Intensive Agriculture: Irrigation and Crop Yields

Agr.rgadío refers to intensive irrigation, a crucial practice in agriculture that provides extra water to crops. This process, whether in open fields or greenhouses, enables 2-3 annual harvests.

Intensive agriculture focuses on maximizing production in limited spaces. It utilizes fertilizers, selected seeds, and extensive labor to achieve high yields.

Key Concepts

  • Anticyclone: High-pressure zones with clockwise winds, bringing stable weather.
  • Metropolitan Area: Urban sprawl surrounding a major city, encompassing several municipalities with significant economic and social relations.
  • Annual Temperature Amplitude: The difference between the average temperatures of the warmest and coldest months.
  • Archipelago: A group of closely situated islands, such as the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands in Spain.
  • Aridity: The relationship between heat and humidity, measured by indices like Gauss and Meyer.
  • Evergreen Forests: Composed of trees with no straight trunk, thick bark, and extensive leaf layers that mitigate sunlight and evaporation.
  • Deciduous Forests: Composed of tall trees with smooth, straight trunks and large leaves that fall in autumn.
  • Barbecho: Traditional practice of leaving land to rest, breaking the surface crust to collect rainwater and destroy weeds.
  • Barlovento: The area from which the winds blow.
  • Borrasca: Low-pressure area with counterclockwise winds, causing unstable and rainy weather.
  • Balance of Payments: Records of a country’s economic transactions with the rest of the world.
  • Bay: A small inlet formed in a larger body of water.
  • Cordillera: A group of mountains aligned longitudinally.
  • Continentality: Climatic features of areas without sea influence, resulting in extreme temperatures.
  • Census: Individualized count of the population at a given time, conducted every ten years.
  • River Flow: Amount of water flowing per second at a given point in a river.
  • Urban Center: Urban area with a certain population density and industrialization, dominated by the tertiary sector.
  • Natural Population Growth: Difference between birth rate and mortality rate.
  • Trade: Exchange of goods and services between countries.
  • River Basin: Territory whose waters discharge into a main river and its tributaries.
  • Thermal Power Plant: Facility producing electricity from oil or coal.
  • Population Growth: Difference between births and deaths in a place for a year.
  • Industrial Crops: Crops requiring industrial processing before consumption.
  • Sedimentary Basins: Sunken areas filled with sediments like limestone, sandstone, or marl.
  • Migration: Population movements in space, including emigration and immigration.
  • Old Quarter: Urbanized part of a city from its origin to industrialization.
  • Population Density: Population associated with its surface area in square kilometers.
  • Dehesa: Wooded meadow in Spain used for livestock and other forest products.
  • River Delta: Coastal outgoing formed by river sediment deposition.
  • Urban Site: Concrete area on which a city sits.
  • Rural Exodus: Permanent or long-lasting migration from rural to urban areas.
  • Urban Expansion: Urban land devoted to new buildings beyond pre-industrial walls.
  • Low Water Period: Period when river flow reaches its minimum.
  • Renewable Energy: Inexhaustible energy sources like water or sun.
  • Population Aging: Gradual increase in the proportion of adults and elderly in the total population.
  • Map Scale: Relationship between map length and reality.
  • Equinox: Time of year when days and nights are equal.
  • Fault: Breach in the separation of crustal blocks.
  • Energy Source: Resources providing useful energy.
  • Polar Front: Surface separating two air masses of different characteristics.
  • Urban Functions: Basic functions of a city, including trade, management/services, and intensive industrial functions.
  • Intensive Livestock Farming: Highly specialized farms with high capital investment and confined livestock.
  • Extensive Livestock Farming: Practiced in areas with abundant pasture land, requiring little labor but significant capital.
  • Globalization: Progressive development of financial and economic interconnection between enterprises of different countries.