Agriculture and Organic Food Trends

Questions and Answers

Bio-diesel fuel is associated with the demand of what industry?

Agriculture

What percent of the total food production in the United States is organic food?

In what three areas is organic food found?

Core, semi-periphery, and periphery regions

Demand for organic foods is greatest in the semi-periphery regions.

False Signup and view all the answers

According to the US Census of Agriculture (2007), there are no acres certified for organic agricultural production in which states?

Rhode Island and Delaware Signup and view all the answers

What is a primary economic activity? Provide specific examples.

Direct extraction of natural resources from the environment; examples include hunting and gathering, herding, fishing, mining, and lumbering. Signup and view all the answers

Guatemala's agricultural sector produces 13% of the country's GDP and employs what percent of the labor force?

50% Signup and view all the answers

The agricultural sector of Canada is which of these: labor intensive, animal intensive, or machine intensive?

Machine intensive Signup and view all the answers

Hunter-gatherers living in the vicinity of the Pacific Ocean specialized in what kind of food activity?

Salmon fishing Signup and view all the answers

According to Carl Sauer, what was probably the earliest kind of plant domestication?

Planting root crops Signup and view all the answers

During the First Agricultural Revolution, where do most scholars believe that seed cultivation occurred?

The Fertile Crescent Signup and view all the answers

List the plants associated with Meso-American, Southeast Asian, Southwest Asian, and Ethiopian agricultural hearths.

Meso-American: tomato, corn, squash; Southeast Asian: taro, yams, bananas; Southwest Asian: wheat, barley, other grains; Ethiopian-East African: coffees, barleys, okras, millet, hard wheat. Signup and view all the answers

In which region did the American Corn Belt originate?

Meso-America-Central America Signup and view all the answers

Goats were domesticated 10,000 years ago in the Zagros Mountain region which was a part of what hearth?

The Fertile Crescent Signup and view all the answers

Cattle were domesticated in which region and became an important cultural feature?

South Asia Signup and view all the answers

Of the 148 species of large herbivores (over 100 lbs), how many have been domesticated over 4,500 years ago?

14 Signup and view all the answers

Where is the service region for the domestication of hemp, eggplants, and mangoes located?

Eastern India and western Burma (Myanmar) Signup and view all the answers

List examples of hunting and gathering groups that still existed in the early 2000s.

San of Southern Africa, Aboriginal people of interior Australia, Native Americans of Brazil Signup and view all the answers

Do hunters and gatherers construct and live in permanent settlements?

True Signup and view all the answers

What is shifting cultivation?

A form of tropical subsistence agriculture in which fields are rotated after short periods of crop production. Signup and view all the answers

What is Milpa agriculture?

A form of subsistence agriculture involving slash and burn methods. Signup and view all the answers

About how many people practice shifting cultivation in the world today?

Between 150 million and 200 million Signup and view all the answers

Describe the population in areas of shifting cultivation.

People live in a central village and work the land around them; villages divide when population gets too large or farmland is too far. Signup and view all the answers

Colonial powers would make subsistence farmers grow what kind of crops?

Cash crops (tea, coffee, cacao) as well as subsistence crops Signup and view all the answers

Before the intervention of Europeans, why were societies practicing subsistence farming equal?

Land was shared by the whole community Signup and view all the answers

Why does the destruction of subsistence farming communities sometimes lead to the decline in culture of the people?

They are no longer working together to feed the community; resources are not shared, and wealth is not being distributed. Signup and view all the answers

The Second Agricultural Revolution can generally be traced to Europe within what time frame?

17th and 18th Centuries (1600s-1700s) Signup and view all the answers

Order the commodities from closest to farthest away from town in von Thunen's model:

Milk = 1 Firewood = 2 Wheat = 3 Beef = 4 Signup and view all the answers

Why did von Thunen's model have a concentric circle of forest around the city?

The forest provided lumber and firewood. Signup and view all the answers

Describe the difference found in soils between intensively used fields near villages and those further away.

