| 1 hectare (ha) | = 2.47105 acres = 10,000 square meters |
| 1 metric ton | = 2,204.622 pounds (lb) = 10 centners = of wheat = 36,74 bushels of wheat = of corn = 39,37 bushels of corn |
| Agricultural year (crop year) | A crop year in Europe typically begins in late summer with the seeding of winter crops and ends approximately one and a half years later depending on when the crops is being harvested and sold. |
| Agronomy | The branch of agriculture dealing with crop production. |
| Amelioration | Improvement of physical condition of soil for plant growth. |
| Aquifer | Layers of rock sand or gravel, which hold water and allows water to percolate through it. |
| Arable farming | A farming system where crop production forms all or part of the farm's output |
| Arable land | As defined by FAO: land under temporary crops, temporary meadows for mowing or pasture, land under market and kitchen gardens and land temporary fallow (less than 5 years). Abandoned land resulting from shifting cultivation is not included. Data for arable land does not include land that is potentially cultivable |
| Arid | Region with annual rainfall below 200 mm. |
| Bioavailable | Available to living organisms. |
| Black Earth (Chernozem in Russian) | Black-coloured soil type containing a very high percentage of organic matter in the form of humus, ranging from 3 to 15 percent. Further, the earth is naturally rich in phosphoric acids, phosphorus and ammonia. The black earth layer is usually deep, often more than one meter but occasionally up to six meters. Apart from the large quantities of naturally present nutrients, the high humus content in black earth gives the soil a structure and moisture-retention capacity that makes it highly suitable for farming. There are two "Black Earth belts" in the world:
1.from Northeast Ukraine across the Russian central Black Earth Region and Southern Russia into Siberia and some areas of Kazakhstan,
2.in the Canadian Prairies. |
| Black Earth Region (in Russian context) | The Black Earth Region is Russia's largest agricultural region covering an area approximately equal to half the size of Germany i.e. circa 49 million hectares endowed with Black Earth. |
| Cadastre | A Russian state register of real property including details of the area owned, the owners and the value of the land. |
| Calcareous | Containing calcium, usually in the form of chalk or limestone. |
| Canopy | Above ground structure of a crop comprising leaves, stems and branches. |
| CBOT | Chicago Board of Trade |
| Central Black Earth region | The part of the Black Earth Region which covers the Voronezh, Tambov, Kursk, Lipetsk and Belgorod Oblasts |
| Cereal | Cultivated member of the grass family whose seeds or grain are used for food or animal feed: wheat, rice, maize, barley, oats, millets, rye. |
| Chernozem | See Black Earth |
| Chlorophyll | Green pigment, which captures energy from sunlight to build up carbohydrates from atmospheric CO2 and water by photosynthesis. Found in all algae and higher plants, contains nitrogen and magnesium. |
| Clay | A class of complex silicates with particle size less than 0.002 mm, e.g. kaolinite with non-swelling, and montmorillonite with swelling properties. |
| Clean Harvest (commercial crops) | The amount of crops which is ready to be used commercially (to be sold or used internally) after having been cleaned and/or dried. |
| Coarse grain | Collective term for maize, rye, barley, oats, millet and sorghum. |
| Combine (Combine Harvester) | A piece of equipment used for harvesting grains, oilseeds, and legumes, that both cuts, and threshes the crop in one go. |
| Compost | Manure or plant material decomposed with air by bacteria to a soil-like condition. |
| Crop rotation | Growing different crops in succession on the same field. |
| Crop year (Agricultural year) | A crop year in Europe typically begins in late summer with the seeding of winter crops and ends approximately one and a half years later depending on when the crops is being harvested and sold. |
| Cultivation | A tillage operation on the land involving inversion or mixing and pulverizing of the surface layers of soil. Either before planting or to remove weeds and to aerate and loosen the soil after the crop has begun to grow. |
| Cultivator | Farm implement for cultivation. |
| Dryland | Regions with low annual rainfall, also called arid and/or semiarid |
| Ear | The grain-bearing spike of a cereal plant. |
| Ecosystem | An ecological community considered together with the nonliving factors of its environment as a unit. |
| Elevator (Grain elevator) | Building or complex of buildings for drying, cleaning, storage and shipment of grain. |
| Evapotranspiration | The combined effect of evaporation from the soil surface and the transpiration from plant leaves. |
| EXW | Grains purchased from factory, from silo, from elevator |
| Fallow land | Land left idle, usually for whole or main part of a season during which it may be ploughed or cultivated to kill weeds. In the black earth region there is land which has been left completely idle and not cultivated for up to 15 years |
| Fertilizer | Chemical compounds given to plants to promote growth; they are usually applied either through the soil, for uptake by plant roots, or by foliar feeding, for uptake through leaves. Fertilizers can be organic (composed of organic matter), or inorganic (made of simple, inorganic chemicals or minerals). |
| FOB | Free On Board - an export pricing term where the seller covers all costs up to and including the loading of goods aboard a vessel, but not following freight/shipping costs. |
| Fungicide | Chemical or physical agent that kills or inhibits the growth of fungi. |
| Germination | The first stage in the development of a plant from seed. |
| Grains | Generic name for wheat, barley, oats, rye, rye-wheat, durra millet, maize and rice |
| Grain elevator (Elevator) | Building or complex of buildings for drying, cleaning, storage and shipment of grain. |
| Gross harvest | The amount of harvested crops off the field before cleaning and /or drying. Generally measured at the place of storage. |
| Harrowing | Light cultivation of land using an implement equipped with tines or chains. |
