Unit 5 part 2
Agriculture and rural land use
Terms
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- Forestry
- The science of planting and caring for forests and the management, growing timber.
- Globalized Agriculture
- As both an economic sector and a geographically distributed activity, modern agriculture is increasingly dependent on an economy and set of regulatory practices that are global in scope and organization. (consumer driven agriculture integrated on an international scale)
- Green Revolution
- The recently successful development of higher-yield, fast growing varieties of rice and other cereals in certain developing countries, which led to increased population per unit of area and a dramatic narrowing of the gap between population growth and food needs.
- Growing Season
- The days available (time of year) to plant and harvest crops.
- 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 Subsistence Agriculture
- A form of subsistence agriculture in which farmers most expend a relatively large amount of effort to produce the maximum feasible yield from a parcel of land.
- Intertillage
- In shifting cultivation, this spreads out production over the farming season by planting different crops in the same field.
- Livestock Ranching
- The raising of domesticated animals for the production of meat and other byproducts such as leather and wool.
- Market Gardening
- The small scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops sold directly to local consumers (distinguishable by the large diversity of crops grown of a small area of land during a single growing season).
- Mediterranean Agriculture
- Specialized farming that occurs only in areas where the dry-summer Mediterranean climate prevails.
- Plant Domestication
- Genetic modification of a plant such that its reproductive success depends on human intervention.
- Plantation Agriculture
- Production system based of a large estate owned by an individual, family or corporation and organized to produce a cash crop. (Almost all plantations were established within the tropics; in recent decades, many have been divided into smaller holdings or recognized as cooperatives.)
- Renewable
- Resources that can regenerate as they are exploited.
- Nonrenewable
- A resource that cannot be reused or replaced in a short period of time or at all (ex: metals, minerals,petroleum, fossil fuels).
- Rural Settlement (dispersed, nucleated, building material, village form)
- Sparsely settled places away from the influence of large cities. Live in villages, hamlets on farms, or in other isolated houses. Typically have an agricultural character, with an economy based on logging, mining, petroleum, natural gas or tourism. Dispersed: Characterized by farmers living on individual farms isolated from neighbors rather than alongside other farmers in the area. Nucleated: A number of families live in close proximity to each other, with fields surrounding the collection of houses and farm buildings. Building Material: Houses and buildings are typically built from materials that are abundant in the area. Village Form: A rural settlement, the inhabitants of which are occupied primarily in agriculture.
- Second Agricultural Revolution
- Dovetailing with and benefiting from the Industrial Revolution, improved methods of cultivation, harvesting, and storage of farm produce.
- Third Agricultural Revolution
- Currently in progress. This has its principle orientation the development of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO).
- Mineral Fuels
- Natural resources containing hydrocarbons, which are not derived from plant or animal sources.
- Mining
- The removal of nonrenewable resources from the land.
- Planned economy
- An agricultural economy found in communist nations in which the government controls both agricultural production and distribution.
- Sauer, Carl O.
- Professor of geography at the University of California (Berkeley) who started the field of cultural ecology, and began the hearths of seed agriculture and vegetative planting, was one of the most vehement critics of the philosophy of environmental determinism. Instead he believed that humans had power over their environments and weren't simply a product of them.
- Specialization
- The development of skills in a specific kind of work.
- Staple Grains
- Grains that can be stored and used throughout the year (ex: corn, wheat, rice).
- Suitcase farm
- In American commercial grain agriculture, on a farm on which no one lives; planting and harvesting is done by hired migratory crews.
- Survey Patterns (long lots, metes and bounds, township-and-range)
- Long lots: divided land into narrow parcels stretching back from rivers, roads or canals. Metes and Bound: natural features are used to demarcate irregular parcels of land. Township-and-Range: rigid grid-like pattern used to facilitate the dispersal of settlers evenly across farmlands.
- Sustainable Yield
- The highest rate at which a renewable resource can be used without reducing its available supply.
- Transhumance
- A seasonal periodic movement of pastoralists and their livestock between highland and lowland pastures
- Truck Farm
- The intensive production of fruits and vegetables for market rather than processing or canning. Also called market gardening and horticultural farming.
- "Tragedy of the Commons"
- The depletion or degradation of a possibly renewable source to which people have free an dunmanaged access to.