New to the world of organic farming?
Welcome! Great to have you here. It's always a win whenever someone starts to look at organic farming practices.
But, we know this can be a bit daunting, especially for those who do not have an agricultural background.
At the best of times, the terms used around the farm can be confusing, and organic farming can compound this by adding another layer with unique terms.
So, we thought we'd help ease your learning by putting together this glossary of terms, adapted from the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations' Glossary on Organic Agriculture, making it easier for you to navigate the world of organic farming.
Glossary of Organic Farming Terms
'A'
Abiotic: Non-living. Abiotic resources comprise nonliving things, for instance, land, water, air and minerals.
Adapted to local conditions: The ability of organic farming, pastoral and wild harvest systems to fit into the cycles and ecological balances in nature. Organic management must be adapted to local conditions, ecology, culture and scale of operations.
Adaptive management: Management practices that promote a system’s ability to take advantage of opportunities or cope with problems occurring in the environment. Considering the high level of variability within and between ecosystems, and the reliance of organic agriculture on local ecological balance, adaptive management is a central strategy. In organic agriculture, uncertainty does not only apply to biophysical variability but also to lack of knowledge and advisory services necessary to improve agricultural performance. Spontaneously, and in “learning by doing”, organic farmers improve their management approach and through observation and experimentation, they determine the best management strategy within their own context, including available capabilities, resources and institutions.
Agricultural biodiversity: The component of biodiversity that is relevant to food and agriculture production. The term agrobiodiversity encompasses genetic species and ecosystem diversity.
*Sometimes referred to as: agricultural biological, diversity agrobiodiversity, agro-biodiversity
Agricultural biomass: Non-fossil biological material, either from plant or animal origin, both living and dead, found above or below ground vegetation, including agricultural products and waste by-products, manure, soil fauna or microbial biomass used as food, feed, fuel or for soil amendment.
Agricultural by-product: It includes, among others, maize cobs and stalks, wheat stalks and husks, groundnut husks, cotton stalks, mustard stalks, etc. Definition: Vegetal or animal material and by-product derived from production, harvesting, transportation and processing in farming areas.
Agricultural ecosystem: A semi-natural or modified natural system managed by humans for food and agricultural production purposes.
*Sometimes referred to as: agroecosystems
Agricultural intensification: Refers to any practice that increases productivity per unit land area at some cost in labour or capital inputs. One important dimension of agricultural intensification is the length of the fallow period (i.e. letting land lie uncultivated for a period) and whether the management approach uses ecological or technological means.
Agricultural product: Any product or commodity, raw or processed, that is used for human consumption (excluding water, salt and additives) animal feed or energy production (e.g. biofuel crops) and industry (e.g. textiles, bioplastics).
Agriculture value-added: Annual growth rate for agricultural value-added based on constant local currency. Aggregates are based on constant 1995 U.S. dollars. Agriculture corresponds to the International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC) divisions 1-5 and includes forestry, hunting, and fishing, as well as cultivation of crops and livestock production. Value added is the net output of a sector after adding up all outputs and subtracting intermediate inputs. It is calculated without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated assets or depletion and degradation of natural resources.
Agri-environmental measure: Special measures applied in order to promote the protection of the farmed environment and its biodiversity. Agri-environmental measures support specifically designed farming practices, going beyond the baseline level of "good farming practice" that help to protect the environment and maintain the countryside.
Agritourism: Agritourism is a style of vacation in which hospitality is offered on farms. Agri-tourism can refer to various kinds of small farms seeking to diversify their enterprises to strengthen their financial position.
Agrochemical: Agrochemicals are commercially produced, usually synthetic, chemical compounds used in farming such as a fertilizer, pesticide or soil conditioner. In organic agriculture, agrochemicals are banned and any use of substances for soil fertilization and conditioning, pest and disease control, for the health of livestock and quality of the animal products, or for preparation, preservation and storage of the food product should comply with the relevant national regulations.
Agro-ecological knowledge: Ecological knowledge refers to what people know about their natural environment, based primarily on their own experience and observation. Agro-ecological knowledge refers to farmers' knowledge of ecological interactions within the farming system.
Agro-ecology agroecology: Agroecology is the science and practice of applying ecological concepts and principles to the study, design and management of the ecological interactions within agricultural systems (e.g. relations between and among biotic and abiotic elements). This whole-systems approach to agriculture and food systems development is based on a wide variety of technologies, practices and innovations including local and traditional knowledge as well as modern science.
Agro-ecosystem stability: In general, stability (of the ecosystem) refers to the capability of a natural system to apply self-regulating mechanisms so as to maintain its balance in the face of an outside disturbance.
Agro-ecotourism: Eco-agritourism combines rural tourism (agritourism) and ecological tourism (eco-tourism) with farm hospitality and enjoying neighbouring natural landscapes.
Agroforestry: A collective name for land-use systems and technologies where woody perennials (trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos, etc.) are deliberately used on the same land management unit as agricultural crops and/or animals, in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence. In agroforestry systems, there are both ecological and economic interactions between the different components.
Animal immunity: The state of relative insusceptibility of an animal to infection by disease-producing organisms or to the harmful effects of their poisons.
Antibiotic-free: When no antibiotic drugs have been given to the animal in its feed or by injection.
Autochtonous: Existing, born, or produced in a land or region.
Avoidance costs: The actual or imputed costs of preventing environmental deterioration by alternative production and consumption processes, or by reduction of or abstention from activities.
In organic agriculture, a typical avoided cost is pollution by synthetic agricultural inputs, as well as avoided health costs to workers due to inappropriate handling of pesticides. This leads to avoided pollution abatement costs and medical expenses.
'B'
Beneficial association: An association of plants, animals and microorganisms is called beneficial when complementarity is achieved with respect to nutrient and energy up-take. Associations can take different forms: from companion planting to arrangements between members of different species such as symbiosis and parasitism.
Biologically-based product: Biologically-based products are liquids, powders and/or granules that contain as their main active ingredient any source of beneficial microbes (bacteria, fungi, etc.) that help protect the plant from pests and diseases and/or help to enhance plant growth. These types of products include: biopesticides, inoculants, soil conditioners, biostimulants, etc
Biodiversity: The variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.
Biodynamic agriculture: Biodynamic agriculture considers both the material and spiritual context of food production and works with terrestrial as well as cosmic influences. The influence of planetary rhythms on the growth of plants and animals, in terms of the ripening power of light and warmth, is managed by guiding cultivation times with an astronomical calendar. All organic principles apply to biodynamic farming, gardening and forestry.
A specific feature of biodynamic agriculture, inspired by Rudolf Steiner (1861- 1925) is the regeneration of the forces that work through the soil to the plant by using compost and spray preparations from naturally fermented organic substances in minute doses to soils and crops. The aim is to harvest crops which not only have substances but also vitality. The use of biodynamic preparations has been shown to have substantial restoration power on exhausted soils and biodynamic animals seem to have better resistance to infection.
Bio-ecotourism: Refers to ecological tourism combined with organic agritourism, where organic farm services include organic food and hospitality in buildings constructed with ecological materials and farm infrastructures including environmentally-friendly structures such as waste recycling, renewable energy and other environmentally friendly structures.
Organic agritourism is committed to organic farming as well as to energy saving; reduction of air emissions; improvement of the use of water and reduction and recycling of wastes. It is important that the organic agritourism establishes a connection with the active elements and actors of the territory so as to create a real network connecting territory, culture and traditions. Organic farms can be organic agritourism offering to tourists a variety of activities which: contribute to the conservation of nature, biodiversity and cultural heritage; respect the integrity of ecosystems and habitats; benefit local communities; use environmentally-sound technologies; minimize the production of waste and encourage recycling; encourage the use of public and non-motorised transport.
Bio-educational farm: An organic farm dedicated to educational activities. A bio-educational farm is committed not only in ensuring naturalistic services to guests but also didactical ones in order to make people participate and have a deeper knowledge of organic lifestyles, including tending animals, cooking and artisanal crafting.
Biofertiliser: A biofertilizer is a natural fertilizer that helps to provide all the nutrients required by the plants and to increase the quality of the soil with a natural microorganism environment. For instance, the production and use of biofertilizer (e.g. seaweed products; compost) is proposed to improve crop yields by using root nodule bacteria (rhizobia), mycorrhizal fungi, and other microorganisms that are able to increase the accessibility of plant nutrients from the soils. Related Terms: nitrogen fixation; biocontrol agent; biological pest control; organic fertilization; farmyard manure; organic manure; compost; humus.
*Sometimes referred to as: biological fertilizer, organic fertilizer
Biological pest control: Biological control is a method of controlling pests, diseases and weeds in agriculture that relies on natural predation, parasitism or other natural mechanisms that restrain the development of pathogenic organisms. The control of living organisms (especially pests) by biological means. Any process using deliberately introduced living organisms to restrain the growth and development of other, very often pathogenic, organisms, such as the use of spider mites to control cassava mealybug. The term also applies to the use of disease-resistant crop cultivars. Biotechnology approaches biocontrol in various ways, such as using fungi, viruses or bacteria, which are known to attack an insect or weed pest.
*Sometimes referred to as: biocontrol, biological control
Biomass: The total weight of all the biological material or the combined mass of all the animals and plants inhabiting a defined area; usually expressed as dry weight per area.
Buffer zone: A clearly defined and identifiable boundary area bordering an organic production site that is established to limit the application of, or contact with, prohibited substances from an adjacent area.
'C'
Carbon capture: Conversion, through photosynthesis, of atmospheric carbon leading to the long-term storage of carbon in the soil and in living and dead vegetation. Carbon stored can offset carbon dioxide released. Therein lies the possibility of agriculture providing a valuable service to society by storing carbon that offsets the carbon dioxide that is emitted by other sectors.
*Sometimes referred to as: carbon sequestration
Carbon trading: is a form of emissions trading that allows a country to meet its carbon dioxide emissions reduction commitments, often to meet Kyoto Treaty requirements, in as low a cost as possible by utilising the free market. It is a means of privatising the public cost or societal cost of pollution by carbon dioxide.
Catch crop: A rapidly growing plant that can be intercropped between rows of the main crop; often used as green manure.
Certified organic agriculture: Certified organic agriculture refers to agricultural systems and products that have been managed and produced in accordance with specific standards or technical regulations and that have been inspected and approved by a certification body.
Certified organic farm: Any farm whose adherence to organic farming practices is certified against organic standards.
