AP Human Geography- Chapter 11- Agriculture Key Terms

approach to farming and ranching that avoids the use of herbicieds, pesticides, growth hormones, and other similar synthetic inputs

the purposeful tending of crops and livestock in order to produce food and fiber

economic activity concerned with the direct extraction of natural resources from the environment; such as mining, fishing, lumbering, and especially agriculture

economic activity involving the processing of raw materials and their transformation into finished industrial products; the manufacturing sector

economic activity associated with the provision fo services (transportation, banking, retailing, education, routine, office-based jobs)

service sector industires concerned with the collection, processing, and manipuation of information and capital (finance, administration, insurance, legal services)

service sector industries that require a high level of specialized knowledge skill (scientific research, high-level management)

genetic modification of a plant such that its reproductive success depends on human intervention

crops that are reproduced by cultivating either the roots or cuttings from the plants

crop that is reproduced by cultivating the seeds of the plants

Dating back 10,000 years, the First Agricultural Revolution achieved plant domestication and animal domestication

genetic modification of an animal such that it is rendered more amenable to human control

self sufficient agriculture that is small scale and low technology & emphasizes food production for local consumption, not trade

cultivation of crops in tropical forest clearings in which the forest vegitation has been removed by cutting and burning

see shifting cultivation; cultivation of crops in tropical forest clearings in which the forest vegitation has been removed by cutting and burning

dovetailing with and benefiting from the Industrial Revolution, improved methods of cultivation, harvesting, and storage of farm produce

A model that explains the location of agricultureal activities in a commercial, profit-making economy. A process of spatial competition allocates various farming activities into rings around a central market city, with profit-earning capability the determining force in how far a crop locates from the market

Currently in progress, the Third Agricultural Revolution has as its principal orientation the development of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO's)

the development of higher-yield and fast-growing crops through increased technology, pesticides, and fertilizers transferred from the developed to developing world to alleviate the problem of food supply in those regions of the globe.

crops that carry new traits that have been inserted through advanced genetic engineering methods

Also called the Public Land Survey, the system was used by the US Land Office Survey to parcel land west of the Appalachian Mountains. The system divides land into a series of rectangular parcels.

A rectangular land division scheme designed by Thomas Jefferson to disperse settlers evenly across farmlands of the U.S. interior.

A system of land surveying east of the Appalachian Mountains. It is a system that relies on descriptions of land ownership and natural features such as streams or trees. Because of the imprecise nature of metes and bounds surveying, the U.S. Land Office Survey abandoned the technique in favor of the rectangular survey system.

distinct regional approach to land surveying found in the Canadian Maritimes, parts of Quebec, Luisiana, and Texas whereby land is divided into narrow parcels stretching back from rivers, roads, or canals

system where the eldest son in a family, or in exceptional cases, a daughter inherits all of the parent's land

term used to describe large scale farming and ranching operations that employ vast land bases, large mechanized equipment, factory-type labor fores, and the latest technoloty

dependence on a single agricultural commodity

Developed by Wladimir Koppen, a system for classifying the world's climates on the basis of temperature and precipitatiion

Areas of the world with similar climatic characteristics

Production system based on 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 reorganized as cooperatives

Non-subsistence crops such as tea, cacao, coffee, and tobacco

the raising of domesticated animals for the produciton of meat and byproducts (leather, wool)

specialized farming that occurs only in areas where the dry summer Mediterranean climate prevails (grapes, olives, figs, citrus, fruits, dates, et al0

General term for the businesses that provide the vast array of goods and services that support the agriculture industry