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Agribusiness

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Commercial agriculture combined with characterized by integration of different steps in the food-processing industry, usually through ownership by large corporations

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agricultural origin

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agricultural hearth

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Agriculture

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The deliberate modification of Earth's surface through the cultivation of plants and the rearing of animals to obtain sustenance or economic gain

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animal domestication

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The process where animals are artificially selected and become accustomed to human provision and control.

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Animal husbandry

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An agricultural activity associated with the raising of domesticated animals, such as cattle, horses, sheep, and goats

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biotechnology

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The use of genetically engineered crops in agricutlure and DNA manipulation in livestock in order to increase production. Example: radiation of meats and vegetables to prolong their freshness

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capital-intensive agriculture

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Form of agriculture that uses mechanical goods such as machinery, tools, vehicles, and facilities to produce large amounts of agricultural goods - a process requiring very little human labor

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Cereal grain

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A grass yielding grain for food

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Chaff

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Husks of grain separated from the seed by threshing

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Combine

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A machine that reaps, threshes, and cleans grain while moving over a field

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Commercial agriculture

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Agriculture undertaken primarily to generate products for sale off the farm

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Crop

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Grain or fruit gathered from a field as a harvest during a particular season

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Crop rotation

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The practice of rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year, to avoid exhausting the soil.

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Desertification

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Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions like excessive crop platning, animal grazing, and tree cutting

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Double cropping

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Harvesting twice a year from the same field

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extensive agriculture

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An agricultural system characterized by low inputs of labor per unit land area

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feedlots

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Places where livestock are concentrated in a very small area and raised on hormones and hearty grains that prepare them for slaughter at a much more rapid rate

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Fertile Crescent

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Area located in the crescent-shaped zone near the southeastern Mediterranean coast (including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Turkey), which was once a lush environment and one of the first hearths of domestication and thus agricultural activity

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First Agricultural Revolution

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Also Neolithic Revolution. The period of time about 12,000 years ago when the humans transitioned from hunting and gathering communities to agriculture and settlement bands due to the use of plant and animal domestication.

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Genetically modified foods

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Foods that are mostly products of organisms that have had their genes altered in a laboratory for specific purposes, such as disease resistance, increased productivity, or nutritional value allowing growers greater control, predictability, and efficiency

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Grain

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Seed of a cereal grain

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Green Revolution

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Rapid diffusion of new agricultural technology, especially new high-yield seeds and fertilizers

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Horticulture

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The growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers

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Hull

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The outer covering of a seed

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Industrial Revolution

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The rapid economic changes that occurred in agriculture and manufacturing in England in the late 18th century and that rapidly spread to other parts of the developed world

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Intensive cultivation

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Any kind of agricultural activity that involves effective and efficient use of labor on small plots of land to maximize crop yield

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Intensive subsistence agriculture

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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

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Labor-intensive agriculture

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Type of agriculture that requires large levels of manual labor to be successful

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luxury crops

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Crops not grown for sustenance to include tea, cacao, coffee, and tobacco

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mechanization

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In agriculture, the replacement of human labor with technology or machines

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Mediterranean agriculture

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Type of specialized farming occuring only in the areas where the dry-summer Mediterranean climate prevails along the shores of the Mediterranean sea

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metallurgy

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The technique of separating metals from ores.

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Milkshed

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The area surrounding a city from which milk is supplied

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organic agriculture

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Crops produced without the use of synthetic or industrially produced pesticides or fertilizers

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Paddy

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Malay word for wet rice, commonly but incorrectly used to describe a sawah

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Pastoral nomadian

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A form of subsistence agriculture based on herding domesticated animals

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Pastoralism

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

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Pasture

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Grass or other plants grown for feeding grazing animals, as well as land used for grazing

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Pesticides

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Chemicals used on plants that do not harm the plants, but kill pests and have negative repercussions on other species who ingest the chemicals

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Planned agricultural economy

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An agricultural economy found in communist nations in which the government controls both agricultural production and distribution

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plant domestication

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The process where plants are artificially selected and become accustomed to human provision and control.

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Plantation

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A large farm in tropical and subtropical climates that specializes in the production of one or two crops for sale, usually to a more developed country

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Prime agricultural alnd

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The most productive farmland

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Ranching

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A form of commercial agriculture in which livestock graze over an extensive area

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Reaper

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A machine that cuts grain standing in the field

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Ridge tillage

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System of planting crops on ridge tops, in order to reduce farm production costs and promote greater soil conservation

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Salinization

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Process that occurs when soils in arid areas are brought under cultivation through irrigation. In arid climates, water evaporates quickly off the ground surface, leaving salty residues that render the soil infertile

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Sawah

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A flooded field for growing rice

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Second Agricultural Revolution

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The period of time in 17th and 18th century Europe where farming underwent significant changes. Tools and equipment were modified. Methods of soil preparation, fertilization, crop care, and harvesting improved. The general organization of agriculture, food storage, and distribution was made more efficient. Productivity increased to meet rising demands, including the demand from the growing cities.

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Seed agriculture

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Reproduction of plants through annual introduction of seeds, which result from sexual fertilization

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Shifting cultivation

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A form of subsistence agriculture in which people shift activity from one field to another; each field is used for crops for a relatively few years and left fallow for a relatively long period

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Slash-and-burn agriculture

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Another name for shifting cultivation, so named because fields are cleared by slashing the vegetation and burning the debris

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Specialty crops

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Crops including items like peanuts and pineapples, which are produced, usually in developing countries, for export

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Spring wheat

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Wheat planted in the spring and harvested in the late summer

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Subsistence agriculture

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Agriculture designed primarily to provide food for direct consumption by the farmer and the farmer's family

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Sustainable agriculture

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Farming methods that preserve long-term productivity of land and minimize pollution, typically by rotating soil-restoring crops with cash crops and reducing inputs of fertilizer and pesticides

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Swidden

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A patch of land cleared for planting through slashing and burning

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Third Agricultural Revolution

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The period of time approximately 250 years after the start of the Second Agricultural Revolution continuing into the present, with three distinctive features. The lines distinguishing agriculture as primary, secondary, and tertiary activities are removed as the farmers perform more than just the primary activities. More intensive mechanization and biotechnology are also used.

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Thresh

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To beat out grain from stalks by trampling it

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Thunian patterns

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Each town or market is surrounded by a cet of more-or-less concentric rings within which particular commodities or crops dominated.

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Topsoil loss

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Loss of the top fertile layer of soil is lost through erosion. It is a tremendous problem in areas with fragile soils, steep slopes, or torrential seasonal rains

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Transhumance

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The seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pastures

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Truck farming

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Commercial gardening and fruit farming, so named because truck was a Middle English word meaning bartering or the exchange of commodities

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Urban sprawl

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The process of urban areas expanding outwards, usually in the form of suburbs, and developing over fertile agricultural land

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Vegetative planting

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Reproduction of plants by direct cloning from existing plants

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von Thunen Model

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An agricultural model that spatially describes agricultural activities in terms of rent. Activities that require intensive cultivation and cannot be transported over great distances pay higher rent to be close to the market. Conversely, activities that are more extensive, with goods, that are easy to transport, are located farther from the market where rent is less.

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Wet rice

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Rice planted on dryland in a nursery, then moved to a deliberately flooded field to promote growth

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Winnow

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To remove chaff by allowing it to be blown away by the wind

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Winter wheat

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Wheat planted in the fall and harvested in the early summer

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plantation agriculture

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When cash crops are grown on large estates

Agriculture Vocabulary Words – Flashcards

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