UPSC IAS exam preparation - World and Indian Geography - Lecture 24

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World Agriculture - Part 2

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 7.0 INDIA AND AGRICULTURE

With a population of 1.37 billion, India is the world's second most populous country. It is the seventh largest country in the world with an area of 3.288 million sq kms. It has a long coastline of over 7,500 kms. With the highest mountain range in the world, the Himalayas to its North, the Thar desert to its West, the Gangetic delta to its East and the Deccan Plateau in the South, the country is home to vast agro-ecological diversity. India is the world's largest producer of milk, pulses and jute, and ranks as the second largest producer of rice, wheat, sugarcane, groundnut, vegetables, fruit and cotton. It is also one of the leading producers of spices, fish, poultry, livestock and plantation crops. Worth $ 2.8 trillion, India is among the top economies of the world.

India's climate varies from humid and dry tropical in the south to temperate alpine in the northern reaches and has a great diversity of ecosystems. Four out of the 34 global biodiversity hotspots and 15 WWF global 200 eco-regions fall fully or partly within India. Having only 2.4 percent of the world's land area, India harbours around eight percent of all recorded species, including over 45,000 plant and 91,000 animal species.

7.1 Details of agriculture in India

Agriculture, with its allied sectors, is the largest source of livelihoods in India. 70 percent of its rural households still depend primarily on agriculture for their livelihood, with 82 percent of farmers being small and marginal. India is the largest producer (25% of global production), consumer (27% of world consumption) and importer (14%) of pulses in the world. India's annual milk production was 165 MT (2017-18), making India the largest producer of milk, jute and pulses, and with world's second-largest cattle population 190 million. It is the second-largest producer of rice, wheat, sugarcane, cotton and groundnuts, as well as the second-largest fruit and vegetable producer, accounting for 10.9% and 8.6% of the world fruit and vegetable production, respectively.

However, India still has many growing concerns. As the Indian economy has diversified and grown, agriculture's contribution to GDP has steadily declined from 1951 to 2011. While achieving food sufficiency in production, India still accounts for a quarter of the world’s hungry people and home to over 190 million undernourished people. Incidence of poverty is now pegged at nearly 30 percent. 

While agriculture in India has achieved grain self-sufficiency but the production is, resource intensive, cereal centric and regionally biased. The resource intensive ways of Indian agriculture has raised serious sustainability issues too. Increasing stress on water resources of the country would definitely need a realignment and rethinking of policies. Desertification and land degradation also pose major threats to agriculture in the country.

The social aspects around agriculture have also been witnessing changing trends. The increased feminisation of agriculture is mainly due to increasing rural-urban migration by men, rise of women-headed households and growth in the production of cash crops which are labour intensive in nature. Women perform significant tasks, both, in farm as well as non-farm activities and their participation in the sector is increasing but their work is treated as an extension of their household work, and adds a dual burden of domestic responsibilities.

India also needs to improve its management of agricultural practices on multiple fronts. Improvements in agriculture performance has weak linkage in improving nutrition, the agriculture sector can still improve nutrition through multiple ways: increasing incomes of farming households, diversifying production of crops, empowering women, strengthening agricultural diversity and productivity, and designing careful price and subsidy policies that should encourage the production and consumption of nutrient rich crops.  

Diversification of agricultural livelihoods through agri-allied sectors such as animal husbandry, forestry and fisheries has enhanced livelihood opportunities, strengthened resilience and led to considerable increase in labour force participation in the sector.

First Agricultural Revolution

Dating back: 10,000 years from the present day.

Occured: Majority occurred in the region of southwest Asia, the Fertile Crescent . Present day Iraq ( Tigris & Euphrates Rivers )

Achieved: A transition from Hunting & Gathering to

• Plant domestication: deliberate tending of crops to gain certain desired attributes.
• Animal domestication: domestication of animals for selling or using byproducts.
• Helped people settle down in one place.