Certified organic food: Foods are produced according to organic agriculture standards. For crops, it means they were grown based on a system of farming that maintains and replenishes soil fertility and crop health without the use of conventional pesticides, artificial fertilizers, human waste, or sewage sludge, and that they were processed without ionizing radiation or food additives. For animals, it means they were reared without the routine use of antibiotics and without the use of growth hormones. Organic produce must not be genetically modified. Products usually are certified by a third-party certification body recognized at the international or national level, hence accountable in the case of fraud. Certification is made against the standards of the country where the product is sold. Certified organic food is recognized on the market by the organic label of the certification body.
Certified organic wild area: Refers to the organic certification of naturally grown plants in an approved and clearly defined collection area. The area itself is not certified. Plant products which grow in the wild can be certified as organic, but not every plant collected in its natural habitat can be considered as organic, as the natural habitat may be contaminated. Standards on organic wild collection require a clean collection area, sustainable collection and full traceability. The people who harvest, gather or wildcraft shall not take any products at a rate that exceeds the sustainable yield of the harvested product, nor threaten the ecosystem stability or the existence of plant, fungal or animal species, including those not directly exploited.
Chain of custody: The concept that all relevant steps in the production chain including the growing, handling, processing and other processes have been inspected or certified as appropriate. In the traceability process, the chain of custody refers to the steps needed as a whole to trace a product from the source to the consumer.
Climate change: A change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is, in addition to natural climate variability, observed over comparable time periods.
Climate change adaptation: Adjustment in natural or human systems to a new or changing environment. Adaptation to climate change refers to adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities. Various types of adaptation can be distinguished, including anticipatory and reactive adaptation, private and public adaptation, and autonomous and planned adaptation.
Climate change mitigation: Intervention or policies to reduce the emissions or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases. The current international legal mechanism for countries to reduce their emissions is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
Climate variability: Climate variability refers to variations in the mean state and other statistics (such as standard deviations, the occurrence of extremes, etc.) of the climate on all temporal and spatial scales beyond that of individual weather events.
Coexistence: Co-existence refers to the ability of farmers to make a practical choice between conventional, organic and genetically modified (GM) production, in compliance with the legal obligations for labelling and/or purity criteria. The possibility of adventitious presence of GM crops in non-GM crops cannot be dismissed and may have commercial implications for the farmers whose crops are affected. Consequently, suitable measures during cultivation, harvest, transport, storage, and processing may be necessary to ensure coexistence. The European Commission passed non-binding guidelines on coexistence in 2003. The differences in the level of implementation and in the practical form of national coexistence legislation are therefore great.
Companion planting: Crops that are planted close to one another to achieve some mutual benefit such as repelling insect pests or attracting beneficial insects, shade, wind protection, support, or nutrient enrichment.
Compost: A mixture of decaying organic matter, as from leaves and manure, used to improve soil structure and provide nutrients.
Conservation: Includes protection, maintenance, rehabilitation, restoration and enhancement of populations and ecosystems. This implies sound biosphere management within given social and economic constraints, producing goods and services without depleting natural ecosystem diversity.
Conservation agriculture: Conservation agriculture aims to achieve sustainable and profitable agriculture and subsequently aims at improved livelihoods of farmers through the application of the three CA principles: minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and crop rotations.
Conservation of natural resources: The protection, preservation, management, or restoration of wildlife and of natural resources such as forests, soil, and water. Conservation of natural resources is usually embraced in the broader concept of conserving the earth itself by protecting its capacity for self-renewal. It may be defined as the protection of natural resources and landscapes for later use.
Conservation tillage: It is a practice used in conventional agriculture to reduce the effects of tillage on soil erosion, however, it still depends on tillage as the structure-forming element in the soil.
Contaminant: Any substance not intentionally added to food, which is present in such food as a result of production (including operations carried out in crop and animal husbandry), manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packing, packaging, transport or holding of such food or as a result of environmental contamination. The term includes chemical and biological substances not desirable in food but does not include insect fragments, rodent hairs and other extraneous matter.
*Sometimes referred to as: pollutant
Conventional agriculture: What is accepted as the norm and is the most dominant agricultural practice. Since World War II, (mainly in the industrialized world), conventional agriculture has become an industrialized form of farming characterized by mechanization, monocultures, and the use of synthetic inputs such as chemical fertilizers, pesticides and genetically modified organisms (GMOs), with an emphasis on maximizing productivity and profitability and treating the farm produce as a commodity. In large parts of the developing world, agriculture is still "traditional", ranging from well-managed polycultures to extensive and eroding pastures.
Conversion period: The conversion period is the time between the start of organic management and the certification of crops or animal husbandry as organic. It is the time taken to clean-up chemical residues, if any, left behind in the soil by previous agricultural techniques and re-establish the ecological balance (2-3 years) necessary for soil fertility and pest-predator balance. The start of the conversion period shall be calculated from the date of application to the certification body or, alternatively, from the date of the last application of unapproved inputs, provided that the operator can demonstrate that the requirements of the full standard have been met for at least the minimum period of 12 months prior to pastures, meadows and products harvested therefrom, being considered organic. In the case of perennials (excluding pastures and meadows) a period of at least 18 months prior to harvest shall be required. The conversion period for dairy products is a minimum of 90 days and for eggs 42 days.
Corporate social responsibility: A set of management practices in businesses that aim at minimizing the negative impacts of their operations on society and at maximizing the positive impacts. A concept, whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis. CSR covers social and environmental issues, in spite of the English term corporate social responsibility. An important aspect of CSR is how enterprises interact with their internal and external stakeholders: employees, customers, neighbours, non-governmental organizations, public authorities, etc
*Sometimes referred to as: CSR
Corrective action: Action to eliminate the cause of a potential nonconformity or other undesirable situation. In organic agriculture, corrective actions are verified by the certification body, with a view to protecting the organic claim.
Cover crop: A crop grown to prevent soil erosion by covering the soil with living vegetation and roots that hold on to the soil. Cover crops are also grown to help maintain soil organic matter and increase nitrogen availability (green manure crop), and to “hold on” to excess nutrients (a catch crop) still in the soil, following an economic crop. Other benefits of cover crops include weed suppression and attraction of beneficial insects.
Crop ecology: Crop relation or interactions with its biotic (e.g. pests) and abiotic environment (e.g. soil) and which determines crop growth. Crop ecology evolved at the end of the 1920s, focusing on the study of the physical and environmental conditions in which crops were grown in order to identify the best places where to cultivate them.
Crop rotation: The practice of alternating the species or families of annual and/or biannual crops grown on a specific field in a planned pattern or sequence so as to break weed, pest and disease cycles and to maintain or improve soil fertility and organic matter content.
Cross-fertilization: Fertilization by pollen from another plant. The transfer of pollen from the flowers of one plant to the stigma of another plant. It may or may not lead to fertilization.
*Sometimes referred to as: cross-pollination, open pollination
'D'
Dehorning: Dehorning is the process of removing or stopping the growth of the horns of livestock. Cattle, sheep, and goats are dehorned for economic and safety reasons.
Some physical alterations, such as beak trimming, are prohibited by some certification bodies, while allowed by others if the practice is done to improve or maintain the health and safety of the animal. Dehorning is allowed in organic agriculture but not in biodynamic agriculture.
Diversified production: Different mix of crops, trees, animals, fish to ensure a variety of food, fodder and fibre sources and complimentary use of natural resources. It also brings more ecosystem stability. Mixed cropping is a system of sowing two or three crops together on the same land, one being the main crop and the others the subsidiaries.
Diversity: Species richness of a community or area, measured in terms of the number of different plant and animal species (often called species richness) it contains. However, the community characteristics are better assessed by the relative abundance of the species present. Diversity in ecosystems is usually equated with stability due to the climax community.
Drought-resistant crop: Crops that can dwell in conditions of water shortage. Drought-tolerant crops are selected for their resilience to drought. With the intensification of droughts caused by climate change, breeding drought-tolerant crops is important for food security. Local crops provide the gene pool necessary to select the most adapted varieties for farming under drought conditions.
Dung: Organic material that is used to fertilize the land, usually consisting of the faeces and urine of domestic livestock, with or without litter such as straw, hay, or bedding. Some countries also use human excrement ("night soil"). Though livestock manure is less rich in nitrogen, phosphorus, and potash than synthetic fertilizers and therefore must be applied in much greater quantities, it is rich in organic matter, or humus, and thus increases soil fertility and improves the capacity of soil to absorb and store water, thereby preventing erosion. Because manure must be carefully stored and spread in order to derive the most benefit, some farmers decline to expend the necessary time and effort. Manufactured chemical fertilizers, though more concentrated and efficient, are also more costly and more likely to cause excess runoff and pollution.
'E'
Eco-labelling: Voluntary method of environmental performance certification and labelling. An "ecolabel" is a label which identifies the overall environmental preference of a product or service based on life cycle considerations. In contrast to "green" symbols or claim statements developed by manufacturers and service providers, an ecolabel is awarded by an impartial third-party in relation to certain products or services that are independently determined to meet environmental leadership criteria.
Ecological agriculture: Ecological agriculture is a management system that enhances natural regenerative processes and stabilizes interactions within local agro-ecosystems. Ecological agriculture includes organic agriculture as well as other ecological approaches to farming that allow the use of synthetic inputs.
Ecological awareness: Ecological awareness arises when people or more specifically consumers are concerned and aware of ecological issues and this can be a first step in the direction of changing attitudes towards the products they want to buy and/or their behaviours to respect the environment.
*Sometimes referred to as: environmental awareness
Ecological balance: A state of dynamic equilibrium within a community of organisms in which genetic, species and ecosystem diversity remain relatively stable, subject to gradual changes through natural succession.
Ecological footprint: The ecological footprint is a measure of human demand on the Earth's ecosystems; it compares human demand with planet Earth's ecological capacity to regenerate it. It represents the amount of biologically productive land and sea area needed to regenerate the resources a human population consumes and to absorb and render harmless the corresponding waste, given prevailing technology and resource management practice. Using this assessment, it is possible to estimate how many planet Earths it would take to support humanity if everybody lived a given lifestyle. While the ecological footprint term is widely used, methods of measurement vary. But calculation standards are now emerging to make results more comparable and consistent.
*Sometimes referred to as: environmental footprint
Ecological intensification: Maximization of primary production per unit area without compromising the ability of the system to sustain its productive capacity. This entails management practices that optimize nutrient and energy flows and use local resources, including horizontal combinations (such as multiple cropping systems or polycultures); vertical combinations (such as agroforestry); spatial integration (such as crop-livestock or crop-fish systems); and temporal combinations (rotations).
Ecological management: The management of human activities so that ecosystems, their structure, function, composition, and the physical, chemical, and biological processes that shape them continue to renew themselves. Sometimes called an ecological approach to management.
