Key Terminology in Agriculture and Food Technologies

Glossary Terms and Definitions

Agriculture: The science or practice of farming, including the cultivation of soil for growing crops and rearing animals to provide food, fiber, fuel, and other products.
By-product: A secondary product made during the manufacturing process of the raw primary product. For example, a by-product of meat production could be skins for leather.
Consumer: Individuals who buy and use products to meet their needs or wants (e.g., buying fruit).
Domestic market: Refers to internal trading within a single country.
Economy: Encompasses all activities related to production, consumption, and trade of goods and services in an area.
Extensive agriculture: Farming characterized by low stocking rates and low inputs of labor and feed over large areas of land, typically resulting in lower production per unit area.
Holistic: An approach that considers all parts of farming together, including animals, plants, humans, and natural resources.
Input: Anything added into or used in production, such as seeds, labor, and finances.
Intensive agriculture: Farming characterized by high stocking rates and higher inputs of labor and feed, resulting in higher production per unit area.
Irrigation: Artificial supply of water to soil and plants to enhance growth.
Management: Activities organizing and coordinating resources, including natural and economic resources, to achieve objectives in agriculture.
Output: Products generated from farming, such as milk, eggs, and crops.
Primary Industry: Industries focused on obtaining or providing raw materials from the natural environment, including agriculture and mining.
Processing: Stages that alter raw products for consumer availability, such as harvesting and canning tomatoes.
Producer: Individuals or organizations that create goods or services, including farmers.
Sustainability: Approaches to farming that produce profit without degrading the environment or depleting resources.
System: A set of interacting units that depend on one another within an environment, such as a farm system comprising plants, animals, soil, climate, etc.