Agricultural And Rural Land Use

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Environmental Modification: Pesticides

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Pesticides have been modified to increase their stability in the environment.

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Environmental Modification: Soil Erosion

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In agriculture, soil erosion refers to the wearing away of a field's topsoil by the natural physical forces of water and wind or through forces associated with farming activities such as tillage.

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Environmental Modification: Desertification

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A type of land degradation in which a relatively dry land region becomes increasingly arid, typically losing its bodies of water as well as vegetation and wildlife.

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Extensive Subsistence Agriculture

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Use of large amounts of land with minimal labor per land unit (pastoral nomadism and shifting cultivation).

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Extractive Industry

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Natural resources occur naturally within environments that exist relatively undisturbed by humanity, in a natural form. A natural resource is often characterized by amounts of biodiversity and geodiversity existent in various ecosystems.

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Farm Crisis

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The mass production of farm products that lowers the prices, which lowers the profits for farmers. This had led to the decrease of small farms.

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Farming

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The raising of crops to obtain for primary consumption or to sell for profit.

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Feedlot

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A place where cattle are put to be fattened up to raise their price on the market; very dense so the cows don't lose weight by moving.

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First Agricultural Revolution

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This happened about 10,000-12,000 years ago in currently less developed areas like Eastern Africa, Latin America, and the Indus/Ganges and Yellow River Basins. It brought domestication of animals, rise of trade, currency, rise of classes, permanent settlements, disease, famine, expansion, and labor specialization.

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Fishing

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The activity of catching fish, either for food or as a sport.

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Food Chain

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A series of organisms each dependent on the next as a source of food.

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Forestry

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The art and science of managing forests and related natural resources.

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Globalized Agriculture

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Consumer driven agriculture integrated on an international scale.

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Green Revolution

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(Third Agricultural Revolution) Rapid diffusion of new agricultural technology, especially new high-yield seeds and fertilizer. Because of Green Revolution, agricultural productivity at a global scale has increased faster than the population. (e.g., major impact in Mexico, India, China ...).

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Growing Season

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The part of the year during which rainfall and temperature allow plants to grow.

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Hunting and Gathering

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(Part of 1st Agricultural Rev.); before the agriculture, humans gained food by hunting for animals, fishing, or gathering plants. They lived in small groups (less than 50 people), traveled frequently following game and seasonal growth of plants.

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Intensive Subsistence Agriculture

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A form of subsistence agriculture that involves effective and efficient use of labor on small plots of land to maximize crop yields. Popular in East, South, and Southeast Asia, because the ratio between farmers and arable land is so high, most of the work is done by the family by hand or by animal with processes refined over thousands of years.

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Intertillage

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In agriculture, it's the cultivation between plants (as corn and potatoes), in contrast of the entire surface when no growing crop is on it.

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Livestock Ranching

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Commercial grazing of livestock over an extensive area. Practiced is semi-arid or arid land, where vegetation is too sparse or the soil to too poor to support crops. Prominent in later 19th century in the American West; ranchers free roamed throughout the West, until the U.S. government began selling land to farmers who outlined their farms with barbed wire, forcing the ranchers to establish large ranches to allow their cattle to graze.

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Market Gardening

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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 on a small area of land, during a single growing season. Labor is done manually.

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Mediterranean Agriculture

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Crops that are grown for human consumption rather than for animals.

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Mineral Fuels

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Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural resources such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years.

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Mining

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The process or industry of obtaining coal or other minerals from a mine.

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Planned Economy

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An economic system in which the government or workers' councils manages the economy.

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Plant Domestication

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(Part of 1st Agricultural Rev.); deliberate tending of crops to gain certain desired attributes; began around 12,000 years ago along several fertile river valleys and cultural hearths.

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Plantation Agriculture

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Based on a large estate owned by an individual, family, or corporation and organized to produce a cash crop. Almost all were established in or near the tropics - many have been divided into smaller holdings, or reorganized as cooperatives (owned by a group of individuals).

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Renewable/Nonrenewable

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Replaced continually or at least within a human lifespan: solar energy, hydroelectric, geothermal, fusion, and wind are examples; Forms so slowly that for practical purposes it cannot be renewed.

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Rural Settlement

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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 (ecotourism); characterized by farmers living on individual farms isolated from neighbors rather than alongside other farmers in the area; a number of families live in close proximity to each other, with fields surrounding the collection of houses and farm buildings (e.g., Asian longhouse).

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Sauer, Carl O.

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Defined cultural landscape, as an area fashioned from nature by a cultural group. A combination of cultural features such as language and religion; economic features such as agriculture and industry; and physical features such as climate and vegetation. "Culture is the agent, the natural area is the medium, the cultural landscape is the result."

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Second Agricultural Revolution

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Precursor to Industrial Revolution in the 19th c., that allowed a shift in work force beyond subsistence farming to allow labor to work in factories. Started in United Kingdom, Netherlands, and Denmark, especially with the Enclosure Act, which consolidated land in Great Britain. Potatoes and corn diffused from America's to Europe, and other resources followed from colonial possessions to Europe.

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Specialization

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Specializing in certain agricultures.

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Staple Grains

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Maize (corn), wheat, and rice are the most produced grains produced world wide, accounting for 87% of all grains and 43% of all food. Maize staple food of North America, South American, and Africa, and livestock worldwide, wheat is primary in temperate regions, and rice in tropical regions.s that can be stored and used throughout the year.

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Suitcase Farm

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An American commercial farm in which no one lives, and work/harvesting is done by migratory workers.

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"Tragedy of the Commons"

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An influential article written by Garrett Hardin and first published in the journal, Science, in 1968.

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Transhumance

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Seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pasture areas.

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Johann Heinrich von Thunen

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(24 June 1783 - 22 September 1850); a prominent nineteenth century economist.