Product Description
Sustainable Agriculture and the Environment in the Humid Tropics provides critically needed direction for developing strategies that both mitigate land degradation, deforestation, and biological resource losses and help the economic status of tropical countries through promotion of sustainable agricultural practices. 6 x 9. Index. ... Read more

Product Description

World Agriculture and the Environment presents a unique assessment of agricultural commodity production and the environmental problems it causes, along with prescriptions for increasing efficiency and reducing damage to natural systems. Drawing on his extensive travel and research in agricultural regions around the world, and employing statistics from a range of authoritative sources including the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization,the author examines twenty of the world?s major crops, including beef, coffee, corn, rice, rubber, shrimp, sorghum, tea, and tobacco. For each crop, he offers comparative information including:

? a ?fast facts? overview section that summarizes key data for the crop
? main producing and consuming countries
? main types of production
? market trend information and market chain analyses
? major environmental impacts
? management strategies and best practices
? key contacts and references

Customer Reviews (3)

Qualification
How is someone who works for the World Wildlife Fund qualified to write a book and explain the global agriculture industry?

Quick review
World Agriculture and Environment in my opinion is a very interestig book, in which you can find, besides the basic information of agricultural production, techniques that help to reduce damage to natural systems, and also this book gives important evaluations of modern agriculture and its failure.

Superb reference
This is a superb and unique reference.It provides an incredible amount of detail on crops that enter world trade, and their impact on the environment.
The very best thing about this book is that it is not strident and does not blatantly advocate a particular political agenda.It is written in a scientific, objective tone that makes it far more convincing than the rhetorical works.Only when he comes to tobacco (a crop that ruins the environment AND then ruins the consumers) does he use a few value-laden words!
The reader is struck by what a mess the world is in, and how easily we could fix a lot of that.The book provides enormous detail on soil erosion, chemical use, biodiversity reduction, and the rest of our woes, but it presents equal detail on how to prevent those problems.Only a few crops (notably cotton, salmon, chocolate) would be hard to manage well.
Two social themes stand out:first, the very rapid concentration of commodity trade in the hands of a very few firms; second, the degree to which governments subsidize production-at-any-cost as opposed to production-with-environmental-protection.(Subsidizing includes nonlegal subsidies, such as letting the rich get away with breaking environmental laws and dumping huge costs on poorer neighbors.)One cannot escape the conclusion that changing this subsidy structure would fix most of the damage, worldwide.
Environmentalists should think more about subsidies!
Meanwhile, what can a concerned reader do?The book tells how to seek out shade-grown coffee, responsibly raised beef and paper, and so on.It is much harder, at least in the US, to find decently-produced soybeans or corn or wheat, but you can do it.Cotton is a special problem, and the alternatives to it are mostly worse.The hemp advocates will be vocal!
We are in such a mess, and it would be so easy to do so much....This is not a time to lose hope or give up.By providing the big picture, this book should make every concerned citizen stop and think. The few errors I could spot in the book are trivial ones.
This is an absolute must-read and must-have for anyone who works on problems of production and environment or on problems of world food supply and health. ... Read more

Product Description

This book contains up-to-date studies on the economics of sustainable energy in agriculture. The studies focus on energy efficiency improvement and the use of biomass. Specific attention is paid to the economic aspects of land use and the competition for land, both for food production and dedicated energy crops. The book will be of special interest to economists, agronomists, energy experts, and politicians that deal with energy issues in agriculture, both in developing and industrialised countries.

The book is relevant for those who are interested in the topic of global warming and carbon sequestration, and the transition towards carbon-free energy resources.

Product Description
Agricultural production environments have been changing constantly as a result of factors such as shifts in government macroeconomic policies and climate change. There is a need to constantly test new possibilities and strategies to match changing environments. It may be difficult for scientists, with a formal approach to technology development, to keep up with constantly changing production environments and to provide agricultural technologies that would sustain farmers income levels. In this context the farmers indigenous knowledge, particularly in developing economies, is critical for tackling issues arising out of changing agricultural production environments. This volume emphasizes that demands for new agricultural sustainable technologies may not be realized merely by the application scientific knowledge, but would require a combination of scientific inputs and the indigenous knowledge of the farming community. ... Read more

Product Description
The subject of Nature’s Matrix is conservation of biodiversity, but it differs from other books by proposing a radically new approach based on recent advances in the science of ecology plus certain political realities.

