Glossary Terms

Sustainable intensification

Policies and practices directed at increasing the productivity (‘yield per unit area’) without increasing the environmental impact (‘impact per unit area and produce’) (Garnett et al., 2013).

Organic farming

Agricultural production which typically places a higher emphasis on environmental and wildlife protection and, with regard to livestock production, on measures that are supposedly animal welfare friendly. Organic production aims at more holistic production management systems for crops and livestock, emphasizing on-farm management practices over off-farm inputs. This involves avoiding, or largely reducing, the use of [...]

Intensification

The process of increasing the use of inputs (labour, information, energy, fertilizers, pesticides, machinery) relative to land area, to increase agricultural production per unit area. Intensification may increase the pressure on the environment, if it is comprised of an indiscriminate increase of the use of inputs without an associated increase in managerial input. A higher [...]

Farm Intensity

Name Low intensity output < 500 euros/ha Medium intensity output => 500 and < 3000 euros/ha High intensity => 3000 euros/ha (source: www.seamlessassociation.org)

Farm size

Name Small scale < 16 ESU* Medium scale => 16 and < 40 ESU Large scale => 40 ESU (source: www.seamlessassociation.org) *ESU: European Size Unit = 1200 euros standard gross margin (http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Glossary:Standard_gross_margin_(SGM) )

Farm Type Zone (FTZ)

A spatially homogeneous area with distinctive characteristics in terms of the present climate, soil texture, slope and farm type, thus combining AEZs and FTs.

Farm type (FT)

The flag characterizing which activity generates the income for a farm and which crops are predominantly grown/animals are kept for that (in the case of Catch-C leaving out features such as intensity and size); consult Table 1. Table 1. Farm type assignment based on main source of income (Catch-C, Hijbeek et al., 2013) Specialisation EU-code [...]

Extensification

The process of decreasing the use of capital and inputs (e.g. fertilizers, pesticides, machinery, energy) relative to land area. Due to a decrease in inputs per land area the pressure on the environment may be decreased. A decrease in pesticides used, for instance, is likely to decrease the risk of pesticide run-off in surface and [...]

Soil sealing

The process of covering of a soil by buildings, or types of artificial material which may be very slowly permeable to water (e.g. asphalt or concrete). Soil sealing can cause rapid overland flow after precipitation where water cannot soak away leading to potential flooding. A soil is unable to function effectively when sealed.

Soil contamination

Accumulation of nutrients, metals or organic compounds leading to a reduction of the capacity of soils to deliver soil functions. Contamination may have a direct toxic effect on the plants, animals or humans living in, on, or from that soil, or have an indirect toxic effect due to accumulation in the whole trophic chain.