What is WEATHERING?
It's the processes that cause rock to be broken down into smaller particles.
What is EROSION?
It's the movement of rock and soil fragments to different locations.
What does ORGANIC mean?
It refers to something related to living organisms.
What is IRRIGATION?
It's the supply of water to a crop by the grower.
What is LOAM?
A soil that is a mixture of sand, silt and clay, combining the best properties of each.
What is ARABLE FARMING?
The production of crops from land.
What is PASTORAL FARMING?
Farming that focuses on breeding and rearing livestock.
What is MIXED FARMING?
Farming that practises both rearing livestock and growing crops.
What is EXTENSIVE PRODUCTION?
Farming that is spread over a wide area and uses less resources per metre of land.
What is INTENSIVE PRODUCTION?
Farming that aims to maximise the yield from an area using a large amount of resources.
What is SUBSISTENCE FARMING?
The cultivation and production of food to meet the needs of the farmers and their families.
What is COMMERCIAL FARMING?
The cultivation of products with the main focus of selling them for cash.
What are LEGUMES?
Plants that contain nitrogen-fixing bacteria in their roots to produce a source of nitrates.
What is RUN-OFF?
The process by which water runs over the ground into rivers.
What is TRANSPIRATION?
The movement of water up plants and its subsequent loss as water vapour from their leaves.
What is MULCH?
A natural or artificial layer on the soil surface used to reduce water evaporation and weed growth.
What is a WEED?
A plant growing in an inappropriate place.
What is a HERBICIDE?
It's a chemical used to control weeds.
What is a PEST?
It's an animal that attacks or feeds on a plant.
What is a PESTICIDE?
It's a chemical used to control pests, but also, less accurately, used as a collective term to describe pest- and disease-killing chemicals.
What is an INSECTICIDE?
It's a chemical that kills insects.
What is a DISEASE?
It's a pathogen (fungus, bacterium or virus) that attacks a plant.
What is a PATHOGEN?
It's a collective name to describe disease-causing organisms (bacteria, fungi and viruses)
What is a FUNGICIDE?
It's a chemical used to control fungal diseases.
What is a GENE?
It's a sequence of DNA that's responsible for the characteristic of a living organism.
What is a GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISM (GMO)?
It's an organism whose genetic material has been altered by genetic engineering.
What is a GREENHOUSE?
It's a building made of glass or similar transparent material that is used to manage the environment for plant growth.
What is a GROWING BLUEPRINT?
The growing requirements of a crop throughout its life, which a grower can use to maximise the yield.
What is HYDROPONICS?
It's growing plants without soil, with the nutrients the plant needs dissolved in water; this technique is often used in conjunction with a growing blueprint
What is RESISTANCE?
It's the ability of a living organism to survive when exposed to a toxic chemical (such as a pesticide or herbicide).
What is EUTROPHICATION?
It's a sequence of events starting with enrichment of water by mineral nutrients or organic matter that leads to a reduction in oxygen levels in the water and the death of fish and other animals.
What is OSMOSIS?
It's the process by which mineral molecules pass through a semi-permeable membrane from a weaker solution to a more concentrated solution to make the concentration of the mineral the same on both sides of the membrane.
What is DESERTIFICATION?
It's the process by which fertile land becomes desert.
What is FAMINE?
A lack of access to food, often over a large area.
What is MALNUTRITION?
Not having enough of the correct nutrients to eat, causing ill health.
What is TERRACING?
The artificial development of flat areas (for growing crops) in a sloping terrain.
What is COUNTOUR PLOUGHING?
It's a technique where the furrows caused by ploughing follow the contours of the land.
What is a BUND?
It's an embankment constructed around the edge of an area to reduce the loss of a liquid (such as water)
What is a WINDBREAK?
It's a permeable barrier made of either living vegetation or artificial material, used to reduce the impact of the wind on an area.
What is INTERCROPPING?
It's the technique of growing other crops between the rows of a main crop, maximising the use of nutrients and water.
What is RAINWATER HARVESTING?
The collection of rainwater, for example, from the roofs of buildings, and storage in a tank or reservoir for later use.