Climate Zones and Agriculture
What is a climate?
the average pattern of weather over a 30 day period for a particular region
Define extensive agriculture.
crop cultivation and livestock rearing systems that require little hired labor or monetary investment to successfully raise crops and animals
Define intensive agriculture.
Crop cultivation and livestock rearing systems that use high levels of labor and capital relative to the size of the landholding
What is desertification?
The process by which once fertile land becomes desert as a result of climate variation or human activities
What are rural settlement patterns?
small group of people living outside of an urban area: market gardening, plantations, mixed crop/livestock farming, paddy farming, grain farming, livestock fattening, dairy farming.
Name a crop that grows in tropical climates.
Coffee
Give an example of extensive agriculture.
Shifting cultivation, slash and burn, nomadic herding, livestock ranching
What is factory farming?
Livestock rearing done in closed, tight factory floors where poultry, pigs, and cattle are kept under strict conditions.
Define irrigation?
farming that relies on the controlled application of water to cultivated fields
Describe dispersed settlement.
a settlement pattern in which families live relatively distant from one another.
How does latitude affect climate zones?
What are the characteristics of ranching?
semiarid climates, moving livestock from acre to acre to feed on little grass of arid climate. NOT nomadic. Cattle and sheep are main livestocks
Name a benefit for mechanization in agriculture.
efficiency, crop sizing, irrigation,
Explain how water mining affects agriculture.
Drilling deep into the ground will scar the land and water will deplete from the water mines over time, stopping natural irrigation from reaching soil.
What characterizes nucleated settlements?
Explain the impact of climate on agricultural practices
Climate affects what, how, and where specific agricultural practices can be done in a particular region
How does shifting cultivation work?
cultivation of a plot of land until it becomes less productive, typically over a period of about three to five years; when productivity drops, the farmer shifts to a new plot of land that has been prepared by slash and burn agriculture.
Describe the practice of monoculture.
having one type of product/commodity to farm, specialize in one crop
What is land reclamation?
the process of creating new land from water bodies (like oceans, seas, or lakes) or restoring degraded land to a usable state
Explain linear settlement patterns.
Settlement pattern in which buildings are arranged in a line, often along a road or river; limited to areas where legal systems dictated that property lines must be rectangular.
What is the relationship between climate and agricultural productivity?
The better climate for that specific crop, the more efficient, healthy, and speedy that crop can grow and be harvested.
Describe grain farming in a specific region.
Highly mechanized commercial farming system that specializes in the production of cereal grins; requires large farms and widespread use of machinery, synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and genetically engineered seeds
What are the implications of greenhouse farming?
How do agricultural practices contribute to pollution?
Pesticides, land damage, slash and burn, herbicides.
How do survey methods influence rural settlement?
Surveyors can create property lines to dictate how large or small acreage is for farming