Download or read book Managing Cover Crops Profitably 3rd Ed written by Andy Clark and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 2008-07 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cover crops slow erosion, improve soil, smother weeds, enhance nutrient and moisture availability, help control many pests and bring a host of other benefits to your farm. At the same time, they can reduce costs, increase profits and even create new sources of income. You¿ll reap dividends on your cover crop investments for years, since their benefits accumulate over the long term. This book will help you find which ones are right for you. Captures farmer and other research results from the past ten years. The authors verified the info. from the 2nd ed., added new results and updated farmer profiles and research data, and added 2 chap. Includes maps and charts, detailed narratives about individual cover crop species, and chap. about aspects of cover cropping.
Download or read book The Nature of Crops written by John Warren and published by CABI. This book was released on 2015-04-24 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Have you ever wondered why we eat wheat, rice, potatoes and cassava? Why we routinely domesticate foodstuffs with the power to kill us, or why we chose almonds over acorns? Answering all these questions and more in a readable and friendly style, this book takes you on a journey through our history with crop plants. Arranged into recurrent themes in plant domestication, this book documents the history and biology of over 50 crops, including cereals, spices, legumes, fruits and cash crops such as chocolate, tobacco and rubber.
Download or read book They Saved the Crops written by Don Mitchell and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 574 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the outset of World War II, California agriculture seemed to be on the cusp of change. Many Californians, reacting to the ravages of the Great Depression, called for a radical reorientation of the highly exploitative labor relations that had allowed the state to become such a productive farming frontier. But with the importation of the first braceros—“guest workers” from Mexico hired on an “emergency” basis after the United States entered the war—an even more intense struggle ensued over how agriculture would be conducted in the state. Esteemed geographer Don Mitchell argues that by delineating the need for cheap, flexible farm labor as a problem and solving it via the importation of relatively disempowered migrant workers, an alliance of growers and government actors committed the United States to an agricultural system that is, in important respects, still with us. They Saved the Crops is a theoretically rich and stylistically innovative account of grower rapaciousness, worker militancy, rampant corruption, and bureaucratic bias. Mitchell shows that growers, workers, and officials confronted a series of problems that shaped—and were shaped by—the landscape itself. For growers, the problem was finding the right kind of labor at the right price at the right time. Workers struggled for survival and attempted to win power in the face of economic exploitation and unremitting violence. Bureaucrats tried to harness political power to meet the demands of, as one put it, “the people whom we serve.” Drawing on a deep well of empirical materials from archives up and down the state, Mitchell's account promises to be the definitive book about California agriculture in the turbulent decades of the mid-twentieth century.
Download or read book Harlan s Crops and Man written by H. Thomas Stalker and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2021-04-06 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A scientific and historical study of crops and their age-old relationship with human civilization The cultivation and harvesting of crops have been at the heart of human culture and development for thousands of years. As we have grown from hunter-gatherers into agrarian societies and industrial economies, our ongoing relationship with the plants that feed us and support our manufacturing has also evolved. So too, of course, have those plants themselves, with the combined forces of shifting climates, selective plant breeding, and genetic modification all working to alter their existence in profound and fascinating ways. Coming some 30 years after its previous incarnation, the third edition of Harlan’s Crops and Man marks an exciting re-examination of this rich topic. Its chapters lay out the foundations of crop diversity as we know it, covering topics that range from taxonomy and domestication to the origins of agricultural practices and their possible futures. Highlights include: Archeological and anthropological studies of agriculture’s history and development Detailed examinations of the histories and classifications of both crops and weeds Explanations of taxonomic systems, gene pools, and plant evolution Studies of specific crops by geographical region Updated to include the latest data and research available, this new edition of Harlan’s Crops and Man offers an illuminating exploration of agricultural history to all those engaged with plant science and the cultivation of crops.
Download or read book Lost Crops of the Incas written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1989-02-01 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fascinating, readable volume is filled with enticing, detailed information about more than 30 different Incan crops that promise to follow the potato's lead and become important contributors to the world's food supply. Some of these overlooked foods offer special advantages for developing nations, such as high nutritional quality and excellent yields. Many are adaptable to areas of the United States. Lost Crops of the Incas includes vivid color photographs of many of the crops and describes the authors' experiences in growing, tasting, and preparing them in different ways. This book is for the gourmet and gourmand alike, as well as gardeners, botanists, farmers, and agricultural specialists in developing countries.
Download or read book Specialty and Minor Crops Handbook written by Claudia Myers and published by UCANR Publications. This book was released on 1998 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Handy for commercial producers as well as backyard gardeners, this classic guide for growers and sellers of niche market produce provides detailed information about growing specialty crops that are growing in popularity among consumers. Includes 63 crop sheets-from arugula to radicchio, basil to thyme, prickly pear to tomatillos, variety and heirloom tomatoes. Includes market information, resources, and a glossary of Asian vegetable names.