The analysis in Nature's Matrix is based on the linking of three key political issues that are intimately related, yet often treated in isolation. The first is the crisis of biodiversity loss, universally acknowledged as a major contemporary problem. The second has to do with food and agriculture, a crisis issue for the past two decades. The third is the political unrest in rural areas, engendered most recently by a collapse in rural product markets, resulting in massive rural-urban and international migration. This book shows how these three issues are interrelated in complex ways, focusing on the need to understand that interrelationship for the generation of effective conservation programs.

These ideas challenge some in the conservation community since they are at odds with the major trends of some of the large conservation organizations that emphasize targeted land purchases of protected areas. They argue that recent advances in ecological research make such a general approach anachronistic and call, rather, for solidarity with the small farmers around the world who are currently struggling to attain food sovereignty. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Small Farmers are the Future
The park system is the prevailing model for biodiversity protection in the world - think Teddy R. and the US National Park Service; think Tanzania's Selous National Park, the biggest in the world.Armed guards, strict rules, "nature here, humans there". Biologists have long recognized that local extinctions were common, even in these big, dynamic parks, so "corridors" were the rage a few years ago, little pathways that would connect two "natural" areas to each other to allow migration (the solution to local extinction) - bridges over busy highways, for example.Most ecologists have found this approach hasn't worked.

Using a dazzling array of different disciplinary perspectives (biology, history, politics, anthropology), Perfecto et al. propose a "matrix" model of biodiversity protection that recognizes humans as potential stewards of the environment right where they live and work.Conservationists, they argue, have been blind to the political realities that drive extinction in the most sensitive regions, regions that happen to be in the poorest areas of the world.They focus their attention on agriculture, which has been such a destructive force in places like Brazilian Amazon.But they draw an important distinction between the Green Revolution-style industrial system usually encouraged by the global economic powers and the farming practiced by smallholders around the world.The latter, they argue, actually contribute to this matrix of biodiversity by showing more care for the land and thus conservationists should support and work closely with rural social movements that advocate for them.

The book cites two large case studies from Latin America from coffee farms in Central America and cocoa farms in Brazil.In both cases, the authors found a rich diversity of species living in and migrating through the farms.These farms practiced traditional and/or sustainable methods that involved the use of naturally occurring shade trees. Examples of maize farming in Mexico and wetland protection via rice fields in Southeast Asia are also provided. The authors make a well-developed argument that supporting such farms should be central to any conservation plan, especially in the developing world.

One minor criticism I have is the authors' somewhat incongruous choice of cash crop farms as a case study in arguing for food sovereignty. The methods practiced by these farmers is admirable, but they're still at the whim of global markets to a large extent. Farms provisioning food for local markets should play a bigger role in any discussion of food sovereignty.Nevertheless, the findings are hopeful and paradigm-rattling and will likely make conservationists and rural development practitioners rethink their methods.

A strong addition to environmental history collections
People go where there is food. "Nature's Matrix: Linking Agriculture, Conservation, and Food Sovereignty", the collaborative work of Ivette Perfecto, John Vandermeer, and Angus Wright, is an intriguing history that discusses humanity, and how agriculture drives development through ecological effects on earth. Calling upon modern research on the subject, Ivette Perfecto and his associates, professors on the subject, enlighten and intrigue readers about nature's invisible mathematical hand and its impact on human society. "Nature's Matrix" is a strong addition to environmental history collections. ... Read more

Product Description
Maynard Murray was a medical doctor who researched the crucial importance of minerals - especially trace elements - to plants and animals. Beginning in 1938 and continuing through the 1950s, Dr. Murray used sea solids - mineral salts remaining after water is evaporated from ocean water - as fertilizer on a variety of vegetables, fruits and grains. His extensive experiments demonstrated repeatedly and conclusively that plants fertilized with sea solids and animals fed sea-solid-fertilized feeds grow stronger and more resistant to disease.

Sea Energy Agriculture recounts Murray's experiments and presents his astounding conclusions. The work of this eco-pioneer was largely ignored during his lifetime, and his book became a lost classic - out-of-print for more than 25 years. Now this rare volume is once again available, with a new foreward and afterword by the founder of Acres U.S.A., Charles Walters. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Keys to a hidden treasure
This book should be in the library of every farmer that desires to produce healthy, nutritious crops and livestock.

Sea Energy Agriculture (Paperback) by Maynard Murray
This is some thing which never came to my mind because I thought it was impossible.

After reading the book I realised the value of Sea water and Sea solids. I tried it on my house plants first. I saw unbelievable results. Many farmers can save billions of dollars if they try this. I guarantee it.

EVERYONE should read this book!
The information in this book will save you & your family's lives. Grow your own produce without poisons and with all the nutrients the human body needs to be healthy and stay out of the doctor's office for good. I'm serious, take your life back from commercial GMO's and depleted nutrition. Go to [...] and get started, we did!!

