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Module 36 discusses the evolution of agricultural practices, focusing specifically on the Green Revolution and the shift toward large-scale commercial farming. This module outlines how the Third Agricultural Revolution introduced high-yield seeds, synthetic fertilizers, and mechanization to boost global food production. Key economic concepts like bid-rent theory are explained to show how land costs influence the location of intensive versus extensive farming operations. Additionally, the sources describe the rise of agribusinesses and commodity chains, which have created a more interconnected global food system while causing a decline in small family farms. Modern innovations such as cool chains and concentrated animal feeding operations are highlighted as tools that increase the carrying capacity of the land. Overall, the material contrasts subsistence farming in developing regions with the industrialized models predominant in wealthier nations.Â
Module Guiding Questions
How did the Green Revolution transform global food production?
What are the environmental and economic trade-offs of modern agriculture?
How does bid-rent theory determine where different crops are grown?
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Module Terms
Agribusiness
A large corporation that provides a vast array of goods and services to support the agricultural industry.
Agricultural Cooperative
An organization where farmers pool their resources in certain areas of activity (e.g., services or production) to increase profitability.
Bid-Rent Theory
Explains how the demand for and price of land decrease as the distance from the central business district (market) increases.
Capital Expenditures
Assets that cost money, such as land, machinery, synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, and livestock feed.
Carrying Capacity
The maximum number of people that a given environment can support through its available resources and land.
CAFO
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation; an animal rearing system that confines livestock in high-density cages to maximize growth and efficiency.
Commodity Chain
A series of links connecting a commodity's places of production, distribution, and consumption.
Cool Chain
A system using refrigeration and food-freezing technologies to keep produce fresh at every stage of transport from field to retail.
Crossbreeding
The act of mixing different species or varieties of plants or animals to produce hybrids.
Double-cropping
The practice of planting a second crop on the same plot of land as soon as the first crop has been harvested.
Endemic
Native to or characteristic of a certain environment or region.
Environmental Contamination
Chemical residue that builds up in the environment with each application of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
Extensive Agriculture
Agricultural practices that require little hired labor or low capital expenditures relative to the land area.
Family Farm
A farming operation majority-owned by a family or family corporation that sells its products to a defined market.
Green Revolution
The U.S.-supported development of high-yield seed varieties and agricultural technologies for use in less developed countries during the 1960s and 1970s.
Hierarchical Diffusion
Occurs when ideas leapfrog from one important person or community to another, bypassing other areas.
Hybrid
The offspring of two plants or animals of different species or varieties, often bred for specific high-yield traits.
Intensive Agriculture
Crop and livestock rearing systems that use high levels of labor and capital relative to the size of the landholding.
Monocropping
The cultivation of a single commercial crop on extensive tracts of land.
Multicropping
Planting two or three crops per year on the same land to increase annual yields.
Soil Salinization
The concentration of dissolved salts in the soil, often resulting from poor irrigation practices.
Subsistence Agriculture
Food production mainly for consumption by the farming family and local community, rather than for profit.
Module Terms
Agribusiness
A large corporation that provides a vast array of goods and services to support the agricultural industry.
Agricultural Cooperative
An organization where farmers pool their resources in certain areas of activity (e.g., services or production) to increase profitability.
Bid-Rent Theory
Explains how the demand for and price of land decrease as the distance from the central business district (market) increases.
Capital Expenditures
Assets that cost money, such as land, machinery, synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, and livestock feed.
Carrying Capacity
The maximum number of people that a given environment can support through its available resources and land.
CAFO
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation; an animal rearing system that confines livestock in high-density cages to maximize growth and efficiency.
Commodity Chain
A series of links connecting a commodity's places of production, distribution, and consumption.
Cool Chain
A system using refrigeration and food-freezing technologies to keep produce fresh at every stage of transport from field to retail.
Crossbreeding
The act of mixing different species or varieties of plants or animals to produce hybrids.
Double-cropping
The practice of planting a second crop on the same plot of land as soon as the first crop has been harvested.
Endemic
Native to or characteristic of a certain environment or region.
Environmental Contamination
Chemical residue that builds up in the environment with each application of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides.
Extensive Agriculture
Agricultural practices that require little hired labor or low capital expenditures relative to the land area.
Family Farm
A farming operation majority-owned by a family or family corporation that sells its products to a defined market.
Green Revolution
The U.S.-supported development of high-yield seed varieties and agricultural technologies for use in less developed countries during the 1960s and 1970s.
Hierarchical Diffusion
Occurs when ideas leapfrog from one important person or community to another, bypassing other areas.
Hybrid
The offspring of two plants or animals of different species or varieties, often bred for specific high-yield traits.
Intensive Agriculture
Crop and livestock rearing systems that use high levels of labor and capital relative to the size of the landholding.
Monocropping
The cultivation of a single commercial crop on extensive tracts of land.
Multicropping
Planting two or three crops per year on the same land to increase annual yields.
Soil Salinization
The concentration of dissolved salts in the soil, often resulting from poor irrigation practices.
Subsistence Agriculture
Food production mainly for consumption by the farming family and local community, rather than for profit.
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