Provides a comprehensive environmental assessment of advanced nanocatalyst for biodiesel production in world's energy demand supply. Discusses the green platform based nanocatalyst like metal oxides/sulphides, 2D-dimensional layered material synthesis and their relevance for biodiesel production. Presents pathway for a cheaper, cleaner and environmentally friendly processing techniques for biodiesel production

Seed conditioning removes undesirable material including debris and stray seeds from selected raw harvested seed, so as to create planting seed that delivers high yielding crops. This two-volume set provides a major up-date of previously published work. It describes the essential information needed to understand this process and the machinery involved. It describes the machines available to seed conditioners and explains how they can be installed, operated, adjusted, and maintained to give complete and precise separations for many years. All the machines are described in sufficient detail, sometimes with the help of models to enable the conditioner to get good results. The book also details the operating sequence used to properly prepare seed before going into each machine. Organized in a logical sequence, it catalogs all the entire field of seed conditioning, to help seed managers, specialists, and conditioning operators reduce loss of good seed while improving seed quality and honing the efficiency of their operations.

Winner of the George Washington Prize A fresh, original look at George Washington as an innovative land manager whose singular passion for farming would unexpectedly lead him to reject slavery. George Washington spent more of his working life farming than he did at war or in political office. For over forty years, he devoted himself to the improvement of agriculture, which he saw as the means by which the American people would attain the "respectability & importance which we ought to hold in the world." Washington at the Plow depicts the "first farmer of America" as a leading practitioner of the New Husbandry, a transatlantic movement that spearheaded advancements in crop rotation. A tireless experimentalist, Washington pulled up his tobacco and switched to wheat production, leading the way for the rest of the country. He filled his library with the latest agricultural treatises and pioneered land-management techniques that he hoped would guide small farmers, strengthen agrarian society, and ensure the prosperity of the nation. Slavery was a key part of Washington's pursuits. He saw enslaved field workers and artisans as means of agricultural development and tried repeatedly to adapt slave labor to new kinds of farming. To this end, he devised an original and exacting system of slave supervision. But Washington eventually found that forced labor could not achieve the productivity he desired. His inability to reconcile ideals of scientific farming and rural order with race-based slavery led him to reconsider the traditional foundations of the Virginia plantation. As Bruce Ragsdale shows, it was the inefficacy of chattel slavery, as much as moral revulsion at the practice, that informed Washington's famous decision to free his slaves after his death.

Advances in Food Safety and Environmental Engineering is a compilation of selected papers from the 2022 4th International Conference on Food Safety and Environmental Engineering (FSEE 2022) and focuses on the research of food engineering and environmental engineering. The proceedings feature the most cutting-edge research directions and achievements related to health and environment. Subjects in these proceedings include: Food Safety and Health Food Nutrition Food Processing and Preservation Environmental Engineering and Technology Ecology and Ecosystem Management This collection of papers aims to promote food safety and environmental development, resource sharing, flexibility and high efficiency. An additional goal is to promote scientific information exchange globally between scientists from the best universities, research centers and high-tech companies.

Discusses the digitalization of agriculture including telematics, precision farming, blockchain, and AI Looks at the impact of AI on sustainable agriculture Presents a multi-layered architecture relevant to security in precision agriculture Covers machine learning architectures for forecasting weather conditions

This 4-volume set focuses on the use of microbial bioremediation and phytoremediation to clean up pollutants in soil, such as pesticides, petroleum hydrocarbons, metals, and chlorinated solvents, which reduce the soil's fertility and renders it unfit for plant growth. The four volumes cover the diverse eco-friendly microbial bioremediation and phytoremediation techniques for sustainable soil management. Bioremediation and Phytoremediation Technologies in Sustainable Soil Management: Volume 2: Microbial Approaches and Recent Trends focuses on new and emerging techniques and approaches to address soil pollution. These include the use of rhizobacteria, archae, cyanobacteria, and microalgae as biofertilizers and for soil bioremediation efforts. New technologies for assessment of soil bioremediation are explored also. The chapters provides in-depth coverage of the mechanisms, advantages, and disadvantages of the technologies used and highlights the use of different microbial enzymes that are used in the process of bioremediation and phytoremediation to clean up different pollutants without causing damage to the natural environment. Together, these four volumes provide in-depth coverage of the mechanisms, advantages, and disadvantages of the bioremediation and phytoremediation technologies for safe and sustainable soil management. The diverse topics help to arm biologists, agricultural engineers, environmental and soil scientists and chemists with the information and tools they need to address soil toxins that are a dangerous risk to plants, wildlife, humans and, of course, the soil itself.