Fields near villages had added organic material, making them more fertile and productive; fields further away were less fertile due to degradation and chemical inputs. Signup and view all the answers

By 1992, the most widely grown crop variety on Earth was a product of the Green Revolution called what?

IR36, which was a variety of rice. Signup and view all the answers

In the 1940s, American philanthropists funded research on what crop?

Maize (corn) Signup and view all the answers

What is the average size of a family farm in China?

½ or 0.5 acres Signup and view all the answers

The IR8 rice was an early result of what Agricultural Revolution?

The Third Agricultural Revolution Signup and view all the answers

Because of the Green Revolution, most famines today are a result of what?

Political instability Signup and view all the answers

What is the correct name of the rectangular land division scheme in the United States adopted after the American Revolution?

Township-and-range system Signup and view all the answers

How large is a section in the township-and-range system?

1 square mile or 160 acres Signup and view all the answers

Where is the township and range system prevalent in the United States?

American Plains—western U.S. Signup and view all the answers

Where is the lay-lot survey system prevalent?

Japan Signup and view all the answers

What kind of land system was used in French-America (New Orleans)?

Long lot Signup and view all the answers

What is the most prevalent rural residential pattern in the world's agricultural areas?

Nucleated Signup and view all the answers

What form of villages are reminders of a turbulent past?

Walled Signup and view all the answers

How did the Spanish invaders of Middle America lay out villages and towns?

Grid Signup and view all the answers

According to the Köppen-Geiger climate classification, the UK has what kind of climate?

Humid temperate with no dry season and a cool summer Signup and view all the answers

Do New York and Lima have the same or different climates according to Köppen-Geiger classification?

Different Signup and view all the answers

Do Paris and Moscow have the same or different climates according to Köppen-Geiger classification?

Different Signup and view all the answers

Do Cairo and Riyadh have the same or different climates according to Köppen-Geiger classification?

Same Signup and view all the answers

List where Mediterranean agriculture is found.

Southern California, central Chile, Italy, Spain, southern France, Greece, southern Australia, South Africa's Cape Signup and view all the answers

Examples of luxury crops include what?

Coffee, tea, cacao, tobacco Signup and view all the answers

In villages, how is social stratification reflected?

The range and quality of village houses Signup and view all the answers

The functional differentiation of buildings in farm villages worldwide is greatest in what cultures?

Western cultures— American, Canadian, European Signup and view all the answers

Poorer countries producing what are at the mercy of purchasing countries that set the prices?

Cash crops Signup and view all the answers

What source contributes to 25% of world sugar production outside of the tropical plantation region?

Sugar beets Signup and view all the answers

Much of the cotton purchased by the United Kingdom, Western Europe, and Japan is grown in which country?

United States Signup and view all the answers

Rubber trees are indigenous to what area?

Northern South America's Amazon Basin Signup and view all the answers

Colonial powers transplanted rubber trees from its indigenous area to what other tropical area?

Southeast Asia Signup and view all the answers

Coffee was domesticated in Ethiopia. Today, 70% of production is in which regions?

Middle and South America Signup and view all the answers

Fair trade coffee buyers certify that what percentage of the retail price goes to the coffee growers?

40% Signup and view all the answers

What agricultural activity is widespread in both the northeastern U.S. and northwestern Europe?

Dairy farming Signup and view all the answers

What regions that have fairly small areas of wheat production still have major export trade?

Argentina and Australia Signup and view all the answers

What country is the world's leading exporter of rice?

The United States Signup and view all the answers

Rice cultivation in Southeast Asia is largely done by what kind of farmers?

Subsistence Signup and view all the answers

Which kind of agriculture refers to a particular kind of climate and what kind of crops are grown in this climate?

Mediterranean agriculture; crops include wheat, barley, vine, and tree crops, as well as grazing sheep and goats. Signup and view all the answers

Southern Florida has what type of climate?

Humid equatorial climate with dry winter Signup and view all the answers

In recent years, many wooded areas outside of the U.S. have been deforested to provide beef for hamburgers for fast-food chains in the U.S. Where are these regions located?