Download or read book Darwin s Harvest written by Timothy J. Motley and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2006-01-04 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Darwin's Harvest addresses concerns that we are losing the diversity of crop plants that provide food for most of the world. With contributions from evolutionary biologists, geneticists, agronomists, molecular biologists, and anthropologists, this collection discusses how economic development, loss of heirloom varieties and wild ancestors, and modern agricultural techniques have endangered the genetic diversity needed to keep agricultural crops vital and capable of adaptation. Drawing on the most up-to-date data, the contributors review the utilization of molecular techniques to understand crop evolution. They explore current research on various crop plants of both temperate and tropical origin, including maize, sunflower, avocado, sugarcane, and wheat. The chapters in Darwin's Harvest also provide solid background for understanding many recent discoveries concerning the origins of crops and the influence of human migration and farming practices on the genetics of our modern foods.
Download or read book Crop Physiology written by Victor Sadras and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2014-09-17 with total page 566 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From climate change to farming systems to genetic modification of organisms, Crop Physiology, Second Edition provides a practical tool for understanding the relationships and challenges of successful cropping. With a focus on genetic improvement and agronomy, this book addresses the challenges of environmentally sound production of bulk and quality food, fodder, fiber, and energy which are of ongoing international concern. The second edition of Crop Physiology continues to provide a unique analysis of these topics while reflecting important changes and advances in the relevant science and implementation systems. Contemporary agriculture confronts the challenge of increasing demand in terms of quantitative and qualitative production targets. These targets have to be achieved against the background of soil and water scarcity, worldwide and regional shifts in the patterns of land use driven by both climate change and the need to develop crop-based sources of energy, and the environmental and social aspects of agricultural sustainability. Provides a view of crop physiology as an active source of methods, theories, ideas, and tools for application in genetic improvement and agronomy Written by leading scientists from around the world Combines environment-specific cropping systems and general principles of crop science to appeal to advanced students, and scientists in agriculture-related disciplines, from molecular sciences to natural resources management
Download or read book Food and Feed Crops of the United States written by John Robert Magness and published by . This book was released on 1971 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Little Book of Crops in Small Spots written by Jane Moore and published by Hardie Grant Publishing. This book was released on 2022-03-31 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Little Book of Crops in Small Spots introduces newbie gardeners to the art of growing successfully. Particularly focused on small space gardening, this book is the ideal modern guide for those with a compact urban gardens, courtyard, patio or even just a balcony. Including a handy directory of the best 40 fruit and vegetables to grow no matter how small your space, Jane will show you how to get started with her expert tips and indispensable gardening advice to becoming more self-sufficient. Discover how to maximise your growing power and enjoy getting stuck in as you produce crops to harvest all year round.
Download or read book Tropical Forests and Their Crops written by Nigel J. H. Smith and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-31 with total page 585 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The tropics are the source of many of our familiar fruits, vegetables, oils, and spice, as well as such commodities as rubber and wood. Moreover, other tropical fruits and vegetables are being introduced into our markets to offer variety to our diet. Now, as tropical forests are increasingly threatened, we face a double-fold crisis: not only the loss of the plants but also rich pools of potentially useful genes. Wild populations of crop plants harbor genes that can improve the productivity and disease resistance of cultivated crops, many of which are vital to developing economies and to global commerce. Eight chapters of this book are devoted to a variety of tropical crops—beverages, fruit, starch, oil, resins, fuelwood, fodder, spices, timber, and nuts—the history of their domestication, their uses today, and the known extent of their gene pools, both domesticated and wild. Drawing on broad research, the authors also consider conservation strategies such as parks and reserves, corporate holdings, gene banks and tissue culture collections, and debt-for-nature swaps. They stress the need for a sensitive balance between conservation and the economic well-being of local populations. If economic growth is part of the conservation effort, local populations and governments will be more strongly motivated to save their natural resources. Distinctly practical and soundly informative, this book provides insight into the overwhelming abundance of tropical forests, an unsettling sense of what we may lose if they are destroyed, and a deep appreciation for the delicate relationships between tropical forest plants and people around the world.
