by Liz Carlisle
The characters in this book have their own ideas about how to change the food system, based on their considerable experience attempting to do it. Should you get the chance, I highly recommend asking them about it.
GLOSSARY
2,4-D. A common systemic herbicide used in the control of broadleaf weeds.
AGROECOLOGY. A scientific discipline and set of farming practices that seek to better understand and utilize ecological interactions within agricultural systems.
AGRONOMY. The science of producing and using plants for food, fuel, fiber, and land reclamation.
AG TASK FORCE. A subgroup of the Alternative Energy Resources Organization, founded in 1983 to develop programs, resources, and advocacy campaigns related to sustainable agriculture.
ALTERNATIVE ENERGY RESOURCES ORGANIZATION. Nonprofit “citizens’ renewable energy organization” founded in 1974 to promote alternatives to fossil fuel–based technologies. Headquartered in Helena, Montana.
AMMONIUM NITRATE. A chemical compound commonly used in agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer; also used as an oxidizing agent in explosives. Although it can occur naturally, it is rare, and virtually all contemporary sources are synthetic.
BASE ACRES. A farm’s crop-specific acreage eligible to participate in USDA commodity programs.
BLACK BELUGA LENTIL. Small, hard-seeded black lentil, first developed as a food crop by Timeless Seeds, which holds the trademark.
BLACK KABULI CHICKPEA. Trade name for a specialty chickpea variety of South Asian origin, distinguished by its black seed coat. Timeless Seeds holds the trademark.
BLACK MEDIC. A self-seeding annual legume that can be used as a semiperennial green manure or cover crop, particularly in dry areas, since it fixes relatively large amounts of nitrogen on low moisture. Also known as a lawn weed.
BROADLEAF. A flowering plant that is dicotyledonous, meaning its seed has two embryonic leaves, or cotyledons.
CHECKOFF. Program that collects funds from producers of a particular agricultural commodity and uses these funds to promote and do research on that particular commodity. In the United States, checkoff programs are overseen by the USDA, which can mandate participation, but are operated by industry trade groups.
CHEMICAL FALLOW. The use of herbicides to prevent vegetative growth on farmland that is not currently in production, for the purpose of weed control and soil moisture conservation.
COMBINE. A machine that harvests grain crops, so named because it combines three operations—reaping, threshing, and winnowing.
COMMUNITY SUPPORTED AGRICULTURE. A direct relationship between farmers and consumers, in which members typically pay in advance for a share or subscription and receive regular boxes of produce from the farm. By paying up front and accepting whatever products are seasonably available, members bear some of the risk typically absorbed solely by the farmer.
CONSERVATION RESERVE PROGRAM (CRP). A USDA land conservation program administered by the Farm Service Agency. In exchange for a yearly rental payment, farmers enrolled in the program agree to remove environmentally sensitive land from agricultural production and plant species intended to improve environmental health and quality.
COST-PRICE SQUEEZE. A period of increasing costs and simultaneous decreasing or stable prices. Within agriculture, a typical scenario involves commodity crop farmers facing increasing costs of fertilizer or other inputs and decreasing crop prices.
COVER CROP. A crop grown to protect the soil from erosion during the time of the year when it would otherwise be bare. Cover crops often function as green manures, and the terms may be used interchangeably.
COVER CROP COCKTAIL. A mixed cover crop that contains a diversity of plant species.
CROP ROTATION. The practice of growing a series of different types of crops in the same area in sequential seasons, typically to replenish nutrients and break pest and disease cycles.
CULTIVATION. The process of preparing land to raise crops, typically through plowing, or tillage. Also refers more generally to growing and caring for crops.
DEAD ZONES. Low-oxygen areas in the world’s oceans and large lakes, caused by an increase in chemical nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorous.
DIVERSITY-STABILITY HYPOTHESIS. Scientific hypothesis at the heart of conservation ecology, which holds that more biodiverse ecological communities are more stable and productive.
DRYLAND FARMING. The cultivation of crops without irrigation in regions with limited moisture.
DUST BOWL. A period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the US and Canadian prairies during the 1930s, triggered by drought and erosion on improperly managed farmlands.
