Outreach in Biotechnology

a soil amendment (especially nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) applied to promote plant growth. Fertilizers are often categorized as either natural or synthetic, with the main difference between the two being sourcing, and not necessarily nutrient content — natural fertilizers are made from mineral deposits and organic materials, such as bone or plant meal or composted manure. Synthetic fertilizers are made by chemically processing raw materials. The actual elements and forms of these elements absorbed by plants are the same regardless of their source. See also natural fertilizers, synthetic fertilizers.

the ratio of agricultural inputs to outputs. The smaller the ratio, the more sustainable a farm’s production operations are likely to be, because fewer resources are used to produce the same result. See agricultural inputs.

•  Food for Thought moment from Marty Matlock's lecture: Setting Standards 

crops genetically engineered to contain input traits (like herbicide, insect, and environmental stress tolerance) that benefit farmers. In the world’s temperate zones, approximately 1.6 billion acres have been planted with first-generation GE crops — mostly herbicide resistant soybeans, and insect resistant corn and cotton. In tropical and arid climate zones, crops engineered for stress tolerance (e.g. drought, salt) will likely be most helpful to farmers.

precision-bred rice cultivars that are high yielding, taste good, and tolerate flooding. Created by crossing a low-yielding, flood-tolerant variety and modern, locally adapted rice varieties (landraces) using precision breeding (after decades of conventional breeding attempts had failed). Before seed for this crop became available, enough rice to feed 30 million people (on average) was lost to flooding each year in Myanmar, Bangladesh, and India. For more info see precision breeding.

• Flood-Resistant Rice Developed for South Asian Farmers, a Voice of America News YouTube video 
• Tomorrow's Table, a FFT lecture by the breeder of flood-tolerant rice, Pam Ronald

the distance our food travels before we eat it.

phenotype to gene. In forward genetics, the phenotype is known, but the gene sequence is not. Based on differences between individuals that share and do not share the trait of interest, the gene is mapped and identified. See also reverse genetics.

a method of farming husbandry in which animals are allowed to roam freely rather than be contained in any manner. In the United States, however, agricultural regulations apply only to poultry (i.e. the term is meaningless when applied to milk or red meat), and producers must demonstrate merely that their animals have theoretical access to the outside (no specifications are made regarding the quality or size of the outside range nor the duration of time an animal must have access).