Nearly three decades after the dawn of democracy, South Africa has remained a country of ‘two agricultures’. On the one hand we have a subsistence, primarily non-commercial, black farming segment. On the other hand, however, we have a predominantly commercial and white farming sector that is well-resourced and has access to domestic and international trade networks.

These disparities can be traced back to South Africa’s painful history where, for decades, black farmers were on the margins of government support and also experienced land dispossession and livestock plunder.

A Country of Two Agricultures focuses less on history and more on the present and the future, explaining why these disparities have persisted in the democratic era, and what it will take to overcome them. It aims to contribute to a better understanding of the variety of agricultural forces, taking into account both questions of domestic political economy and external factors, as well as to bring to light new risks and opportunities.

Wandile Sihlobo offers insights into the role of agriculture in the South African economy from an agricultural economy perspective, and provides political economy insights that are rooted in the experiences of farming communities on the ground and right through the value chain.

Beyond insights on the realities this book offers the government, the private sector, and anyone interested in the betterment of the South African economy, tools to grapple with this duality, and proposes a framework for bolstering the black farming segment for growth and competitiveness – and ultimately food security.

Sintering is the process of forming materials and components from a powder under the action of thermal energy. It is a key materials science subject: most ceramic materials and many specialist metal powder products for use in key industries such as electronics, automotive and aerospace are formed this way. Written by one of the leading experts in the field, this book offers an unrivalled introduction to sintering and sintering processes for students of materials science and engineering, and practicing engineers in industry.
The book is unique in providing a complete grounding in the principles of sintering and equal coverage of the three key sintering processes: densification, grain growth and microstructure. Students and professional engineers alike will be attracted by the emphasis on developing a detailed understanding of the theory and practical processes of sintering, the balanced coverage of ceramic and metal sintering, and the accompanying examination questions with selected solutions.
-Delivering unrivalled depth of coverage on the basis of sintering, science, including thermodynamics and polycrystalline microstructure.
-Unique in its balanced coverage of the three key sintering elements - densification, grain growth and microstructure.
-A key reference for students and engineers in materials science and engineering, accompanied by examination questions and selected solutions.

A combination of population growth, public health failures, environmental degradation and rapid global transportation has resulted in a world that is at increasing risk to vectorborne and other infectious diseases. A large percentage of emerging diseases are vectorborne and over one-third of the agents on the list of greatest concern from bioterrorism are vectorborne. Many of these diseases are viral that have no effective drug or vaccine treatments. Drug and insecticide resistance is now common and has greatly compromised our ability to provide effective and affordable control. Parasitic diseases, including malaria, leishmmaniasis and African trypanosomiasis are likewise increasing in many parts of the world. Control programs for onchocerciasis and to some extent filariasis are reducing the impact of these diseases, largely due to the availability of filaricides such as ivermectin. Chagas disease has also declined significantly through home improvements and indoor insecticide application against the domicilary kissing bug vectors.
Despite these gains, this tend has not been sustainable. Instead, infectious disease is now responsible for greater than 25% of all deaths and nearly 50% of premature deaths among those under 45 years of age, and 63% for children less than 4 years of age. A significant proportion of these deaths is attributed to vectorborne diseases, particularly from malaria ( 11%). Indeed, more that 1 million people are killed annually by malaria, about 3000 per day. It is estimated that 700,000 children under the age of 5 die of malaria and at least 300 million are ill due to malaria each year. In response, the American Institute of Medicine (2003) has called for a renewed effort to rebuild public health infrastructures needed to conduct disease surveillance and vector control programs and to increase research to provide improved pesticides and their use, new repellents, new biopestcides and biocontrol agents to augment pesticidal control, as well as novel strategies to interrupt pathogen transmission.
With these goals in mind, we convened the first vector control symposium as part of the scientific program of the 3rd Pan-Pacific Conference of Pesticide Science in 2003. Five years after (2008), we re-convened this expanded topic at the 4th Pan-Pacific Conference on Pesticide Science and the scientific presentations made over two days comprise this current volume, Advances in Human Vector Control. The book covers two major areas: 1) Current Status and Control Practices, covering malaria, dengue, Chagas, human lice, cockroach and house dust mite issues; and 2) Novel Approaches and Resistance Management of these diseases. Chapters are provided by internationally-recognized experts who are actively involved in vector control and management, providing an up to date summary of this critically important area of public health. The effective use of novel control strategies is stressed and the status of recently acquired genomic approaches is critically reviewed.