Second Agricultural Revolution

Started: before the Industrial Revolution (19th Century)

Occured: Great Britain, Netherlands, Denmark,& nearby

Achieved:

• A series of innovations, improvements, and techniques were used to improve the output of agricultural surpluses.
• Lead to advances in livestock breeding, seed drills, and new fertilizers.
• Moved Agriculture beyond subsistence to generate surplusses needed to feed thousands working in factories.
• Corn and Potatoes introduced to Europe from Americas.

Enclosure Acts

Third Agricultural Revolution (Green Revolution)

Occured: Mexico, India, China

What: invention of high-yield grains, especially rice, with the goal of reducing hunger.

• increased production of rice
• introduced new varieties in wheat and corn
• reduced famines that were due to crop failure.
• now most famines are due to political problems and access
• impact (in terms of hunger) is greatest where rice is produced

Emerging areas

• Biotechnology, GMOs, Agribusiness, Mechanization

8.0 FOOD LOSS AND FOOD WASTE

Food loss and waste is the decrease in quantity or quality of food along the food supply chain. Food loss occurs along the food supply chain from harvest up to, but not including, the retail level. Food waste occurs at the retail and consumption levels.

Although there may be an economic loss, food diverted to other economic uses, like animal feed, is not considered as food loss or waste, nor are the inedible parts of food products.

8.1 Reducing food loss and waste at scale

The broad estimate FAO provided in 2011 suggested that around 1/3 or 30 percent of the world’s food was lost or wasted every year. This can be considered a preliminary estimate that raised awareness of the issue. To provide more clarity on the subject, that figure is in the process of being replaced with two separate SDG indicators, the Food Loss Index and the Food Waste Index. These two indices will allow us to measure more precisely how much food is lost in production or in the supply chain, or is wasted by consumers or retailers.

The Food Loss Index is calculated by FAO and provides new estimates for part of the supply chain, from post-harvest up to (but not including) retail. The Food Waste Index, calculated by UNEP, measures food waste at retail and consumption levels. 

These more precise figures will allow us to better measure our progress towards Sustainable Development Goal 12, which sets out the target of halving per capita global food waste at retail and consumer levels by 2030, as well as reducing food losses along production and supply chains.

How much food is being lost from post-harvest up to the retail level? Initial estimates made by FAO for the Food Loss Index tell us that around 14% of the world’s food is lost from post-harvest up to (but not including) the retail level. As we improve our estimates, we will know whether the order of magnitude of the problem is comparable to earlier estimates of around 1/3 f the world’s food lost or wasted every year.

THE GAME OF NINE

• As few as nine crops account for two-thirds of the global food output, and on-farm crop diversity has declined significantly over the decades as farmers have switched from traditional production systems that utilise farmers’ varieties and landraces to modern production systems depending on officially released varieties.
• Globally, there are approximately 3,82,000 species of vascular plants, of which a little over 6,000 have been cultivated for food. Of these, as of 2014, fewer than 200 species had significant production levels globally, with only nine (sugarcane, maize, rice, wheat, potatoes, soyabeans, oil-palm fruit, sugar beet and cassava) accounting for over 66 per cent of all crop production by weight [Report - State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture report by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)]
• The overall diversity present in farmers’ fields has declined and threats to diversity are increasing, even though the situation varies greatly depending on the country, location and type of production system.
• The biodiversity of food crops is important because it is the foundation of food systems and makes production systems more resilient and makes them withstand the effects of climate change.
• Livestock - As regards livestock, the report said, the world’s livestock production is based on about 40 animal species, with only a handful providing the vast majority of global output of meat, milk and eggs.
• As of 2018, 7,745 out of 8,803 reported livestock breeds were classified as local and 593 of these breeds are extinct. Among the extant local breeds, 26 per cent are considered to be at risk of extinction, while the risk status of 67 per cent is unknown. While wild water buffalo and banteng, jungle cattle present in South-East Asia, are classified as endangered, Indian bison, wild yak and wild goats are among vulnerable species.
• It appears that a higher proportion of livestock with wild relative species are threatened with extinction, rather than mammalian and bird species in general.
• Though 31,000 species of finfish, 52,000 species of aquatic molluscs, 64,000 species of aquatic crustaceans and 14,000 species of aquatic plants have been reported, global capture fisheries harvested in 2016 was limited to 1,800 marine species. 
• Forest biodiversity - The number of tree species in the world is estimated to be around 60,000. Globally, more than 700 tree species, including bamboo, palms, and scrubs, have been included in tree-breeding programmes. It said forest resources are being threatened and eroded by conversion of forests to agriculture, unsustainable harvesting of trees for wood and non-wood products, grazing and browsing, climate change, forest fires and invasive species. Forests, according to the report, still cover 30.6 per cent of the world’s land area and even though forests continue to shrink, the rate of annual net loss of forests has decreased significantly over recent decades.
• Threats to food and agriculture biodiversity - The threat faced by pollinator species as well as a decline in soil decline. According to the report, one in seven species of vertebrate pollinators – such as bees – is threatened with global extinction (rising to almost one in three in island countries. Similarly, soil biodiversity is under threat in all regions of the world, leading to deterioration of soil health.

