AP®︎ Human Geography: Unit 5 Flashcards

The deliberate cultivation of plants and raising of animals for food and other useful products

A climate with mild, wet winters and warm or hot, dry summers, favoring grapes, olives, winter grains, orchards, and irrigated horticulture

Year-round warm climates ranging from humid to seasonally wet-and-dry; continuous warmth can permit year-round growth and multiple harvests, while heavy rainfall may leach nutrients from humid tropical soils

Agriculture using relatively large inputs of labor, capital, water, chemicals, machinery, or management per unit of land to obtain a high yield or high-value output

Intensive cultivation of fruits, vegetables, flowers, or other high-value horticultural products for sale

Large-scale, intensive production of one principal cash crop, usually in a tropical or subtropical environment and commonly for export

An intensive system integrating crops and livestock so crops or residues feed animals and animal manure fertilizes fields

Agriculture using relatively small inputs per unit of land across comparatively large areas, generally producing lower output per unit of land

An extensive system that clears vegetation by cutting and burning, cultivates the plot briefly, leaves it fallow to recover, and then shifts to another plot

The extensive raising and organized movement of livestock in search of seasonally available pasture and water

Commercial raising of grazing livestock over large areas of pasture or rangeland from a generally fixed landholding or base

A compact village or hamlet where homes and buildings are concentrated, generally with agricultural land extending outward

Isolated farmsteads spread across the landscape, with households commonly living on or near the land they farm

Buildings arranged in a line or narrow band along a river, road, canal, coastline, or valley floor

A survey method that traces a parcel using measured directions and distances called metes and identifiable boundary features called bounds, usually creating irregular parcels

A grid survey based on principal meridians and baselines that divides land into 6-by-6-mile townships, each containing 36 one-square-mile sections

A survey method dividing land into long, narrow parcels perpendicular to a river, road, or canal so each owner receives frontage

The gradual transition beginning about 12,000–10,000 years ago from hunting and gathering toward agriculture based on domesticated plants and animals

Multigenerational human control of reproduction and selection that changes the traits and geographic distribution of plants or animals

Southwest Asian agricultural hearth where wheat, barley, lentils, peas, sheep, goats, cattle, and pigs were domesticated

South Asian hearth associated with cotton, sesame, mung beans, and zebu cattle, while wheat and barley arrived from Southwest Asia

Tropical hearth associated with vegetatively reproduced crops such as taro, yams, bananas, and sugarcane; chickens originated in South and Southeast Asia

Independent hearth in central and southern Mexico and northern Central America associated with maize, beans, squash, chili peppers, avocados, cacao, and turkeys

The bidirectional transfer after 1492 of plants, animals, people, diseases, and technologies between the Americas and the Eastern Hemisphere

The seventeenth- to early-nineteenth-century transformation of British agriculture through enclosure, crop rotation, selective breeding, improved planting, and mechanization, which increased food output and supported population growth, industrialization, and urbanization

The consolidation of scattered strips and common lands into larger privately controlled farms, enabling more efficient commercial farming while displacing some rural residents

The planned sequence of different crops on the same land to maintain soil fertility, reduce fallow land, and increase output

A horse-drawn planting device that placed and covered seeds in evenly spaced rows at regular depths, reducing waste and improving germination and labor efficiency

Controlling the reproduction of animals with desired traits so those traits become more common, increasing livestock productivity and predictability

The growing use of improved plows, horse-drawn equipment, threshing machines, and other machinery to cultivate and process more food with fewer workers

Mid-twentieth-century diffusion of high-yield seeds, chemical inputs, irrigation, and mechanized farming, especially in developing countries; it increased food production but created environmental costs and unequal social benefits

Selectively bred seeds, especially wheat and rice, that produce more grain per unit of land when supplied with sufficient fertilizer, water, and pest control

Manufactured nutrient compounds applied to soil or plants to increase crop growth and yields, especially nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium fertilizers

Chemical or biological agents used to control agricultural pests that may also harm nontarget species and contaminate soil or water

Agriculture that produces food primarily for the farmer’s household or local community rather than for sale in distant markets

Agriculture that produces crops or livestock primarily for sale and profit in local, national, or global markets

A crop eaten regularly in large quantities and forming a basic source of calories in a population’s diet

An agricultural product grown for sale rather than mainly for direct consumption by its producer

Monoculture grows one crop species across an area; monocropping repeatedly grows the same crop on the same land over successive seasons

The theory that affordable land rent generally declines as distance from a market increases, so high-value intensive uses outbid extensive uses for accessible land

A farm owned or operated primarily by a family whose members provide much of its labor and management

The system encompassing agricultural inputs, farming, processing, transportation, wholesaling, marketing, and retailing

