ENEC 201 Final Exam Study
Guide Questions and answers
2025
Agricultural Technologies - answer Selective breeding, monoculture,
specialization, pesticides (created in 1955 to control to boll weevil),
fertilizers, herbicides
Extensive Agriculture - answer Uses small inputs of labor, fertilizers, and
capital relative to the land area
EX: Swidden/Crop Rotation and Pastoralism
Intensive Agriculture - answer High levels of inputs and outputs relative to
land area. Capital intensive (industrial) and labor intensive
EX: Wet Rice
Green Revolution - answer The move from subsistence farming to large-
scale farming. Put many farmers out of business, and sparked rural to
urban migration
Soil Fertility - answer A measure of how well soil supports plant growth.
The green revolution led to over fertilization and destructive land use
(monoculture) which decreased soil fertility.
RR: Five Innovations that Boost Soil Fertility (cover cropping/green
manure, microdosing fertilizer, wastewater for irrigation, livestock
integration, preventing nitrogen leaching)
Phosphorus Recovery - answer Phosphorus is critical and nonrenewable
for soil health and therefore global food production. Modern agriculture
,depends on phosphorus, being mined at an unsustainable rate. With that,
there is a demand for more sustainable phosphorus recovery and use.
RR: Total Value of Phosphorus Recovery
Agriculture Revolution - answer Allowed for slow but modest population
growth, because the more food you can supply per person, the more
people you can have. It took 10,000 for the agricultural revolution to
spread globally. This was society's movement away from hunter-gatherer
lifestyle. For a long time, the agricultural revolution made people's lives
worse because it led to a less diverse diet and disease progression
because it centralized people. It created a social shift by creating a sense
of ownership in the property and started to establish hierarchies (between
men and other men, men and women, prompting social inequalities)
Hunter-Gatherers - answer People who hunt animals and gather wild
plants, seeds, fruits, and nuts to survive. Required less work than
agriculture.
Pastoralism - answer A type of agricultural activity based on nomadic
animal husbandry or the raising of livestock to provide food, clothing, and
shelter.
Swidden Agriculture - answer The form of subsistence agriculture in which
crops are grown in different fields on a rotating basis. Also called shifting
agriculture or slash-and-burn agriculture.
GMOs - answer Genetically modified organisms, any organism whose
genetic makeup has been modified using gene spliciing, criticism of GMOs
come from a lack of understanding. However, this can be bad if the
metabolism of the organism rejects gene therapy.
RR: Golden Rice Lifesaver?//Fears Not Facts Support GMO Free Food.
Food Deserts - answer Areas where people have to travel long distances to
reach stores where they can buy healthy food at reasonable prices.
, RR: Interactive: Food Deserts and Farmers Markets
Vertical Farming - answer Benefits: Uses 80% less water, recyelces
nutrients, crops are more nutritious, less transportation between farm and
consumer, sterile environment so pesticides are not needed.
Limits: Grains cannot be grown inside yet, in need of more R&D
RR: Green Pie in the Sky? Vertical Farming is on the Rise in Newark
Lab Grown Meat - answer Benefits: Decreases pollution, energy, water and
land use
Limitations: Expensive, many meat companies are attempting to end this
with false advertising
Precision Agriculture - answer Using as few pesticides, fertilizers, and
water as possible per plant; customize inputs to each plants needs in
order to reduce wasted resources. Sensors can be used for this.
Aquaponics - answer A system of aquaculture in which the waste produced
by farmed fish or other aquatic animals supplies nutrients for plants
grown hydroponically, which in turn purify the water.
RR: The Aquaponics Solution
Green Roofs - answer A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that
is partially or completely covered with vegetation.
This roof system reduces carbon dixoide, has thermal heating benefits,
better acoustics, reduced storm water runoff, improved aesthetics of
rooftops, supports wildlife, increase roof lifespan.
Fossil Fuel Subsidies - answer 6.5% of global GDP goes to subsidizing
fossil fuels, which is an example of how societies don't take into account