Download or read book In Defense of Farmers written by Jane Gibson and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2019-07 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Industrial agriculture is generally characterized as either the salvation of a growing, hungry, global population or as socially and environmentally irresponsible. Despite elements of truth in this polarization, it fails to focus on the particular vulnerabilities and potentials of industrial agriculture. Both representations obscure individual farmers, their families, their communities, and the risks they face from unpredictable local, national, and global conditions: fluctuating and often volatile production costs and crop prices; extreme weather exacerbated by climate change; complicated and changing farm policies; new production technologies and practices; water availability; inflation and debt; and rural community decline. Yet the future of industrial agriculture depends fundamentally on farmers’ decisions. In Defense of Farmers illuminates anew the critical role that farmers play in the future of agriculture and examines the social, economic, and environmental vulnerabilities of industrial agriculture, as well as its adaptations and evolution. Contextualizing the conversations about agriculture and rural societies within the disciplines of sociology, geography, economics, and anthropology, this volume addresses specific challenges farmers face in four countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, and the United States. By concentrating on countries with the most sophisticated production technologies capable of producing the largest quantities of grains, soybeans, and animal proteins in the world, this volume focuses attention on the farmers whose labors, decision-making, and risk-taking throw into relief the implications and limitations of our global industrial food system. The case studies here acknowledge the agency of farmers and offer ways forward in the direction of sustainable agriculture.

Download or read book Forecasts for the Future Agriculture written by John G. McNeely and published by . This book was released on 1974 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Sustainable Intensification written by Jules N. Pretty and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-06-25 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Continued population growth, rapidly changing consumption patterns and the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are driving limited resources of food, energy, water and materials towards critical thresholds worldwide. These pressures are likely to be substantial across Africa, where countries will have to find innovative ways to boost crop and livestock production to avoid becoming more reliant on imports and food aid. Sustainable agricultural intensification - producing more output from the same area of land while reducing the negative environmental impacts - represents a solution for millions of African farmers. This volume presents the lessons learned from 40 sustainable agricultural intensification programmes in 20 countries across Africa, commissioned as part of the UK Government's Foresight project. Through detailed case studies, the authors of each chapter examine how to develop productive and sustainable agricultural systems and how to scale up these systems to reach many more millions of people in the future. Themes covered include crop improvements, agroforestry and soil conservation, conservation agriculture, integrated pest management, horticulture, livestock and fodder crops, aquaculture, and novel policies and partnerships.

Download or read book Making Climate Forecasts Matter written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1999-05-27 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: El Nino has been with us for centuries, but now we can forcast it, and thus can prepare far in advance for the extreme climatic events it brings. The emerging ability to forecast climate may be of tremendous value to humanity if we learn how to use the information well. How does society cope with seasonal-to-interannual climatic variations? How have climate forecasts been usedâ€"and how useful have they been? What kinds of forecast information are needed? Who is likely to benefit from forecasting skill? What are the benefits of better forecasting? This book reviews what we know about these and other questions and identifies research directions toward more useful seasonal-to-interannual climate forecasts. In approaching their recommendations, the panel explores: Vulnerability of human activities to climate. State of the science of climate forecasting. How societies coevolved with their climates and cope with variations in climate. How climate information should be disseminated to achieve the best response. How we can use forecasting to better manage the human consequences of climate change.

Download or read book Climate Prediction and Agriculture written by Mannava VK Sivakumar and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2007-05-26 with total page 319 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on an International Workshop held in Geneva in 2005, this book reviews the advances made so far in seasonal climate predictions and their applications for management and decision-making in agriculture. It also identifies the challenges to be addressed in the next 5 to 10 years to further enhance operational applications of climate predictions in agriculture, especially in developing countries.