Best book ever! Eat vegan living foods!
This book will open your mind to a new level of thinking. A must for anybody who eats food. Pick up a copy for all the farmers in your area! ... Read more

Product Description
This book contains most of the papers presented at the Third International Conference on Sustainable Irrigation, Management, Technologies and Policies, held in Bucharest, Romania in June 2010. The conference was organized by the University Politehnica of Bucharest and the Wessex Institute of Technology of the UK, with the collaboration of the European Society of Agricultural Engineers and the International Commission of Agricultural Engineering. The series of biennial meetings provides a venue for an international presentation and dissemination of papers related to achieving efficient, equitable and sustainable use of water resources in irrigation.

The book will be of interest to irrigation and water resources engineers, scientists, and managers in government, industry, and academia who are involved with sustainable water use and irrigation. ... Read more

Product Description
Global agriculture is now at the crossroads. The Green Revolution of the last century is losing momentum. Rates of growth in food production are now declining, with land and water resources becoming scarcer, while world population continues to grow. We need to continue to identify and share the knowledge that will support successful and sustainable agriculture systems. These depend crucially on soil.

Gaining international attention, Dr. Uphoff’s efforts to promote and develop sustainable agriculture was recently featured in the N.Y. Times

Led by Norman Uphoff, internationally renowned for his proactive approach to world hunger, this volume brings together 102 experts representing 28 nations and multiple disciplines to report on achievements in sustainable soil-system management. While accepting some continuing role for chemical and other external inputs, this book presents ways in which crops can be produced cost effectively in greater abundance with lessened dependence on the exogenous resources that have driven the expansion of agriculture in the past.

Including the work of both researchers and practitioners, this important volume —

·         Explores soil systems in a variety of climate conditions

·         Discusses the importance of symbiotic relationships between plants and soil organisms, looking at crops as integral and interdependent participants in ecosystems

·         Seeks to reduce the distance between scientific research and technical practice

·         Examines related considerations such as pest and disease control, climate change, fertility restoration, and uses of monitoring and modeling

With 50 self-contained chapters, this work provides researchers, practitioners, and policy makers with a comprehensive understanding of the science and steps needed to utilize soil systems for the long-term benefit of humankind.

For information on the SRI, System of Rice Intensification being developed by Uphoff and others, go to http://ciifad.cornell.edu/sri/ ... Read more

Product Description
The book is a scholarly presentation on various issues pertaining to water resource management and agriculture practices. These include water contamination and health; trade-off between private benefits and sustainable development; and trade and environment. The volume makes a significant contribution to methodologies for assessing environmental and economic costs and identification of appropriate policy framework for abatement. A special feature of the book is that it seeks to integrate the issues of suitability across water use for human consumption and for agricultural production by exploring a broad conceptual framework.Case studies from a number of countries such as India, Bangladesh, Belgium, and the European Unionare covered. ... Read more

Product Description
Weed control demands time, labor and expense for every farmer every year. Steel in the Field shows how today's implements and techniques can control weeds while reducing -- or eliminating -- herbicides. In practical language, the 128-page book presents what farmers and researchers have learned in the last 20 years about cutting weed-control costs through improved cultivation tools, cover crops and new cropping rotations.

This is the first tool-centered book to combine farmer experience, commercial agricultural engineering expertise and university research. It directly tackles the hard questions of how to comply with erosion-prevention plans, how to remain profitable and how to manage residue and moisture loss.

Farmers -- 22 of them -- do a lot of the talking, sharing their struggles and successes with tools, weeds, herbicides and cropping systems. Their advice ranges from the specific -- setting mini-disks 0.75 inches deep and 2 inches away from 2-inch tall plants -- to the general, such as one farmer's estimate of the correct speed for using his coil-tine weeder: "As fast as you can hang on is fine." This book is a must for anyone looking to reduce or replace pesticide inputs. Index, contact list, detailed illustrations and tool source list included. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Great Resource
I've been using this book for several years now. And each year I buy copies for our farm interns and staff.I think the book does a great job of showing various pieces of equipment with the how and why it works.The vignettes of farmers who use those tools is very helpful in offering a three dimensional real life picture of how the tool may or may not work on our farm.Great book, one we refer to often for ideas and to make sure we all have the same "picture" in our heads of what a tool can and might do.

Real-life, onfarm agricultural experts explain weed control.
This book addresses the four main concerns that farmers have about mechanical weed control: cost, effectiveness, dependability and soil impact.The field equipment sections are the most descriptive that I haveever seen.