EARL BUTZ. US secretary of agriculture, 1971–76, best known for instructing farmers to plant “fencerow to fencerow” and “get big or get out.”
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.
EMMER. An ancient variety of wheat, often marketed as farro.
EROSION. The wearing away of soil by runoff water (water erosion), wind shear (wind erosion), or tillage.
FARM BILL. A comprehensive piece of legislation, reauthorized approximately every five years by Congress, that covers most federal government policies related to agriculture in the United States.
FARMERS UNION (officially the Farmers Educational Cooperative Union of America). The nation’s second-largest farm organization, formed in 1902 to assist farmers in organizing cooperatives, fighting monopoly power, and advocating for farmer-friendly policies.
FARM IMPROVEMENT CLUB PROGRAM. Small grants program directed by the Alternative Energy Resources Organization from 1990 to 2000, to encourage groups of farmers to work together on common production and marketing challenges.
FARRO. Italian common name for emmer, sometimes also used to refer to two related species of ancient wheat, einkorn and spelt.
FOOD MILES. The distance food travels from where it is produced to where it is consumed.
GENETICALLY MODIFIED ORGANISMS (GMOS). Plants or animals that have been genetically engineered with DNA from bacteria, viruses, or other plants and animals. Typically, these are experimental combinations of genes from different species that do not occur in nature or in traditional crossbreeding.
GOLDEN TRIANGLE. An area of north-central Montana known for good wheat-growing conditions, located roughly between Conrad, Havre, and Great Falls.
GREEN MANURE. A crop grown for the main purpose of building up or maintaining soil fertility and organic matter, sometimes called a cover crop or plowdown.
HEIRLOOM VARIETIES. Varieties that have a history of being grown and shared within a family or community, in contrast to varieties developed for use in industrial agriculture. Sometimes called heritage varieties.
INCUBATOR FARM. A training farm that provides access to land, equipment, capital, and/or training for beginning farmers, who typically compensate their host farm by leasing a small parcel of land at reduced rates, paying tuition, or exchanging labor.
INDIANHEAD LENTIL. Lentil variety released by the University of Saskatchewan for use as a legume green manure crop. Now marketed as a food crop, under the trade name Black Beluga.
INOCULANTS. Microbial organisms used to promote plant health, typically by forming symbiotic relationships with the target crops, as with rhizobia bacteria and lentils.
INTERCROPPING. The agricultural practice of cultivating two or more crops in the same space at the same time, also known as polycropping.
KAMUT. Brand name of an ancient khorasan wheat variety, sold under a trademark that specifies organic production and prohibits hybridization or genetic engineering.
LAND SHARING. An approach to conservation ecology in which agricultural production and biod
iversity conservation are integrated.
LAND SPARING. An approach to conservation ecology in which agricultural production and biodiversity conservation are separated, based on the theory that intensively farming certain parcels of land is the best way to spare remaining lands for habitat and ecosystem service provision.
LEGUMES. Plants—including lentils, beans, peas, clovers, and alfalfa—that form a symbiotic relationship with nitrogen-fixing bacteria living in their roots. These bacteria help supply the plants with nitrogen from the air that would otherwise be unavailable.
LOCAVORE. A person committed to eating locally produced food.
MILPA. An intercropping system prevalent throughout Latin America, typically centered on corn, beans, and squash, but often including several other crops. Also refers to a field managed according to this system.
MONOCULTURE/MONOCROPPING. Production of the same crop in the same field year after year.
NATURAL PRODUCTS EXPO WEST. The world’s largest trade show for natural and organic products, hosted annually in Anaheim, California, since 1981.
NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE (NRCS). The primary federal agency that works with private landowners to help them conserve, maintain, and improve their natural resources, located within the US Department of Agriculture and formerly known as the Soil Conservation Service. The agency emphasizes voluntary, science-based conservation, technical assistance, partnerships, incentive-based programs, and cooperative problem solving at the community level.
NITROGEN FIXATION. The conversion of atmospheric nitrogen by bacteria to a form that plants can use. A small number of bacteria, including the rhizobia living in the roots of legumes, are able to make this conversion.
