Deliberate modification of Earth's surface through cultivation of plants and rearing of animals to obtain sustenance or economic gain
Crop
Grain or fruit gathered from a field as a harvest during a particular season.
Vegetative planting
Reproduction of plants by direct cloning from existing plants (cutting stems & dividing roots)
Seed agriculture
Reproduction of plants through annual planting of seeds that result from sexual fertilization
Subsistence agriculture
Production of food primarily for consumption by the farmer's family
Commercial agriculture
Production of food primarily for sale off the farm
Agribusiness
System of commercial farming found in the United States and other relatively developed countries
Prime agricultural land
The most productive farmland
Shifting cultivation
A form of subsistence agriculture in which people shift activity from one field to another; each field is used for crops for a relatively few years and left fallow for a relatively long period
Slash-and-burn agriculture
When farmers clear land for planting by slashing vegetation and burning the debris
Swidden
A patch of land cleared for planting through slashing and burning
Pastoral Nomadism
A form of subsistence agriculture based on the herding of domesticated animals
Transhumance
seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pasture areas
Intensive subsistence agriculture
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
Wet rice
The practice of planting rice on dry land in a nursery and then moving the seedlings to a flooded field to promote growth
Paddy
Malay word for wet rice, commonly used instead of Sawah
Sawah
Flooded field for growing rice
Chaff
Husks of grain seperated from the seed by threshing
Thresh
To beat out grain from stalks by trampling it
Winnow
Toremove chaff by allowing it to be blown away by the wind
Hull
The outer covering of a seed
Double cropping
The practicee of harvesting twice a year from the same field
Crop rotation
Practice of rotating use of different fields from crop to crop each year, to avoid exhausting the soil
Cereal grain
Grass yielding grain for food
Milkshed
Area surrounding a city from which milk is supplied
Grain
Seedof a cereal grain
Winter wheat
Wheat planted in the fall and harvested in the early summer
Spring wheat
Wheat planted in the spring and harvested in the late summer
Reaper
Machine that cuts grain standing in the field
Combine
Machine that reaps, threshes, and cleans grain while moving over a field
Ranching
Form of commercial agriculture in which livestock graze over an extensive area
Horticulture
Growing of fruits, vegetables, and flowers
Truck farming
Commercial gardening and fruit farming, so named because truck was a Middle English word meaning bartering or the exchange of commodities
Plantation
Large farm in tropical and subtropical climates that specializes in the production of one or two crops for sale, usually to a more developed country
Sustainable agriculture
Farming methods that preserve long-term productivity of land and minimize pollution, typically by rotating soil-restoring crops with cash crops and reducing inputs of fertilizer and pesticides
Ridge tillage
A system of planting crops on ridge tops, in order to reduce farm production costs and promote greater soil conservation
Desertification
Degradation of land, especially in semiarid areas, primarily because of human actions like excessive crop planting, animal grazing, and tree cutting
Green revolution
Rapid diffusion of new agricultural technology, especially new high-yield seeds and fertilizers
Science Vocab 147928