Download or read book Rethinking Food and Agriculture written by Amir Kassam and published by Woodhead Publishing. This book was released on 2020-10-18 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Given the central role of the food and agriculture system in driving so many of the connected ecological, social and economic threats and challenges we currently face, Rethinking Food and Agriculture reviews, reassesses and reimagines the current food and agriculture system and the narrow paradigm in which it operates. Rethinking Food and Agriculture explores and uncovers some of the key historical, ethical, economic, social, cultural, political, and structural drivers and root causes of unsustainability, degradation of the agricultural environment, destruction of nature, short-comings in science and knowledge systems, inequality, hunger and food insecurity, and disharmony. It reviews efforts towards ‘sustainable development’, and reassesses whether these efforts have been implemented with adequate responsibility, acceptable societal and environmental costs and optimal engagement to secure sustainability, equity and justice. The book highlights the many ways that farmers and their communities, civil society groups, social movements, development experts, scientists and others have been raising awareness of these issues, implementing solutions and forging ‘new ways forward’, for example towards paradigms of agriculture, natural resource management and human nutrition which are more sustainable and just. Rethinking Food and Agriculture proposes ways to move beyond the current limited view of agro-ecological sustainability towards overall sustainability of the food and agriculture system based on the principle of ‘inclusive responsibility’. Inclusive responsibility encourages ecosystem sustainability based on agro-ecological and planetary limits to sustainable resource use for production and livelihoods. Inclusive responsibility also places importance on quality of life, pluralism, equity and justice for all and emphasises the health, well-being, sovereignty, dignity and rights of producers, consumers and other stakeholders, as well as of nonhuman animals and the natural world. Explores some of the key drivers and root causes of unsustainability , degradation of the agricultural environment and destruction of nature Highlights the many ways that different stakeholders have been forging 'new ways forward' towards alternative paradigms of agriculture, human nutrition and political economy, which are more sustainable and just Proposes ways to move beyong the current unsustainable exploitation of natural resources towards agroecological sustainability and overall sustainability of the food and agriculture system based on 'inclusive responsibility'

Download or read book OECD FAO Agricultural Outlook 2021 2030 written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2021-07-05 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Agricultural Outlook 2021-2030 is a collaborative effort of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. It brings together the commodity, policy and country expertise of both organisations as well as input from collaborating member countries to provide an annual assessment of the prospects for the coming decade of national, regional and global agricultural commodity markets. The publication consists of 11 Chapters; Chapter 1 covers agricultural and food markets; Chapter 2 provides regional outlooks and the remaining chapters are dedicated to individual commodities.

Download or read book The Future of Mountain Agriculture written by Stefan Mann and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-11-08 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mountain agriculture is a socially and culturally unique system, but also a regionally important economic sector. In a globalising world, it is clear that fertile areas on all continents will always be used to produce large quantities of agricultural products in order to feed the world and, increasingly, provide biomass as a source of energy. It is far less clear, however, how land use in steep and more peripheral regions will evolve. By definition, farmland in mountain areas is more difficult to work because of steep slopes and missing accessibility. Climate conditions and poor soil quality often add to these adverse conditions. Through overcoming limited views from one region only or from one discipline, this book intends to draw a first truly international perspective on the issue of mountain farming.

Download or read book Applications of Seasonal Climate Forecasting in Agricultural and Natural Ecosystems written by Graeme L. Hammer and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate variability has major impacts in many parts of the world, including Australia. Developments in understanding of the El Niño - Southern Oscillation Phenomenon have introduced some skill in seasonal to inter-annual climate forecasting. Can this skill be harnessed to advantage? Or do we just continue to observe these impacts? How does a decision-maker managing an agricultural or natural ecosystem modify decisions in response to a skillful, but imprecise, seasonal climate forecast? Using Australian experience as a basis, this book focuses on these questions in pursuing means to better manage climate risks. The state of the science in climate forecasting is reviewed before considering detailed examples of applications to: farm scale agricultural decisions (such as management of cropping and grazing systems); regional and national scale agricultural decisions (such as commodity trading and government policy); and natural systems (such as water resources, pests and diseases, and natural fauna). Many of the examples highlight the participatory and inter-disciplinary approach required among decision-makers, resource systems scientists/analysts, and climate scientists to bring about the effective applications. The experiences discussed provide valuable insights beyond the geographical and disciplinary focus of this book. The book is ideally suited to professionals and postgraduate students in ecology, agricultural climatology, environmental planning, and climate science.

