Green Revolution
What was the switch from manual and animal labor in farming to the use of machinery ?
Mechanization
This is the smallest particle size in the mineral composition of soil.
Clay
A method of pest management that includes introducing a beneficial organism that predates on agricultural pests
Biocontrol or Biological Control
A method of soil management that does not use equipment to disturb the soil
No-Till
This form of irrigation conserves the most water, and can target individual plants
Drip Irrigation
The practice of growing the same crop in a single area for multiple seasons. This necessitates heavy fertilizer use.
Monocropping
What are the top 3 plant essential nutrients?
NPK
The practice of intentionally changing the type of crops planted on a given section of land from season to season in an effort to control populations of pests that have a preference for a certain crop
Crop Rotation
Planting this preserves the physical integrity of soil throughout the year, and can boost nutrients that have been lost in prior seasons
Cover cropping
This occurs when nitrogen and phosphorous rich fertilizers leech into a body of water, and cause ruinous algae blooms that can result in dead zones
Eutrophication
Plants whose genetic makeup has been altered in a laboratory in a way that could not be repeated in nature.
GMOs
The levels of soil that separate into distinct layers. The combination of these layers create a "soil profile", and analysis can determine how viable a soil is for farming.
Soil Horizon
The point at which a pest population has grown to a size where an intervention must be made
Action Threshold
Regenerative farmers try to increase this by diversifying plantings and mimicking habitats to invite diversified life into their fields
Biodiversity
A stepped agricultural installation that is designed to slow the speed of runoff, and reduce erosion
Terracing
What are two things pesticides can help control besides mammals and insects?
Weeds and fungi
This practice disturbs soil to control weeds and add nutritional amendments. Its longterm practice can demolish the microbial life in a soil, and intensify erosion.
Tillage
Examples of this include building a fence to protect against deer, picking caterpillars off leaves, removing a pest damaged plant from an area of healthy plants.
Physical Control
Placing these over fields can prevent erosion and give a boost to microbial life in the soil
Leaves
Using this can prevent water loss from evaporation, and helps control weeds
Mulch
This is the process, developed in the early 20th century, by which plant available nitrogen is synthesized in conventional fertilizers
Haber-Bosch process
Name all of the soil horizons in order
O (organic layer), A (topsoil), E (eluviation layer), B (subsoil), C (parent material), R (bedrock)
The practice of diversifying crops planted in an area in an effort to support the existing organisms in an ecosystem that control pest populations.
Intercropping or interplanting
What is the main form of nutritional amendment used at Holly Hill Farm?
Compost
What equipment is used at Holly Hill Farm to reduce usage of town or groundwater in our gardens?
rain barrels