Diverse Applications of Nanotechnology in the Biological Sciences: An Essential Tool in Agri-Business and Health Care Systems explores the diverse roles that nanobiotechnology plays in the medical sciences, pharmacy, healthcare, and in plants and agriculture. Looking at the diverse applications of nanotechnology in the healthcare field, the chapter authors discuss its importance in drug delivery, biomedical imaging and medical diagnostics, and healthcare management. The volume emphasizes how nanomedicine can treat different types of cancers and can improve medical imaging for the diagnosis of different kinds of diseases, resulting in quicker and more accurate diagnosis and better treatment options. The volume delves into nanobiotechnology in plants and its application in nanofertilizers and nano-pesticides in agriculture. It also documents how agri-nanobiotechnology can be a tool for innovative green technology that can be applied for global food security, biodiversity, and climate change solutions. The themes of nanobiotechnology in medicine and in plants are merged in the chapter on the types and therapeutic effects of plant product-based nanomedicine for malignancies. The potential toxicity of nanoparticles in plants is also elucidated. This volume provides an insightful overview of nanobiotechnology in medicine and in plants and agriculture that will be valuable for researchers and scientists and faculty and students in the areas of nanobiotechnology, agriculture, plant molecular biology, and medicine and healthcare.

Phytoremediation has evolved into an important tool to improve the bioremediation process since it is an innovative green technology that uses a wide variety of plants to remediate radioactive metals, organics, chemicals, and radioactive elements from soil, sediment, surface water, and groundwater environmental pollutants. Together, bioremediation and phytoremediation technologies provide an effective approach to contaminant abatement. This new book, Bioremediation and Phytoremediation Technologies in Sustainable Soil Management: Volume 3: identifies and draws a fresh image of existing developments in theoretical and functional implementation systems from recent scientific research studies that take into account different facets of bioremediation. It also discusses the latest technology and prospects of new soil bioremediation technology and analyses their domains, along with their associated challenges and consequences. Together, these four volumes provide in-depth coverage of the mechanisms, advantages, and disadvantages of the bioremediation and phytoremediation technologies for safe and sustainable soil management. The diverse topics help to arm biologists, agricultural engineers, environmental and soil scientists and chemists with the information and tools they need to address soil toxins that are a dangerous risk to plants, wildlife, humans and, of course, the soil itself.

This 4-volume set focuses on the use of microbial bioremediation and phytoremediation to clean up pollutants in soil, such as pesticides, petroleum hydrocarbons, metals, and chlorinated solvents, which reduce the soil’s fertility and renders it unfit for plant growth. The volumes cover the many diverse eco-friendly microbial bioremediation and phytoremediation techniques for sustainable soil management. Volume 4: Degradation of Pesticides and Polychlorinated Biphenyls addresses pesticide degradation, PCBs degradation, and genetic interventions. It begins by describing environment pesticide degradation, mechanisms and sustainability, microbes and microbial enzymes, plant microbe interactions, organophosphorus degradations and endosulfan degradation. It then goes on to discuss PCBs and degradation, cypermethrin, degradation by Phanerochaete chrysosporium, carvone and surfactants for degradation of PCBs. The book also advocates for genetic systems for degradation of PCBs and pesticides, with discussion of the different advantages and disadvantages for each strategy and the various techniques. Together, these four volumes provide in-depth coverage of the mechanisms, advantages, and disadvantages of the bioremediation and phytoremediation technologies for safe and sustainable soil management. The diverse topics help to arm biologists, agricultural engineers, environmental and soil scientists and chemists with the information and tools they need to address soil toxins that are a dangerous risk to plants, wildlife, humans and, of course, the soil itself.

Biocontrol Systems and Plant Physiology in Modern Agriculture: Processes, Strategies, Innovations focuses on new production alternatives that do not include pesticides, herbicides, and chemicals for primary food production and instead rely on biologically controlled systems of production. The book also relates a number of advances and innovations in the use of agricultural technologies that employ the study of the physiology of plants to know their resistance to different environments in modern agriculture. The book presents research offering viable alternatives for the control of pests for safe food production that are environmentally friendly and that facilitate the reduction of production costs and improve the quality and yield of produce. The volume addresses innovative biocontrol systems to reduce or eliminate the use of agrochemicals by controlling plant diseases by minimizing environmental damage through the use of antagonistic organisms. It also presents new strategies of cultivation that maximize production by optimizing light, temperature, humidity, nutrients and humidity in a controlled environment. The diverse topics in the volume include botanical compounds as adjuvants as an alternative to reduce the pesticide use, on-site production of bio-control agents, plant factory systems that offer controlled safe environments for plant cultivation, promising bio-nematicides for sustainable agriculture, wastewater reclamation for agricultural purposes, the recovery of phytochemicals from plants, using LED lights on plants and microgreens production, and much more. Covering the new trends in biological control, plant factories, and plant metabolism for application in modern agriculture, this volume provides important research and knowledge that facilitates environmentally friendly plant systems, advances the reduction of production costs, and improves the quality and yield of produce.