| Heifer | Young cow |
| Herbicide | Chemical substances used to kill unwanted plants. Selective herbicides kill specific targets while leaving the desired crop unharmed. Some of these act by interfering with the growth of the weed and are often based on plant hormones. |
| Horticulture | The branch of agriculture dealing with vegetables, fruit and flowers. |
| Humus | Dark colored organic material consisting of fully and/or partially decomposed plant or animal material. It provides nutrients for plants and allows soil to better hold water and air. |
| Inoculation | In agriculture: The addition of bacteria or other living organisms in order to increase agricultural productivity. |
| Intercropping | Growing two or more crops on the same field at the same time. |
| Irrigation | Giving plants water in an artificial way. |
| Kolkhoze | A Russian collective farm established under the Soviet system. |
| Landrace | Ancient cultivar of a crop, with some genetic diversity, developed by farmer selection of seeds. |
| Land owned (Land in registered ownership) | Land where the company has obtained the, in the central Cadastre, registered rights of ownership to the land. |
| Land under control | Refers to all land under the company's control, including land in registered ownership, long term leased land and acquired cropping rights (Pais) to land in the process of being registered as ownership. |
| Legume | A plant of the pea family; many legumes live in symbiosis with N-fixing bacteria. |
| Liming | Application to land of a material containing calcium, usually chalk or limestone, in order to reduce soil acidity. |
| Livestock farming | A farming system where some kind of animals are held as the only or part of the farms production. |
| Lucerne (alfalfa) | Important leguminous forage plant widely grown as a pasture and hay crop. |
| MATIF | Paris mercantile exchange |
| Mixed farming | Maintenance of arable and livestock enterprises on the same farm. |
| Monoculture | Growing of the same crop on the same field year after year. |
| Mulch | Material such as straw, leaves, etc., applied to or left on the soil surface to conserve moisture and suppress weeds. |
| NAMEX | Russian National Mercantile Exchange |
| Oblast | An administrative region of Russia. |
| Oilseeds | A wide variety of seeds which are grown as a source of oils, e.g. cottonseed, sesame, rape seed, sunflower and soybean. After extraction of the oil the residue is a valuable source of protein, especially for animal feedstuffs. |
| Organic | The huge class of chemical compounds containing carbon. |
| Pai | A share in a jointly-owned Russian land plot, received by a farm worker (often corresponding to 2 to 17, within the plot geographically unspecified, hectares). |
| Pathogen | An organism which causes disease. |
| Perennial | A plant or crop which continues to grow over several years. |
| Pesticide | Chemicals used to kill pests in crops or animals. |
| pH | A measure of hydrogen ion activity and so of acidity or alkalinity. pH 7 is neutral reaction in water. Values below 7 indicate acidity, above 7 alkalinity. |
| Photosynthesis | The process by which green plants synthesises carbohydrates from water and carbon dioxide. |
| Ploughing | Mechanical inversion of the topsoil. |
| Prophylactic | In agriculture: Pesticides used in advance of an expected pest attack. |
| Puddling | Working the soil when wet to break down the structure and produce a relative uniform impermeable mud to retain water. |
| Recycling | The reuse of materials, e.g. nutrients in animal manure returned to the soil is reused (less losses) in plant production. |
| Rye | A grass grown extensively as a grain and forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe and is closely related to barley and wheat. Rye grain is used for flour, rye bread, rye beer, some whiskies, some vodkas, and animal fodder. |
| Saline soil | Soil with reduced production capacity due to enhanced content of salts. |
| Seed/Grain refraction | The natural reduction of gross harvest weight from cleaning out waist material and/or damaged seeds, as well as natural biological or induced vaporization of moisture. |
| Seed retention | The practise of using 2nd or 3rd generation of grown wheat, barley etc. for planting of a 3rd or 4th generation instead of being sold for milling or as feedstuff. |
| Seeder | An implement for planting or sowing seeds. |
| Semi-arid | Region with annual rainfall below 800 mm. |
| Senescence | Wilting or death of plants. |
| Sovkhoze | A Russian state farm established under the Soviet system. |
| Sprayer | A piece of equipment that applies herbicides, pesticides, and liquid fertilizers to agricultural crops. Can either be pulled by a tractor or self-propelled. |
| Spreader | Agricultural implement for spreading solid fertilizer (which is most common). |
| Spring crops | Crops sown in the late winter or spring. |
| Stubble | The part of the crop left in the ground after harvest including stems and roots. |
| Sub-tropical | Area just outside the tropics |
| Sward | The carpet of grasses or clovers covering the ground in pasture or meadow. |
| Temperate | Region between the arctics and the sub-tropics. Neither very hot, nor very cold. |
| Terracing | In agriculture: The building of flat or nearly flat plateau on steep hills, in order to prevent erosion when cultivating the soil. |
| Tillage | Practice of cultivation of soil. |
| Tillering | Development of side-shoots from the base of a plant close to the ground, e.g., from the bottom of the stem of cereals. |
| Tillers | A shoot that sprouts from the base of a cereal plant |
| Topsoil | Top layer of the soil, generally some 20 - 30 cm deep. |
| Transpiration | Water evaporation from plant leaves. |
| Transplant | Grow seeds to plants in one place, then move the plants to another where they develop until maturity. Traditional in rice cultivation. |
| Tropical | The hot, circumequatorial area between latitude 23.5 o N and 23.5 o S. |
| Waterlogged | Soil saturated with water so that all pore space is completely filled |
| Watershed | An area draining to a river system. |
| Winter crops | Crops sown in the late summer, autumn or early winter. |
