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T value (or T level)
For a specific soil, the maximum average annual soil loss expressed as tons per acre per year that will permit current production levels to be maintained economically and indefinitely; the soil loss tolerance level. T values range from 2 to 5 tons per acre per year. According to the 1992 national resources inventory, about 63 million acres of highly erodible cropland are still eroding at more than their T value, including 21 million acres that are still eroding at three times T.
Tailings
Rock and other waste materials removed as impurities when minerals are mined and mineral deposits are processed. These materials are usually dumped on the ground or into ponds.
Taking
Argument that government regulations can effectively take away or reduce the right of individuals or firms to use property to maximize their incomes or utilities.
Tank
An artificial reservoir for stock water; local in Southwest.
Tar sand
Swamp-like deposit of a mixture of fine clay, sand, water, and variable amounts of tar-like heavy oil known as bitumen. Bitumen can be extracted from tar sand by heating. It can then be purified and upgraded to synthetic crude oil. See bitumen.
Tariff
A tax on imports.
Technological Change
An advance, usually scientific, that causes an increase in output to occur relative to the quantity of inputs.
Temperature
Measure of the average speed of motion of the atoms or molecules in a substance or combination of substances at a given moment. See heat.
Teratogen
A chemical that causes nonhereditary birth defects in a developing fetus. Teratogencity is taken into account in assessing the toxicity of pesticides and other chemicals. Both level and timing of exposure to teratogens determine health effects.
Terminator seeds
A descriptive term used by some for seeds that have been genetically engineered to produce a crop whose first generation produces sterile seeds, thus preventing a second generation from being grown from seeds saved from the first. This technology (currently 3 to 5 years from commercial application) was developed under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement between the Agricultural Research Service and a private seed company. Supporters of the technology state that it is a way to build patent protection directly into high-value, genetically engineered crop varieties and thus recoup high research investment costs. Opponents are concerned that the technology could have harmful environmental and public health effects and argue that it would have an inequitable impact on farmers in developing countries who rely on saved seed for replanting and for developing locally adapted varieties.

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