CULTIVATE

[verb] [T] - to prepare (land) and grow crops on it, or to grow (a particular crop)Most of the land there is too poor to cultivate.The villagers cultivate mostly maize and beans.(figurative formal) At this school we aim to cultivate (= develop and improve) the minds of all the children we teach.She seems to spend her life trying to cultivate her career (= trying to get better jobs and improve her skills).If you cultivate a friendship/relationship/contact, you make a special effort to establish and develop it, because you think it might be useful to you.The new Prime Minister is cultivating relationships with old Eastern Bloc countries.