Download or read book Evaluating USDA Agricultural Forecasts written by Siddhartha S. Bora and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The timely availability of accurate forecasts plays a vital role in informing decisions by farm sector stakeholders. In this dissertation, I evaluate the rationality, accuracy, and informativeness of a range of agricultural forecasts and projections published by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and other agencies and examine ways to improve them. The findings have implications for future revisions of the forecasting processes and for policymakers, agricultural businesses, and other stakeholders who use these forecasts. In Chapter 1, I show that some of the reported biases and inefficiencies in USDA forecasts may be due to an asymmetric loss of the forecaster. Many previous studies suggest that many USDA forecasts are biased and/or inefficient. These findings, however, may be the result of the assumed loss function of USDA forecasters. I test the rationality of the USDA net cash income forecasts and the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) production and price forecasts between 1988-2018 using a flexible multivariate loss function that allows for asymmetric loss and non-separable forecast errors. My results provide robust evidence that USDA forecasters are rational expected loss minimizers yet demonstrate a tendency to place a greater weight on under- or over-prediction. As a result, this study provides an alternate interpretation of previous findings of forecast irrationality. Agricultural baselines play an important role in shaping agricultural policy by providing information about the farm sector for a ten-year horizon, yet these projections have not been rigorously evaluated. In Chapter 2, I evaluate the accuracy and informativeness of two widely used baselines for the US farm sector published by the USDA and the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) in three steps. First, I examine the average percent errors of the projections and perform tests of bias. Second, I use a novel testing framework based on the encompassing principle to test the predictive content of the projections for each horizon, determining the longest informative projection horizon. Third, I compare the USDA and FAPRI baseline projections using a multi-horizon framework that considers all projection horizons jointly. I find that prediction error and bias increase with the horizon’s length. The predictive content of the baselines projections for most variables diminishes after 4-5 years. The multi-horizon comparison suggests that neither USDA nor FAPRI projections have uniform or average superior predictive ability over the other for most variables. Multi-step forecasts about commodity market indicators play an important role in informing policy and investment decisions by governments and market participants. In Chapter 3, I examine whether the accuracy of long-term forecasts can be improved using deep learning models. I first formulate a supervised learning problem and set benchmarks for forecast accuracy. I train a set of deep neural networks on a training sample and measure their performance against the benchmark model on a test sample using a walk-forward validation strategy. I find that while the USDA baseline projections perform better for the shorter horizon, the performance of the deep neural networks improves for the longer forecast horizons.

Download or read book The Future of European Agriculture written by Conrad Caspari and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 98 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Agriculture Food Systems To 2050 Global Trends Challenges And Opportunities written by Rachid Serraj and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2018-11-08 with total page 680 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book features a comprehensive foresight assessment, exploring the pressures — threats as well as opportunities — on the global agriculture & food systems between now and 2050. The overarching aim is to help readers understand the context, by analyzing global trends and anticipating change for better planning and constructing pathways from the present to the future by focusing on the right questions and problems. The book contextualizes the role of international agricultural research in addressing the complex challenges posed by UN 2030 Agenda and beyond, and identifies the decisions that scientific leaders, donors and policy makers need to take today, and in the years ahead, to ensure that a global population rising to nine billion or more combined with rising incomes and changing diets can be fed sustainably and equitably, in the face of the growing climate threats.

Download or read book Analysis of Agricultural Production Forecasts in the Statistical Decision Theory Framework written by Yair Mundlak and published by . This book was released on 1957 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book OECD FAO Agricultural Outlook 2019 2028 written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2019-07-08 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Agricultural Outlook 2019-2028 is a collaborative effort of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. It brings together the commodity, policy and country expertise of both organisations as well ...

Download or read book Food Security in the Economy of the Future written by Elena G. Popkova and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-03-25 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book explores issues of agricultural development and the provision of food security, providing a core framework and recommendations for implementing sustainable development goals in these areas. Focused on the period up to 2030 to match the timeline of the SDGs, the book surveys the current landscape and the prospects for agricultural development, demonstrating how Agriculture 4.0 based on AI and deep learning must follow from digitalization as the next step to ensuring food security. It brings together research based on analytical and statistical data, including the IMD World Digital Competitiveness Report and the Food Security Report from the Economist Intelligence Unit, and reliable mathematical tools including correlation and regression analysis, forecasting with histogramming, probability estimates, and the simplex method, as well as Game Theory methodology and the hierarchical procedure method of Thomas Lorie Saaty to forecast international scenarios for food security in the future economy. Containing theoretical and practical insights, the book will be of interest to those studying agricultural economics, the digital economy, and concepts of Agriculture 4.0 and Industry 4.0.

Download or read book Forecast for the Future written by and published by . This book was released on 1973 with total page 11 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Environmental Effects of Transgenic Plants written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2002-02-22 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Transgenic crops offer the promise of increased agricultural productivity and better quality foods. But they also raise the specter of harmful environmental effects. In this new book, a panel of experts examines: • Similarities and differences between crops developed by conventional and transgenic methods • Potential for commercialized transgenic crops to change both agricultural and nonagricultural landscapes • How well the U.S. government is regulating transgenic crops to avoid any negative effects. Environmental Effects of Transgenic Plants provides a wealth of information about transgenic processes, previous experience with the introduction of novel crops, principles of risk assessment and management, the science behind current regulatory schemes, issues in monitoring transgenic products already on the market, and more. The book discusses public involvementâ€"and public confidenceâ€"in biotechnology regulation. And it looks to the future, exploring the potential of genetic engineering and the prospects for environmental effects.