Ecological quality: Ecological quality is defined as the overall expression of the structure and function of an ecosystem. It is expressed by a number of ecological quality elements or variables, reflecting the different parts of the ecosystem, to which conservation and use objectives or targets can be set.
Ecological resilience: Capacity of a natural ecosystem to recover from disturbance.
Ecological tourism: Travel to a pristine natural area that appeals to environmentally conscious individuals. An integral part of ecological tourism is the promotion of recycling, energy efficiency and water conservation in order to minimize their impact and conserve the environment.
*Sometimes referred to as: eco-tourism
Ecology: is the scientific study of the interrelationships among and between organisms and between organisms and all living and non-living aspects of their environment. The environment of an organism includes physical properties, which can be described as the sum of local abiotic factors such as insolation (sunlight), climate, and geology, and biotic ecosystem, which includes other organisms that share its habitat. The word "ecology" is often used more loosely in such terms as social ecology and in common parlance as a synonym for the natural environment. Likewise "ecologic" or "ecological", is often taken in the sense of environmentally friendly.
Economic efficiency: The economic efficiency of an agricultural system is determined by yield, product prices and production costs.
Ecosystem: A natural entity (or a system) with distinct structures and relationships that interlink biotic communities (of plants and animals) to each other and link them to their abiotic environment. The study of an ecosystem provides a methodological basis for the complex synthesis between organism and their environment. A complex of ecosystems is constituted of many ecosystems and is characterized by a common origin or common dynamic processes (for example, the complex of ecosystems of a watershed).
Ecosystem carrying capacity: The maximum population of a species that a specific ecosystem can support indefinitely without deterioration of the character and quality of the resource(s). Carrying capacity is the level of use, at a given level of management, at which a natural or human-induced resource can sustain itself over a long period of time. For example, the maximum level of recreational use, in terms of numbers of people and types of activity, which can be accommodated before the ecological value of the area declines. The carrying capacity of an agroecosystem may be modified by human intervention to improve environmental potential, for example by green manuring to increase soil productivity.
Ecosystem externality: An uncompensated provision of ecosystem service (positive externality) or an unpenalized negative effect on the delivery of ecosystem service (negative externality). An outside force, such as an environmental benefit or cost, not included in the market price of the goods and services being produced; i.e. costs not borne by those who occasion them, and benefits not paid for by the recipients. Some economists suggest that externalities should be internalized, if they are known to have a significant effect on the demand or cost structure of a product, that is, corrections should be made, to allow for externalities when calculating marginal cost. The marginal cost thus becomes a social opportunity cost or true cost.
Ecosystem services: The benefits people obtain from ecosystems, including provisioning services such as food and water; regulating services such as flood and disease control; cultural services such as spiritual, recreational, and cultural benefits; and supporting services such as nutrient cycling that maintain the conditions for life on Earth.
Edaphic: Of or pertaining to the soil; resulting from or influenced by factors in the soil or other substrate rather than by climatic factors. An edaphic requirement of the crop for a particular condition or range of conditions in the soil environment.
Energy efficiency: Optimizing input/output ratio of energy units to reduce economic costs and negative environmental impacts.
Energy flow: The energy flow involves the quantity of food energy entering the community through various trophic levels and the amount leaving it. It involves both the grazing food chain and the detritus food chain. The introduction into the ecosystem of energy above the level that has evolved in nature results in pollution and disruption of nutrient cycles. The flow of energy (that involves biological and non-biological agents) drives the carbon, oxygen, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles. Nutrients are pumped through the system by the action of photosynthesis and are again made available for recycling by the action of decomposers. Nutrients are constantly being removed or added; adding more natural substances or synthetic materials than the ecosystem is able to handle upsets biogeochemical cycles.
Enteric emission: Methane is emitted as a by-product of the normal livestock digestive process, in which microbes resident in the animal’s digestive system ferment the feed consumed by the animal. This fermentation process, also known as enteric fermentation, produces methane as a byproduct. The methane is then eructated or exhaled by the animal. Ruminant livestock (cattle, buffalo, sheep, and goats) are the primary source of emissions. Other livestock (swine and horses) are of lesser importance.
Environmental and social responsibility: A concept whereby individuals or organizations consider the interests of society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on communities and the environment in all aspects of their operations. In organic agriculture, the detailed definition of production, processing and marketing standards spells-out what environmental and social responsibility is in farming operations. The environmental and social responsibility of operators is recognized by granting the organic label when organic standards are adhered to.
Environmental impact assessment: A sequential set of activities designed to identify and predict the impacts of a proposed action on the biogeophysical environment and on human health and well being, and to interpret and communicate information about the impacts, including mitigation measures that are likely to eliminate risks. In many countries and organizations, new projects or legislations require an EIA before being approved for implementation.
Environmental stability: The general term of "stability" can be thought of in two ways. The general stability of a population is a measure that assumes stability is higher if there is less of a chance of extinction; this kind of stability is generally measured by measuring the variability of aggregate community properties, like total biomass, over time. The other definition of stability, referred to the environment or to ecosystems, is a measure of resilience and resistance, where an ecosystem that returns quickly to equilibrium after a perturbation or resists invasion is thought of as more stable than one that doesn't.
Environmental standard: Environmental standards are standards for materials, products and production processes to ensure that negative impacts on the environment are minimal or kept within certain limits.
Environmental sustainability: Forms of progress that meet the needs of the present generations of natural resources capital and environmental services without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
Environmental viability: Refers to the capacity for survival of the natural environment, or the capacity for living, developing, or germinating under given management. The environmental viability of a farming approach refers to its (ecological) sustainability.
Environmentally friendly agriculture: Environmentally friendly agriculture includes any type of farming approach that seeks to minimize pollution and degradation of natural resources.
EquiTool: EquiTool is a tool developed by the organic community for determining equivalence between standards for organic production and processing. It contains elements and procedures, including an option for assessing an organic standard based on international standards and an option for assessing a set of (two or more) individual organic standards.
Equity: Term used for the administration of justice according to principles of fairness and conscience. The term includes both intragenerational and intergenerational equity. Intragenerational equity is the principle by which all sections of the community share equitably in the costs and benefits of achieving sustainable development. Intergenerational equity is the principle by which each generation utilizes and conserves the stock of natural resources (in terms of diversity and carrying capacity) in a manner that does not compromise their use by future generations. Equity, expressed through the principle of fairness, is one of the four principles of organic agriculture.
Equivalence: The acceptance that different standards or technical regulations on the same subject fulfil common objectives.
Erosion control: The practice of preventing or controlling wind or water erosion in agriculture, land development and construction. This usually involves the creation of some sort of physical barrier, such as vegetation or rock, to absorb some of the energy of the wind or water that is causing the erosion. Effective erosion controls are important techniques in preventing water pollution and soil loss.
Ethical responsibility: Ethical responsibility seeks to promote social welfare through standards and norms of conduct involving issues such as human rights, environmental and social justice and genetic manipulation.
Ethical trade: Trade that ensures that internationally recognized labour standards, in particular fundamental human rights in the workplace, are observed at all stages in the production and sale of goods sold.
Ethical trading refers to companies that are involved in a process of trying to ensure that the basic labour rights of the employees of their third world suppliers are respected. The Fairtrade Certification Mark, which applies to products rather than companies, aims to give disadvantaged small producers more control over their own lives. It addresses the injustice of low prices by guaranteeing that producers receive fair terms of trade and fair prices – however unfair the conventional market is. On top of the Fairtrade minimum price, the Fairtrade labelling system guarantees a premium for producer organizations or workers bodies to enable them to invest in social, economical or environmental improvements.
Experimental farm: An experimental farm presents an innovative solution approach for the development of alternative (such as organic) farming through farmer involvement in research. The farmer, or group of farmers, should, for the most part, be able to independently identify and address agricultural problems through on-farm experiments which are self-designed and implemented. Of special emphasis is that on-farm experiments are incorporated into practical operations, applying the farmer’s own equipment.
Export-oriented organic agriculture: Organic agricultural systems producing commodities for foreign markets. Usually, less concerned with local food security and local market development; profitability concerns being stronger than environmental and social advancement, export-oriented systems adhere to the lowest possible organic standards. This can result in input substitution and organic monocultures.
'F'
Factory farming: A farming enterprise where animals are raised on a large scale using intensive methods and modern equipment. This type of capital intensive animal-raising is used for chicken, egg, turkey, beef, veal and pork production, whereby, animals are restrained in a controlled indoor environment and their food is brought to them.
Fair price: In anti-dumping cases, the price to which the export price is compared, which is either the price charged in the exporter's own domestic market or some measure of their cost, both adjusted to include any transportation cost and tariff needed to enter the importing country's market. A fair price should not only cover cost of production but also make socially just and environmentally sound production possible.
Fair trade: Fair trade is a trading partnership, based on dialogue, transparency and respect, which seeks greater equity in international trade. It contributes to sustainable development by offering better trading conditions to, and securing the rights of, marginalized producers and workers – especially in the South.
Fairness principle: Fairness is characterized by equity, respect, justice and stewardship of the shared world, both among people and in their relations to other living beings. This principle emphasizes that those involved in organic agriculture should conduct human relationships in a manner that ensures fairness at all levels and to all parties - farmers, workers, processors, distributors, traders and consumers.
Organic agriculture should provide everyone involved with a good quality of life, and contribute to food sovereignty and reduction of poverty. It aims to produce a sufficient supply of good quality food and other products. This principle insists that animals should be provided with the conditions and opportunities of life that accord with their physiology, natural behaviour and well-being. Natural and environmental resources that are used for production and consumption should be managed in a way that is socially and ecologically just and should be held in trust for future generations. Fairness requires systems of production, distribution and trade that are open and equitable and account for real environmental and social costs.
Farmgate price: A basic price with the “farm gate” as the pricing point, that is, the price of the product available at the farm, excluding any separately billed transport or delivery charge.
Farmers' association: The terms "agricultural producers' associations" and "farmers' associations" are often used interchangeably. Agricultural producers and farmers include small, medium and large farmers, family farmers, landless peasants, subsistence farmers, tenant farmers, sharecroppers and indigenous and other people who work the land. The term "agricultural producers" is often used in the broad sense to include fishers and foresters. The International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP) describes its member associations as "organizations owned and governed by farmers which work for farmers' interests. They are organizations by farmers for farmers. These include farmers' unions, agricultural cooperatives and chambers of agriculture. Regular election of officers is critical to the credibility and authenticity of representative farmers' organizations."