9.0 CLIMATE CHANGE AND WORLD AGRICULTURE

Climate change has disproportionately affected the production of the world's top 10 crops majorly in vulnerable countries in Asia and the Americas. The output of barley, cassava, maize, oil palm, rapeseed, rice, sorghum, soybean, sugarcane and wheat have already started to dip in half of all food-insecure countries and even some affluent ones in western Europe, according to a release on the University of Minnesota website. These 10 crops supply 83 per cent of all calories produced on cropland.

9.1 Key learnings are -

• Climate change has led to a decrease of 13.4 per cent in output for oil palm to an increase of 3.5 per cent for soybean. Climate change has also resulted in an average loss of approximately one per cent of consumable food calories of these top 10 crops.
• There are winners and losers, and some countries that are already food insecure fare worse.
• ountries such as those in Europe, Southern Africa, and Australia experience no such decrease compared to poor and developing countries of Latin America, Asia, Northern and Central America, where climate change blends with poverty to worsen the impacts.
• In contrast, the change has increased the yields of certain crops in some areas of the upper Midwest United States.
• Various studies map the vulnerable geographical areas and crops. It can help the affected countries to work towards achieving the United Nations mandated Sustainable Development Goals (SDG-2) of ending hunger and limiting the effects of climate change. The report also has implications for major food companies, commodity traders and the countries in which they operate, as well as for citizens worldwide.
• According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) 2016 report, almost 800 million people in the world today are chronically hungry. The report stated that climate change is increasingly affecting nearly 80 per cent of the world’s poor who depend on agriculture for their livelihood. 
• Declining crop yields may already be a fact and that decreases of 10–25 per cent or more may be widespread by 2050, warned the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
• Economic Survey 2018-19, India : It said that "Climate change could reduce annual agricultural incomes in the range of 15% to 18% on average, and up to 20% to 25% for unirrigated areas." At current levels of farm income, that translates into more than Rs3,600 per year for the median farm household. Against the backdrop of water scarcity and limited efficiency in existing irrigation schemes... technologies of drip irrigation, sprinklers and water management—captured in the ‘more crop for every drop’ campaign—may well hold the key to the future of Indian agriculture.
• The analysis says that at least three main channels through which climate change would impact farm incomes – an increase in average temperatures, a decline in average rainfall and an increase in the number of dry-days. Of course, all three are likely to be correlated, and therefore the total impact of climate change will not be the simple sum of these individual effects. 