Farmer wisdom and experience are at the heart of this book.
Now you don't have to embarrass yourself at the coffee shop asking questions you feel you shouldn't have to ask about the basics of mechanical weed control. ... Read more

Product Description
Global agriculture is now at the crossroads. The Green Revolution of the last century is losing momentum. Rates of growth in food production are now declining, with land and water resources becoming scarcer, while world population continues to grow. We need to continue to identify and share the knowledge that will support successful and sustainable agriculture systems. These depend crucially on soil.

Gaining international attention, Dr. Uphoff’s efforts to promote and develop sustainable agriculture was recently featured in the N.Y. Times

Led by Norman Uphoff, internationally renowned for his proactive approach to world hunger, this volume brings together 102 experts representing 28 nations and multiple disciplines to report on achievements in sustainable soil-system management. While accepting some continuing role for chemical and other external inputs, this book presents ways in which crops can be produced cost effectively in greater abundance with lessened dependence on the exogenous resources that have driven the expansion of agriculture in the past.

Including the work of both researchers and practitioners, this important volume —

·         Explores soil systems in a variety of climate conditions

·         Discusses the importance of symbiotic relationships between plants and soil organisms, looking at crops as integral and interdependent participants in ecosystems

·         Seeks to reduce the distance between scientific research and technical practice

·         Examines related considerations such as pest and disease control, climate change, fertility restoration, and uses of monitoring and modeling

With 50 self-contained chapters, this work provides researchers, practitioners, and policy makers with a comprehensive understanding of the science and steps needed to utilize soil systems for the long-term benefit of humankind.

For information on the SRI, System of Rice Intensification being developed by Uphoff and others, go to http://ciifad.cornell.edu/sri/ ... Read more

Product Description

Healing Appalachia is a practical guide for environmentally conscious residents of Appalachia and beyond. It is also the first book to apply "appropriate technology," or the most basic technology that can effectively achieve the desired result, to this specific region. Authors Al Fritsch and Paul Gallimore have performed over 200 environmental resource assessments in thirty-three states. They bring this knowledge to bear as they examine thirty low-cost, people-friendly, and environmentally benign appropriate technologies that can be put to work today in Appalachia. They discuss such issues as renewable energy and energy conservation, food preservation and gardening, forest management, land use, transportation, water conservation, proper waste disposal, and wildlife protection. They pay close attention to the practicality of each technique according to affordability, ease of use, and ecological soundness. Their subjects range from solar home heating to greenhouses, from aquaculture to compost toilets, from organic gardening to wildlife restoration and enhancement, and from solar cars to microhydropower facilities. Their discussions of each topic benefit from the knowledge gained from thirty years of practical experience at environmental demonstration centers and public interest and educational organizations. Each section of the book includes details on construction and maintenance, as well as resources for locating further information, making this an essential volume for everyone who cares about the future of Appalachia.

Product Description
Agriculture in the United States today increasingly operates in two separate spheres: large, corporate-connected commodity production and distribution systems and small-scale farms that market directly to consumers. As a result, midsize family-operated farms find it increasingly difficult to find and reach markets for their products. They are too big to use the direct marketing techniques of small farms but too small to take advantage of corporate marketing and distribution systems. This crisis of the midsize farm results in a rural America with weakened municipal tax bases, job loss, and population flight. Food and the Mid-Level Farm discusses strategies for reviving an "agriculture of the middle" and creating a food system that works for midsize farms and ranches. Activists, practitioners, and scholars from a variety of disciplines, including sociology, political science, and economics, consider ways midsize farms can regain vitality by scaling up aspects of small farms' operations to connect with consumers, organizing together to develop markets for their products, developing food supply chains that preserve farmer identity and are based on fair business agreements, and promoting public policies (at international, federal, state, and community levels) that address agriculture-of-the-middle issues.

Food and the Mid-Level Farm makes it clear that the demise of midsize farms and ranches is not a foregone conclusion and that the renewal of an agriculture of the middle will benefit all participants in the food system—from growers to consumers.

