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Agribusiness

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The set of economic and political relationships that organize food production for commercial purposes. It includes activities ranging from seed production to retailing, to consumption of agricultural products. (farm is not centerpiece of activity) -CA, TX, and FL gave birth to many agribusiness conglomerates during 1st half of 20th century, expanding to Africa, SE Asia, and Latin America. *Many positive and negative effects (i.e. demise of American family farm, many farmers unemployed)

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Agriculture

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The art and science of producing food from the land and tending livestock for the purpose of human consumption.

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Animal husbandry

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

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Biotechnology

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A form of technology that uses living organisms, usually genes, to modify products, to make or modify plants and animals, or to develop other microorganisms for specific purposes. -Allow farmers greater control over goods they produce and to grow virtually product anywhere---> greater yields-----> development of plants resisting pests & weeds----> importance of space & time in agricultural productivity decreases. *Private firms mostly earn; periphery and small farmers cannot afford transition to biotech. (Biotechnologic Revolution=Green Rev?)

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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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Commercial agricultural economy

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All agricultural activity generated for the purpose of selling, not necessarily for local consumption.

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Commercial grain farming

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-Includes wheat and corn -North American Great Plains & southern Russia. -large component to feeding livestock, but many farmers choose to convert grain into meat by feeding it to livestock (meat is more valuable)

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Commercial livestock production

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Divided into 2 categories: 1. Livestock ranching- N. America, S. America, southern Africa, western Asia, and Australia. --> Transhumance (movement of livestock bn. difft. ranges) 2. Dairying- northern Europe and northern US.

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Dairying

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An agricultural activity involving the raising of livestock, most commonly cows and goats, for dairy products such as milk, cheese, and butter.

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Desertification

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The process by which formerly fertile lands become increasingly arid, unproductive, and desert-like.

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Domestication

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The conscious manipulation of plant and animal species by humans in order to sustain themselves.

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Extensive cultivation

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Involves large expanses of land and smaller amounts of labor to generate a specific agricultural product. *Support only a limited population.

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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 (factory farms)

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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 than grazing.

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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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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 diseases resistance, increased productivity, or nutritional value allowing growers greater control, predictability, and efficiency.

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Green Revolution

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The development of higher-yield and fast-growing crops through increased technology, pesticides, and fertilizers transferred from the developed to the developing world to alleviate the problem of food supply in those regions of the globe. Multinational corporations began to steer local economies away from local consumption production to producing specialty crops for export. * failed because ppl did not consider potential side effects.

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Hunting and gathering

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The killing of wild animals and fish as well as the gathering of fruits, roots, nuts, and other plants for sustenance.

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Industrial Revolution (1780-1850)

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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. 3 important components for Western Europe and N. America: 1. Millions of ppl migrated from rural areas to cities of France, England, Germany, and US, creating enormous new markets. 2. Mechanization replaced human hands with agricultural tech. (more crops with less work) 3. Increased access to efficient forms of transportation- ship products at lower costs. ++technological advances

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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. (Uses small piece of land with large labor inputs to generate large amount of produce). *Population densities are high.

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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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Livestock ranching

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An extensive commercial agricultural activity that involves the raising of livestock over vast geographic spaces typically located in semi-arid climates like the American West.

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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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An agricultural system practiced in the Mediterranean style climates of Western Europe, California, and portions of Chile and Australia, in which diverse specialty crops (i.e. grapes, avocados, olives), and a host of nuts, fruits, and vegetables comprise profitable agricultural operations.

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Mixed and specialty crop farming

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-Extremely diverse -Form depends largely on climate. -Mediterranean agriculture

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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. (good example of extensive subsistence cultivation--nomadic herders constantly search for forage to feed livestock & cover large areas)

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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. (i.e. DDT) -> Rachel Carson described effects in book "Silent Spring" -> harmed wildlife pops, pollution rivers, lakes, & oceans, & harmed humans as it worked up food chain.

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Planned agricultural economy

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

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Plantation

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A large, frequently foreign-owned piece of agricultural land devoted to the production of a single export crop.

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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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Shifting cultivation

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The use of tropical forest clearings for crop production until their fertility is lost. Plots are then abandoned, and farmers move on to new sites.