The book deals with the economics of conservation of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture in low income countries. This is done by developing concepts and discussing case studies. Only discussing the issues of access to and benefit sharing of plant genetic resources, unfortunately public discussion has neglected the serious problem of financing the conservation efforts because to date the issues of access to and benefit sharing of plant genetic resources have merely been discussed. The global situation of the conserved genetic resources is alarming, mainly due to the fact that the institutes, above all those in developing countries, do not have enough financial resources. Hence, it is imperative that  the costs are taken into consideration. The contributions are grouped around theoretical approaches and empirical studies. The estimation of conservation costs help to allocate the appropriate financial assistance to the relevant countries for conserving their natural resources and assist in rationing scarce resources among competing crops which need to be covered under the conservation programmes.

This open access book discusses the current role of smallholders in connection with food security and poverty reduction in developing countries. It addresses the opportunities they enjoy, and the constraints they face, by analysing the availability, access to and utilization of production factors. Due to the relevance of smallholder farms, enhancing their production capacities and economic and social resilience could produce positive impacts on food security and nutrition at a number of levels. In addition to the role of small farmers as food suppliers, the book considers their role as consumers and their level of nutrition security. It investigates the link between agriculture and nutrition in order to better understand how agriculture affects human health and dietary patterns. Given the importance of smallholdings, strategies to increase their productivity are essential to improving food and nutrition security, as well as food diversity.

The main focus of this monograph is to explain the important role of soil and the environment to a broad audience. Soil is one of the five essential factors crucial for human life. On the one hand the authors describe a responsible approach and use of soil, established on a basic knowledge of the nature of soil and the countless ongoing processes within soil. On the other hand they explain the precarious link between soil and regional environment, which is indispensable for plant and animal communities. In addition to these topics its chapters describe the unique roles of soil texture, soil structure and soil pore systems in hydrologic cycles, plant nutrition and conditions affecting the preservation or eventual extinction of soil. This book concludes with the principles of soil protection and revitalization. General readers with an interest in biology, chemistry, physics or geology will find this book highly informative.

This book addresses the role of law in the adaptive management of socio-ecological systems. Recent years have witnessed a rise in discussion over the relation between adaptivity and law, as if after decades of insouciance, legal scholars have finally started to understand the impacts of the scientific paradigm called 'adaptive management' on the legal sphere. Even though the complicated relations between law and the adaptive management of socio-ecological systems have become more debated, a thorough examination of the scientific and theoretical fundamentals of such endeavours has yet to be presented. Using the illustrative example of European Union water governance and its path toward embracing adaptive management, this book emphasises the legal significance of properly understanding the manner in which scientific knowledge of the environment is produced. Though always pivotal, rigorously apprehending science is especially crucial when dealing with the management of complex ecosystems as the 'normative' is created gradually before law begins to examine the 'facts' of the matter. After examining the roots of adaptive management, this book argues that the legal needs to understand itself as an integral part of the process of the socio-ecological management of complex systems and not merely an external umpire resolving disputes. As a whole, the book offers new insights into the EU regulator's approaches to scientific realities, making it an interesting read not only to academics and legal scholars but also to regulators striving to deepen their understanding or pondering which approach to adopt in the face of new regulatory challenges, and to scientists interested in the science and law aspects of their work.