Contributors:
Elizabeth Barham, Sandra S. Batie, Eileen Brady, Fred Buttel, Peter Carstensen, Ken Dahlberg, Mike Duffy, Thomas Gray, Shelly Grow, Amy Guptill, William Heffernan, Mary Hendrickson, Elizabeth Higgins, Fred Kirschenmann, David Lind, Thomas Lyson, Caitlin O'Brady, Rich Pirog, Daryll Ray, Harwood D. Schaffer, G. W. Stevenson, Rick Welsh. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Really interesting book and It was in really good conditions
Great book and great service from amazon the book was in good conditions and it also arrived just in time, the author makes a really good description about how to work with observational studies, and using two network groups as an example she explains very carefully and detailed how they got involved with alternative farming methods and the development of new sustainable practices. ... Read more

Product Description

Agriculture is the major user of water in most countries. It also faces the enormous challenge of producing almost 50% more food by 2030 and doubling production by 2050. This will likely need to be achieved with less water, mainly because of growing pressures from urbanisation, industrialisation and climate change. In this context, it will be important in future for farmers to receive the right signals to increase water use efficiency and improve agricultural water management, while preserving aquatic ecosystems.  

  - Executive Summary
  - Summary and Recommendations
  - Introduction
  - Setting the Scene - Hydrology and Economics of Water Resource Management in Agriculture
  - Recent Trends and Outlook for Water Resources in Agriculture
  - OECD Countries Policy Experiences
  - Bibliography
  - An Economic Analysis of the Virtual Water Concept in relation to the Agri-food Sector
  - Agriculture's Role in Flood Adaptation and Mitigation - Policy Issues and Approaches
  - Environmental Effectiveness and Economic Efficiency of Water Use in Agriculture - The Experience of and Lessons from the Australian Water Reform Programme
  - Financing Water Management and Infrastructure related to Agriculture across OECD Countries
  - Agricultural Water Pricing - EU and Mexico
  - Agricultural Water Pricing - Japan and Korea
  - Agricultural Water Pricing - Turkey
  - Agricultural Water Pricing - Australia
  - Agricultural Water Pricing - United States ... Read more

Product Description
A definitive work illustrating how forages can sustain tropical cropping systems and be used to combat environmental problems of deterioration of soils and declining crop yields that are associated with monocropping. It is the only book to cover the management of tropical plant-soil-animal systems in one volume. ... Read more

Product Description
"Poverty and hunger are not inextricably connected. Although poor, a subsistence farmer with sufficient land, stock, and seed will be able to feed his family. What the farmer cannot do, however, is feed the increasing number of landless neighbors. World population is expected to grow from 5.8 billion to 8.5 billion by the year 2025. How will this vast population be fed? --From Intellectual Property Rights in Agriculture The growing involvement of the private sector in worldwide agricultural biotechnology research makes the issue of intellectual property rights (IPR) an urgent priority in and for developing countries. The World Bank organized a major workshop on IPRs, bringing together a number of informed individuals representing major institutions with a stake in IPR. The group felt it vital to resolve disputes surrounding IPRs in developing countries to protect food security and to ensure uninterrupted supply of new technologies to resource-poor farmers. This publication contains valuable insights into the complex area of intellectual property rights in agriculture, and will help give valuable and urgently needed direction to the Bank and to its member and borrower countries. ... Read more

Product Description
Weed control demands time, labor and expense for every farmer every year. Steel in the Field shows how today's implements and techniques can control weeds while reducing -- or eliminating -- herbicides. In practical language, the 128-page book presents what farmers and researchers have learned in the last 20 years about cutting weed-control costs through improved cultivation tools, cover crops and new cropping rotations.

This is the first tool-centered book to combine farmer experience, commercial agricultural engineering expertise and university research. It directly tackles the hard questions of how to comply with erosion-prevention plans, how to remain profitable and how to manage residue and moisture loss.

Farmers -- 22 of them -- do a lot of the talking, sharing their struggles and successes with tools, weeds, herbicides and cropping systems. Their advice ranges from the specific -- setting mini-disks 0.75 inches deep and 2 inches away from 2-inch tall plants -- to the general, such as one farmer's estimate of the correct speed for using his coil-tine weeder: "As fast as you can hang on is fine." This book is a must for anyone looking to reduce or replace pesticide inputs. Index, contact list, detailed illustrations and tool source list included. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Great Resource
I've been using this book for several years now. And each year I buy copies for our farm interns and staff.I think the book does a great job of showing various pieces of equipment with the how and why it works.The vignettes of farmers who use those tools is very helpful in offering a three dimensional real life picture of how the tool may or may not work on our farm.Great book, one we refer to often for ideas and to make sure we all have the same "picture" in our heads of what a tool can and might do.

Real-life, onfarm agricultural experts explain weed control.
This book addresses the four main concerns that farmers have about mechanical weed control: cost, effectiveness, dependability and soil impact.The field equipment sections are the most descriptive that I haveever seen.

Farmer wisdom and experience are at the heart of this book.
Now you don't have to embarrass yourself at the coffee shop asking questions you feel you shouldn't have to ask about the basics of mechanical weed control. ... Read more

Product Description