Contemporary Commercial Agriculture - AP Human Geography

The term “biotechnology” is applied to any technological innovation that is designed to improve the usefulness of plant and animals species for human agricultural purposes. Biotechnology is what drove the population growth of the Green Revolution. It is often controversial, such as in genetically modified organisms.

The acronym GMO stands for “Genetically Modified Organism.” It is used in common parlance to refer to a crop whose genetic structure has been altered to make it more useful and efficient for human purposes. GMOs are often controversial because some scientists claim that their health effects have not yet been realized.

Genetically-modified organisms are a controversial topic in contemporary agricultural geography. GMO's are crops whose genetic makeup has been altered to encourage positive traits and eliminate negative traits. This leads to a more efficient process and a more reliable product, but has many potential downsides.

The United States and Brazil together account for almost ninety percent of the world’s production of ethanol fuel and are by far the biggest uses of ethanol to fuel motor vehicles. Brazil’s government has made it an official policy and ethanol usage continues to rise in Brazil.

“Ethanol” is an ethyl alcohol produced from corn and grain. In recent years it has started to be used to fuel motor vehicles, particularly in the United States. Ethanol is neither used as an antiseptic nor as a form of water treatment.

Genetically Modified Organisms are crops whose genetic makeup has been altered to encourage some positive traits and eliminate some negative traits. These crops, however, are not universally supported. Opponents of GMOs argue that the environmental consequences remain unknown and could be potentially devastating. Even opponents of GMOs recognize their potential to benefit those in areas of economic and food scarcity.

“Pesticides” are chemicals that are used to treat agricultural crops so as to kill any insects or animals that might try to damage the crop. “Herbicides” are similar but are chemicals that are used to treat agricultural crops so as to kill any plants that might cause a disruption in the growth of the desired product.

Genetic engineering, artificial insemination, and the use of bacteria to make food products are all examples of biotechnology, or the purposeful utilization of biological organisms and/or processes to create or improve products. Hybrid animals bred naturally in the wild are not considered an example of biotechnology.

Modern industrial farming relies heavily on inputs of fossil fuels in the form of pesticides and herbicides. Furthermore, industrial farming is largely based on monocultures, which represent the simplification of complex ecosystems. The only option not directly associated with industrial farming is ocean acidification. Although ocean acidification occurs due to increased carbon dioxide concentration, this is not as direct of an impact as the other options.

Monoculture refers to the practice of growing one crop over a large area. This leads to environmental issues, increased reliance on pesticides and herbicides, and an overall decrease in genetic diversity.

One benefit to monocultures however, is the fact that they can generally be harvested by machines. This tends to decrease the effort required to harvest them. This means that the only option that is NOT a weakness is, "Increased effort required for harvest."

Most of the nutrients that plants depend on to grow are found in very thin quantities in soil right by the surface. This fertile soil is called “topsoil,” and it is here where almost all crops are grown. To this author’s knowledge none of the other answer choices are real terms.

“Degraded agricultural land” is land that was once fertile and used for growing crops, but has been made infertile by human intervention and mismanagement. It is most common in densely populated areas where large scale farming has been common for a long period of time. For this reason, North America, which is not very densely populated and has only been consistently farmed since the arrival of Europeans, has the lowest percentage of degraded agricultural land.

Deforestation refers to the clearing of forest or jungle to make room for agricultural or mining industries. It is a significant problem around the world, but is most pronounced in South America. The Amazon Rainforest in South America is being cleared at a rapid rate to make room for ranches, plantations, and mining industries. This presents a serious ecological problem for the entire continent.

The Department of Agriculture was created in 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln. At the time the vast majority of Americans were engaged in farming as their primary occupation and so Lincoln called the newly created department “The People’s Department.”

“Topsoil erosion” refers to the gradual (or occasionally, rapid) depletion of the nutrient-rich topsoil in which almost all crops are grown. It is of such large concern because topsoil can take hundreds or thousands of years to replenish itself. Topsoil is found throughout the world and both the developed and developing world depend on crops grown in topsoil.

Bolivia is one of the poorest and least developed countries in South America. In the 1980s, it owed hundreds of millions of dollars to international and multinational banking organizations. In an unprecedented move the debt was forgiven in exchange for Bolivia’s guarantee that it would preserve more than a million square miles of its rainforest. This type of agreement made with Bolivia is called a “Debt-for-nature swap.”

Slash and burn is an agricultural technique used today in tropical forest regions with small populations and shifting cultivation agriculture. It uses little technology, and has been practiced since the Neolithic Revolution. Though the technique is not sustainable in large populations, because without the trees, the soil quality becomes too poor to support crops, the method is suitable for small farming communities.

The Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997 by more than 80 countries. This protocol's main goal was to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases (e.g., methane). The United States abandoned this protocol due to a fear of restricting growth.

Warmer sea surface temperatures, increases in sea level, and reduced biodiversity are all negative consequences of climate change. The ultimate cause of climate change is increased fossil fuel usage, which has negative implications for many aspects of life as we know it.