This volume explores agricultural commercialization from a gender equality and right to food perspective. Agricultural commercialization, involving not only the shift to selling crops and buying inputs but also the commodification of land and labour, has always been controversial. Strategies for commercialization have often reinforced and exacerbated inequalities, been blind to gender differences and given rise to violations of the human rights to food, land, work and social security. While there is a body of evidence to trace these developments globally, impacts vary considerably in local contexts. This book systematically considers these dynamics in two countries, Cambodia and Ghana. Profoundly different in terms of their history and location, they provide the basis for fruitful comparisons because they both transitioned to democracy in the early 1990s, made agricultural development a priority, and adopted orthodox policies of commercialization to develop the sector. Chapters illustrate how commercialization processes are gendered, highlighting distinctive gender, ethnic and class dynamics in rural Ghana and Cambodia and the different outcomes these generate. They also show the ways in which food cultures are changing and the often-problematic impact of these changes on the safety and quality of food. Specific policies and legal norms are examined, with chapters addressing the development and implementation of frameworks on the right to food and land administration. Overall, the volume brings into relief multiple dimensions shaping the outcomes of processes of commercialization, including gender orders, food cultures, policy translation, national and sub-national policies, corporate investments and programmes, and formal and informal legal norms. In doing so, it offers insight not only on our case countries, but also provides proposals to advance rights-based research on food security. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of food security, agricultural development and economics, gender, human rights and sustainable development.

This book examines the social inequalities relating to food insecurity in the UK, as well as drawing parallels with the US. Access to food in the UK, and especially access to healthy food, is a constant source of worry for many in this wealthy country. Crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have coincided with a steep rise in the cost of living, meaning household food insecurity has become a reality for many more households. This book introduces a new framework to examine the many influences on local-level food inequalities, whether they result from individual circumstances or where a person lives. The framework will allow researchers new to the field to consider the many influences on food security, and to support emerging research around different sub-topics of food access and food security. Providing a thorough background to two key concepts, food deserts and food insecurity, the book documents the transition from area-based framing of food resources, to approaches which focus on household food poverty and the rise of food banks. The book invites researchers to acknowledge and explore the ever changing range of place-based factors that shape experiences of food insecurity: from transport and employment to rural isolation and local politics. By proposing a new framework for food insecurity research and by drawing on real-world examples, this book will support academic and applied researchers as they work to understand and mitigate the impacts of food insecurity in local communities. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of food and nutrition security, public health, and sociology. It will also appeal to food policy professionals and policymakers who are working to address social inequalities and improve access to healthy and nutritious food for all.

Planning and Evaluation of Irrigation Projects: Methods and Implementation presents the considerations, options and factors necessary for effective implementation of irrigation strategies, going further to provide methods for evaluating the efficiency of systems-in-place for remedial correction as needed. As the first book to take this lifecycle approach to agricultural irrigation, it includes real-world examples not only on natural resource availability concerns, but also on financial impacts and measurements. With 21 chapters divided into two sections, this book is a valuable resource for agricultural and hydrology engineers, conservation scientists and anyone seeking to implement and maintain irrigation systems.

The year 2022 is the 50th anniversary of Alfred Crosby's celebrated book - The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492. In the book, Crosby was the first to discuss the impact that the Spanish and Portuguese colonial period had on world agriculture and human culture. How the crops of the world became homogenized, and how an indigenous culture was destroyed by disease after Columbus landed. His landmark study broke new ground in its broad conceptualization of the Atlantic exchange. Building on what Crosby so succinctly and brilliantly presented, the main goal of this new work is to present the depth of information that has emerged since "The Columbian Exchange" and to discuss more fully the development of crops and agriculture before and after the Iberian contact. It follows the journey of crops and livestock in the Old and New Worlds and end's with their distribution in today's world.

This book examines the implications of the net zero transition for food and farming in the UK and how these can be managed to avoid catastrophic climate change in the crucial decades ahead. For the UK to meet its international obligations for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, nothing short of a revolution is required in our use of land, our farming practices and our diet. Taking a historical approach, the book examines the evolution of agriculture and the food system in the UK over the last century and discusses the implications of tackling climate change for food, farming and land use, setting the UK situation in an international context. The chapters analyse the key challenges for this transition, including dietary change and food waste, afforestation and energy crops, and low-emission farming practices. This historical perspective helps develop an understanding of how our food, farming and land use system has evolved to be the way that it is, and draws lessons for how the agri-food system could evolve further to support the transition to net zero and avoid catastrophic climate change. Written in a clear and accessible style, this book will be essential reading to students and scholars of food, agriculture and the environment, as well as policymakers and professionals involved climate change policy and the agriculture and food industry.