Farmyard manure: Animal droppings (faeces) mixed with straw or similar material used as bedding in sheds, barns or night yards. Animal manures are an excellent source of plant nutrients. Approximately 70-80% of the nitrogen, 60-85% of the phosphorus and 80-90% of the potassium in feeds is excreted in the manure. If heaped to rot well before use, farmyard manure does not cause crop burn, increases most crop yields and water-retaining properties of soils
Feed conversion ratio: Ratio of feed weight to body weight of animal.
In animal husbandry, feed conversion ratio (FCR), feed conversion rate, or feed conversion efficiency (FCE), is a measure of an animal's efficiency in converting feed mass into increased body mass. Specifically FCR is the mass of the food eaten divided by the body mass gain, all over a specified period of time. FCR is dimensionless, that is, there are no measurement units associated with FCR.
Fertilization: The act or process of rendering land fertile, fruitful, or productive; the application of fertilizer, either synthetic or natural.
In organic agriculture, materials, including animal manure, compost, straw, and other crop residues, are applied to the fields to improve both soil structure and moisture-holding capacity and to nourish soil life, which in turn nourishes plants. By contrast, chemical fertilizers, forbidden in organic agriculture, feed plants directly.
Food additive: Any substance not normally consumed as a food by itself and not normally used as a typical ingredient of the food, whether or not it has nutritive value, the intentional addition of which to food for a technological (including organoleptic) purpose in the manufacture, processing, preparation, treatment, packing, packaging, transport or holding of such food results, or may be reasonably expected to result, (directly or indirectly) in it or its by-products becoming a component of or otherwise affecting the characteristics of such foods.
Food culture: Food and dietary patterns that are part of the heritage of all groups and peoples. The concept refers as well to ways of growing, harvesting, preparing, and celebrating food.
Food security: Food security takes place when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life (World Food Summit, 1996). The multidimensional nature of food security includes food availability, access, stability and utilization.
Food self-provisioning: Food self-sufficiency is the ability to produce most of the food a nation or a household needs and rely on it to satisfy its food needs.
Food self-reliance: The capacity to generate enough income through farming and off-farm activities in order to meet food needs. While some food may be directly consumed, cash crops allow purchasing what cannot be locally produced. Food self-reliance means more than having the capacity to grow food in-country or on-farm. It also means having the economic capacity and capital to purchase food that cannot be grown domestically.
Food stability: To be food secure, a population, household or individual must have access to adequate food at all times. They should not risk losing access to food as a consequence of sudden shocks (e.g. an economic or climatic crisis) or cyclical events (e.g. seasonal food insecurity). The concept of stability can therefore refer to both the availability and access dimensions of food security which in turn depend on environmental stability in the face of climate change and economic stability in the face of globalization.
Food utilization: Utilization of food through adequate diet, clean water, sanitation and health care to reach a state of nutritional well-being where all physiological needs are met. This brings out consumer behaviour and the importance of non-food inputs to food security.
Fossil fuel: A hydrocarbon deposit, such as petroleum, coal, or natural gas, derived from living matter of a previous geologic time and used for fuel. Fossil fuel-based inputs (e.g. nitrogen ferilizers and synthetic pesticides) used by conventional agriculture are replaced by natural resources processes in organic agriculture.
Free range: Free range is a method of farming husbandry where the animals are allowed to roam freely instead of being contained in any manner. Farmers practice free range to achieve free-range or humane certification (and thus capture high prices), to reduce feed costs, to produce a higher-quality product, as a method of raising multiple crops on the same land, or for other reasons.
Functional biodiversity: Functions found in ecosystems, resulting from interactions between living organisms, their diversity and the ecosystem functions provided by the biological community. While the physical and chemical processes contributing to ecosystem functioning can be measured relatively easily (for example, by measuring nutrient concentrations), such measures do not tell much about the complex biological and physical interactions that drive the ecosystem processes. The two main areas where the effect of biodiversity on ecosystem function have been studied are the relationship between diversity and productivity, and the relationship between diversity and community stability. More biologically diverse communities appear to be more productive than are less diverse communities, and they appear to be more stable in the face of perturbations.
'G'
Genetically modified organism: A genetically modified/engineered organism means an organism in which the genetic material has been changed through modern biotechnology in a way that does not occur naturally by multiplication and/or natural recombination. For instance, a plant may be given fish genetic material that increases its resistance to frost. Another example would be an animal that has been modified with genes that give it the ability to secrete a human protein.
Genetically modified organism-free region: Zones, regions, provinces, even whole countries, where local/regional governments declared that genetically modified (GM) crops cannot be planted in order to protect conventional and organic crops, as well as wildlife, from potential GM contamination.
Global warming potential: The global warming potential (GWP) in agriculture is measured by the quantity of greenhouse gases emissions (expressed in CO2 equivalent) that an activity is likely to produce both in GHG per hectare and per tonne of commodity. GWP is a measure of how much a given mass of greenhouse gas is estimated to contribute to global warming. It is a relative scale which compares the gas in question to that of the same mass of carbon dioxide.
Organic agriculture systems contribute to reduced consumption of fossil-fuel energy (by foregoing use of nitrogen fertilizers), reduced greenhouse gas emissions, reduced soil erosion and increased carbon stocks, especially in already degraded soils. Greenhouse warming potential in organic systems is 29 to 37 percent lower, on a per hectare basis, because of omission of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides as well as less use of high energy feed. Methane emissions of organic rice and ruminants are equal to conventional systems but the increased longevity of organic cattle is favourable on methane emissions. Carbon sequestration efficiency of organic systems in temperate climates is almost double as compared to conventional soils, mainly due to use of grass clovers for feed and of cover crops in organic rotations.
Green manuring: Green manuring refers to a cover crop grown to help maintain soil organic matter and increase nitrogen availability. Legumes are often used because they have rhizobial bacteria living in their root nodules that are able to fix nitrogen from the air and add it to the soil. Green manure is incorporated into the soil for the purpose of soil improvement. May include spontaneous crops, plants or weeds.
Greenhouse gas: Greenhouse gases are those gaseous constituents of the atmosphere, both natural and anthropogenic that absorb and emit radiation at specific wavelengths within the spectrum of infrared radiation emitted by the Earth’s surface, the atmosphere, and clouds. This property causes the greenhouse effect. Water vapour (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), and ozone (O3) are the primary greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere. Moreover there are a number of entirely human-made greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as the halocarbons and other chlorine- and bromine-containing substances, dealt with under the Montreal Protocol. Besides CO2, N2O, and CH4, the Kyoto Protocol deals with the greenhouse gases sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and perfluorocarbons (PFCs).
Grower group: Grower groups are an organized group of producers with similar farming and production systems, working according to a common marketing objective.
Growth promoter: Growth promoters are synthetic substances that are included to the feed in order to maximise growth of animals; when applied to a plant, they promote, inhibit or otherwise modify the growth of a plant. These substances are forbidden in organic agriculture.
'H'
Habitat: The place or type of site where species and communities normally live or grow, usually characterized by relatively uniform physical features or by consistent plant forms, e.g. deserts, lakes and forest are all habitats.
Harmonization: The process by which standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment on the same subject approved by different bodies establishes interchangeability of products and processes. The process aims at the establishment of identical standards, technical regulations and conformity assessment requirements.
Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (System): Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) is a systematic preventive approach to food safety and pharmaceutical safety that addresses physical, chemical, and biological hazards as a means of prevention rather than finished product inspection. HACCP is used in the food industry to identify potential food safety hazards, so that key actions, known as Critical Control Points (CCP's) can be taken to reduce or eliminate the risk of the hazards being realized. The system is used at all stages of food production and preparation processes including packaging, distribution, etc.
Health principle: This principle points out that the health of individuals and communities cannot be separated from the health of ecosystems - healthy soils produce healthy crops that foster the health of animals and people. Health is the wholeness and integrity of living systems. It is not simply the absence of illness, but the maintenance of physical, mental, social and ecological well-being. Immunity, resilience and regeneration are key characteristics of health. The role of organic agriculture, whether in farming, processing, distribution, or consumption, is to sustain and enhance the health of ecosystems and organisms from the smallest in the soil to human beings. In particular, organic agriculture is intended to produce high quality, nutritious food that contributes to preventive health care and wellbeing. In view of this it should avoid the use of fertilizers, pesticides, animal drugs and food additives that may have adverse health effects.
High external input agriculture: Intensive use of external non-renewable resources (fertilizers, pesticides, fossil fuels) generally associated with cash crop production, referred to as high external input agriculture (HEIA). HEIA farming systems are associated with the Green Revolution and are found mainly in ecologically "high potential" areas in the tropics and are most widespread in Asia.
Homeopathic: An alternative to allopathic medicine, which heals the body by stimulating its own immune system and regulating its metabolism. Homeopathy (homoios = like; pathos = suffering), first expounded by Samuel Hahnemann in 1796, treats a disease with heavily diluted preparations that are serially diluted.
Humus: Decomposed, dark brown and amorphous organic matter of soils, having lost all trace of the structure and composition of the vegetable and animal matter from which it was derived. Humus hence refers to any organic matter that has reached a point of stability and which is used in agriculture to amend soil.
'I'
Indigenous ecological knowledge: There is no universally accepted definition of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) in the literature. The term is, by necessity, ambiguous since the words traditional and ecological knowledge are themselves ambiguous. In the dictionary sense, traditional usually refers to cultural continuity transmitted in the form of social attitudes, beliefs, principles and conventions of behaviour and practice derived from historical experience. However, societies change through time, constantly adopting new practices and technologies, and making it difficult to define just how much and what kind of change would affect the labelling of practice as traditional.
Indigenous knowledge: Indigenous knowledge (IK) is the local knowledge that is unique to a given culture or society. IK contrasts with the international knowledge system generated by universities, research institutions and private firms. It is the basis for local-level decision making in agriculture, health care, food preparation, education, natural-resource management, and a host of other activities in rural communities. Indigenous information systems are dynamic, and are continually influenced by internal creativity and experimentation as well as by contact with external systems.
Indigenous strategy: Strategy designed for applicability to the local and specific needs of a specific area and/or local community.
Industrial agriculture: Industrial agriculture is a form of modern farming that refers to the industrialized production of livestock, poultry, fish, and crops. The methods of industrial agriculture are technoscientific, economic and political. They include innovation in agricultural machinery and farming methods, genetic technology, techniques for achieving economies of scale in production, the creation of new markets for consumption, the application of patent protection to genetic information, and global trade. These methods are widespread in developed nations and increasingly prevalent worldwide.