9.2 Sustainable Agriculture

1. 40% of today’s global population works in agriculture, making it the single largest employer in the world.
2. Sustainable agriculture is the rejection of the industrial approach to food production (aka factory farms). It integrates three main things: (a) environmental health, (b) economic profitability, and (c) social and economic equity.
3. The ecological and social price of factory farms is: erosion, deforestation, depleted and contaminated soil and water resources, loss of biodiversity, labor abuses, and the decline of family farms.
4. The concept of sustainable agriculture embraces a wide range of techniques, including organic, free-range, low-input, holistic, and biodynamic.
5. With this type of farming, chemical pesticides or fertilizers aren’t necessary, crop diversity is encouraged, and precipitation provides irrigation water.
6. Organic farming typically requires 2.5 times more labor than conventional farming, but it yields 10 times the profit.
7. Organic food products saw a 7.7% growth rate in 2010, compared to 2009. Organic food accounts for nearly 4% of all food products sold in the U.S.
8. In contrast, 88% of corn and 94% of soybeans were genetically modified in 2011. This number was less than 20% in 1996.
9. “Healthy” soil is an important component of sustainability. Methods to enhance and protect the productivity of the soil include using cover crops, compost/manures, avoiding traffic on wet soils, and maintaining soil cover with plants/mulches.
10. The goal of sustainable farmers is to develop efficient, biological systems that don’t need high levels of material inputs (aka harmful chemicals).
11. There are 4 key sustainability goals: Satisfy human food needs, and contribute to biofuel needs. Enhance environmental quality. Sustain the economic viability of agriculture. Enhance the quality of life for farmers, farm workers and society as a whole.

                                                                                              

FACTS ABOUT U.S. AGRICULTURE

• 2 million (20 lakh) farms dot America’s rural landscape. 
• About 98% of U.S. farms are operated by families – individuals, family partnerships or family corporations. Farm and ranch families comprise less than 2% of the U.S. population.
• Women make up 36% of the total number of U.S. farm operators; 56% of all farms have at least one female decision-maker.
• One U.S. farm feeds 166 people annually in the U.S. and abroad. The global population is expected to increase by 2.2 billion by 2050, which means the world’s farmers will have to grow about 70% more food than what is now produced.
• About 11% of U.S. farmers are serving or have served in the military.
• Cattle and calves, corn, and soybeans are the top 3 U.S. farm products.
• 87% of U.S. agri products sold are produced on family farms or ranches.
• Farming accounts for about 1% of the U.S. gross domestic product.
• Farmers and ranchers receive only 15 cents out of every dollar spent on food at home and away from home. The rest goes for costs beyond the farm gate: wages and materials for production, processing, marketing, transportation and distribution. In 1980, farmers and ranchers received 31 cents.
• In 2018, $139.6 billion worth of American agricultural products were exported around the world. The United States sells more food and fiber to world markets than we import, creating a positive agricultural trade balance. About 25% of U.S. farm products by value are exported each year.
• 25% of all farmers are beginning farmers (in business less than 10 years); their average age is 46.
• About 8% of U.S. farms market foods locally, through direct-to-consumer or intermediated sales.
• Americans enjoy a food supply that is abundant, affordable overall and among the world’s safest, thanks in large part to the efficiency and productivity of America’s farm and ranch families.
• The pounds of feed (grain, forage, etc.) a dairy cow needs to eat to produce 100 pounds of milk has decreased by more than 40% on average in the last 40 years.
• One acre of land can grow a variety of crops, including 50,000 pounds of strawberries or 2,784 pounds (46.4 bushels) of wheat.
• Farm programs typically cost each American just pennies per meal and account for less than one-half of 1% of the total U.S. budget.
• The number of farm operators of Spanish, Hispanic or Latino origin is higher than ever, up 13% to 112,451. There also are more African American (45,508, up 2%) farm operators.
• More than half of America’s farmers intentionally provide habitat for wildlife. Deer, moose, fowl and other species have shown significant population increases for decades.
• One day’s production for a high-producing dairy cow yields 4.8 pounds of butter or 8.7 gallons of ice cream or 10.5 pounds of cheese.
• Careful stewardship by America’s food producers has spurred a 34% decline in erosion of cropland by wind and water since 1982.
• Americans throw away an estimated 25% of the food they bring home every month. A whopping 40% of all food grown and produced in the U.S. is never eaten.
• Total U.S. corn yield (tons per acre) has increased more than 360% since 1950.
• Independence Day is the top food holiday in the U.S. Americans spend $6.9 billion on July 4th cookouts each year.
• Many Americans celebrate holidays with food, spending a total of nearly $14 billion each year.

