Download or read book Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education in the Field written by National Research Council and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1991-02-01 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Interest is growing in sustainable agriculture, which involves the use of productive and profitable farming practices that take advantage of natural biological processes to conserve resources, reduce inputs, protect the environment, and enhance public health. Continuing research is helping to demonstrate the ways that many factorsâ€"economics, biology, policy, and traditionâ€"interact in sustainable agriculture systems. This book contains the proceedings of a workshop on the findings of a broad range of research projects funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The areas of study, such as integrated pest management, alternative cropping and tillage systems, and comparisons with more conventional approaches, are essential to developing and adopting profitable and sustainable farming systems.
Download or read book Sustainable Agriculture and New Biotechnologies written by Noureddine Benkeblia and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2016-04-19 with total page 556 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taking a broad and innovative informational approach, Sustainable Agriculture and New Biotechnologies is the first book to apply omic technologies to address issues related to understanding and improving agricultural sustainability in the food production process. The transformation from industrial to sustainable agriculture is discussed within the
Download or read book Coffee Agroecology written by Ivette Perfecto and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2015-02-11 with total page 397 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Based on principles of the conservation and optimization of biodiversity and of equity and sustainability, this book focuses on the ecology of the coffee agroecosystem as a model for a sustainable agricultural ecosystem. It draws on the authors' own research conducted over the last twenty years as well as incorporating the vast literature that has been generated on coffee agroecosystems from around the world. The book uses an integrated approach that weaves together various lines of research to understand the ecology of a very diverse tropical agroforestry system. Key concepts explored include biodiversity patterns, metapopulation dynamics and ecological networks. These are all set in a socioeconomic and political framework which relates them to the realities of farmers' livelihoods. The authors provide a novel synthesis that will generate new understanding and can be applied to other examples of sustainable agriculture and food production. This synthesis also explains the ecosystem services provided by the approach, including the economic, fair trade and political aspects surrounding this all-important global commodity.
Download or read book Sustainable Agriculture written by and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Changing the Way America Farms written by Neva Hassanein and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 1999-01-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Hassanein focuses on two organizations: the Ocooch Grazers Network, a group of dairy farmers who practice intensive rotational grazing, and the Wisconsin Women's Sustainable Farming Network. The different lived experiences of particular members in each group shaped the ways local knowledge was generated and exchanged."--BOOK JACKET.
Download or read book Restoration Agriculture written by Mark Shepard and published by Acres U.S.A., Incorporated. This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Around the globe most people get their calories from "annual" agriculture - plants that grow fast for one season, produce lots of seeds, then die. Every single human society that has relied on annual crops for staple foods has collapsed. Restoration Agriculture explains how we can have all of the benefits of natural, perennial ecosystems and create agricultural systems that imitate nature in form and function while still providing for our food, building, fuel and many other needs - in your own backyard, farm or ranch. This book, based on real-world practices, presents an alternative to the agriculture system of eradication and offers exciting hope for our future.
Download or read book Farming for Our Future written by PETER H.. ROSENBERG LEHNER (NATHAN A.) and published by . This book was released on 2021-12-07 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Farming for Our Future examines the policies and legal reforms necessary to accelerate the adoption of practices that can make agriculture in the United States climate-neutral or better. These proven practices will also make our food system more resilient to the impacts of climate change. Agriculture's contribution to climate change is substantial--much more so than official figures suggest--and we will not be able to achieve our overall mitigation goals unless agricultural emissions sharply decline. Fortunately, farms and ranches can be a major part of the climate solution, while protecting biodiversity, strengthening rural communities, and improving the lives of the workers who cultivate our crops and rear our animals. The importance of agricultural climate solutions can not be underestimated; it is a critical element both in ensuring our food security and limiting climate change. This book provides essential solutions to address the greatest crises of our time.
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 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 New Directions for Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 1994 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Crisis and Opportunity written by John E. Ikerd and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the decline of family farms and rural communities and the rise of corporate farming and the resulting environmental degradation, American agriculture is in crisis. But this crisis offers the opportunity to rethink agriculture in sustainable terms. Here one of the most eloquent and influential proponents of sustainable agriculture explains what this means. These engaging essays describe what sustainable agriculture is, why it began, and how it can succeed. Together they constitute a clear and compelling vision for rebalancing the ecological, economic, and social dimensions of agriculture to meet the needs of the present without compromising the future. In Crisis and Opportunity, John E. Ikerd outlines the consequences of agricultural industrialization, then details the methods that can restore economic viability, ecological soundness, and social responsibility to our agricultural system and thus ensure sustainable agriculture as the foundation of a sustainable food system and a sustainable society.