Inorganic compound: Traditionally, inorganic compounds are considered to be of a mineral, not biological, origin. Most organic compounds are traditionally viewed as being of biological origin but chemical compounds which molecules are linked to the carbon atom of a hydrocarbon group are also "organic" (e.g. persistent organic pollutants). Therefore, the precise classification of inorganic versus organic compounds has become less important to scientists, primarily because the majority of known compounds are synthetic and not of natural origin.
Input substitution: Substituting synthetic inputs with inputs that are approved for organic production. That implies intervening when a problem arises rather than prevention and building an ecological balance by using an array of cultural and biological practices to build soils, control pests and grow nutritious, productive crops — as had been the tradition in organic farming. While input substitution may be a necessary step when converting to organic, it is not economically efficient nor is it the most sustainable approach in the long-term.
In-situ conservation: The conservation of ecosystems and natural habitats and the maintenance and recovery of viable populations of species in their natural surroundings and, in the case of domesticated or cultivated species, in the surroundings where they have developed their distinctive properties.
Integrated natural resources management: INRM is the term used by the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) for research aiming at improving livelihoods, agroecosystem resilience, agricultural productivity and environmental services. The approach seeks to integrate broad-based management of the land, water, forest and biological resource base (including genes) needed to sustain agricultural productivity and avert degradation of potential productivity.
Integrated pest management: Integrated pest management (IPM) means the careful consideration of all available pest control techniques and subsequent integration of appropriate measures that discourage the development of pest populations and keeps pesticides and other interventions to levels that are economically justified and reduce or minimize risks to human health and the environment. IPM emphasizes the growth of a healthy crop with the least possible disruption to agro-ecosystems and encourages natural pest control mechanisms.
Integrated production: System that mixes plant, livestock, trees and/or fish, produced contemporarily. Emphasis is placed on a holistic systems approach involving the entire farm as the basic unit and on balanced nutrient cycles. Biological, technical and chemical methods are balanced carefully taking into account the protection of the environment, profitability and social requirements.
Interannual variability: Climatic variations with periods longer than one year (and normally less than ten years). Difference, in absolute value, between the mean annual temperatures, precipitation and winds of two consecutive years.
Intercropping: Growing two or more crops as a mixture in the same field at the same time. Intercropping can be one way of adding diversity to a crop system.
Internal control system: An internal control system (ICS) is the part of a documented quality assurance system that allows an external certification body to delegate the periodical inspection of individual group members to an identified body or unit within the certified operator.
International organic standard: The Codex Alimentarius and IFOAM guidelines are minimum standards for organic agriculture, intended to guide, respectively, governments and private certification bodies in standard setting. As such, they can be considered as standards for standards. Governments can use these texts to develop national organic agriculture programmes, which are often more detailed as they respond to specific country needs.
In-transition: Period of conversion to organic, from a previous management system, be it industrial or traditional. Crops grown on land in transition to organic (during the first two to three years after switching from conventional farming) cannot be labelled as organic.
Invasive manipulation: General term including all forms of amputation commonly performed with livestock. Some examples are: dehorning, castration, tail docking, teeth grinding, etc.
Irrigation water-use efficiency: Irrigation water-use efficiency is the amount of biomass or seed yield produced per unit irrigation water applied, typically about 1 tonne of dry matter per 100 mm water applied. In the context of organic agriculture, building active soils with high content of organic matter has positive effects on soil drainage and water-holding capacity (20 to 40 percent more for heavy less soils in temperate climate), including groundwater recharge and decreased run-offs. Water-use efficiency is assumed to further improve through minimum tillage but no comparative studies are available on this subject.
'K'
Knowledge-based approach: Organic management is a knowledge-based approach requiring understanding of agro-ecological processes. Access to knowledge is the major bottleneck when converting to organic management. Inexperience and lack of adequate extension and training for knowledge-intensive management systems and locationspecific science require long-term investments in capacity building. With the objective of creating a critical mass and the necessity to strive in settings with limited opportunities, many organic communities have responded by establishing collective learning mechanisms and have become innovators or ecological entrepreneurs. The necessity of group organization (e.g. to cut down on certification costs) and planning farm rotation usually has resulted in improved performance and co-determination, community ownership of seeds/breeds, valorization of indigenous knowledge and overall control of agriculture and food systems.
Knowledge-intensive farming: Knowledge-intensive farming systems, such as organic agriculture replace external inputs with farmer's knowledge and thus require a greatly improved availability of ecological information to farmers, as well as support services concerned with new technologies and market information.
'L'
Land carrying-capacity: The maximum extent to which ground or soil area may sustain living organisms without degradation or depletion.
Land conversion: Converting an area to another use such as converting forest area or wetlands into agricultural land or urban area. Conversion is often confused with clear-cut. An area that is clear-cut remains forested.
Land tenure security: Tenure is the relationship among people, as individuals and groups, with respect to land and other natural resources. This relationship may be defined by written law or by custom. Tenure is an institution, i.e. rules invented by societies to regulate behaviour. The rules of tenure define how rights to land are to be assigned within societies. They define how access is granted to rights to use, control and transfer land, as well as associated responsibilities and restraints. In simple terms, land tenure systems determine who can use what resources of the land for how long, and under what conditions. Security of tenure (secure tenure, tenure security) is the certainty that a person’s rights to land will be protected. People with insecure tenure face the risk that their rights to land will be threatened by competing claims, and even lost as a result of eviction. Security of tenure cannot be measured directly and, to a large extent, it is what people perceive it to be. The attributes of tenure security may change from one context to another. For example, a person may have a right to use a parcel of land for a six month growing season, and if that person is safe from eviction during the season, the tenure is secure. Tenure security can also relate to the length of tenure, in the context of the time needed to recover the cost of investment. Thus the person with use rights for six months will not plant trees, invest in irrigation works or take measures to prevent soil erosion as the time is too short for that person to benefit from the investment. The tenure is insecure for long-term investments even if it is secure for short-term ones.
Landscape ecology: Landscape ecology is the study that embraces geomorphology and ecology and is applied to the design and architecture of landscapes, including agriculture and buildings. Conceptually, landscape ecology considers the development and maintenance of spatial heterogeneity on biotic and abiotic processes, and management of that heterogeneity. The conservation of high quality or traditional landscapes and biodiversity requires integration of farmlands, natural vegetation and water bodies.
Land-use planning: The systematic assessment of land and water potential, alternative patterns of land use and other physical, social and economic conditions, for the purpose of selecting and adopting the land-use options that are the most beneficial to land users without degrading the resources or the environment, together with the selection of measures most likely to encourage such land uses.
Legume-based organic rotation: A traditional component of crop rotation is the replenishment of nitrogen through the use of legumes in sequence with other crops. Legume-based rotations increase soil fertility by fixing nitrogen.
Life cycle assessment: Life cycle assessment is an objective process to evaluate the environmental burdens associated with a product, process, or activity by identifying energy and materials used and wastes released to the environment. LCA addresses the environmental aspects and potential impacts throughout a product's life cycle from raw material acquisition through production, use, end-of-life treatment, recycling and final disposal (i.e. cradle-to-grave). LCA typically does not address the economic or social aspects of a product.
*Sometimes referred to as: life cycly analysis
Lifestyle of health and sustainability: A market segment focused on health and fitness, the environment, personal development, sustainable living and social justice.
Livestock: Livestock means any domestic or domesticated animal including bovine (including buffalo and bison), ovine, porcine, caprine, equine, poultry and bees raised for food or in the production of food. The products of hunting or fishing of wild animals shall not be considered part of this definition.
Local food system: Refers to food produced, processed, distributed and consumed locally. As a response to globalization, global food corporations and climate change, the local food movement is emerging as an alternative for a more environmentally and socially just food system. The preference to buy locally produced goods of the so-called “localvores” promotes regional culture and identity, selfreliant food economies, rural-urban linkages and more generally, sustainability.
Low energy footprint food system: A food production system that has a closed or semi-closed nutrient and energy flow, thus generating minimal pollution. Organic agriculture, in principle, is a low energy footprint food system, as it prohibits the use of Nfertilizers and synthetic pesticides which require fossil fuel when manufactured. However, the level of mechanization and energy use in greenhouses results in a variety of footprint levels in organic enterprises. Although many organic food systems favour a short supply chain, much still needs to be improved to cut on energy costs during distribution.
Low external input agriculture: Use of the locally available, renewable resources, with very few or no external inputs, generally for subsistence only, referred to as low external input agriculture (LEIA). Low input agriculture includes organic agriculture but also traditional systems where resources are exploited without active management to replenish them (e.g. soil nutrient mining). Inputs that are included in this definition include, but are not limited to labour, capital, fuel and fertilizer. Intentional low input farming systems seek to optimize the management and use of internal production inputs (i.e., on-farm resources) and to minimize the use of external 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. About one quarter of the world's population depends on LEIA farming system, mainly in ecologically "low potential" areas, in terms of area it is most widespread in sub-Saharan Africa.
'M'
Micro-organism: An organism of microscopic or submicroscopic size, especially a bacterium or protozoan.
Soil scientists often refer to soil biota as microorganisms, even though some of them are not microscopic. Microorganisms play a key role in soil quality and fertility as they are involved in nutrient cycling and transformation processes, soil aggregate stability, as well as in plant pathology or plant growth promotion.
Mineral fertilizer: Fertlizers manufactured by chemical and industrial processes. May include products not found in nature, or simulation of products from natural sources (but not extracted from natural raw materials). It refers to agricultural substances produced through chemical processes, including nitrogen-fertilizers.
Minimum tillage: Minimum tillage is a tillage method that does not turn the soil over, with a view to maintain biodiversity structure.
Monocropping: Monocropping refers to specialized cultivation of one crop on a farm (often large plantations) and planting the same crop year after year, without rotation or follows. While monocropping is economically efficient in capital intensive enterprises, specialization leads to increased use of synthetic inputs to keep pest and diseases under check and fertilize the soil. Besides the high risk of crop failure in monocultivations, environmental externalities pose serious problems to the sustainability of natural resources and public health.
Mulching: A protective covering, usually of organic matter such as leaves, straw, or peat, placed around plants to prevent the evaporation of moisture, the freezing of roots, and the growth of weeds.
Multicropping: Planting two or more species in the same field during the same growing season. It can take the form of double-cropping, in which a second crop is planted after the first has been harvested, or relay cropping, in which the second crop is started amidst the first crop before it has been harvested.
Multifunctional farm: Refers to agriculture as delivering other goods than commodities, including a range of public goods. Although the production on these goods historically went very much "hand in hand", developments over recent decades have threatened their delivery. Farmers perform many different functions ranging from food and non-food agricultural products to countryside management, nature conservation, and tourism. Farming can thus be described as having multiple functions. Agriculture involves much more than the production of crops and animals for food consumption. The complexity of their profession requires farmers to play many roles.