AGRICULTURAL TERMS AND DEFINITIONS

• Acid Soil: A soil with an acid reaction, a pH less than 7.0. 
• Acre: A parcel of land, containing 4,840 square yards or 43,560 square feet. 
• Agriculture: The utilization of biological processes on farms to produce food and other products useful and necessary to man. Both a "way of life" and a "means of life" for the people involved in this industry. 
• Agriculture Extension Service: Cooperative agencies or individual firms doing research and education for rural and urban producer and consumer groups, located in each district with specialist personnel for each particular area. 
• Agronomy: The science of crop production and soil management. 
• Alfalfa: A valuable leguminous crop for forage or hay used in livestock.
• Apiary: Colonies of bees in hives and other beekeeping equipment for the production of honey. 
• Artificial Insemination: The mechanical injection of male semen into the womb of the female with a special syringe-like apparatus. The process begins with the collection of semen from the male. This method is used extensively in dairy husbandry. 
• Avian: Pertaining to poultry and/or fowl.
• Balance Ration: A ration which furnishes all the necessary nutrients in the proportions and amounts needed by the animal for normal functioning and growth. 
• Bloating: Abnormal swelling of the abdomen of livestock, caused by excessive gas formation which can result in death. 
• Boar: A breeding male hog, any age. 
• Breed: A group of animals descended from common ancestry and possessing certain inherited characteristics which distinguish it from any other group. When matings within the breed are made, these characteristics are transmitted to the offspring in a uniform and predictable manner. 
• Broiler: A chicken of either sex about 7 weeks of age.
• Bushel: A unit of dry measure (1 cubic foot) for grain, fruit, etc., equivalent to 8 gallons of liquid. Weight varies with the density/bulk of the commodity. 
• Cash Crop: Any crop that is sold off the farm to yield ready cash. 
• Certified Seed: Seed grown from pure stock which meets the standards of certifying agency (usually a state government agency). Certification is based on germination, freedom from weeds and disease, and trueness to variety. 
• Complete Fertilizer: A fertilizer containing the three macro nutrients (Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium) in sufficient amounts to sustain plant growth. 
• Compost: Organic residues, or a mixture of organic residues and soil which have been piled, moistened, and allowed to undergo biological decomposition. Mineral fertilizers are sometimes added. 
• Confinement: Livestock kept in "dry-lot" for maximum year-round production. Facilities may be partial or complete solid floored and enclosed/covered. 
• Controlled Lighting: Artificial lighting of poultry housing. Increasing or decreasing the number of hours of light during the day will control sexual maturity, fertility, and moult. 
• Cooperative: An organization formed for the purpose of production and marketing of goods or products owned collectively by members who share in the benefits. Most common examples in agriculture are canneries and creameries. 
• Crop Rotation: More or less regular recurrent succession of different crops on the same land for the purpose of maintaining good yields.
• Double Crop: Two different crops grown on the same area in one growing season. 
• Drainage: The removal of excess surface water or excess water from within the soil by means of surface or sub-surface drains. 
• Drilling: The process of opening the soil to receive the seed, planting the seed and covering it in a single operation. 
• Dry Cow: A cow that is not producing milk, the period before the next calving and lactation. 
• Dry Land Farming: The practice of crop production without irrigation. Erosion: The wearing away of the land surface, usually by running water or wind. 
• Field Capacity: The moisture content of soil in the field as measured two or three days after a thorough wetting of a well-drained soil by rain or irrigation water.
• Forage: Vegetable matter, fresh or preserved, which is gathered and fed to animals as roughage (e.g., alfalfa hay, corn silage, or other hay crops). 