NODULES (or root nodules). Small growths on the roots of legumes, which house nitrogen-fixing rhizobia bacteria.
NORTHERN PLAINS RESOURCE COUNCIL. Nonprofit conservation and family agriculture organization founded in 1972 to protect working farm and ranch lands from the extractive industry. Headquartered in Billings, Montana.
NO-TILL. A system of planting crops without tilling the soil with a plow, disk, chisel, or other tillage implement. Also called zero tillage.
NUTRIENT DENSITY. Ratio of nutrient content to total energy content or calories.
OILSEED. A crop primarily grown for the oil in its seeds, such as sunflower or flax.
OPEN POLLINATED. Refers to plants pollinated by insects, birds, wind, humans, or other natural mechanisms. Because there are no restrictions on the flow of pollen between individuals, open-pollinated plants are more genetically diverse. This can cause a greater amount of variation within plant populations, which allows plants to slowly adapt to local growing conditions and climate from year to year. As long as pollen is not shared between different varieties within the same species, then the seed produced will remain true to type year after year, which means farmers and gardeners can save their own seed, rather than buying it each year, as they must do with hybrid varieties.
ORGANIC MATTER. The fraction of the soil composed of anything that once lived, including plants and animals in various states of decomposition, cells and tissues of soil organisms, and substances from plant roots and soil microbes. An important indicator of soil health and productivity.
PERENNIAL. Refers to plants and cropping systems with life cycles longer than two years.
POLLEN DRIFT. Accidental cross-pollination of different varieties of crops through natural dispersal methods, of particular concern to organic farmers located near growers of genetically modified organisms.
PULSE CROPS. Annual leguminous crops grown for their edible seed, such as lentils, peas, and dry beans.
QUONSET HUT. A lightweight prefabricated structure of corrugated galvanized steel, a semicircular cross section. Originally developed for military use and manufactured in large quantities during World War II, the Quonset hut is commonly used as a farm outbuilding.
RHIZOBIA BACTERIA. Bacteria that live in the roots of legumes and have a mutually beneficial relationship with the plant. These bacteria fix nitrogen, providing it to the plant in an available form, and in return receive energy-rich molecules that the plant produces.
ROCKY MOUNTAIN FRONT. The transition zone between the Rocky Mountains and the mixed-grass prairie.
SALINE SEEP. An expanse of salt crystals forming when underground salty water reaches the soil surface and evaporates.
SPELT. Ancient, hulled wheat variety with a lower gluten content than conventional wheat.
SPLIT PRODUCTION. Refers to farmers who grow a portion of their crop under organic certification but also farm noncertified land, sometimes using chemicals not allowed under organic regulations.
SUMMER FALLOW. The practice of allowing land to lie idle during the growing season. Also refers to the land under this form of management.
SUN TIMES. Periodical published by the Alternative Energy Resources Organization, from 1976 to the present.
SWATHER. A farm implement that cuts hay or small grain or pulse crops and forms them into a windrow.
TILLAGE. The mechanical manipulation of soil, generally for the purpose of loosening the soil, creating a seedbed, controlling weeds, or incorporating amendments.
TRANSGENIC. Containing one or more genes transferred from another species through genetic engineering.
TRIPLE BOTTOM LINE. Phrase coined by corporate responsibility advocate John Elkington to describe an accounting framework with three dimensions: social, financial, and environmental (or people, profit, and planet).
UNDERSOWING. Sowing one crop into a field in which another crop has already established, so that both crops develop at the same time.
VALUES-BASED SUPPLY CHAINS. Supply chains, or wholesale, non-direct-market channels where consumers receive information about the social, environmental, or community values incorporated into the production of a product, or the farm or ranch producing it.
ZERO TILLAGE. A system of planting crops without tilling the soil with a plow, disk, chisel, or other tillage implement.
* For now, Jody was stuck in the same position Dave had been decades ago—describing how his beef fit the organic paradigm with words like “natural,” since it wasn’t officially certified. But that was about to change. Meat had been included when the USDA passed its new National Organic Program rules in 2002, so once Jody’s pastureland completed the program’s requisite three-year transition period, his beef would became officially, certifiably organic.
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