Focusing on the great variety of research being done in the field of postharvest pathology, this volume presents a collection of topics concerning the diseases of harvested fruits and vegetables.

Each chapter represents a separate unit which taken together create a better understanding of the whole subject. Topics include the causal agents of postharvest diseases of fruits and vegetables, their sources and their ways of penetration into the host; factors that may accelerate the development of the pathogen in the host - and those that suppress them; a list of the main pathogens of fruits and vegetables, their hosts and the diseases elicited by them; and a detailed description of the major diseases of selected groups of fruits and solanaceous vegetable fruits. Attack mechanisms of pathogens and defense mechanisms of the host are examined as are treatments aimed at suppressing postharvest diseases. The search for natural and safe chemical compounds and the variety of alternative physical and biological methods for use in postharvest disease control are emphasized.

Teachers and students who focus on postharvest pathology, scientists in research institutes, companies dealing with fruit and vegetable preservation technologies and for all those striving to improve the quality of harvested fruits and vegetables will find this book of great interest.

The recent outbreaks of E.coli and BSE have ensured that the issue of meat safety has never had such a high profile. Meanwhile HACCP has become the preferred tool for the management of microbiological safety. Against a background of consumer and regulatory pressure, the effective implementation of HACCP systems is critical. Written by leading experts in the field, HACCP in the meat industry provides an authoritative guide to making HACCP systems work effectively.
This book examines the HACCP in the meat industry across the supply chain, from rearing through to primary and secondary processing.

This book brings together current thought on several aspects of the use of pesticides in and around homes, schools and workplaces. The book addresses several parts of the process, from the discovery and development of new active ingredients, their formulation, use, longevity, environmental fate and human exposure.

Developed for Introduction to Soils or Soil Science courses, The Nature and Properties of Soils, 15th Edition, can be used in courses such as Soil Fertility, Land Resources, Earth Science and Soil Geography. The Nature and Properties of Soils is designed to engage today's students with the latest in the world of soils. This hallmark text introduces students to the exciting world of soils through clear writing, strong pedagogy, and an ecological approach that effectively explains the fundamentals of soil science. Worked calculations, vignettes, and current real-world applications prepare readers to understand concepts, solve problems, and think critically. Written for both majors and non-majors, this text highlights the many interactions between the soil and other components of forest, range, agricultural, wetland and constructed ecosystems. Now in full-colour, the 15th Edition includes hundreds of compelling photos, figures, and diagrams to bring the exciting world of soils to life. Extensively revised, new and updated content appears in every chapter. Examples include: coverage of the pedosphere concept; new insights into humus and soil carbon accumulation; subaqueous soils, soil effects on human health; principles and practice of organic farming; urban and human engineered soils; new understandings of the nitrogen cycle; water-saving irrigation techniques; hydraulic redistribution, soil food-web ecology; disease suppressive soils; soil microbial genomics; soil interactions with global climate change; digital soil maps; and many others.

McKittrick’s history of the 1918 Kalahari Thirstland Redemption Scheme reveals the environment to have been central to South African understandings of race. The plan fanned white settlers’ visions for South Africa, stoked mistrust in scientific experts, and influenced ideas about race and the environment in South Africa for decades to come.

In 1918, South Africa’s climate seemed to be drying up. White farmers claimed that rainfall was dwindling, while nineteenth-century missionaries and explorers had found riverbeds, seashells, and other evidence of a verdant past deep in the Kalahari Desert. Government experts insisted, however, that the rains weren’t disappearing; the land, long susceptible to periodic drought, had been further degraded by settler farmers’ agricultural practices—an explanation that white South Africans rejected. So when the geologist Ernest Schwarz blamed the land itself, the farmers listened. Schwarz held that erosion and topography had created arid conditions, that rainfall was declining, and that agriculture was not to blame. As a solution, he proposed diverting two rivers to the Kalahari’s basins, creating a lush country where white South Africans could thrive. This plan, which became known as the Kalahari Thirstland Redemption Scheme, was rejected by most scientists. But it found support among white South Africans who worried that struggling farmers undermined an image of racial superiority.

