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| 8280394698 | Green Revolution | new management techniques and mechanization as well as the triad of fertilization, irrigation, and improved crop varieties | 0 | |
| 8280401943 | Benefits of Green Revolution | increased food production dramatically; farmers were able to feed many more people using less land; less labor needed = less cost for farms | 1 | |
| 8280417810 | Techniques of Green Revolution | mechanization; irrigation; use of fertilizer; monocropping; use of pesticides | 2 | |
| 8280421163 | disadvantages of Green Revolution | machines are expensive; large farms generally more profitable than small farms; less labor = fewer jobs; large energy subsidy; biodiversity loss from conversion of wildlands to crops and fish kills from pesticide runoff and killing of wild predators to protect livestock/crops; soil erosion and desertification; aquifer depletion; nitrates and pesticides in drinking water; bacterial contamination of meat and/or water | 3 | |
| 8280514006 | What is waterlogging | a problem with irrigation in which water accumulates underground and gradually raises the water table, especially when farmers apply large amounts of irrigation water in an effort to leach salts deeper into the soil. | 4 | |
| 8280528150 | Effect of waterlogging on plants | loss in productivity because it deprives plants of oxygen they need to survive; at least 10% of the world's irrigated land suffers from this worsening problem | 5 | |
| 8280537708 | soil salinization | repeated applications of irrigation water in dry climates lead to the gradual accumulation of salts in the upper soil layers which stunts crop growth, lowers crop yields and can eventually kill plants and ruin the land | 6 | |
| 8280551515 | the Dust Bowl | in the 1930s, much of the topsoil in several Midwestern states was lost because of a combination of poor cultivation practices and prolonged drought. The resulting severe wind erosion of topsoil lead to crop failures and the formation land, with thousands of environmental refugees migrating to other parts of the country | 7 | |
| 8280576193 | organic fertilizer | composed of organic matter from plants and animals; typically animal manure that has been allowed to decompose along with dry wood/grass/etc. | 8 | |
| 8280589810 | inorganic fertilizer | synthetic; made commercially with the use of fossil fuels. combusting natural gas can produce nitrogen fertilizers (phosphoric acid or phosphate rocks for P fertilizers). | 9 | |
| 8280634787 | advantages of synthetic fertilizers | designed for easy application; nutrient content can be targeted to the needs of a particular crop or soil; plants can easily absorb them, even in poor soils; | 10 | |
| 8280643267 | disadvantages of synthetic fertilizers | requires large amounts of fossil fuel energy; are more likely to be carried by runoff into adjacent waterways and aquifers; causes algae blooms and eutrophication (more on that later); do nothing to add organic material back to the topsoil, which can eventually reduce soil fertility | 11 | |
| 8280675359 | monocropping | planting one variety of crop; dominant agricultural practice in the United States | 12 | |
| 8280683362 | how has monocropping benefited agricultural productivity | planting and harvesting is much faster (only one type of machine required); application of pesticides/fertilizer is easier as it can be applied uniformly over large fields | 13 | |
| 8280699967 | disadvantages of monocropping | soil erosion can be a problem because it gets exposed all at once over a large area between harvesting/planting seasons; more vulnerable to pests as they can establish themselves in a vast food supply and grow exponentially, and predators are not around because there is no habitat for them | 14 | |
| 8280735532 | broad-spectrum pesticides | kill many different types of pests at once; dimethoate kills almost any insect or mite | 15 | |
| 8280748795 | selective pesticides | target a narrow range of organisms, does not effect others (algicides kill algae but not other plants, etc) | 16 | |
| 8280774615 | first generation pesticide | mainly natural chemicals taken from plants (in the 1600s farmers used nicotine sulfate, extracted from tobacco leaves, as an insecticide) | 17 | |
| 8280784773 | second generation pesticides | produced in a laboratory (DDT: dicholodiphenyltrichloroethane); developed in the late 1930s and have been used ever since | 18 | |
| 8280803701 | benefits of synthetic pesticides | have saved human lives (DDT kills malaria-carrying mosquitos); have increased food supplies by reducing food losses to pests; help farmers increase profits by an increase in crop yields; work fast; when used properly some pesticides are low risk to human health; some newer pesticides are safer and more effective than older pesticides | 19 | |
| 8280822868 | disadvantages of synthetic pesticides | accelerate the development of genetic resistance to pesticides in pest organisms; can put farmers on a financial treadmill; some insecticides kill natural predators and parasites that help to control the pest populations; pesticides are usually applied inefficiently and often pollute the environment; some harm wildlife; some threaten human health | 20 | |
| 8285381183 | pesticide treadmill |  | 21 | |
| 8285421886 | Effects of IPM training |  | 22 | |
| 8285429188 | vulnerability to desertification |  | 23 | |
| 8285469758 | advantages of CAFOs | increased meat production; higher profits; less land use; reduced overgrazing; reduced soil erosion; protection of diversity | 24 | |
| 8285476773 | disadvantages of CAFOs | animals unnaturally confined and crowded; large inputs of grain, fishmeal, water, and fossil fuels; Greenhouse gas (CO2 and CH4) emissions; Concentration of animal wastes that can pollute water; Use of antibiotics can increase genetic resistance to microbes in humans | 25 | |
| 8286106074 | persistent pesticide | DDT; pesticides that remain in the environment for a long time | 26 | |
| 8286128851 | nonpersistent pesticide | Roundup (glyphosate - weed killer); pesticides that break down relatively quickly in the environment; must be applied more often | 27 | |
| 8286354556 | soil salinization prevention | reduce irrigation; use more efficient irrigation methods; switch to salt-tolerant crops | 28 | |
| 8286360786 | soil salinization cleanup | flush soil (expensive and inefficient); stop growing crops for 2-5 years; install underground drainage systems | 29 | |
| 8286656485 | benefits of GMOs | GMOs can offer greater yields, improved nutritional benefits in some crops, reduced use of pesticides, and often higher profits | 30 | |
| 8286656486 | disadvantages of GMOs | some concern over safety of GMOs; risk that GMOs may cross-breed with native or wild varieties, reducing species diversity; spread of altered genomes may alter natural plant varieties | 31 | |
| 8286661353 | Bt crops | GMOs whose genetic material has had an insecticidal genome inserted into it in order to produce a natural insecticide in its leaves (Bt corn; Bt cotton; Bt soy common US crops) | 32 | |
| 8286949063 | contour plowing | plowing and harvesting parallel to the topographic contours of the land; prevents erosion by water while still allowing for the practical advantage of plowing |  | 33 |
| 8290601845 | no-till agriculture | an agricultural method in which farmers do not turn the soil between seasons so that topsoil erosion is reduced | 34 | |
| 8290604872 | intercropping | ag method in which two or more crop species are planted in the same field and promote a synergistic interaction | 35 | |
| 8290608137 | crop rotation | an ag technique in which crop species in a field are rotated from season to season |  | 36 |
| 8290610224 | agroforestry | an ag technique in which trees and vegetables are intercropped |  | 37 |
| 8290619708 | IPM | ag practice that uses a variety of techniques designed to minimize pesticide inputs |  | 38 |
| 8290623000 | techniques for IPM | crop rotation and intercropping; use of pest-resistant crop varieties; creation of habitats for predators of pests; limited use of pesticides (last resort) | 39 |
