| A | B |
|---|
| agriculture | the deliberate tending of crops and livestock to produce food, feed, and fiber |
| primary economic activities | examples include agriculture, ranching, hunting, fishing, mining |
| secondary economic activities | examples include toys, ships, processed foods, chemicals, buildings |
| tertiary economic activities | examples include lawyers, doctors, teachers, nurses, salespeople |
| quaternary economic activities | activities concerned with information and the exchange of money or goods |
| quinary economic activities | activities tied in with research or higher education |
| plant domestication | genetic modification of a plant such that its reproductive success depends on human intervention |
| root crops | crops that are reproduced by cultivating either the roots or cuttings from the plants |
| seed crops | plants that are reproduced by cultivating seeds |
| First Agricultural Revolution | Dating back 10,000 years when plant and animal domestication was achieved |
| animal domestication | genetic modification of an animal such that it is rendered more amenable to human control |
| subsistence agriculture | self-sufficient, small scale, low tech agriculture that emphasizes food production for local consumption, not for trade |
| shifting cultivation | creating clearings in tropical forests by slash and burn technique |
| Second Agricultural Revolution | coincided with the Industrial Revolution, this included improved methods of cultivation, harvesting, and storage of farm produce |
| Johann Heinrich von Thunen | created a model of the spatial distribution of agricultural activities |
| Third Agricultural Revolution | dates back to the 1930s when agricultural scientists began experimenting with technologically manipulated seeds to increase crop yields |
| genetically modified organisms (GMOs) | crops that carry new traits that have been inserted through advanced genetic engineering |
| rectangular survey system | used by the US Land Office Survey to parcel land west of the Appalachians |
| township-and-range system | a land division scheme designed by Thomas Jefferson to disperse settlers evenly across farmlands of the US interior |
| metes and bound system | system of land surveying used east of the Applachians; relies on descriptions of land ownership and natural features |
| longlot survey system | distinct regional approach to land surveying found in parts of Canada, Louisiana and Texas whereby land is divided into narrow parcels stretching back from rivers, roads, or canals |
| primogeniture | system which the eldest son in a family inherits all of a dying parent's land |
| commercial agriculture | large scale farming and ranching operations that employ vast land bases, large mechanized equipment, factory-type labor forces, and the latest technology |
| monoculture | dependence on a single agricultural commodity |
| Koppen climate classification system | a system for classifying the world's climates on the basis of temperature and precipitation |
| climatic regions | areas of the world with similar climatic characteristics |
| plantation agriculture | production system based on a large estate owned by an individual, family, or corporation and organized to produce a cash crop |
| luxury crops | non-subsistence crops such as tea, cacao, coffee, and tobacco |
| livestock ranching | the raising of domesticated animals for the production of meat and other byproducts such as leather and wool |
| Mediterranean agriculture | specialized farming that occurs only in areas where the dry-summer climate prevails |
| agribusiness | general term for the businesses that provide the vast array of goods and services that support the agriculture industry |
| organic agriculture | approach to farming and ranching that avoids the use of herbicides, pesticides, growth hormones, and other similar synthetic inputs |