Green Lands for White Men explores how white agriculturalists in southern Africa grappled with a parched and changing terrain as they sought to consolidate control over a black population. Meredith McKittrick’s timely history of the Redemption Scheme reveals the environment to have been central to South African understandings of race.

While Schwarz’s plan was never implemented, it enjoyed suffi cient support to prompt government research into its feasibility, and years of debate. McKittrick shows how white farmers rallied around a plan that represented their interests over those of the South African state and delves into the reasons behind this schism between expert opinion and public perception. This backlash against the predominant scientific view, McKittrick argues, displayed the depth of popular mistrust in an expanding scientific elite.

A detailed look at the intersection of a settler society, climate change, white nationalism, and expert credibility, Green Lands for White Men examines the reverberations of a scheme that ultimately failed but influenced ideas about race and the environment in South Africa for decades to come.

Beekeeping is a sixteen-billion-dollar-a-year business. But the invaluable honey bee now faces severe threats from diseases, mites, pesticides, and overwork, not to mention the mysterious Colony Collapse Disorder, which causes seemingly healthy bees to abandon their hives en masse, never to return.
In The Quest for the Perfect Hive, entomologist Gene Kritsky offers a concise, beautifully illustrated history of beekeeping, tracing the evolution of hive design from ancient Egypt to the present. Not simply a descriptive account, the book suggests that beekeeping's long history may in fact contain clues to help beekeepers fight the decline in honey bee numbers. Kritsky guides us through the progression from early mud-based horizontal hives to the ascent of the simple straw skep (the inverted basket which has been in use for over 1,500 years), from hive design's Golden Age in Victorian England up through the present. He discusses what worked, what did not, and what we have forgotten about past hives that might help counter the menace to beekeeping today. Indeed, while we have sequenced the honey bee genome and advanced our knowledge of the insects themselves, we still keep our bees in hives that have changed little during the past century. If beekeeping is to survive, Kritsky argues, we must start inventing again. We must find the perfect hive for our times.
For thousands of years, the honey bee has been a vital part of human culture. The Quest for the Perfect Hive not only offers a colorful account of this long history, but also provides a guide for ensuring its continuation into the future.

In the later part of the 20th century, the United States experienced a remarkable surge in public interest toward medicinal and aromatic crops and this trend continues. This consumer interest helped create a significant demand for plants with culinary and medicinal applications as the public discovers their benefits for a wide range of applications. Consequently, this consumer call has generated a huge demand on farmers, but has also provided opportunities for new agricultural crops to support both fresh and dry raw material markets. Processing raw materials for end use by consumers introduces even more variables at all levels from harvesting to final desired product. Maintaining quality and authenticity throughout this process has inspired farmers, processing facilities, and regulatory agencies to adopt new practices and new laws to maintain safety and quality. Maintaining this quality and authenticity is often made possible using analytical methods for quality control, which subsequently triggered a demand for both regulatory agencies and scientists throughout the world. For aforementioned reasons, it is imperative that scientists continue to explore related topics from the field to the final consumer product. This book touches on many of the issues currently being addressed by scientists working to produce the desired consumer product while maintaining authenticity and quality and environmental stewardship.

Cereal grains have been the principal component of human diet for thousands of years and have played a major role in shaping human civilization. Around the world, rice, wheat, and maize, and to a lesser extent, sorghum and millets, are important staples critical to daily survival of billions of people. More than 50% of world daily caloric intake is derived directly from cereal grain consumption. Most of the grain used for human food is milled to remove the bran (pericarp) and germ, primarily to meet sensory expectations of consumers. The milling process strips the grains of important nutrients beneficial to health, including dietary fiber, phenolics, vitamins and minerals. Thus, even though ample evidence exists on the health benefits of whole grain consumption, challenges remain to developing food products that contain significant quantities of whole grain components and meet consumer expectations.
This book presents some of the latest research endeavors that aim to improve our understanding of how the chemistry of various grain components can be manipulated to improve contribution of cereals to human health. Most of the topics are based on the Cereal Grains Symposium, at the 2011 American Chemical Society held in Anaheim, CA, March 27-31.

