Deck 2

Question 1

Agraniarism

Answer 1

A social or political movement designed to bring about land reforms or to improve the economic status of the farmer

Question 2

Agroecology

Answer 2

the study of purely ecological phenomena within the crop field, such as predator/prey relations, or crop/weed competition

Question 3

Alternative Farming

Answer 3

Alternative has also come to imply the use of environmentally-friendly farming practices in general, and the benefits of farm diversification

Question 4

Best Management Practice (BPM’s)

Answer 4

established soil conservation practices that also provide water quality benefits

Question 5

Biodiversity

Answer 5

the sum total of all the plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms in the world, or in a particular area; all of their individual variation; and all the interactions between them

Question 6

Biointensive Gardening/ Mini-farming

Answer 6

a production system that makes it possible for one person to grow all of his or her family’s food using truly sustainable methods that maintain the fertility of the soil without relying on nonrenewable resources like petrochemicals or imported organic matter

Question 7

Biological Farming

Answer 7

a system of crop production in which the producer tries to minimize the use of ‘chemicals’ for control of crop pests

Question 8

Carbon Sequestration

Answer 8

the process through which agricultural and forestry practices remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere

Question 9

Carrying Capacity

Answer 9

the theoretical equilibrium population size at which a particular population in a particular environment will stabilize when its supply of resources remains constant. It can also be considered to be the maximum sustainable population size;

Question 10

Community Supported Agriculture

Answer 10

a community of individuals who pledge support to a farm operation so that the farmland becomes, either legally or spiritually, the community’s farm, with the growers and consumers providing mutual support and sharing the risks and benefits of food production

Question 11

Conservation Buffer Strips

Answer 11

areas or strips of land maintained in permanent vegetation, designed to intercept pollutants and erosion

Question 12

Conservation Tillage

Answer 12

areas or strips of land maintained in permanent vegetation, designed to intercept pollutants and erosion

Question 13

Ecological Footprint (EF)

Answer 13

areas or strips of land maintained in permanent vegetation, designed to intercept pollutants and erosion

Question 14

Eco-label

Answer 14

A seal or logo indicating that a product has met a set of environmental or social standards

Question 15

Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)

Answer 15

applying available knowledge to addressing environmental, economic and social sustainability dimensions for on-farm production and post-production processes, resulting in safe and quality food and non-food agricultural products

Question 16

Holistic Management

Answer 16

a proven, whole farm/whole system approach to resource management that incorporates financial planning, land planning, grazing planning and biological monitoring

Question 17

Integrated food and farming systems

Answer 17

integrated and resource-efficient crop and livestock systems that maintain productivity, that are profitable, and that protect the environment and the personal health of farmers and their families

Question 18

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Answer 18

an ecologically based approach to pest (animal and weed) control that utilizes a multi-disciplinary knowledge of crop/pest relationships, establishment of acceptable economic thresholds for pest populations and constant field monitoring for potential problems

Question 19

Controlled Grazing Systems

Answer 19

livestock and grass management practices that focus on increased levels of manager involvement, increased forage quality, increased meat protection per unit area, and more uniform forage utilization

Question 20

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA)

Answer 20

A quantification of the level of energy and raw materials used as well as the solid, liquid and gaseous wastes produced at every stage of a product’s life or process

Question 21

Community Food System

Answer 21

a collaborative effort to integrate agricultural production with food distribution to enhance the economic, environmental, and social well-being of a particular place

Question 22

Low input Agrigculture

Answer 22

the management and use of internal production inputs (i.e. on-farm resources)… and to minimize the use of production inputs (i.e. off-farm resources), such as purchased fertilizers and pesticides, wherever and whenever feasible and practicable, to lower production costs, to avoid pollution of surface and groundwater, to reduce pesticide residues in food, to reduce a farmer’s overall risk, and to increase both short- and long-term farm profitability

Question 23

Natural Farming

Answer 23

no tillage, no fertilizer, no pesticides, no weeding, no pruning, and remarkably little labor

Question 24

Nature Farming

Answer 24

The theory of Nature Farming rests on a belief in the universal life-giving powers that the elements of fire, water, and earth confer on the soil… The planet’s soil, created over a span of eons, has acquired life-sustaining properties, in accordance with the principle of the indivisibility of the spiritual and the physical realms, which in turn provide the life-force that enables plants to grow.

Question 25

Nutrient Management

Answer 25

managing the amount, source, placement, form, and timing of the application of nutrients and soil amendments to ensure adequate soil fertility for plant production and to minimize the potential for environmental degradation, particularly water quality impairment.

Question 26

Organic Farming

Answer 26

Organic farming is a production system which avoids or largely excludes the use of synthetically compounded fertilizers, pesticides, growth regulators, and livestock feed additives. To the maximum extent feasible, organic farming systems rely upon crop rotations, crop residues, animal manures, legumes, green manures, off-farm organic wastes, mechanical cultivation, mineral-bearing rocks, and aspects of biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and tilth, to supply plant nutrients, and to control insects, weeds and other pests

Question 27

Permaculture

Answer 27

The goal of permaculture is to produce an efficient, low-maintenance integration of plants, animals, people and structure… applied at the scale of a home garden, all the way through to a large farm

Question 28

Precision Farming

Answer 28

management strategy that employs detailed, site-specific information to precisely manage production inputs

Question 29

Sustainable Development

Answer 29

meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

Question 30

Whole Farm Planning

Answer 30

provides farmers with the management tools they need to manage biologically complex farming systems in a profitable manner. As a management system, it draws on cutting-edge management theory used by other businesses, industries and even cities