Download or read book New Directions for Agriculture and Agricultural Research written by Kenneth A. Dahlberg and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 1986 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ethical and value issues; The global setting: resource, environmental, and socio-economic trends; The national setting: past and present goals and priorities; Assessing neglected dimensions; Evaluative concepts in agricultural research; Emerging alternatives and their implications; Where do we go from here?.
Download or read book Smart Agrochemicals for Sustainable Agriculture written by Katarzyna Chojnacka and published by Academic Press. This book was released on 2021-12-01 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Smart Agrochemicals for Sustainable Agriculture proposes products that fulfill the need for chemicals that provide a sustainable delivery system for nutrients necessary to maximize the production of agricultural animals and plants while producing the smallest possible environmental footprint. This book addresses all aspects related to the production process, including chemical formulas, stability of formulations, and the application of the effect of its utilization. Over the past decade, biobased chemicals have received significant attention as candidate resource materials in fertilizers and agrochemicals production due to their renewability. Substitution of conventional raw materials with biobased requires a new approach towards the development of technology. On the other hand, the use of biobased chemicals, such as biostimulants, bioregulators and biofertilizers offers a new palette of products that are natural, thus their application does not pose an impact on the environment (residues) or cultivated plants. - Presents ideas for new products that provide appropriate nutrition while limiting environmental footprints - Includes a full range of the production process, from chemical formulas to establishing the stability of formulations, applications and effects - Offers a host of new products that are natural and whose applications do not negatively impact the environment nor cultivated plants
Download or read book New Directions for Smallholder Agriculture written by Peter B. R. Hazell and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2014-03-06 with total page 641 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The majority of the poor and hungry people in the world live on small farms and struggle to subsist on too little land with low input - low yield technologies. At the same time, many other smallholders are successfully intensifying and succeeding as farm businesses, often in combination with diversification into off-farm sources of income. This book examines the growing divergence between subsistence and business oriented small farms, and discusses how this divergence has been impacted by population growth, trends in farm size distribution, urbanization, off-farm income diversification, and the globalization of agricultural value chains. It finds that policy makers need to differentiate more sharply between different types of small farms than they did in the past, both in terms of their potential contributions towards achieving national economic growth, poverty alleviation, and food security goals, and the types of assistance they need. The book distinguishes between smallholders that are business oriented, subsistence oriented, and at various stages of transition to the non-farm economy, and discusses strategies appropriate for assisting each type. The book draws on a wealth of recent experience at IFAD and elsewhere to help identify best practice approaches.
Download or read book A new approach for mainstreaming Sustainable Food and Agriculture in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals written by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and published by Food & Agriculture Org.. This book was released on 2019-08-23 with total page 50 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This synthesis report for the regional workshop for Africa on "A new approach for mainstreaming Sustainable Food and Agriculture in the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals" provides an overview of the presentations, a brief report on the discussions, and summaries of the conclusions.
Download or read book Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030 written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2019-04-21 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For nearly a century, scientific advances have fueled progress in U.S. agriculture to enable American producers to deliver safe and abundant food domestically and provide a trade surplus in bulk and high-value agricultural commodities and foods. Today, the U.S. food and agricultural enterprise faces formidable challenges that will test its long-term sustainability, competitiveness, and resilience. On its current path, future productivity in the U.S. agricultural system is likely to come with trade-offs. The success of agriculture is tied to natural systems, and these systems are showing signs of stress, even more so with the change in climate. More than a third of the food produced is unconsumed, an unacceptable loss of food and nutrients at a time of heightened global food demand. Increased food animal production to meet greater demand will generate more greenhouse gas emissions and excess animal waste. The U.S. food supply is generally secure, but is not immune to the costly and deadly shocks of continuing outbreaks of food-borne illness or to the constant threat of pests and pathogens to crops, livestock, and poultry. U.S. farmers and producers are at the front lines and will need more tools to manage the pressures they face. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030 identifies innovative, emerging scientific advances for making the U.S. food and agricultural system more efficient, resilient, and sustainable. This report explores the availability of relatively new scientific developments across all disciplines that could accelerate progress toward these goals. It identifies the most promising scientific breakthroughs that could have the greatest positive impact on food and agriculture, and that are possible to achieve in the next decade (by 2030).
Download or read book Facilitating Sustainable Agriculture written by N. G. Roling and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2000-09-21 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A move towards more flexible, sustainable agricultural practices is increasingly being seen as the way to address or avoid environmental and economic problems associated with existing, predominantly intensive, farming systems. Through case studies taken from around the world, this book examines the implications of adopting more ecologically sound agricultural practices, both at the level of individual farmers and at the level of larger-scale agro-ecosystems such as water catchments. The emphasis of the book is on human and social aspects, rather than on agronomic or economic considerations, focusing on the learning processes necessary for change to be implemented and, in turn, on the facilitation of that learning through participatory approaches and appropriate institutional support and policy structure.