Focuses on the menace of metal pollution on plants, crop plants, pulses and vegetables Covers morphological, anatomical, physiological and biochemical aspects Covers metal hyper-accumulators (metallophytes) and bioremediation Alleviation of metal stress by exogenous phytohormonal supply Includes heavy metals' low dose stimulatory effects Focuses on 'omics' studies i.e. genomics, metabolomics, ionomics, proteomics and transcriptomics

Home Gardens for Improved Food Security and Livelihoods demonstrates how home gardens hold particular significance for resource-poor and marginalized communities in developing countries, and how they offer a versatile strategy toward building local and more resilient food systems. With food and nutritional security being a major global challenge, there is an urgent need to find innovative ways to increase food production and diversify food sources while increasing income-generating opportunities for communities faced with hunger and poverty. This book shows that when implemented properly, home gardens can become just such an innovative solution, as well as an integral part of sustainable food security programs. It provides a conceptual overview of social, economic, environmental and nutritional issues related to home gardening in diverse contexts, including gender issues and biodiversity conservation, and presents case studies from Africa, Asia and Latin America highlighting home gardening experiences and initiatives. The volume concludes with a synthesis of key lessons learned and ways forward for further enhancing home gardens for sustainable food security and development. This book will be a useful read for students and scholars working on local food systems, food security, sustainable development and more broadly development strategy.

This book addresses how to estimate substance use and thereby evaluate policies intended to reduce the harms caused by drugs and other substances. Wastewater analysis (WWA) can provide efficient, affordable, fine-grained and objective data on population substance use trends on a very large scale. The authors discuss the potential implications of WWA as a new method for understanding substance use in a variety of settings and ignite a discourse with policy makers, criminologists, epidemiologists and other disciplines about the need for collaboration with WWA scientists. The book also features an explanation of the costs and harms of substance use with academic literature from criminological and epidemiological sources and reports from lead agencies. Additional features include: Details on the origin of wastewater analysis in environmental science Description of analytical chemistry methods for tracing a wide variety of substances, including illicit drugs, alcohol, tobacco and other chemicals Exploration of the major empirical problems in estimating population consumption of alcohol, tobacco and drugs at the international and national level Examination of the principles of human research ethics and their application to wastewater analysis Wastewater Analysis for Substance Abuse Monitoring and Policy Development is a valuable tool for analytical chemists, wastewater scientists and criminologists, as well as researchers and policy makers across disciplines who work in drug sectors.

This volume discusses the sustainability of Egypt's agriculture and the challenges involved. It provides a comprehensive review and the latest research findings, and covers a variety of topics under the following themes: * Integrated natural resources management for sustainable production * Integrated biopesticides and biofertilizers for sustainable agriculture * Integrated plant and animal production for a sustainable food supply * Policies for sustainable agriculture in Egypt The volume closes with a summary of the key conclusions and recommendations from all chapters. Together with the companion volume Sustainability of Agricultural Environment in Egypt: Part I, it offers an essential source of information for postgraduate students, researchers, and stakeholders alike.

This book takes a unique interdisciplinary look at the latest developments, advances, and trends in the interrelated areas of sustainable engineering, energy, and the environment, focusing on environmental engineering for renewable and green energy. It looks at new research and studies on a variety of topics in green nanotechnology, green processing and solar energy, sustainable energy policies, biofuels, fuel cells, and much more. The first section of Sustainable Engineering, Energy, and the Environment: Challenges and Opportunities looks at myriad issues in sustainable energy, such as sustainable urbanism through space planning and residential building design, a method to convert vibrations from mechanical work into power, energy grid maintenance, mathematical modeling and time analysis of various mechanical activities, and more. Topics on sustainable energy include voltage systems for stand-alone nanogrids, new sources for biodiesel production, solar energy conversion, protection equipment for windmill towers, etc. The section on sustainable environment explores issues such as industrial water recycling, regeneration of spent-activated carbon in pharmaceutical production, smell mitigation and recovery of fuel from waste, the water footprint of agriculture, etc. Key features Presents advances and developments in the areas of engineering, energy, and environment under sustainable development Examines potential issues of understanding of green buildings and their energy efficiency Presents case studies on sustainable urbanization Presents novel clean technology applications for attaining environmental sustainability Assesses green auditing and natural capital accounting Describes relevant experimental techniques This book features important contributions from scientists, academicians, and professionals on the latest developments and advances in the interrelated fields of sustainable engineering, energy, and environment.

Provides insight on building smart sustainable solutions Includes details of applying mining, learning, IOT and sensor-based techniques for sustainable computing Entails data extraction from various sources followed with pre-processing of data, and how to make effective use of extracted data for application-based research Involves practical usage of data analytic language, including R, Python, etc. for improving sustainable services offered by multi-disciplinary domains Encompasses comparison and analysis of recent technologies and trends Includes development of smart models for information gain and effective decision making with visualization