• Horizontal Integration: The combining of two or more similar functions under one decision making body. A farmer who acquires and manages another farm as a separate unit and a canner that builds or acquires a cannery in another area are examples of horizontal integration. 
• Humus: The well decomposed, relatively stable portion of the organic matter in a soil.
• Hydroponics: Growing of plants in water containing the essential growth elements. This process is being used in "glass" houses for intensive "off-season" production of vegetables. 
• Incubation: A process of holding eggs under controlled conditions of heat and moisture permitting the fertile eggs to hatch. Chicks require 21 days and turkeys 28 days to hatch. 
• Integration: Control by a single organization of all or some of the various stages of production. 
• Lactation Period: The length of time a female gives milk following birth of offspring-usually with reference to dairy cows and milk goats. 
• Land Classification: The classification of units of land for the purpose of grouping soil of similar characteristics, in some cases showing their relative suitability for some specific use. 
• Leaching: The process of removal of soluble materials by the passage of water through soil. 
• Legumes: A type of plant which has nodules formed by bacteria on its roots. The bacteria that compose these nodules take nitrogen from the air and pass it on into the plant for the plant to use. Some legumes are alfalfa, soybeans, sweet clover and peanuts. 
• Livestock: Any domestic animal produced or kept primarily for farm, ranch, or market purposes, including beef and dairy cattle, hogs, sheep, goats, and horses. 
• Manure: Generally, the refuse from stables and barnyards including both animal excreta and straw or other litter.
• Marginal Land: Land almost too unproductive to be farmed profitably. 
• Mastitis: A disease of the cow's udder resulting from infection by microorganisms. The infection may be caused by improper milking procedures. 
• Milk (average composition): Milk contains on the average, the following: Fat-3.9%; Albumin- .7%; Casin-2.5%; Lactose-5.1%; Mineral matter-.7%; and Water-87.1%. 
• Nematode: Soil worms of microscopic size. These organisms may attack the root or other structures of plants and cause extensive damage. 
• Nitrogen Cycle: The sequence of transformations undergone by nitrogen in its movement from the free atmosphere into and through soils, into the plants, and eventually back. These biochemical reactions are largely involved in the growth and metabolism of plants and microorganisms. 
• Nutrient: A chemical element or compound that is essential for normal body metabolism, growth and production. Includes: carbohydrates fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals and water. 
• Omnivore: Animals that eat both animal and plant origin feeds. 
• Organic Fertilizer: Any fertilizer material containing plant nutrients in combination with carbon. 
• Pasteurization: A process of treatment of milk through heat that kills all harmful bacteria, without changing its physical or chemical composition. 
• Permanent Wilting Point: That point at which a plant is dried so badly that even though put into a humid atmosphere and watered, it will no longer recover. Pest: Any organism injuring plants or plant products. 
• pH: A scale of measurement by which the acidity or alkalinity of soil or water is rated. A pH of 6 to 7.5 is considered "ideal" for most agricultural crops. Each plant (specie-type), however, has its own "ideal" pH range.  [1 2 3 4 5 6 7 - acid range, 8 9 10 - neutral range, 11 12 13 Alkali Range]
• Pollen: The male germ cells. 
• Pollination: The transfer of pollen from the anther to the stigma. 
• Pomology: the science or study of growing fruit. 
• Poult: A young turkey. 
• Poultry: Domestic birds raised for eggs and meat. 
• Precooling: The process in which loads of fruit or vegetables are rapidly cooled prior to loading for shipment. 
• Productive Soil: A soil in which the chemical, physical, and biological conditions are favourable for the economic production of the crops suited to a particular area. 
• Rhizobium: Bacteria living in nodules on the roots of leguminous plants that are capable of removing nitrogen from the air and soil "fixing" it into forms that plants utilize for growth. 