Mycorrhiza: Fungi that form an association with, or have a symbiotic relationship with roots of more developed plants. Mycorrhiza improve soil fertility as they improve the mineral absorption capabilities of the plant roots and consequently, resistance to diseases.
Mycotoxin: Toxic substance of fungal origin (e.g. aflatoxin) that proliferates on crops at specific level of moisture, temperature and oxygen in air.
'N'
Natural flavour: Natural flavourings are products used to impart flavour to a food or beverage - with the exception of only salty, sweet or acid tastes. Their aromatic part consists exclusively of "natural flavours" and/or "natural flavouring substances" and they may or may not contain adjuncts. They are not intended to be consumed as such. Natural flavouring is a food additive produced from a 'natural' source. However, natural flavourings may be extracted from unexpected sources (such as wood) which you would not normally eat. Like other flavouring additives, they have no nutritional value.
Natural food: Contrary to organic, natural foods have no legal definition or recognition, and are not based on a systematic approach. While natural products may generally be minimally processed, there are no requirements to provide proof, leaving open the possibility for fraud and misuse of the term.
Natural resources: Any portion of the natural environment, such as air, water, soil, botanical and zoological resources and minerals. A renewable resource can potentially last indefinitely (provided stocks are not overexploited) without reducing the available supply because it is replaced through natural processes (either because it recycles rapidly, as water does, or because it is alive and can propagate itself or be propagated, as organisms and ecosystems do). Non-renewable resources (such as coal and oil) may eventually be replaced by natural processes, but these processes occur over long periods of geologic time rather than within the time-frame of current generations, and their consumption necessarily involves their depletion.
Neo-traditional food system: Neo-traditional food system is an alternative term to organic agriculture to draw the attention on the revival of traditional knowledge through modern science investigation and further development throughout the entire food system – from production through processing to marketing and consumption
Nitrate leaching: As water comes into contact with nitrogen fertilizer or animal manure, nitrates and other soluble components in the manure may be dissolved into the water. The water may then carry these soluble constituents along with it as it infiltrates into the soil and moves down into the groundwater. Soils that have high water tables and rapid water percolation rates are more likely to allow contaminated water to reach the groundwater. Manure must not directly be stored on these types of soil, nor be overapplied to such fields.
Nitrogen fixation: Nitrogen fixation is the process by which nitrogen is taken from its relatively inert molecular form (N2) in the atmosphere and converted into nitrogen compounds (such as amonia, nitrate and nitrogen dioxide). Biological nitrogen fixation is brought about both by freeliving soil micro-organisms and by symbiotic associations of micro-organisms with higher plants.
Non-certified organic agriculture: In many developing countries, there are agricultural systems that fully meet the requirements of organic agriculture but which are not certified. Non-certified organic agriculture refers to organic agricultural practices by intent and not by default; this excludes non-sustainable systems which do not use synthetic inputs but which degrade soils due to lack of soil building practices. It is difficult to quantify the extent of these agricultural systems as they exist outside the certification and formal market systems. The produce of these systems is usually consumed by households or sold locally (e.g. urban and village markets) at the same price as their conventional counterparts. In developed countries, non-certified organic food is often sold directly to consumers through local community support programmes such as box schemes, farmers markets and at the farm gate.
Non-certified organic farmer: There are organic farmers for whom certification does not have any advantages: this is true for farmers who practice subsistence farming, basically catering for the food security of their families or their community. It is also true for farmers who want to sell their produce as organic, where a demand for organic products does not exist in their region or where the intermediary or processor does not want to handle organic products. There are also farmers that reject certification on principal or economic grounds.
Non-point-source pollution: Pollution sources that are diffused and do not have a single point of origin or are not introduced into a receiving stream from a specific outlet. The pollutants are generally carried off the land by storm-water runoff. Nonpoint sources of pollutants include agriculture, urban areas and mining.
Normative standard: Normative standards are generic standards or guidelines to be used as a framework by national standard-setting or certification bodies when formulating a specific production or certification standard. Normative standards are also referred to as "standards for standards", e.g. the IFOAM Basic Standards and FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius guidelines.
Nutrient recycling: Biogeochemical cycle, in which inorganic nutrients move through the soil, living organisms, air and water. In agriculture, it refers to the return of nutrients absorbed by plants from the soil, back to the soil. Nutrient cycling can take place through leaf fall, root exudation (secretion), residue recycling, incorporation of green manures, etc.
Nutritional adequacy: It can be defined as [consumption of] diets which provide the recommended levels of all essential nutrients.
'O'
Organic agriculture: Organic agriculture is a holistic production management system which promotes and enhances agroecosystem health, including biodiversity, biological cycles, and soil biological activity. It emphasizes the use of management practices in preference to the use of off-farm inputs, taking into account that regional conditions require locally adapted systems. This is accomplished by using, where possible, cultural, biological and mechanical methods, as opposed to using synthetic materials, to fulfil any specific function within the system.
Organic agriculture action plan: An official document specifying the policy objectives, strategy, actions and programmes necessary to support the development of the organic sector.
Organic agriculture market: Organic markets are growing but reactive, driven by food safety concerns and to a lesser extent, by environmental awareness. They often establish producerconsumer groups to provide direct food marketing through such activities as farmers’ markets or home deliveries to subscribed customers, which increases profits.
Organic agriculture principle: The General Assembly of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM) approved 4 principles of organic agriculture upon which organic agriculture is based: the principle of health; the principle of ecology; the principle of fairness; the principle of care. Principles apply to agriculture in the broadest sense, including the way people tend soils, water, plants and animals in order to produce, prepare and distribute goods. They concern the way people interact with living landscapes, relate to one another and shape the legacy of future generations. Each principle is followed by an actionoriented explanation.
Organic agriculture standard: Organic standards have long been used to create an agreement within organic agriculture about what an "organic" claim on a product means, and to some extent, to inform consumers. It includes recommended and prohibited practices and substances as well as guarantee requirements. Regional groups of organic farmers and their supporters began developing organic standards as early as in the 1940s. Currently, there are over 450 private organic standards worldwide; and in addition, organic standards have been codified in the technical regulations of more than 60 governments.
Organic aquaculture: Aquatic species produced according to organic standards. Most reported certified organic aquaculture products produced in Europe use marine and brackish waters, a largely untapped resource, thus preserving freshwater supplies for human consumption and agriculture. Aquaculture also covers organic aquatic plants for either direct human consumption or for use as feed inputs for animal husbandry, including for the organic aquaculture sector.
Organic breeding: According to IFOAM, the general principle for organic breeding is that breeds are adapted to local conditions. IFOAM recommends that breeding goals should encourage and maintain the good health and welfare of the animals consistent with their natural behaviour. Breeding practices should include methods that are not capital intensive methods or depend on high technologies invasive to natural behaviour. Animals should be bred by natural reproduction techniques. Standards should require that breeding systems shall be based on breeds that can reproduce successfully under natural conditions without human involvement. Artificial insemination is permitted. Hormones are prohibited to induce ovulation and birth unless applied to individual animals for medical reasons and under veterinary supervision.
Organic by intent: A non-certified organic system which voluntary follows organic principles of management and production.
Organic by neglect: A term which grew out of the organic community to describe seemingly "organic" operations which do not compensate exploitive practices with practices that replenish the agrosystem ability to renew itself. For example, refraining from the use of synthetic inputs does not qualify as "organic" if the soil nutrients are mined.
Organic commodity: According to the general definition of a commodity: a physical substance, such as food, grains, and metals, which is interchangeable with another product of the same type, and which investors buy or sell, usually through contracts. The price of the commodity is subject to supply and demand. The concept of commodity entered the field of organic agriculture since the organic sector is linked to trade and it has become a huge market (46 billion US$ in 2008).
Organic community: The "organic" community gathers all the relevant actors which operate in the sector of the organic agriculture, such as relevant policy and standard-setting institutions, as well as individuals and groups involved with production, processing, certifying, commercializing and consuming organic good and services.
Organic compound: In physics, a material that contains carbon and hydrogen and usually other elements such as nitrogen, sulphur and oxygen. Organic compounds can be found in nature or they can be synthesized in the laboratory. An organic substance is not the same as a "natural" substance. A natural material means that it is essentially the same as it was found in nature, but "organic" means that it is carbon-based.
Organic conversion: Process of change into an organic agricultural system from a different management system, industrial or traditional or integrated it may be.
Organic ecosystem management: Management that includes principles, recommendations and requirements for maintaining and improving: landscape and biodiversity quality; soil and water quality; prohibition on clearing primary ecosystems; exclusion of genetic engineering from organic production and processing; and prevention of degradation of common/public lands when harvesting or gathering wild products.
Organic farm: Any farm which uses organic farming practices. Organic farming is more than agricultural production without the use of synthetic chemicals or genetically modified organisms, growth regulators, and livestock feed additives. Organic farming emphasises a holistic farm management approach, where rotations and animals play an integral role in the system.
Organic fertilization: The use of natural organic fertilizer that helps to provide all the nutrients required by the plants and increase the quality of the soil with a natural microorganism environment.
Organic food processing: Organic food is to be processed by biological, mechanical and physical methods in a way that maintain the vital quality of each ingredient, the finished product and nutritional value. Processors should choose methods that limit the number and quantity of non-organic additive and processing aids. Any additives, processing aids or other material that chemically react with or modify organic food shall be restricted. Irradiation is not permitted. Filtration equipment shall not contain asbestos, or utilize techniques or substances that may negatively affect the product. The following conditions of storage are permitted: controlled atmosphere, temperature control; drying and humidity regulation. Use of approved processing aids includes: drying with ascorbic acid, citric acid, tartaric acid and salt; blanching with high temperatures to destroy microorganisms; pasteurizing to destroy micro-organisms that could contaminate the product after blanching; and with heat treatments that conserve products by destroying or inactivating enzymes and killing micro-organisms.
Organic manure: Organic manure covers manures made from cattle dung, excreta of other animals, rural and urban composts, other animal wastes, crop residues and last but not the least green manures. Organic manure is time tested materials for improving the fertility and productivity of soils.
Organic matter: Plant and animal residues at various stages of decomposition, cells and tissues of soil organisms, and substances synthesized by the soil population.
Organic pasture: Organic pasture is the main activity which can benefit from the conservation of biodiversity. Organic pasture management reflects a synthesis of crop and livestock production principles that works from the soil up to promote an interdependent community of plants and ruminants. Organically managed pasture should produce the quantity and quality of edible plants suitable to the species, stage of production, and number of animals. Access to pasture assures a relationship between the animal and land that satisfies both organic principles and international standards for organic livestock.
