Chapter 9 Flashcards
agriculture
the practice of raising crops and livestock for human use and consumption.
bedrock
the continuous mass of soil rock that makes up the earth’s crust
conservation districts
are within each county and promote soil-conservation practices
Conservation Reserve Program
established in the 1985 farm bill, pays farmers to stop cultivating highly erodible cropland and instead place it in conservation reserves planted with grasses and trees.
Crop rotation
the practice of alternating the kind of crop grown in a particular field from one season or year to the next.
Contour farming
consists of plowing furrows sideways across a hillside, perpendicular to its slope and following the natural contours of the land, to help prevent formation of rills and gullies.
Terracing
transforms slopes into series of steps like a staircase, enabling farmers to cultivate hilly land without losing huge amounts of soil to water erosion.
intercropping.
The planting of different types of crops in alternating bands or other spatially mixed arrangements
Shelterbelts
rows of trees or other tall plants that are planted along the edges of fields to break the wind.
Conservation tillage
an array of approaches that reduce the amount of tilling relative to conventional farming.
irrigation
artificial provision of water
waterlogging
Soils too saturated with water,which damages both soil and roots.
salinization
the buildup of salts in surface soil layers.
Inorganic fertilizers
are mined or synthetically manufactured mineral
supplements.
Organic fertilizers
consist of the remains or wastes of organisms and include animal manure, crop residues, fresh vegetation (green manure), and compost, a mixture produced when decomposers break down organic matter, including food and crop waste, in a controlled environment.
overgrazing.
When too many livestock eat too much of the plant cover, impeding plant regrowth and preventing the replacement of biomass
Natural Resources Conservation Service
In 1994, the SCS was renamed the, and its responsibilities were expanded to include water quality protection and pollution control.
Desertification
a loss of more than 10% productivity due to soil erosion, soil compaction, forest removal, overgrazing, drought, salinization, climate change, depletion of water sources, and so on.
Erosion
the removal of material from one place and its transport toward another via wind or water.
what is the cause of erosion?
Erosion can occur in several ways, including wind erosion and four principal kinds of water erosion (splash, sheet, rill, and gully).
Land degradation
a general deterioration of land that diminishes its productivity and biodiversity, impairs the functioning of its ecosystems, and reduces the ecosystem services that the land offers.
Soil with an even mixture of the three particle sizes is known as…
loam
Clay
particles less than 0.002 mm in diameter
silt
particles 0.002–0.05 mm
sand
particles 0.05–2 mm.
horizon
each layer of soil is termed a horizon
soil profile.
the cross-section as a whole,
from surface to bedrock
leaching,
the process whereby solid particles suspended or dissolved in liquid are transported to another location
topsoil.
A crucial horizon for agriculture and ecosystems, the A horizon
weathering
This is the physical, chemical, and/or biological process that converts large rock particles into smaller particles, the first step in the formation of soil
Parent material
is the base geological material in a location. It may be composed of lava or volcanic ash, rock or sediment deposited by glaciers, wind-blown dunes, or sediments deposited by rivers, in lakes, or in the ocean.
industrial agriculture
enabled farmers to replace horses and oxen with faster and more powerful means of cultivating, harvesting, transporting, and processing crops
monoculture.
the uniform planting of a single crop
The green revolution
applied technology to boost crop yields in developing nations.
Traditional agriculture
needed human and animal muscle power, hand tools, and simple machines
cropland
land used to raise plants for human use.
Rangeland, or pasture
is the land used for grazing livestock.
Soil
a complex system of disintegrated rock, organic matter, water,
gases, nutrients, and microorganisms.
no- till farming
rather than plowing after each harvest, crop residues were left atop their fields, keeping the soil covered with plant material at all times
