

Answer 49

a type of agriculture based on people moving their domesticated animals seasonally or as needed to allow the best grazing

Question 50

pastoral nomad ism

Answer 50

same as nomadic herding

Question 51

plantation agriculture

Answer 51

a type of large-scale commercial farming of one particular crop grown for markets often distant from the plantation

Question 52

second agricultural revolution

Answer 52

a change in farming practices, marked by new tools and techniques, that diffused from Britain and the Low Countries starting in the early 1 8th century

Question 53

shifting cultivation

Answer 53

the agricultural practice of growing crops or grazing animals on a piece of land for a year or two, then abandoning that land when the nutrients have been depleted from the soil and moving to a new piece of land where the process is repeated

Question 54

slash and burn

Answer 54

a method of agriculture in which existing vegetation is cut down and burned off before new seeds are sown; often used when clearing land

Question 55

subsistence agriculture

Answer 55

an agricultural practice that provides crops or livestock to feed one's family and close community using fewer mechanical resources and more people to care for the crops and livestock

Question 56

third agricultural revolution

Answer 56

a shift to further mechanization in agriculture through the development of new technology and advances that began in the early 20th century and continues to the present day

Question 57

transhumance

Answer 57

the movement of herds between pastures at cooler, higher elevations during the summer months and lower elevations during the winter

Question 58

infrastructure

Answer 58

the many systems and facilities that a country needs in order to function properly

Question 59

vertical integration

Answer 59

the combining of a company's ownership of and control over more than one stage of the production process of goods

Question 60

von Thünen model

Answer 60

a model that suggests that perishability of the product and transport costs to the market each factor into the location of agricultural land use and activity