Download or read book Crop Physiology Case Histories for Major Crops written by Victor Sadras and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2020-12-05 with total page 780 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Crop Physiology: Case Histories of Major Crops updates the physiology of broad-acre crops with a focus on the genetic, environmental and management drivers of development, capture and efficiency in the use of radiation, water and nutrients, the formation of yield and aspects of quality. These physiological process are presented in a double context of challenges and solutions. The challenges to increase plant-based food, fodder, fiber and energy against the backdrop of population increase, climate change, dietary choices and declining public funding for research and development in agriculture are unprecedented and urgent. The proximal technological solutions to these challenges are genetic improvement and agronomy. Hence, the premise of the book is that crop physiology is most valuable when it engages meaningfully with breeding and agronomy. With contributions from 92 leading scientists from around the world, each chapter deals with a crop: maize, rice, wheat, barley, sorghum and oat; quinoa; soybean, field pea, chickpea, peanut, common bean, lentil, lupin and faba bean; sunflower and canola; potato, cassava, sugar beet and sugarcane; and cotton. A crop-based approach to crop physiology in a G x E x M context Captures the perspectives of global experts on 22 crops
Download or read book Root and Tuber Crops written by J.E. Bradshaw and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-09-11 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is important to include Tuber and Root Crops in the Handbook of Plant Breeding. They include starchy staple crops that are of increasing importance for global food security and relief of poverty, important millennium goals for the United Nations. Indeed, 2008 was the UN International Year of the Potato in recognition of this role of the potato as the world’s third most important food crop after wheat and rice. The other major staples are cassava, sweetpotato and yam. Together they occupy about 50 million hectares, with production at 640 million metric tons, of which 70% is in developing countries. In total there are more than 30 species of Root and Tuber Crops grown in the world today. Given the content of other volumes in the series, it makes sense to include sugar and fodder beets; swedes and turnips; and minor root and tuber crops so that the book series is as complete as possible. Like the other volumes in the series, this one will present information on the latest in applied plant breeding using the current advances in the field, from an efficient use of genetic resources to the impact of biotechnology in plant breeding. Seven crop specific chapters are proposed, together with an introduction to this diverse set of plant species. Outstanding scientists for each crop species are proposed as senior authors, who may invite co-authors to contribute part of a chapter. In order to increase the overall acceptance of the volume, balance will be sought with authors from different research groups/countries who will be asked to contribute and collaborate where appropriate. The book should be of interest to researchers in both academic and industrial settings, and in both developed and developing countries, as well as students and teachers of plant breeding. It is currently extremely important to educate and train a new generation of plant breeders given the challenges faced by humankind in producing more food for an expanding global population during a period of environmental (including climate) change.
Download or read book Seed Biology and Yield of Grain Crops 2nd Edition written by Dennis B Egli and published by CABI. This book was released on 2017-02-23 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This new edition of an established title examines the determination of grain crop yield from a unique perspective, by concentrating on the influence of the seed itself. As the food supply for an expanding world population is based on grain crops harvested for their seeds, understanding the process of seed growth and its regulation is crucial to our efforts to increase production and meet the needs of that population. Yield of grain crops is determined by their assimilatory processes such as photosynthesis and the biosynthetic processes in the seed, which are partly regulated within the seed itself. Substantially updated with new research and further developments of the practical applications of the concepts explored, this book is essential reading for those concerned with seed science and crop yield, including agronomists, crop physiologists, plant breeders, and extension workers. It is also a valuable source of information for lecturers and graduate students of agronomy and plant physiology.
Download or read book Healthy Crops written by Francis Chaboussou and published by Jon Carpenter Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work powerfully asserts the idea that rather than using pesticides, the key to helping crops resist attacks from pests is to improve their strength through natural processes. Many of industrial agriculture's fundamental principles for fighting disease, in particular the reliance on pesticides and fertilizers, are explained and convincingly challenged and a new set of guiding principles for an ecological agricultural system are presented as a genuine alternative to the widespread use of chemicals.
Download or read book Gene Flow Between Crops and Their Wild Relatives written by Meike S. Andersson and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2010-02 with total page 605 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reviewing the relevant scientific and technical literature, this work summarizes the current state-of-the-art knowledge related to gene flow and introgression (the permanent incorporation of genetic information from one set of differentiated populations into another) between genetically modified crops and their wild relatives. They analyze the biological framework for protecting the genetic integrity of indigenous wild relatives of crops in centers of crop origin and diversity, focusing on the issues of emission, dispersal, and deposition of pollen and/or seed; the likelihood and extent of gene flow from crops to wild relatives; and stabilization and the spread of traits in wild species. The material is organized into crop chapters, each of which covers general biological information of the crop; the most important crop wild relatives together with information about their ploidy levels, diverse genomes, centers of origin, and geographic distribution; the crop's potential for hybridization with its wild relatives; pollen flow studies related to pollen dispersal distances and hybridization rates; the current state of the genetic modification technology regarding that crop; and research gaps. The crop chapters discuss banana and plantain; barley; canola and oilseed rape; cassava, manioc, and yucca; chickpea; common bean; cotton; cowpea; finger millet; maize and corn; oat; peanut and groundnut; pearl millet; pigeonpea; potato; rice; sorghum; soybean; sweet potato, batata, and camote; and wheat and bread wheat.
Download or read book The Potato Crop written by Hugo Campos and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2019-12-03 with total page 524 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. This book provides a fresh, updated and science-based perspective on the current status and prospects of the diverse array of topics related to the potato, and was written by distinguished scientists with hands-on global experience in research aspects related to potato. The potato is the third most important global food crop in terms of consumption. Being the only vegetatively propagated species among the world’s main five staple crops creates both issues and opportunities for the potato: on the one hand, this constrains the speed of its geographic expansion and its options for international commercialization and distribution when compared with commodity crops such as maize, wheat or rice. On the other, it provides an effective insulation against speculation and unforeseen spikes in commodity prices, since the potato does not represent a good traded on global markets. These two factors highlight the underappreciated and underrated role of the potato as a dependable nutrition security crop, one that can mitigate turmoil in world food supply and demand and political instability in some developing countries. Increasingly, the global role of the potato has expanded from a profitable crop in developing countries to a crop providing income and nutrition security in developing ones. This book will appeal to academics and students of crop sciences, but also policy makers and other stakeholders involved in the potato and its contribution to humankind’s food security.
