Cropping Systems
Grains from plants in the grass family such as wheat, oats, rye, etc.
What are cereals?
Three pillars of sustainable agriculture
What are 1) profit, 2) stewardship, and 3) quality of life?
Component of soil that includes plant, animal, and microbial residues in various states of decomposition
What is soil organic matter?
Approach to evaluating information that involves checking other sources and assessing the general body of evidence
What is lateral reading?
As dairy farms grow larger, this can allow the average cost of producing milk to decrease.
What are economies of scale?
Crops, the sequence in which they are grown, and the management practices used in an area over a period of time
What is a cropping system?
Process for making nitrogen fertilizer (ammonia) from nitrogen and hydrogen gas at high temperature and pressure
What is the Haber-Bosch process?
The surface removal of soil material from soils by the action of water or wind.
What is erosion?
Harvesting a crop, then planting another crop to be harvested in the same year. Example harvesting barley in June and then planting soybean, which is harvested in October.
What is double cropping?
Day when humanity has used all the biological resources that Earth regenerates during the entire year.
What is Earth Overshoot Day?
Examples of pseudo-cereal crops
What are buckwheat, quinoa, and amaranth?
Father of the Green Revolution
Who was Norman Borlaug?
A process of excess algal growth that leads to oxygen depletion; often caused by excess nutrient inputs.
What is eutrophication?
Food safety certification that Rick Villnave mentioned (full name).
What is GAP, Good Agricultural Practices?
Largest tree fruit that is native to Northeast region. Observed at Dilmun Hill.
What are pawpaws?
Increase in crop yield that comes from growing different crops, instead of the same crop every year
What is the "Rotation Effect"?
Human population 100 years ago?
What is 2 billion
the state of aggregation of a soil especially in relation to its suitability for crop growth. Term to describe a soil's workability
What is soil tilth?
Four solutions outlined in the article "Solutions for a Cultivated Planet" by Foley et al.
What is:
1) halting agricultural expansion,
2) closing ‘yield gaps’ on underperforming lands,
3) increasing cropping efficiency,
4) shifting diets and reducing waste.
Type of reduced tillage (name of tool) used by Rick Villnave.
What is a chisel plow?
Name of index of combined yields of different intercrops with respect to the yield of sole culture of the same crops. Value > 1 means that intercropping or stripcropping is better than monocropping.
What is Land Equivalent Ratio (LER)
Ability to rebound or recover from adversity. In the context of an agroecosystem or food system, it is the ability of that system to remain viable when affected by adverse forces, such as pest infestations, environmental degradation, economic downturns, etc.
What is Resilience?
The 4 soil health management principles
What are:
1.Minimize soil disturbance
2.Maximize biodiversity
3.Maximize living roots
4.Maximize soil cover?
This irrigation system is commonly used on large fields and applies water in a circular pattern.
What is center pivot irrigation?
Cheap and effective herbicide used in corn that can be found in surface and ground water. Has a drinking water threshold of 3 ppb and has been linked to amphibian decline.
What is atrazine?