Organic pest management: Today, insect pest management in organic agriculture involves the adoption of scientifically based and ecologically sound strategies as specified by international and national organic production standards. These include a ban on synthetic insecticides and, more recently, on genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Pest management in organic systems differ from conventional agriculture conceptually in that indirect or preventative measures form the foundation of the system, while direct or reactive control methods are rare and must comply with organic production standards. Pest control in organic agriculture begins by making sensible choices, such as growing crops that are naturally resistant to diseases and pests, or choosing sowing times that prevent pest and disease outbreaks. Substituting synthethic pesticides with biological pest control substances is part of the strategy during conversion but is not economically efficient neither desirable once the pest-predator balance is re-established in the system.
Organic post-harvest handling: Includes all stages of production immediately following harvest, including cleaning, cooling, sorting, storing and packing. Many post-production operations for organic produce are identical to non-organic production. Where there are particular restrictions or considerations they are identified. The draft IFOAM Basic Standards 2002 state that: ‘Handlers and processors should handle and process organic products separately in both time and place from non-organic products. Handlers and processors should identify and avoid pollution and potential contamination sources’. Likewise the Codex Alimentarius (Annex 1B) required the maintenance of organic product integrity and protection against contamination.
Organic soil fertility management: Organic soil fertility management is guided by the philosophy of “feed the soil to feed the plant”. This basic precept is implemented through a series of practices designed to increase soil organic matter, biological activity, and nutrient availability.
Organic urban garden: Refers usually to private gardens situated in the city area, farmed by their owners following organic agriculture principles.
Organic yield: Refers to the accumulated volume or biomass remaining from gross production in an organic crop, livestock and farmed fish systems. Organic yields are lower when compared to high external input systems and higher when compared to low external input systems. Comparing crop-specific yields, however, does not account for the whole biomass production (including crops, stems and roots), of the rotation period and of the whole farm production.
Organoleptic: Refers to any sensory properties of a food or other products, including taste, colour, odour and texture.
'P'
Participatory plant breeding: Participatory plant breeding (PPB) is based on the idea that farmers as well as professional plant breeders have important knowledge and skills that could complement one another. PPB is broadly defined here as a range of approaches that involve a mix of actors (including scientists, breeders, farmers and other stakeholders) in plant breeding stages. Depending on who controls the breeding process (researchers or farmers) and the scale on which the work is undertaken (communitycentred or research to extrapolate results) two broad categories are usually differentiated: 'farmer-led' and 'formal-led' PPB. Other terminology has been used to describe such approaches, depending on the stage of the breeding process at which collaboration between farmers and formal breeders starts. For example, in participatory varietal selection (PVS) the material is still segregating. Participatory plant breeding has a large positive effect on diversity because different breeding lines are selected in different locations.
Percolation stability: Percolation concerns the movement and filtering of water through soil, depending on surface roughness, decay and erosion. Percolation in soils depends on soil stability, which depends on land use, soil properties and structural aggregates. The percolation stability is simple to measure and is an indicator for assessing the potential of soils to erode.
Permaculture: Permaculture (permanent+agriculture) is the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems which have the diversity, stability, and resilience of natural ecosystems. It is a land use and community building movement which strives for the harmonious integration of human dwellings, microclimate, annual and perennial plants, animals, soils, and water into stable, productive communities. The focus is not on these elements themselves, but rather on the relationships created among them by the way we place them in the landscape. This synergy is further enhanced by mimicking patterns found in nature. It is a system of assembling conceptual, material, and strategic components in a pattern which functions to benefit life in all its forms.
Plant protection product: Plant protection product means any substance intended for preventing, destroying, attracting, repelling, or controlling any pest or disease including unwanted species of plants or animals during the production, storage, transport, distribution and processing of food, agricultural commodities, or animal feeds.
Predation: Predation is the transfer of energy whereby one organism feeds on another organism as well as complex interactions among predators-prey populations. If a portion of the prey is not available because of environmental discontinuities (a typical case in agriculture), the self-regulating balance will be damped. Inter-specific competition keeps more pests in check than we ever could by using pesticides. Ecosystem stability (or instability) depends on the results of the competition between different species for food and space. Predation ameliorates the intensity of competition for space and increases species diversity.
Preparation: Preparation means the operations of slaughtering, processing, preserving and packaging of agricultural products and also alterations made to the labelling concerning the presentation of the organic production method.
Processing aid: Processing aid means any substance or material, not including apparatus or utensils, and not consumed as a food ingredient by itself, intentionally used in the processing of raw materials, foods or its ingredients, to fulfil a certain technological purpose during treatment or processing and which may result in the non-intentional but unavoidable presence of residues or derivatives in the final product.
Production: Production means the operations undertaken to supply agricultural products in the state in which they occur on the farm, including initial packaging and labelling of the product.
'Q'
Quality management system: Quality management system refers to a system to direct and control an organization with regard to quality.
'R'
Relocalization of food production: Bringing back food production to where it is consumed and building alternative networks for getting food from farm to plate through short supply chains. Entails decreasing imports, eventually saving on transportation energy and enhancing food self-sufficiency.
Requirement for conformity: Any procedure or criteria used directly or indirectly to determine that the relevant technical regulations or standards are fulfilled.
Resilience: The ability of an ecosystem to withstand change or, when changed, to develop forces leading back to the original condition. Assessed by examining factors such as population fluctuation, resistance to disturbance, speed of recovery after disturbance, and persistence of community composition. While resilience refers to the ability of the system to recover from a change, ecological stability expresses the resistance of an ecosystem against change.
Responsible agriculture: Responsible agriculture refers to a holistic approach to agriculture production that combines good agricultural practices, environmental protection, farm worker safety and welfare, market access at fair prices and better linkages between consumers and producers.
Restoration ecology: Restoration ecology is the study of renewing a degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystem through active human intervention.
Revival of traditional agriculture: The revival of traditional agricultural entails a reevaluation of traditional wisdom in farming, while recognizing the need to improve the knowledge base for its application in today's context.
Rhizome: In botany, a rhizome is a horizontal stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes. Plants with underground rhizomes include ginger, hops, and turmeric, significant for their medicinal properties, and the weeds Johnson grass, bermuda grass, and purple nut sedge. Some plants have rhizomes that grow above ground or that sit at the soil surface, including some Iris species, and ferns, whose spreading stems are rhizomes. Rhizomes may also be referred to as creeping rootstalks, or rootstocks.
Riparian corridor: The riparian corridor includes human-created reservoirs, wildlife ponds, wetlands, and waterholes connected to or associated with natural water features. In addition, those areas not associated with natural water features, but support riparian dependent flora or fauna, will have a riparian corridor designation. On the other hand, riparian areas are functionally defined as threedimensional ecotones of interaction that include terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, that extend down into the groundwater, up above the canopy, outward across the floodplain, up the near slopes that drain to the water, laterally into the terrestrial ecosystem, and along the watercourse at a variable width.
Rural-urban network: Rural-urban networks facilitate the flow of agricultural and other commodities from rural producers to urban consumers. Overall, synergy between agricultural production and urban-based enterprises is key to the development of more vibrant local economies and less unequal and more "pro-poor" regional economic growth.
'S'
Short supply chain: When the distance between producers and consumers is short. The distance is not fixed (such as in the case of geographical denomination) and varies from commercialization between farms and neighbouring urban centres, to trading between regions within countries.
Silvopastoral practice: A form of agroforestry that combines forestry and grazing for animals. In certain areas, silvopastoral practices can offer an alternative to cattle production systems based solely on pasture. Such practices include planting high densities of trees and shrubs in pastures, cutand-carry systems whereby livestock are fed with the foliage of specifically planted trees and shrubs in areas previously used for other agricultural practices, and using fast-growing trees and shrubs for fencing and wind screens. The on-site benefits of silvopastoral practices to land users include additional production from the tree component, such as fruit, fuelwood, fodder or timber; maintaining or improving pasture productivity by increasing nutrient recycling; and diversification of production. Silvopastoral practices also have important biodiversity benefits. They have been shown to play a major role in the survival of wildlife species by providing scarce resources and refuge; to have a higher propagation rate of native forest plants; and to provide shelter for wild birds. They can also help connect protected areas. In addition, silvopastoral practices can fix significant amounts of carbon in the soil and in the standing tree biomass and have a beneficial effect on water services.
Slow Food: A food movement born in response to the spreading of the fast food culture and the poor food quality it entails. The concept has been pioneered by Slow Food, a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 by Carlo Petrini, to counteract the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how people’s food choices affect the rest of the world. Slow Food works to defend biodiversity in the food supply, spread taste education and connect producers of excellent foods with co-producers through events (like Terra Madre in Torino, Italy) and initiatives. Today, Slow Food has 100 000 members in 132 countries.
Soil biodiversity: Soil is one of the most diverse habitats on earth and contains one of the most diverse assemblages of living organisms. Nowhere in nature are species so densely packed as in soil communities. For example a single gram of soil may contain millions of individuals and several thousands species of bacteria. Soil biota includes micro-organisms (bacteria, fungi, etc.), microfauna (protozoa, nematodes, etc.), meso-fauna (acari, springtails, etc.) and macrofauna (insects, earthworms, etc.). It also includes the roots that grow in the soil and interact with other species above and below ground.
Soil carbon sequestration: Biogeochemical process where soils take up and fix carbon. Soil carbon sequestration is one of the most promising options for climate change mitigation with a wide range of synergies. By increasing carbon concentrations in the soil through better management practices, this option offers benefits for biodiversity, soil fertility and productivity, and soil water storage capacity. Further, it stabilizes and increases food production reversing land degradation and restoring the “health” of ecological processes.
Soil characteristics: Soil characteristics include physical, chemical and biological parameters: physical parameters include mainly soil structure and texture; chemical parameters relate to the presence and amount of mineral elements and plant growth inhibiting substances; biological parameters refer to the amount, type and activities of soil organisms. Soil texture is the relative volume of sand, silt and clay particles in a soil. Soil texture affects the waterholding capacity of soil, movement of water through the soil and ease of cultivation. Soil structure results from the binding together of soil particles into aggregates or clumps of varying sizes and shapes. A well-structured soil is made up of aggregates of varying sizes that allow maximum space for air and water.
Soil compaction: Soil compaction occurs when weight of livestock or heavy machinery compresses soil, causing it to lose pore space. Affected soils become less able to absorb rainfall, thus increasing runoff and erosion. Plants have difficulty in compacted soil because the mineral grains are pressed together, leaving little space for air and water, which are essential for root growth. Burrowing animals also find a hostile environment, because the denser soil is more difficult to penetrate.
