Agricultural And Rural Land Use—Basic Vocabulary, Concepts & Theorists

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agrarian

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relating to land, land tenure, or the division of landed property

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agribusiness

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the businesses collectively associated with the production, processing, and distribution of agricultural products.

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agricultural industrilization

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The use of machinery in agriculture

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agricultral landscape

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The land that we farm on and what we choose to put were on our fields

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agricultral location model

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An attempt to explain the pattern of agricultural land use in terms of accessibility, costs, distance, and prices.

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agricultral orgin

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Where and how agriculture began; hearths

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agriculture

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The deliberate effor to modify a portion of Earth's surface thru the cultivation of crops and the raising of livestock for subsistence or economic gain

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animal domestication

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Domestication of animals for selling or using byproducts

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aquaculture

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The cultivation of aquatic organisms especially for food

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biorevolution

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The biorevolution is the rapid transformation, or evolution, into post-humanism.

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biotechnology

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the exploitation of biological processes for industrial and other purposes, especially the genetic manipulation of microorganisms for the production of antibiotics, hormones, etc.

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Collective farm

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a jointly operated amalgamation of several small farms, especially one owned by the government.

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Commercial agriculture (intensive,
extensive)

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Agriculture undertaken primarily to generate products for sale off the farm.

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Intensive Commercial Agriculture

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

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Extensive Commercial Agriculture

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A crop or livestock system in which land quality or extent is more important than capital or labor inputs in determining output

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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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Cultivation regions

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The regions in which large amounts of agriculture take place.

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Dairying

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The business of conducting dairy.

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Debt-for-nature swap

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When agencies such as the World Bank make a deal with third world countries that they will cancel their debt if the country will set aside a certain amount of their natural resources.

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Diffusion

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The spread of ideas, disease, and technology among places.

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Double cropping

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Harvesting twice a year from the same land. It can cause agricultural exhaustion making people move away from the land.

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Environmental modification (pesticides,
soil erosion, desertification)

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(Extractive sector) concerned with the direct extraction of natural resources from the environment (e.g., agriculture, mining, lumbering, fishing ...); (Manufacturing sector) processing of products and assembling raw materials; (Service sector) provides us with transportation, communication and utilities (transportation, retailing, education, routine office-based jobs ...); concerned with the collection, processing, and manipulation of data and capital (e.g., FIRE - finance, insurance, real estate ...); require a high level of specialized knowledge or technical skill (e.g., scientific research, high-level management.)

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Extensive Subsistence Agriculture

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Consists of any agricultural economy in which the crops and/or animals are used nearly exclusively for local or family consumption on large areas of land and minimal labor input per acre; an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned. Many use the slash and burn element for their farming; (Slash-and-burn); vegetation is cut down and then ignited to make the ground more productive; the term for this prepared land; each field is used for a couple years then left fallow for a relatively long time.

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Extractive Industry

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Industries involved in the activities of prospecting, exploring, developing, and producing for non-regenerative natural resources from the Earth.

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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 to ______ 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 Agriculture 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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Survey Patterns

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(French) houses erected on narrow lots perpendicular along a river, so that each original settler had equal river access; (English) - uses physical features of the local geography, along with directions and distances, to define the boundaries of a particular piece of land. ----- refers to boundary defined by a measurement of a straight run, ------ refers to a more general boundary, such as a waterway, wall, public road, or existing building; (U.S.A) - surveys used west of Ohio, after the purchase of the Louisiana Purchase. Land is divided into six-mile square blocks (township), which is then divided into one-mile square blocks (range). Ranges were then broken into smaller parcels to be sold or given to people to develop.

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Sustainable Yield

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Ecological yield that can be extracted without reducing the base of capital itself, the surplus required to maintain nature's services at the same or increasing level over time. Example, in fisheries the basic natural capital decreases with extraction, but productivity increases; so the sustainable yield is within the ranch that the natural capital together with production are able to provide satisfactory yield.

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Third Agricultural Revolution

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(Green 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 ...); (Part of 3rd Agricultural Rev.); farmers need tractors, irrigation pumps, and other machinery to make the most effective use of the new miracle seeds. Farmer's in LDC's cannot afford this machinery or the fuel to run the equipment, so governments must allocate funds to subsidizing the cost of seeds, fertilizers and machinery.

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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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Truck Farm

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Commercial gardening and fruit farming, so named because ____ ____ was a Middle English word meaning bartering or the exchange of commodities. Predominant in Southeastern U.S.A, because of the long growing season and humid climate, accessibility to large markets of New York, Philadelphian, and Washington. ____ ____ grow many of the fruits and vegetables that consumers demand in developed societies. ______ _____ sell some of their product to fresh markets, but mostly to large processors for canning or freezing. Truck farms are highly efficient and large-scale operations that take full advantage of machines at every stage of the growing process.

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Johann Heinrich von Thunen

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