Food and Agriculture
MULTIPLE CHOICE. Choose the one alternative that best completes the statement or answers the
question.
1) Unlike other forms of commercial agriculture, plantations are
A) situated in densely populated locations.
B) found primarily in less developed countries.
C) owned by people in less developed countries.
D) part of agribusiness.
E) all of the above
2) The predominant form of agriculture in the U.S. Southeast is
A) Mediterranean agriculture.
B) mixed crop and livestock.
C) dairy farming.
D) plantation farming.
E) commercial gardening.
3) Which of the following is not a strategy for increasing food supply?
A) increasing tariffs on grain exports
B) expanding arable land area
C) identifying new food sources
D) increasing land productivity
E) increasing exports of surplus production
4) If Van Thune was applied today, what would explain a decline in cattle ranching in the southwestern
United States?
A) the predominant breed of cattle has changed.
B) long-distance cattle drives to market are no longer practical.
C) the region lacks adequate water supplies.
D) export tariffs on beef.
E) crops yield more income per area.
5) Commercial agriculture is distinguished from subsistence agriculture by all but which of the following
A) farm size
B) surplus production
C) output consumed on the farm
D) low percentage of farmers in the labor force
E) heavy use of machinery
6) Which of the following is the most common form of commercial agriculture in Europe?
A) livestock ranching
B) grain farming
C) dairy farming
D) mixed crop and livestock farming
E) Mediterranean agriculture
7) In the United States many farms are integrated into a large food production industry. This is known as
A) mechanized farming.
B) agribusiness.
C) commercial farming.
D) food processing.
E) mixed crop and livestock farming
8) What is the purpose of crop rotation?
A) maintaining the fertility of fields
B) maintaining fresh products for market
C) maintaining price supports
D) reducing transportation costs
E) responding to shifting consumer preference
9) The primary factor in von Thune's model for choosing commercial farm products is
A) market location.
B) land price.
C) soil character.
D) climate.
E) labor cost.
10) According to the von Thune model, timber production was located in the second ring from the city because of
what factor?
A) need for a vast area
B) product weight
C) perishability
D) labor intense harvesting methods
E) delivery time
11) The farther a dairy farm is from a large urban area the lower the percentage of output devoted to fresh milk. This
occurs primarily because
A) the quality of soil is lower near an urban area.
B) land costs are lower farther from the urban area.
C) rural populations drink less milk per capita than urban dwellers.
D) processed milk is less perishable.
E) transport costs are greater farther from the urban area.
12) The most important reason why most people in North China grow crops other than wet rice is
A) harvesting wet rice requires expensive machinery.
B) climate.
C) soil.
D) tradition.
E) cultural preference.
13) Pastoral nomadism is most commonly found in which climate region?
A) warm mid-latitude
B) polar
C) dry
D) humid low-latitude
E) cold mid-latitude
14) The seasonal migration of livestock between mountains and lowland pastures is
A) pastoral nomadism.
B) practiced mostly in the tropics.
C) transhumance.
D) livestock ranching.
E) shifting cultivation.
15) To increase crop yields, farmers in southeastern China commonly practice
A) transhumance.
B) threshing.
C) shifting cultivation.
D) pastoral nomadism.
E) double cropping.
16) The most important distinction for dividing the world into agricultural regions is
A) the population density of the crop-producing region.
B) whether crops are grown or animals are raised.
C) the location of the first agriculture.
D) B and D
E) whether the product is consumed on or off the farm.
17) Which statement correctly describes hunting and gathering?
A) All humans obtained their food this way before the invention of agriculture.
B) Hunter gatherers live in small groups.
C) This form of subsistence is still practiced.
D) It is a form of nomadism.
E) all of the above
18) Hunting and gathering societies
A) include about .005 percent of the world's people.
B) occur nearly everywhere but are especially common in Europe.
C) are found in isolated places in the world.
D) are responsible for most of the environmental degradation of the planet.
E) are characterized by large concentrations of people.
19) An important agricultural rice hearth is
A) northern China.
B) Southeast Asia.
C) Ethiopia.
D) South America.
E) all of the above
20) The cultivation of plants by cutting stems and dividing roots is
A) subsistence agriculture.
B) sawah.
C) vegetative planting.
D) plant hybridization.
E) seed agriculture.
21) In the Eastern Hemisphere, seed agriculture probably originated in which of the following?
A) northern China
B) Australia
C) Ethiopia
D) Southwest Asia
E) A, B, and C
22) Unique agricultural practices arise in particular regions because of
A) climate.
B) physical characteristics of the land.
C) limited knowledge of alternatives.
D) distinctive cultural traits.
E) all of the above
23) Which is not a form of subsistence agriculture?
A) shifting cultivation
B) intensive
C) Mediterranean
D) pastoral nomadism
E) All of the above are forms of subsistence agriculture.
24) Which type of agriculture is found primarily in less developed countries?
A) Mediterranean
B) truck farming
C) commercial gardening
D) plantation
E) none of the above
25) Which is not a characteristic of shifting cultivation?
A) Debris is burned to provide the soil with nutrients.
B) A new site is designated every few years.
