Introduction to Agriculture Practices

• Agriculture involves planting and harvesting domesticated plants and raising domesticated animals for food.

Domesticated Plants

• Domesticated plants are deliberately planted, protected, cared for, and used by humans.
• They are genetically distinct from their wild ancestors.

Domesticated Animals

• Domesticated animals rely on humans for food and shelter.
• Domestication results in differences in looks and behavior compared to their wild ancestors.

Farmers

• Farmers grow crops, raise animals, or both, practicing agriculture.

Plantation

• A plantation is a large landholding focused on capital-intensive, specialized production.
• It typically cultivates a single tropical or subtropical crop for the global market.

Intensive Agriculture

• Intensive agriculture uses high levels of labor and capital relative to the size of the landholding.

Subsistence Farming

• Subsistence farming focuses on food production for the farming family and local community.
• It is not primarily for sale in the market.

Commercial Agriculture

• Commercial agriculture is solely oriented toward producing agricultural commodities for market sale.

Mixed Crop and Livestock Farming

• This diversified system cultivates cereal grains and root crops like potatoes and yams
• It also rears herd livestock.

Cash Crops

• Cash crops are raised for profit rather than for feeding the farm family or livestock.
• Examples include cotton, flax, hemp, coffee, and tobacco.

Extensive Agriculture

• Extensive agriculture requires little hired labor or monetary investment.

Shifting Cultivation

• Shifting cultivation involves farming a plot of land until it becomes less productive, usually in three to five years.
• Farmers then move to a new plot prepared using slash-and-burn agriculture.

Slash and Burn Agriculture

• Small plots in forests or woodlands are cut and burned.
• Burning clears the ground, releases nutrients, and the cleared plot is planted.

Intercropping

• Intercropping is planting multiple crops together in the same clearing.

Nomadic Herding/Pastoralism

• This system involves breeding and rearing herd livestock, such as cattle, sheep, or goats.
• Herds follow the seasonal movement of rainfall to open pasturelands.

Livestock Ranching

• Livestock ranching uses large tracts of land for rearing herds of livestock.
• Livestock is sold for meat, hides, or wool.

Rural Area

• A rural area is located outside of towns and cities.

Agricultural Landscape

• The agricultural landscape the visible imprint of agricultural practices.

Settlement Patterns

• Settlement patterns are the ways in which people organize themselves on the land.

First Agricultural Revolution

• The early domestication and diffusion of plants and animals and the cultivation of seed crops led to the development of agriculture

Biodiversity

• Biodiversity is the variety and variability among species and ecosystems.

Second Agricultural Revolution

• This period brought improved methods of cultivation, harvesting, and storage of farm produce.
• It started in the late 1600s and continued through the 1930s.

Agrichemicals

• Agrichemicals are chemical compounds from petroleum and natural gas used in agriculture.
• They include fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides.

Nutrient Pollution

• Nutrient pollution results from overuse of fertilizer.
• Excess nutrients seep into groundwater or are carried into waterways as runoff.

Green Revolution

• The Green Revolution involved the U.S.-supported development of high-yield seed varieties to increase productivity of cereal crops.
• It also included agricultural technologies for transfer to less developed countries.

Agribusiness

• An agribusiness is a large corporation providing goods and services to support the agricultural industry.

Commodity Chain

• A commodity chain connects a commodity's places of production, distribution, and consumption.

Commodity

• A commodity is a primary agricultural product or raw material bought, sold, and traded, like coffee, rice, and milk.

Global Supply Chain

• This encompasses all elements of growing, harvesting, processing, transporting, marketing, consuming, and disposing of food for people.

Famine

• Famine is an extreme scarcity of food.

Deforestation

• Deforestation is the clearing and destruction of forests for agricultural use.

Desertification

• Fertile land becomes desert due to climate variation or human activities.

Sustainable Agriculture

• This satisfies human needs, enhances quality of life for farmers and society, minimizes environmental impacts, and ensures social justice.

Genetically Modified Organism (GMO)

• A GMO is a living organism, including crops and livestock, produced through genetic engineering.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

• CSA is a direct-to-consumer arrangement.
• Farmers are guaranteed buyers at guaranteed prices.
• Consumers receive fresh food directly from the producers.

Organic Farming

• Organic farming produces crops and livestock using ecological processes, natural biodiversity, and renewable resources.
• It avoids industrial practices and synthetic inputs.

Fair Trade

• Fair Trade is a certification program that supports good crop prices for farmers and encourages environmentally sound farming practices.

Slow Food

• The slow food movement resists fast food.
• It preserves the cultural cuisine and associated food and farming practices of an ecoregion.

Food Desert

• A food desert is an area with limited access to fresh, nutritious foods.

Food Insecurity

• Food insecurity occurs when large numbers of people experience long periods of inadequate diets.

Understand agriculture: planting crops, raising animals for food. Learn about domesticated plants/animals, how they differ from their wild ancestors. Explore farming types: plantations, intensive, and subsistence agriculture.