• Rhizome: A subterranean stem, usually rooting at the nodes and rising at the apex; a rootstock. 
• Roaster: A young meat bird, 12 to 16 weeks old weighing 4 to 6 pounds, used for pan roasting. 
• Roasting Pig: A milk-fat pig weighing from 60 to 100 pounds. Rooster: A mature male chicken. 
• Roughage: Feeds high in fiber, low in total digestible nutrients as hay and silage; the complete forage plant, including the stalk, stem, leaf, and (if mature) the seed. 
• Ruminants: Animals having a stomach with four compartments (rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum). Their digestive process is more complex, therefore, than that of animals having a true stomach. Some commonly known ruminants are cattle, sheep and goats; an example of a true stomach animal is the pig. 
• Saturate: To fill all of the openings among soil particles with liquid. 
• Sheet Erosion: The gradual, uniform removal by water of the earth's surface, without the formation of hills or gullies. 
• Silage: Prepared by chopping green forage (grass, legumes, field corn, etc.) Into an airtight chamber, where it is compressed to exclude air and undergoes and acid fermentation that retards spoilage. Contains about 65 percent moisture; 3 lbs. Of silage is equal to 1 lb. Of hay nutritionally. 
• Slaughterhouse: A place where animals marketed for meat arc killed humanely. 
• Soil Horizon: A layer of soil material approximately parallel to the land surface which differs from adjacent genetically related layers in color, structure, texture, or consistence. It also differs in biological and chemical characteristics.
• Soil Map: A map designed to show the distribution of soil types or other soil-mapping units in relation to the prominent physical and cultural features of the earth's surface. 
• Soil-Moisture Tensiometer: An instrument which measures the tension with which water is held by soil. The instrument can be used for estimating when to irrigate land and for detecting drainage problems. 
• Soil Reaction: The degree of acidity or alkalinity of a soil usually expressed in terms of pH value. 
• Soil Structure: Refers to bonding together of soil particles and the resulting configuration of solid and voids. Soil Survey: The systematic examination, description, classification, and mapping of soils in an area.
• Soil Texture: Refers to the coarseness or fineness of a soil. It is determined by the relative proportion of various sized particles (sand, silt, and clay) in a soil. 
• Soil Type: A finer subdivision of a soil series. It includes all soils of a series which are similar in all characteristics, including texture of the surface layer. Species: One kind of plant. 
• Subsoiling: Breaking of compact subsoils without inverting them. This is done with a special narrow cultivator shovel or chisel, which is pulled through the soil at a depth from 12 to 24 inches and at spacings from 2 to 5 feet. 
• Topsoil: The layer of soil used for cultivation, which usually contains more organic matter than underlying materials. 
• Total Digestible Nutrients (TDN): The sum of all nutrients in a feed that are digested by the animal. 
• Transportation: The loss of water vapor from the leaves and stems of living plants to the atmosphere. 
• Variety: A group of individuals within a species that differs from the rest of the species. 
• Vertical Integration: The combining of two or more successive steps in the production, processing and distributing processes under a single decision making body. A canner that produces some of his own raw product, a group of farmers which acquires a cannery or a cotton gin, or a feed company that owns the poultry are all examples of vertical integration. 
• Viticulture: The science and practice of vine growing: grape growing. 
• Water Rights (Riparian Rights): The rights of a person owning land containing or bordering on a water course or other body of water in or to its banks, bed, or waters. 
• Water Table: The upper limit of the part of the soil or underlying rock material that is wholly saturated with water. In some places an upper or perched water table may be separated from a lower one by a dry zone. 
• Windbreak: A strip of trees or shrubs serving to reduce the force of wind; any protective shelter from the wind.

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