Modern Agriculture is a plethora of farming techniques and technology. We come across a very new and different terminology while reading about agriculture. Below are some of the terms compiled in to make your knowledge up-to-date in agriculture.

Why should you care about terminology?

Before I tell you why should you care about the terminology, I’d like to ask you a question.

Have you heard your parents/elders say, “Food these days is not as tasty as it used to be in our days. Our food used to be a lot tastier and juicier.”?

If yes, what they were talking of was ‘Residue-Free Farming’. which used to be a common practice earlier when farmers were not used as many chemical fertilizers as they are today.

LeanAgri uses these ‘residue-free farming’ techniques and promotes them openly. One of our customers showed great results and doubled his paddy yield using our techniques.

Carefully defined terminology enables people in a particular industry (agriculture in our case) to communicate clearly.

A common understanding of terms in Modern Agriculture allows people to communicate ideas more rapidly with less need for lengthy explanations. This requires a common understanding of important terms.

So, without any further delay, we’ll jump to the matter-in-hand.

Modern Agriculture and its terminology



1. Cover Crops

Crops, such as grass (rye, oats, buckwheat) or legumes (field peas, alfalfa, clover), that are planted between growing seasons of the farmers’ primary cash crop to conserve and improve the soil.

Benefits may include weed suppression, increasing organic matter, improved nitrogen cycling, moisture conservation and reduced soil erosion.

The crops may or may not be harvested for sale.


2. Transgenic Crops/GMOs

 A GMO is created by taking a beneficial trait, like insect resistance or pesticide tolerance, from one living thing and introducing it into a new plant to help it thrive in its environment.

GMOs are also commonly referred to as GM crops or products. Transgenic stands for transfer of genes.

GM crops are also referred to as biotechnology or genetically engineered, transgenic or bioengineered crops.


3. Fungicide

 Fungicides are a type of pesticide used in plant protection to control fungi or fungal diseases

They work by either killing the fungus or inhibiting its growth.

There are many types of fungicides available to control different types of fungi, including organic, microbial and synthetic products.


4. Herbicide

Herbicides are a type of pesticide that kills weeds that compete with a beneficial plant for sunlight, water and nutrients

There are many types of herbicides, the choice of which depends on the type of plant the farmer wants to control.

Herbicides are available in both organic and synthetic forms.


5. Insecticide

Insecticides are a type of pesticide used to control insects

This includes organic, microbial and synthetic products that can be used in the home, garden, agricultural and commercial uses.

There are many types available depending on the insects, farmers want to control.


6. Pesticide

 A pesticide is any substance or mixture of substances used to alter the life cycle of any pest.

Pesticides are used to help both home gardeners and farmers protect their plants from insects, weeds and/or fungi.

Pesticides can be a naturally derived or synthetically produced substance. They can also be an organism, for example, Bt which is used to control a number of insect pests.

Pesticides are also referred to as crop protection products.


7. Precision Agriculture

 Precision agriculture is the use of data analysis to help farmers improve crop production practices.

Farmers analyze data to help them produce more on every square foot of every field, while using water, nutrients, and fuel more efficiently.

You can read more about Precision Agriculture here.


8. Tillage

Practice of plowing soil before and after harvests to remove stalks, leaves and other residue from a field.

No-till farming is the absence of tillage where stalks and leaves remain in the field to improve the soil by retaining water, preventing erosion and benefiting soil health.

There are also other tillage methods that reduce some, but not all, of the residue.


9. Seed Treatment

Seed treatments generally refer to a type of pesticide applied directly on the seed as a coating.

They are used to protect seeds, seedlings and plants from diseases, insects and other pests. They may also contain micronutrients to promote plant health.

Seed treatments can be made of microbes or a synthetic compound.


10. Residue-free Agriculture

Use of organically derived biocides and bio fertilizers to protect the crops and increase their growth

Due to rapid evolution and increased awareness in the health segment, people are now focused on the benefits of consumption of fresh and residue free food.

In order to support this change, it is necessary to adopt the practice of residue-free farming wherein the food that is produced is pure, fresh, healthy and nutritious.

This produce is grown in an eco-friendly way and without the use of any hazardous chemical fertilizers in order to benefit the end consumer in the best possible way.

You can read more about more such terms here.


LeanAgri is an agri-tech startup set up in Pune, Maharashtra. We provide critical resources to farmers at appropriate times to implement the technologies.

Our vision is to increase incomes of farmers by increasing farm yields through systematic implementation of scientific techniques, providing essential resources and regular monitoring.

We have started our operations and tested in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Himachal Pradesh.

Together with this, we have developed an SMS and IVR based system. It will remind you of the schedule so that you do not miss out on anything.

All of this comes with a 24*7 season-long support from our team of Agronomy experts. They will help you out in case of an emergency.

We are incubated and formally associated with ICRISAT (International Crop Research Institute of Semi-Arid Tropics). They provide us with agronomy support, crop growth data and nutrient analysis, especially for the 6 mandate crops.

We are also supported and validated by institutions like DOGR IISR.

Our clients and partners include Rotary International and Swades Foundation.

We are helping more than 1500 farmers across the country. They have a total area under cultivation of more than 1100 acres combined.

You can know more about our products, LeanNutriLeanData and LeanEnterprise and can contact us for more info.


Grow Efficient, Grow More!!

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