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Slash-and-burn agriculture

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System of cultivation that usually exists in tropical areas where vegetation is cut close to the ground and then ignited. The fire introduces nutrients into the soil, thereby making it productive for a relatively short period of time. (type of shifting cultivation)

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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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Subsistence agricultural economy

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Any farm economy in which most crops are grown for nearly exclusive family or local consumption. (splits into difft. forms- slash-and-burn & pastoralism)

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Swidden

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Land that is prepared for agriculture by using the slash-and-burn method.

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Topsoil loss

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Loss of the fertile layer of soil through erosion. It is a tremendous problem in areas with fragile soils, steep slopes, or torrential seasonal rains. It takes thousands of yrs. to replace fertile topsoil.

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Transhumance

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The movements of livestock according to seasonal patterns, generating lowland areas in the winter, and highland areas in the summer.

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Tropical plantations

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-Crops such as sugarcane and coffee -C. & S. America, Africa, Asia, & Caribbean -Some form of foreign control and often employ ppl. not native to region -Crops are suited to tropical environments, but not native plants & almost always exported to other countries.

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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. Overtaken formerly productive agricultural areas, converting fields and orchards to parking lots and subdivisions. (Farmers with not much $ find it difficult to resist quick financial return for developing their land).

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von Thunen model

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An agricultural model that spatially describes agricultural activity 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. -Dairying & gardening closer (spoil quickly, $ transportation, generate higher $-> can afford to pay higher prices of rent) - Cattle ranching, mixed farming, orchards farther

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***Person- Esther Boserup

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Female agricultural geographer who formalized the transition from extensive subsistence forms of agriculture to more intensive cultivation of land necessary to support greater populations. She viewed population growth as a + force driving agricultural innovations.

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*Esther Boserup's model

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Five-stage progression; each stage represents a significant increase in both the intensity of cultivation system & # of families it can support, but also involves greater depletion of soil nutrients. 1. Forest-fallow cultivation: 20-25 yr of letting fields lie fallow after 1-2 yrs of cultivation. 2. Bush-fallow: cultivate the land for 2-8 yrs followed by a fallow period of 6-10 yrs. 3. Fallow period shortens to 1-2 yrs bn. cultivated periods. 4. Begin annual cropping, leaving land fallow for only several months bn. plantings. 5. Most intensive; multicropping the same plot bears several crops a yr. with little or no fallow period.

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*At least 4 pivotal periods in agricultural history.

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1. Humans begin modifying plant and animal species to sustain themselves. 2. Industrial Revolution (England, 18th century) 3. After WWII, Green Revolution (1940's, industrialized countries of northern hemisphere transferring inputs to LDCs) 4. High-tech agriculture, long-term weather predictions, and genetically-modified organisms.

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*Geographers look at spatial variation and agricultural methods.

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Global distribution of commercial agriculture varies across space as climate, soil, availability of material inputs, and dominant culture system determines agricultural production within a region. -However, certain technologies (greenhouses and hydroponics) allowed many places to overcome environmental limitations. --> (i.e. Icelanders can produce bananas w/ greenhouses & desert dwellers can produce tomatoes with hydroponics).

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*Development of agribusiness changed traditional agricultural production.

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Several difft. forms, but most impt: 1. Transition from agricultural to food production (addition of economic value) 2. Transition of the role of farm as centerpiece in agr. production. (now business/corp. controls what seeds are grown & where, where goods are packaged & processed, & where goods are sold)

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*Rise of transnational corporations (TNC)

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You can get almost any fruit or vegetable from all over the globe at any time in markets. -Many peripheral countries encourage TNC in hope to stimulate economies, however this forces local farmers to abandon traditional methods of agriculture--->profits go to TNC instead of local economy

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*Shift from traditional, low-intensity operations (i.e. ranching) to high-intensity production associated with specialty crops & orchards

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Offer greater profit per acre per yr. however convert diverse habitats to sterile environments. (But this pattern reversed itself in New England, where areas cleared for farms during 18th-19th cent. have now reverted back to forest.) *Up to local planners, land owners, and voting citizens to decide how to address need for housing/services while preserving rural lifestyles

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*Global distribution of agricultural practices and products is a shifting mosaic.

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AP Human Geography- Chapter 7 (Agriculture & Rural Geo) – Flashcards

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