Unit 7
Plot: An area of land where crops are grown.
Soil: The subtance on the surface of the Earth in which plants grow, produced mainly by the weathering of rock.
Crop rotation: The practice of growing different types of crops in the same area in sequential seasons.
Intensive agriculture: is an agricultural production system characterized by a low fallow ratio and the high use of inputs
Extensive agriculture: An agricultural system that uses small inputs of labour, fertilisers, and capital, relative to the area of land that is being farmed.
Dryland farming: Farming in which the fields receive only rainwater.
Irrigated farming: Farming in which the water from groundwater, reservoirs or rivers is brought to fields.
Polyculture: is agriculture using multiple crops in the same space, in imitation of the diversity of natural ecosystems, and avoiding large stands of single crops, or monoculture.
Monoculture: is the agricultural practice of producing or growing a single crop or plant species over a wide area and for a large number of consecutive years
Greenhouses: is a building in which plants are grown
Subsistence agriculture: A type of agriculture in which farmers only grow enough food to feed themselves and their families.
Shifting cultivation: is an agricultural system in which plots of land are cultivated temporarily, then abandoned and allowed to revert to their natural vegetation while the cultivator moves on to another plot
Livestock farming: Farming bassed on rearing animals to obtain products.
Housed livestock: Livestock fed with fodder in farm buildings. This type of livestock must pass strict sanitary and quality controls
Cattle: are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates.
Fodder: is any agricultural foodstuff used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, goats, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs.
Rear: To care for, breed and grow animals until maturity.
Fishing grounds: An area of water that is used for fishing.
Aquaculture: is the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants.
Overfishing: is a form of overexploitation in which fish stocks are depleted to unacceptable levels, regardless of water body size.
Fleets: is an aggregate of commercial fishing vessels
School of fish: many fishes together
Unit 8
Mechanization: The use of machinery in the production process
Mining: The process of extracting minerals from the ground
Mineral: a naturally occurring solid chemical substance such as bauxite.
Fossil fuels: fuel that is formed by the decomposition of buried organic material, and exposure to heat and pressure, producing substances such as coal, oil and gas.
Industry: any economic activity that produces a service or transforms raw material into consumer goods.
Irrigated farming: is the artificial application of water to the land or soil.
Energy: power that comes from the utilization of physical or chemical resources to provide light and heat or to work machines.
Biomass: organic material used as a fuel that releases energy when burned
Management: the people that run a company and ensure that goods and services of a high enough quality are produced and sold at competitive prices.
Workforce: the employees required to produce goods and services.
Wind turbine: a device that converts kinetic energy from the wind into mechanical energy to drive machinery or generate electricity.
Renewable energy: is generally defined as energy that comes from resources which are naturally replenished on a human time-scale such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves and geothermal heat.
Non-renewable energy: is a resource that does not renew itself at a sufficient rate for sustainable economic extraction in meaningful human time-frames.
Traditional energy: refers to the energy sources that are most commonly used
Alternative energy: is any energy source that is an alternative to fossil fuel. These alternatives are intended to address concerns about such fossil fuels.
Dam: is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams.
Guild: is an association of artisans or merchants who control the practice of their craft in a particular town.
Heavy industry: does not have a single fixed meaning as compared to light industry.
Light industry: is usually less capital intensive than heavy industry, and is more consumer-oriented than business-oriented.
Cutting-edge industries: industries that employ advanced technology
Craftspeople: people who make products using basic tools and manual labour.