Soil erosion: Geologically, erosion is defined as the process that slowly shapes hillsides, allowing the formation of soil cover from the weathering of rocks and from alluvional and colluvial deposits. Erosion caused by human activities, as an effect of careless exploitation of the environment, results in increasing runoffs and declined arable layers and crop productivity. For example, bare land is more likely to be weathered by physical forces such as rainfall, flowing water, wind ice, temperature change, gravity or other natural or anthropogenic agents that abrade, detach and remove soil or geological material from one point on the earth's surface to be deposited elsewhere.
Soil fertility: Ability of soil to produce and sustain a plant cover. Soil fertility is the cornerstone of organic management. Because organic farmers do not use synthetic nutrients to restore degraded soil, they must concentrate on building and maintaining soil fertility primarily through their basic farming practices. They depend on multicropping systems and crop rotations, cover crops, organic fertilizers and minimum tillage to maintain and improve soil quality.
Soil formation: The action of combined primary (weathering and humidification) and secondary processes to alter and rearrange mineral and organic material to form soil. A substantial amount of invertebrates (earthworms, millipedes, termites, mites, nematodes, etc.) play a role in the development of upper soil layers through decomposition of plant litter, making organic matter more readily available, and creating structural conditions that allow oxygen, food and water to circulate.
Soil health: The terms soil quality (favoured by scientists) and soil health (favoured by farmers) tend to be used interchangeably. Characterization of soil quality by scientists focuses on analytical/quantitative properties of soil with a separately defined quantitative link to the functions of soil quality. Characterization of soil health by farmers focuses on descriptive/qualitative properties of soil with a direct value judgement (unhealthy to healthy) integrated into the options for a given property; in addition, interwoven into the properties of soil per se are valuebased descriptive properties of plant, water, air, and animal/human systems considered by farmers to be an integral part of soil health characterization.
*Sometimes referred to as: soil quality
Soil organic carbon: Soil organic carbon (SOC) refers to the carbon held within the soil and is expressed as a percentage by weight (gC/Kg soil). Climatic shifts in temperature and precipitation have a major influence on the decomposition and amount of SOC stored within an ecosystem and that released into the atmosphere. Globally, the amount of carbon stored in soils is twice the amount that is stored in all terrestrial plants. Soil organic carbon (SOC) is essential for maintaining fertility, water retention, and plant production in terrestrial ecosystems. The amount of SOC stored within an ecosystem, is dependent on the quantity and quality of organic matter returned to the soil matrix, the soils ability to retain organic carbon (a function of texture and caption exchange capacity), and biotic influences of both temperature and precipitation. The global decline in SOC as a result of deforestation, shifting cultivation and arable cropping have made significant contributions to increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2).
Soil organic matter: Soil organic matter (SOM) is defined as all organic materials found in soils irrespective of origin or state of decomposition. It can be divided into three general pools: living biomass of micro-organisms, fresh and partially decomposed residues, and the well-decomposed and highly stable organic material, or humus.
Soil resilience: Soil have an inherent ability to restore their life support processes, provided that the disturbance created especially by human activities is not too drastic, and sufficient time is allowed for the life support processes to restore themselves. This intrinsic soil productivity regeneration ability is called "resilience".
Soil retention: The spaces that exist between soil particles, called pores, provide for the passage and/or retention of gasses and moisture within the soil profile. The soil’s ability to retain water is strongly related to particle size; water molecules hold more tightly to the fine particles of a clay soil than to coarser particles of a sandy soil, so clays generally retain more water. Conversely, sands provide easier passage or transmission of water through the profile. Clay type, organic content and soil structure also influence soil water retention. Soil water retention is essential to life. It provides an ongoing supply of water to plants between periods of replenishment (infiltration) so as to allow their continued growth and survival.
Soil stability: Soil stability depends on soil's shear strength, its compressibility and its tendency to absorb water. Farming practices that preserve soil fertility and maintain, or even increase, organic matter in soils can reduce the negative effects of drought while increasing primary crop productivity.
Spray preparation: Substances used for plant protection and plant growth regulator in biodynamic agriculture. The biodynamic preparations consist of recycled mineral, plant or animal manure extracts that are fermented over time and added in homeopathic or very dilute quantities, to compost piles, manure and slurry, which are then applied to the soil or sprayed directly onto plants.
Subsistence farm: When the farm produces enough to feed only the farmer household and there is no surplus to sell.
Sustainable use of natural resources: Natural resources provide the basis for the three pillars of sustainable development, economic, social and environmental. However, physical reserves can become depleted and scarce, and this can then undermine future economic and social development. Moreover, the way in which resources are used can reduce the quality of the environment to an extent that can threaten ecosystems and the quality of human life.
Systems approach: The consideration of different interacting parts of a distinct entity (i.e. system). In a food system, this involves the integration of all bio-physical and sociopolitical variables involved in the performance of the system.
'T'
Techniques of genetic modification: Techniques of genetic engineering/modification include, but are not limited to: recombinant DNA, cell fusion, micro and macro injection, encapsulation, gene deletion and doubling. Genetically engineered organisms does not include organisms resulting from techniques such as conjugation, transduction and hybridization.
Traceability: Ability to trace the history, application or location of an entity by means of recorded identifications.
Traditional agriculture: Traditional agriculture, is an indigenous form of farming, result of the coevolution of local social and environmental systems and that exhibit a high level of ecological rationale expressed through the intensive use of local knowledge and natural resources, including the management of agrobiodiversity in the form of diversified agricultural systems.
Transgenic organism: An individual in which a transgene has been integrated into its genome. In transgenic eukaryotes, the transgene must be transmitted through meiosis to allow its inheritance by the offspring.
'U'
Urban and peri-urban organic agriculture: Urban (and peri-urban) agriculture is the practice of agriculture (including crops, livestock, fisheries, and forestry activities) within or surrounding the boundaries of cities. The land used may be private residential land (use of private pieces of land, balconies, walls or building roofs), public roadside land or river banks and peri-urban open fields. Urban farming is practiced for income-earning or food-producing activities. It contributes to food security and food safety in two ways: first it increases the amount of food available to people living in cities, and second it allows fresh vegetables and fruits to be made available to urban consumers. Organic agriculture is practiced in urban centres, including backyards and public space, and their periphery. In the Pro-huerta initiative in Argentina, for instance, urban agriculture provides food production and self-employment but also helps to 'create an improved microclimate and conserve soils, to minimize waste in cities and to improve nutrient recycle, and to improve water management, biodiversity, the O2–CO2 balance, and the environmental awareness of city inhabitants.
Utilized agricultural area: All the area of arable land, permanent meadow and pasture, and land devoted to permanent crops and kitchen gardens.
'V'
Vermicomposting: Vermicompost (or worm compost) the process of using earthworms to breakdown kitchen and garden waste, to create a faster than normal composting. Compared to ordinary soil, the earthworm castings (the material produced from the digestive tracts of worms) contain five times more nitrogen, seven times more phosphorus and 11 times more potassium. They are rich in humic acids and improve the structure of the soil. The earthworm most often to be found in the compost heap is Brandling Worms (Eisenia foetida), or Redworms (Lumbricus rubellus). This species is only rarely found in soil and is adapted to the special conditions in rotting vegetation, compost and manure piles. Earthworms are available from mail-order suppliers, or from angling shops where they are sold as bait. Small scale vermicomposting is well suited to turn kitchen wastes into high-quality soil where space is limited. In addition to worms, a healthy vermicomposting system hosts many other organisms such as insects, moulds, and bacteria. Though these all play a role in the composting process, the earthworm is the major catalyst for the composting process.
Vermiculture: The activity of growing and multiplication of earthworms. Usually done to either increase earthworm population in soil, for preparing vermicompost or for sale of worms to vermicomposting enterprises.
Veterinary drug: Any substance applied or administered to any food-producing animal, such as meat or milk-producing animals, poultry, fish or bees, whether used for therapeutic, prophylactic or diagnostic purposes or for modification of physiological functions or behaviour.
*Sometimes referred to as: veterinary medicine
Vitality: In the conventional vision, product quality is mainly based on external, nutritive and sensory properties. Besides tastiness and ripeness, organic consumers expect products to have properties such as "vitality" and "coherence", which are not easy to define and thus to explain and transfer. In the past, experimental parameters have been proposed to estimate "vitality" and "coherence" but they were neither scientifically validated nor related to a validated quality concept with a relation to human health.
'W'
Water percolation: The movement of water downward and radially through subsurface soil layers, continuing downward to groundwater. Can also involve upward movement of water. A portion of water that enters the soil can move either vertically or laterally through the soil. Significant lateral movement of water through soil is called throughflow or interflow. Downward movement of water through the soil is called percolation. Percolating water eventually makes its way to a saturated zone, where all spaces between rock and soil are filled with water.
Water scarcity: Water scarcity occurs where there are insufficient water resources to satisfy long-term average requirements. It refers to long-term water imbalances, combining low water availability with a level of water demand exceeding the supply capacity of the natural system.
Water security: Water security means the reliable availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for production, livelihoods and health, coupled with an acceptable level of risk to society of unpredictable water-related impacts (e.g. climate variability). Water security has been defined as an overarching goal where “every person has access to enough safe water at affordable cost to lead a clean, healthy and productive life, while ensuring that the environment is protected and enhanced”.
Wild collection: The collected plants grow naturally in an area, which has not been treated with prohibited inputs (according to the respective organic regulation) for at least 3 years. The collection areas are not owned by the company itself (public land) and/or are of vast size. The collected plants must grow and regenerate naturally without any agricultural measures. Certified are plants grown in an approved (by an accredited certifier) area. The area (land) itself is not certified. Generally, neglected old plantations of perennial plants such as orchards etc cannot be considered as “wild” as usually the ownership is clearly defined and the plants did not grow spontaneously. The owner has a clear interest to increase the production of such a plantation consequently the risk that he uses prohibited inputs is higher than with land that belongs to someone else. Additionally for an area which is vast and badly accessible it is far less likely that someone actually uses prohibited inputs such as fertilizers or pesticides to increase the yield of the wild growing plants. In that case the “normal” (cultivation) farm inspection system applies, which takes the low-key production system into account. In cases where the situation is not clear, it is up to the certification body to decide if a project can be considered as “wild collection”. Plants that are not indigenous but are collected in the wild (naturally regenerated) are considered as “wild”.
'Z'
Zero tillage: Zero tillage is the simple technique of drilling seed into the soil with little or no prior land preparation. Zero tillage is a technical component used in conservation agriculture, but not everyone carrying out zero tillage is practising conservation agriculture.