The book will tell the history and story of Down East Maine lobster fishing. Author Christina Lemieux's family has been lobster fishermen for four generations, and the book draws from their personal recollections and documentation. It will then bring to life the experience of Down East Maine lobster fishing and living in a lobster fishing community. The book details how one goes about catching lobster, the seasons of lobster fishing and the perils of such a physically grueling job. It also talks about "lobster culture" some of the unique pastimes of lobster fishermen, such as the sport of Maine lobster boat racing. Finally, the book will give a brief overview of how to properly cook Maine lobster and provide some of the area's favorite lobster recipes.

Though there are more automobiles than harvesters on the roads these days, folks in "Wythe County," Virginia, keep their memories and traditions preserved in these conversations with the local twentieth-century farmers who spent their entire lives working this land. Visit with James Kegley, a fourth-generation farmer discussing his family's cattle and poultry drives to the train in Wytheville, and Agnes Eades as she shares stories about the night before butchering day for the hogs; join Fred Etter as he remembers the first tractor he ever saw and June Huffard as she talks about her dairy farm. Picture the days when starting the plow meant cracking the whip and "Wythe County" was the 'Cabbage Capital of the World.'

Freedom Mazwi examines patterns of agricultural finance in Zimbabwe since the radical Fast Track Land Resettlement Programme (FTLRP) was implemented in 2000-and, especially, the varying impact that the FTLRP reforms have had not only on land use, but also on the well-being of farmers.Focusing on contract farming in the tobacco and sugarcane sectors, Mazwi offers penetrating insights into social contradictions and power relations in Zimbabwe's rural areas. He also assesses the institutional finance mechanisms that have emerged in response to the radical land reforms and reflects on the related political and economic isolation of the country since 2000. Not least, he suggests how agrarian policy could be restructured to better benefit small-scale farmers.

This unique book is the product of a south/north, east/west collaboration, involving some 90 contributors from 25 countries. It will be invaluable to all concerned with livestock keeping and poverty alleviation in developing countries, especially lecturers, students and those working with resource-poor livestock keepers. Livestock and Wealth Creation is about the role of livestock in developing countries and portrays how improved husbandry practices can affect the livelihoods of livestock keepers. It emphasises ways of improving small-scale enterprises and subsistence livestock-keeping. The burgeoning 'Livestock Revolution', which is already occurring in some developing countries and foreseen to become a wider phenomenon over the next 20 years, is also considered. A gigantic increase in demand for meat and milk is predicted, with consequent opportunities for resource-poor livestock keepers to contribute and move from subsistence to market-oriented production.

This text is a synthesis of research in production and management since the inception of the discipline as an agricultural science in the 1930s. All the ecological regions are covered extensively, but the main emphasis is on the three biomes (grassland, savanna and karoo) which produce the bulk of the forage supporting the domestic livestock, conservation and the game farming industries. The book has an audience beyond the borders of South Africa in the grassland and savanna areas which stretch through southern and central Africa.;The text is aimed at students concerned with the management of natural ecosystems and also livestock producers and game ranchers who rely on the veld to feed their animals. The text throughout emphasizes the interpretation and application of research results to the practical situation.;All major aspects of veld production and management are covered in this book. It outlines the physiological and ecological principles on which management is based and which underpin the science. The book presents management options based on these underlying principles before dealing with recommended management procedures in each of the main ecological regions of the country.;The contributions to this book collectively represent a component of the expertise available on issues related to veld management in South Africa. They are veld and animal production researchers, conservation managers and planners working both at a practical level, closely in touch with livestock and game farmers, and at the more theoretical level as teachers at colleges and universities.

Revised in 2020 with 218 new terms, this pocket-sized glossary is essential for everyone in the tree care industry as a foundation for using a shared language of defined terms to work with professionals in arboriculture and related fields. The 2020 edition also includes expanded terminology for tree risk assessment and stationary rope climbing systems, hundreds of enhanced, clarified, and updated definitions, and a reference guide for abbreviations and acronyms.