Food Production and Agricultural Practices Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards covering key terms and concepts in Canadian food production, organic farming standards, crop science, livestock management, and genetic engineering.

Horticulture

The science and art of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, and ornamental plants.

Aquaculture

The farming of aquatic organisms in fresh or salt water.

Livestock

Farm animals raised by farmers and ranchers, including beef cattle, pigs, chickens, turkeys, sheep, bison, goats, deer, and elk.

Sustainability

Using resources at a rate at which the earth can keep replacing them, where resources do not deplete and pollution does not accumulate.

Environmental Pillar of Sustainability

The pillar of sustainability focused on protecting soil, water, biodiversity, and the climate.

Economic Pillar of Sustainability

The pillar of sustainability focused on ensuring farms and food businesses are profitable and viable.

Social Pillar of Sustainability

The pillar of sustainability focused on supporting food security, fair labor, and healthy communities.

Hard Winter Wheat

A wheat variety grown in Canadian summers that is high in protein and ideal for producing quality wheat bread.

Soft Wheat

A wheat variety that is ideal for making cakes and pastries.

The Prairies

The Canadian region comprising Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, known as the breadbasket of North America.

Lycopene

A beneficial red pigment in crops like tomatoes that accumulates as they ripen in the sun.

Climacteric Fruits

Fruits that can continue to ripen after harvest, such as tomatoes and bananas.

Ethylene

A ripening gas produced naturally by climacteric fruits during storage and transit.

Jersey Cows

A breed of exceptionally high-yielding short cows that produce milk rich in proteins and fat.

Angus

The most popular beef cow breed in Canada, recognized for its superior meat marbling.

Broiler Chickens

Chickens raised for meat that grow exceptionally fast to a large slaughter size in $4$ to $6$ weeks.

Ruminants

Animals, such as beef cattle, whose stomach bacteria naturally modify dietary fats.

Herbicide

A type of crop protection chemical designed to protect crops against weeds.

Fungicide

A type of crop protection chemical designed to protect crops against fungus.

Insecticide

A type of crop protection chemical designed to protect crops against insects.

Climate-Smart Agriculture

An approach that helps guide actions needed to transform and reorient agricultural systems to effectively support development and ensure food security in a changing climate.

Organic Farming

Farming without the use of certain pesticides, fertilizers, antibiotics, growth hormones, and genetically modified organisms.

Principle of Health

An organic production principle stating that organic agriculture should sustain and enhance the health of soil, plants, animals, humans, and the planet as one and indivisible.

Principle of Ecology

An organic production principle stating that organic agriculture should be based on living ecological systems and cycles, work with them, emulate them, and help sustain them.

Principle of Fairness

An organic production principle stating that organic agriculture should build on relationships that ensure fairness with regard to the common environment and life opportunities.

Principle of Care

An organic production principle stating that organic agriculture should be managed in a precautionary and responsible manner to protect the health and well-being of current and future generations and the environment.

Canada Organic Logo

A special identification logo permitted on certified organic foods and multi-ingredient food products containing at least $95\%$ organic ingredients.

Genetic Engineering

A biotechnology process that directly introduces specific genes—sometimes from different species—to establish targeted traits rapidly and precisely.

Transgenics

Organisms created through genetic engineering by directly introducing specific genes from different species.

Bt Corn

Genetically engineered corn containing a gene from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis that produces a protein targeting specific pests like the European corn borer.

HT Canola and Soybeans

Herbicide-tolerant crops engineered to withstand specific weed-killers, supporting reduced-tillage farming.

Golden Rice

Genetically engineered rice designed to produce beta-carotene (a Vitamin A precursor) to help combat global nutrient deficiencies.

Enviropig

A historical Canadian genetically engineered pig project designed to digest phosphorus efficiently and vastly reduce water pollution from manure.

Novel Foods Framework

The product-based regulatory framework under Health Canada that evaluates the toxicity, allergenicity, and nutritional equivalence of genetically engineered crops.