Agricultural Terms Quiz

Agricultural Terms

• Agriculture: The planting and harvesting of domesticated plants, and raising domesticated animals for food.
• Domesticated Plant: A plant deliberately cultivated and used by humans, genetically distinct from its wild ancestor.
• Domesticated Animal: An animal dependent on humans for food and shelter, physically and behaviorally different from wild species due to controlled breeding and human contact.
• Farmers: Individuals who practice agriculture by growing crops, raising animals, or both.
• Physical Geography: The study of Earth's physical characteristics and processes; how they work, how they affect humans, and how humans affect them.
• Nutrients: Components (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) of topsoil needed for plant growth and reproduction.
• Topography: The arrangement of shapes on Earth's surface.
• Climate: The average pattern of weather over a 30-year period for a region.
• Weather: The day-to-day atmospheric conditions affecting daily decisions.
• Tropical Wet Climate: Daily rainfall along the equator.
• Tropical Wet and Dry Climate: Dry season with little rain, often experiencing monsoons.
• Monsoon: Season reversal of winds, with onshore movement in summer bringing rain.
• Monsoon Rains: Intense periods of heavy rain following a dry season.
• Arid Climate: Less than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain annually.
• Semiarid (Steppe) Climate: 10-25 inches (25-50 centimeters) of rain annually, supporting farming.
• Moderate Climate: 75°F (24°C) average year-round temperature, found at the edges of tropical regions.
• Humid Subtropical Climate: Long hot summers, short mild winters, variable precipitation, common on eastern continents.
• Marine West Coast Climate: Moderate temperatures, cool winters, along western coasts closer to the poles.
• Mediterranean Climate: Winter precipitation, mild winters, abundant sunshine, found along the Mediterranean and some western coasts (California, Chile, Australia).
• Continental Climate: Wide temperature ranges, moderate precipitation, found inland.
• Humid Continental Climate: Wide temperature ranges, 4 distinct seasons, moderate to abundant rainfall.
• Humid Cold Climate: Frigid temperatures, mostly in northern continental regions, often described as subarctic.

Agricultural Systems

• Intensive Agriculture: High labor and capital inputs per unit of land.
• Subsistence Agriculture: Food production primarily for the farm family and local community.
• Commercial Agriculture: Farming solely for market sales.
• Market Gardening: Small-scale farming producing vegetables and fruits for local markets.
• Truck Farm: Larger version of market gardening, producing for more distant markets.
• Plantation: Large estate focused on capital-intensive production of a single tropical or subtropical crop for the global market.
• Mixed Crop/Livestock Agriculture: System combining cereal grain cultivation and livestock rearing.
• Cereal Grains: Seeds of various grasses (wheat, barley, sorghum, millet, oats, maize).
• Millet: Fast-growing cereal, widely grown in warm climates with poor soils.
• Root Crops: Vegetables grown below ground (cassava, potatoes, yams).
• Cash Crop: Crop produced for sale, not for farmer's consumption.
• Peasants: Small-scale farmers producing for subsistence and market.
• Paddy Rice Farming: Wet rice cultivation in flooded fields.
• Grain Farming: Highly mechanized and commercial cereal production.
• Livestock Fattening: Intensive livestock feeding for slaughter.
• Feedlot: Enclosed area for intensive livestock feeding.
• Dairying: Farming focused on milk and milk products from cows.
• Extensive Agriculture: Low labor and capital inputs per unit of land.
• Shifting Cultivation (Slash-and-Burn): Cultivating land until it loses productivity, then clearing and burning a new plot.
• Intercropping: Planting multiple crops together in the same area.
• Nomadic Herding (Pastoralism): Rearing livestock, moving seasonally to follow rainfall and pasture.
• Livestock Ranching: Using large tracts of land to raise livestock for meat, hides, or wool.
• Rural Area: Land outside towns and cities.
• Rural Settlements: Population outside urban centers.

Agricultural Landscapes & Practices

• Agricultural Landscape: Visible imprint of agricultural activities.
• Grain Elevator: Large storage facility for grain.
• Suitcase Farm: Grain farm using migrant workers for planting and harvesting.
• Silo: Round or square structure for storing livestock feed.
• Settlement Patterns: Arrangement of human settlements on the land.
• Clustered Settlement (Farm Village): Tightly packed group of farms.
• Farmstead: Center of farm operations, houses, barns, toolsheds.
• Dispersed (Isolated) Settlement: Scattered farmsteads.
• Linear Settlement Pattern: Buildings arranged in a line.
• Survey Methods: Techniques used to establish property lines.
• Cadastral Survey: Systematic documentation of property details.
• Metes and Bounds: Natural features define property boundaries.
• Township and Range: Grid-based survey system.
• Long-Lot Survey System: Rectangular plots, typically long and narrow.

Agricultural History & Impacts

• Domestication: Humans selectively breeding, protecting, and caring for plant/animal species.
• First Agricultural Revolution: Beginning of domestication and seed crop cultivation.
• Teosinte: Wild grass ancestor of maize.
• Mesoamerica: Cultural region in Mexico and Central America.
• Biodiversity: Variety and variability among species and ecosystems.
• Hearth: Origin point of innovations in agriculture.
• Fertile Crescent: Early center of seed plant domestication.
• Indus River Valley: Early domestication of plants and herd animals.
• Columbian Exchange: Exchange of goods, people, ideas, and diseases between the Americas, Europe, and Africa.
• Second Agricultural Revolution: Improved cultivation methods in the 1600s–1930s.
• Seed Drill: Machine for planting seeds in rows.
• Mechanical Reaper: Machine for harvesting grain.
• Scythe: Hand tool for cutting grain.
• Agrichemicals: Chemicals used in agriculture (fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides).
• Synthetic Fertilizer: Industrially produced fertilizers with high nutrient concentrations.
• Pesticide: Material to kill or repel pests.
• Herbicide: Pesticide to kill unwanted plants.
• Nutrient Pollution: Excess nutrients in water sources from fertilizer runoff.
• Runoff: Flow of water over land.
• Green Revolution: Development of high-yield crops and technologies for less developed countries..
• Crossbreeding: Mixing different plant or animal varieties to create hybrids.
• Hybrid: Offspring of different species/varieties.
• Double-Cropping/Multi-Cropping: Planting multiple crops in a single year on land.
• Hierarchical Diffusion: Leap-frogging of ideas from major centers to smaller locations.
• Environmental Contamination: Chemical residue from fertilizers and pesticides.
• Soil Salinization/Soil Salinity: Build-up of salts in soil from irrigation.
• Capital Expenditure: Assets needed in farming (land, machinery, etc.).
• Bid-Rent Theory: Land value decreases further away from the central business district (CBD).
• Central Business District (CBD): Dense cluster of offices and shops in the city center.
• Large-Scale Commercial Operation: Big farms focused on mass agricultural production.
• Monocropping (Monoculture): Growing a single crop intensively on large land.
• Agricultural Cooperative: Organization for pooling farm resources.
• Family Farm: Farming operation owned and run by a family.
• Cassava: A root vegetable native to South America.
• Sorghum: A grain plant native to northeast Africa.
• Tundra: The vast, flat, treeless arctic region of Europe, Asia, and North America, with permanently frozen subsoil.