Central and South America Signup and view all the answers

The expansion of crop production for export in Latin America has increasingly marginalized which group of farmers?

Subsistence farmers Signup and view all the answers

Cattle ranching in North and South America shows a Thunian pattern lying in the peripheral areas with consumption in what?

Cities Signup and view all the answers

Even after the end of colonialism, many plantations in the world are still owned by what peoples?

European or American individuals or corporations Signup and view all the answers

Study Notes

Biodiesel and Agriculture

Bio-diesel fuel production is enhanced by bio-genetic engineering, particularly in arid regions of the Plains States.
Organic food constitutes approximately 2% of total food production in the United States.

Regions of Organic Food

Organic food is primarily found in core, semi-periphery, and periphery regions.
Core regions show the greatest demand for organic foods.

Organic Production Statistics

In the 2007 US Census of Agriculture, Rhode Island and Delaware reported no certified organic agricultural acreage.

Economic Activities

Primary economic activities involve directly extracting natural resources from the environment, including hunting, gathering, herding, fishing, mining, and forestry.
Guatemala's agricultural sector produces 13% of GDP and employs 50% of the labor force.

Agricultural Practices and Domestication

Specialized food activities of Pacific Coast hunter-gatherers included salmon fishing.
Early plant domestication likely started with the cultivation of root crops, as suggested by Carl Sauer.
The Fertile Crescent is identified as a key area for seed cultivation during the First Agricultural Revolution.

Agricultural Hearths

Meso-American plants include tomato, corn, and squash; Southeast Asian hearth encompasses taro, yams, and bananas; Southwest Asian centers focus on wheat and barley; and East African hearth covers coffee and millet.

Domestication History

Cattle were domesticated in South Asia, emerging as culturally significant animals.
A total of 14 out of 148 large herbivore species have been domesticated over the past 4,500 years.

Shifting Cultivation and Subsistence Farming

Shifting cultivation practices, a type of tropical subsistence agriculture, involve rotating fields after short crop production periods.
Milpa agriculture relies on clearing fields through slash-and-burn techniques, enhancing soil fertility through ash.

Modern subsistence farmers are pressured into growing cash crops for colonial powers, disrupting traditional farming practices.
Destruction of subsistence farming communities often leads to wealth inequality and cultural decline.

Agricultural Revolutions

The Second Agricultural Revolution occurred in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries.
Von Thunen's model describes the spatial organization of agriculture, with specific commodities located at varying distances from urban centers.

Migration of Ideas and Crops

The IR36 rice variety emerged as the most widely grown crop due to its connections with the Green Revolution.
The American philanthropic initiatives in the 1940s led to increased maize production in Mexico.

Land Division and Residential Patterns

The township-and-range system segments land into 1-square mile sections, prevalent in the American Plains.
Nucleated rural residential patterns dominate agricultural areas globally, while varied building functions indicate social stratification.

Climate and Agriculture

The UK is classified under a humid temperate climate with no dry season and cool summers.
Mediterranean agriculture thrives in regions like Southern California, Southern France, and South Africa's Cape.

Economic Vulnerability in Agriculture

Poorer nations growing cash crops, like sugar, are at the mercy of fluctuating price demands set by wealthier countries.
Much of the world's coffee production has shifted from its Ethiopian origins to Central and South America.

Global Trade Patterns

The United States leads in rice exports, while dairy farming is prevalent in both northeastern U.S. and northwestern Europe.
With no internal deforestation, the regions producing beef for U.S.-market hamburgers are primarily in Central and South America.

Ownership and Cultural Dynamics

Many plantations continue to be owned by European or American individuals/corporations, perpetuating colonial legacies even after independence.

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Description

Explore the intersection of biodiesel production, organic food statistics, and economic activities in agriculture. This quiz dives into regional trends and the impact of genetic engineering on sustainable farming practices. Test your knowledge on agricultural practices and their implications for modern society.