Unit 5 - Agriculture

Commercial agriculture characterized by integration of different steps in the food-processing industry, usually through ownership by large corporations.

A related influenced on patterns of settlement and land use that delineates property lines. Adopted in places where settlement could be regulated by law.

The global transfer of foods, plants, and animals during the colonization of the Americas.

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

Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting.

The 18th century privatization of common lands in England, which contributed to the increase in population and the rise of industrialization.

The Danish economist (1910-1999) who argued that rising populations will stimulate human societies to produce more food through innovation and technology.

Using a large amount of land to farm food for the farmer's family to eat.

The domestication of plants and animals and the resulting start of a sedentary society (also called the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution).

Foods that are mostly products or organisms that have their genes altered in a laboratory for specific purposes, such as disease resistance, increased productivity, or nutritional value allowing growers greater control, predictability, and efficiency.

The worldwide campaign to increase agricultural production from the 1940s to 60s, stimulated by new fertilizers and strains of wheat such as that by Norman Borlaug. The movement saved millions from starvation.

A form of subsistence agriculture in which farmers must expend a relatively large amount of effort to produce the maximum feasible yield from a parcel of land.

Agricultural theory based on location economics.

System that divided land into narrow parcels stretching back from rivers,roads, or canals. Mostly diffused by the French.

Non-subsistence crops such as tea, cacao, coffee, and tobacco.