Reference
Commercial Agriculture Glossary
Plain-language definitions of the commercial agriculture, greenhouse, irrigation, seed and trade-finance terms used across SeedMatch Group project briefs and RFQs.
- CAPEX
- Capital expenditure — the upfront investment to design, build and commission an agricultural project (structures, equipment, civil works, installation).
- OPEX
- Operating expenditure — recurring costs to run the project (energy, water, labour, inputs, maintenance, insurance).
- EPC
- Engineering, Procurement and Construction — one contractor delivers design, sourcing and build under a single price and schedule.
- Turnkey project
- A project delivered ready-to-operate: the buyer receives a commissioned facility and only needs to start operations.
- RFQ
- Request for Quotation — a formal brief sent to vetted suppliers describing scope, specifications and commercial terms to obtain comparable offers.
- Fertigation
- The application of dissolved fertilizers through the irrigation system, controlled by dosing units and EC/pH sensors.
- Hydroponics
- Soilless cultivation where nutrients are delivered in solution — includes NFT, DWC, drip-to-substrate and aeroponic variants.
- Protected agriculture
- Any covered growing system — greenhouses, high tunnels, screenhouses, net houses — that modifies the crop micro-climate.
- HAF fans
- Horizontal Air Flow fans — recirculate greenhouse air to equalize temperature and humidity and reduce disease pressure.
- Pad-and-fan cooling
- Evaporative cooling pulling air through wet cellulose pads at one gable, exhausting via fans at the opposite gable.
- Fogging / high-pressure misting
- Cooling and humidification by injecting fine water droplets into the air stream (typically 40–70 bar).
- F1 hybrid seed
- First-generation hybrid seed produced by crossing two inbred parent lines — delivers uniformity, vigour and specific disease resistance.
- Germination rate
- Percentage of seeds in a lot that produce a normal seedling under standard test conditions.
- Phytosanitary certificate
- Official document from the exporting country's plant protection authority certifying that a shipment meets the importing country's requirements.
- Incoterms
- International commercial terms (EXW, FOB, CIF, DAP, DDP…) defining the split of cost, risk and responsibility between buyer and seller.
- Letter of Credit (L/C)
- Bank instrument guaranteeing payment to the seller once documentary conditions are met — common in agricultural trade finance.
- Factoring
- Sale of receivables to a financier at a discount to unlock working capital before customer payment.
- Blended finance
- A funding stack combining commercial debt, concessional finance, grants and equity — common on food-security projects.
- Payback period
- Time required for cumulative operating cash flow to equal the initial CAPEX.
- IRR
- Internal Rate of Return — the discount rate at which the project's net present value equals zero.
- Yield gap
- Difference between the potential yield of a crop under best practice and the actual yield achieved on-farm.
- GLOBALG.A.P.
- International Good Agricultural Practices standard for on-farm food safety, environmental impact and worker welfare.
- HACCP
- Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points — the food-safety framework applied inside packing houses and processing plants.
- Cold chain
- Uninterrupted refrigerated handling from harvest through packing, transport and retail.
FAQ
- Why does SeedMatch Group publish a glossary?
- So professional buyers, planners, financiers and government teams share the same language when scoping a project. Consistent terminology reduces RFQ ambiguity and shortens supplier evaluation.
- How often is the glossary updated?
- Terms are reviewed each quarter and expanded whenever a new project category is added to the platform.
- Can I request a term?
- Yes — contact the specialist team and the definition will be added in the next update if broadly relevant.