Agriculture Basics (5.1)
What is agriculture?
The purposeful tending of crops and raising of livestock
What is the Fertile Crescent?
The region where agriculture first developed independently in Southwest Asia
What is subsistence farming?
Farming in which crops are grown mainly for the farmer’s family
What is subsistence agriculture?
Farming that uses simple tools and little technology
What is livestock?
The term for animals raised for food or labor
What is the Neolithic
The First Agricultural Revolution that began around 10,000 years ago
What is wheat (or barley)?
This cereal grain was one of the earliest domesticated crops
What is commercial farming?
Farming that produces food primarily for sale
What is shifting cultivation?
The practice of moving cultivation to different plots over time
What is broadcasting?
The planting of seeds by scattering them across a field
What is domestication?
The process by which humans select desirable plant or animal traits over time
What is independent invention?
The geographic concept explaining why agriculture began in multiple hearths
What is subsistence farming?
The type of farming most common in developing countries
What is pastoral nomadism?
A farming system where livestock graze on large areas of land
What is arable land?
The term for land used for farming
What is the agricultural revolution?
The shift from hunting and gathering to settled farming communities
What is a more reliable food supply?
The advantage agriculture had over hunting and gathering
What is commercial farming?
The type of farming that relies heavily on machinery and technology
What is monocropping?
Farming that focuses on growing one crop in large quantities
What is population density?
The idea that agriculture supports higher population densities
What is the Second Agricultural Revolution?
The later agricultural change that introduced machinery, fertilizers, and new crops
What is the Second Agricultural Revolution?
This revolution increased food production and population growth in Europe
What is commercial agriculture?
A farming system that grows crops and raises livestock mainly for profit
What is vulnerability to pests, disease, or crop failure?
The reason monocropping can be risky for farmers
What is cultural diffusion?
The concept describing how culture spreads through farming techniques