C) Swiddens not under cultivation are used for fruit trees.
D) Land is cleared by slashing the vegetation.
E) All of the above are characteristics.
26) Shifting cultivation is most commonly found in which climate region?
A) tropical
B) warm mid-latitude
C) dry
D) cold mid-latitude
E) undifferentiated Highlands.
27) Which type of agriculture occupies the largest percentage of the world's land area?
A) livestock ranching
B) pastoral nomadism
C) shifting cultivation
D) intensive subsistence
E) dairying
28) Which type of agriculture is practiced by the largest percentage of the world's people?
A) shifting cultivation
B) hunting and gathering
C) pastoral nomadism
D) plantation
E) intensive subsistence
29) Defenders of shifting cultivation say it is the best approach for the tropics because
A) shifting cultivation is part of the cultural diversity of folk customs in the tropics.
B) shifting cultivation destroys less tropical rain forest than permanently clearing the land.
C) permanently clearing fields and using fertilizers will destroy tropical soils.
D) it requires a lot of land to feed a small number of people.
E) A, B, and C
30) Only about 15 million people are nomads, but they sparsely occupy
A) most of the islands of the south Pacific.
B) 50 - 60 percent of the undifferentiated highlands.
C) 20 - 25 percent of the earth's land area.
D) most of the tropical regions of the earth.
E) 10 percent of the earth's land area.
31)The largest proportion of farmers in Asia practice
A) pastoral nomadism.
B) shifting cultivation.
C) plantation agriculture.
D) intensive subsistence.
E) hunting and gathering
32) A principal practice of sustainable agriculture is
A) limited use of chemicals.
B) sensitive land management.
C) better integration of crops and livestock.
D) use of pesticide resistant seed.
E) A, B, and C
33) China, the United States, Russia, and India are the leading producers of
A) corn (maize).
B) sugar cane.
C) milk products.
D) wool.
E) commercial grain.
34) Ranching is practiced in a climate region most similar to that of which other type of agriculture?
A) dairying
B) Mediterranean agriculture
C) grain
D) shifting cultivation
E) pastoral nomadism
35 In the U.S. many farmers are integrated into a large food production industry. This is known as
A. agribusiness
B. commercial farming
C. food processing
D. conglomerative agriculture
E. mechanized farming
36. Green Revolution technology has resulted in which of the following in modern agriculture?
A. The development of high-yield grains and the expansion of cultivated areas
B. The construction of new irrigation systems and a reduction in the use of fertilizers
C. An increase in the circulation of investment capital to help the poorest farmers
D. The loss of prime agricultural land and smaller yields from grain crops
E. The end of famine in the world
37. The modern definition of agriculture includes
A. animal husbandry and shifting cultivation
B. vegetative and seed planting
C. multiple hearths of origin
D. the deliberate modification of the earth for sustenance and economic gain
E. none of the above
38) A GMO (genetically modified organism)
A) mixes genetic material from species that would not otherwise mix in nature.
B) mixes pollinator species to ensure plant diversity.
C) controls soil components to ensure plant hardiness.
D) controls irrigation and sunlight to train the plant toward hardiness.
E) extracts genetic material from a plant organism to remove recessive genes.
39) Which of the following is NOT perceived as a negative to using GMO seeds?
A) Long-term GMO use may reduce effectiveness of antibiotics.
B) Long-term GMO use could destroy long-standing ecological balances in local agriculture.
C) There is an implicit long-term dependence on the United States as a supplier.
D) Import markets are likely to reject foods not properly labeled as GMO.
E) Long-term GMO use reduces the quality of the soil.
40) Which American TNC is most closely associated with GMOs?
A) Nestlé
B) Monsanto
C) Bayer
D) Royal Dutch Shell
E) MGM
41) Farmers in LDCs choose to grow drug crops for export primarily because of
A) their market value in MDCs.
B) their proximity to local markets.
C) their inability to grow maize.
D) their disdain for the freedoms enjoyed by developed countries.
E) their desire to fund terrorist organizations.
42) Afghanistan is important to the world drug trade primarily because
A) it produces about 90 percent of the world's opium.
B) U.S. troops consume most of the opium grown there.
C) of the inability to grow maize.
D) of the proximity of the Russian market for illicit drugs.
E) of the desire of local farmers to fund terrorist organizations.
43) The "clean 15" represent
A) U.S. river clean up.
B) the least polluted lakes.
C) the produce that requires serious cleaning due to pesticides used.
D) the produce that represents the least amount of pesticide presence.
E) the top 15 organic farms in the United States.
44) The greatest challenge to world food supply has been
A) drought.
B) global warming.
C) military conflict.
D) food prices.
E) limited labor.
45) Record food prices, according to the UN, are attributed to all but which of the following?
A) poor weather in major crop growing regions
B) increased demand
C) failure of NAFTA to address agriculture subsidies
D) smaller growth in productivity
E) crops used for biofuels rather than human consumption
46) ______is dietary energy consumption that is continuously below that needed for a healthy life and the ability to carry out light physical activity.
A) Starvation
B) Obesity
C) Undernourishment
D) Dieting
E) Fast food consumption