The concentration of agricultural production in fewer and generally larger operations

The linked sequence of actors and activities that produces a commodity and brings it to the final consumer

Ownership or control by one firm of multiple stages of a commodity chain

Declining average cost per unit as the total quantity produced increases

The largest population an environment can support over time given its resources, technology, consumption, and resource-use methods

Economic model in which transportation costs, market distance, and land rent produce zones of agricultural land use around a central market

Von Thünen's hypothetical region with one market, uniform land and environment, equal transportation in all directions, and rational farmers maximizing returns

Concentric agricultural zones around a central market consisting outwardly of market gardening and dairying, forest products, field crops and grain, and livestock ranching

Agricultural production concentrated where particular environmental or other local conditions favor it, often disrupting von Thünen's predicted rings

The network of people, firms, activities, infrastructure, and resources moving an agricultural product from its source to its final user, crossing borders when global

A national or regional condition in which export earnings rely heavily on one or a few commodities

Many interconnected supply chains, transportation routes, markets, firms, and institutions that distribute food

Damage caused when sediment, fertilizers, pesticides, animal waste, salts, or other agricultural by-products move beyond their intended location

Conversion of Earth’s surface from one cover type to another, such as forest or wetland to cropland or pasture

Removal of topsoil by wind or water, often accelerated by clearing vegetation, leaving fields bare, or cultivating unprotected slopes

Degradation of productive land in dry environments until it becomes less fertile and more desert-like

Accumulation of soluble salts in soil to levels that reduce plant growth, especially under irrigation in dry climates

Conversion of a slope into level steps that make steep land cultivable while slowing runoff and erosion

Artificial application of water to crops to support farming where rainfall is insufficient, seasonal, or unreliable

Clearing or removal of forests, often to convert land into cropland, plantations, or livestock pasture

Removal or control of water through ditches, tiles, levees, or pumping to convert wetlands into cropland or pasture

A farming approach based on minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover, and crop diversification to conserve soil, water, and long-term productivity

Farming that reduces soil disturbance and leaves crop residue on the surface to limit erosion and moisture loss

Cultivating along lines of equal elevation rather than directly down a slope to slow runoff and erosion

Use of organisms, biological processes, or biological materials to alter agricultural production or develop products, including but not limited to genetic modification

An organism whose genetic material has been intentionally altered through biotechnology to produce a desired trait

Cultivation of fish, shellfish, aquatic plants, or other aquatic organisms under controlled or partially controlled conditions rather than harvesting wild populations

Meeting present food and fiber needs without undermining the environmental resources, economic viability, social well-being, or cultural traditions needed for future production

The decline of genetic, species, or ecosystem variety caused by practices such as habitat conversion, monoculture, pesticide use, and replacement of local crop varieties

Production of food within or immediately around an urban area, including gardens, rooftop farms, greenhouses, and vertical farms

A system in which consumers buy seasonal farm shares in advance and receive portions of the harvest while sharing some production risk

Farming under standards that restrict many synthetic fertilizers, synthetic pesticides, GMOs, and routine use of certain medications while permitting approved inputs

Fruits, vegetables, nuts, horticultural products, or other differentiated crops whose value is increased through processing, packaging, certification, branding, or specialized marketing

A market and certification movement using price, labor, safety, community, and environmental standards to improve conditions for producers and workers

A movement encouraging food production and purchasing within a defined city, metropolitan area, state, or region

Shift toward diets with more meat, dairy, vegetable oils, sugar, and processed foods as income, urbanization, and commercialization increase

Food security is reliable access to sufficient, safe, nutritious food, while food insecurity is limited or uncertain access because of factors such as poverty, high prices, conflict, distribution failures, or crop loss

An area whose residents have poor geographic access to affordable, nutritious food, often because of retailer distance, low income, or limited transportation

Failures or inequalities in transportation, storage, refrigeration, processing, financing, or retail access that prevent available food from reaching consumers affordably and safely

Conversion of rural land at metropolitan edges into housing, roads, commerce, and other urban uses, often consuming and fragmenting farmland

Access to processors, storage, and buyers shapes what farmers can profitably produce; bulky or perishable inputs favor processing near farms, while rapid-delivery activities may locate near consumers

Government assistance that lowers agricultural production costs or supplements farm income

An increase in women’s share of agricultural labor or farm-management responsibilities, often associated with male out-migration

Allocation of agricultural crops, tasks, animals, locations, value-chain stages, or compensation according to cultural expectations about women’s and men’s work

Women often perform much subsistence and household food production and an increasing share of farm management, while commercial agriculture frequently concentrates them in lower-paid seasonal or labor-intensive work with less control over land, resources, and earnings