The revised edition of the bestselling textbook, covering both classical and molecular plant breeding Principles of Plant Genetics and Breeding integrates theory and practice to provide an insightful examination of the fundamental principles and advanced techniques of modern plant breeding. Combining both classical and molecular tools, this comprehensive textbook describes the multidisciplinary strategies used to produce new varieties of crops and plants, particularly in response to the increasing demands to of growing populations. Illustrated chapters cover a wide range of topics, including plant reproductive systems, germplasm for breeding, molecular breeding, the common objectives of plant breeders, marketing and societal issues, and more. Now in its third edition, this essential textbook contains extensively revised content that reflects recent advances and current practices. Substantial updates have been made to its molecular genetics and breeding sections, including discussions of new breeding techniques such as zinc finger nuclease, oligonucleotide directed mutagenesis, RNA-dependent DNA methylation, reverse breeding, genome editing, and others. A new table enables efficient comparison of an expanded list of molecular markers, including Allozyme, RFLPs, RAPD, SSR, ISSR, DAMD, AFLP, SNPs and ESTs. Also, new and updated "Industry Highlights" sections provide examples of the practical application of plant breeding methods to real-world problems. This new edition: Organizes topics to reflect the stages of an actual breeding project Incorporates the most recent technologies in the field, such as CRSPR genome edition and grafting on GM stock Includes numerous illustrations and end-of-chapter self-assessment questions, key references, suggested readings, and links to relevant websites Features a companion website containing additional artwork and instructor resources Principles of Plant Genetics and Breeding offers researchers and professionals an invaluable resource and remains the ideal textbook for advanced undergraduates and graduates in plant science, particularly those studying plant breeding, biotechnology, and genetics.

Agriculture plays a pivotal role in the economy and development of Pakistan providing food to consumers, raw materials to industries, and a market for industrial goods. Unfortunately, agricultural production is stagnant due to several barriers including a fixed cropping pattern, reliance on a few major crops, a narrow genetic pool, poor seed quality, and a changing climate. In addition, the high cost of production, weak phytosanitary compliance mechanisms, and a lack of cold chain facilities makes Pakistan agriculturally uncompetitive in export markets. Despite all these issues, agriculture is the primary industry in Pakistan and small farmers continue to dominate the business. Small farmers grow crops for subsistence under a fixed cropping pattern and a holistic approach is required to develop agriculture to improve the livelihoods of the rural populace. This book presents an exhaustive look at agriculture in Pakistan. Chapters provide critical analyses of present trends, inadequacies in agriculture, strategic planning, improvement programs and policies while keeping in view the natural resources, plant- and animal-related agricultural production technologies, input supplies, population planning, migration and poverty, and balanced policies on finance, credit, marketing, and trade.

Reproducing Chinese Culture in Diaspora discusses how a group of anti-communist Chinese exiles from Yunnan Province have managed to establish a rural livelihood in Thailand's northern hills over the past half century. When faced with the seemingly invincible Communist forces that were sweeping across the Mainland, these nationals retreated in 1949 or shortly thereafter to the Golden Triangle that sits astride the borders of Burma, Laos, and Thailand in voluntary exile. This book mainly concerns their hardships as they have struggled to carve out a new life along with their attempts to find an agricultural identity in the area. Initially gaining power as drug traffickers and narco-kings, the Yunnan exiles have transformed into sustainable farming leaders. Yet, despite their success in establishing themselves in Thailand, their community is facing a steep decline that threatens their long time survival. Part of their rationale in leaving communist China in search of a new settlement in the Golden Triangle, the exiles sought to protect Chinese traditions and ideals in the face of what they felt was Western influence. Yet, in their attempts to maintain their traditions, they've drifted to the opposite extreme, treating those traditions as sacrosanct and adhering to them rigidly. As a result, many of the younger generations are fleeing the communities from this "cultural petrification," and those who stay openly challenge the authoritarian old guard in a desire to modernize. This clash of old vs new severely strains a prosperous yet fragile community, clouding its future in uncertainty.

This 1997 book describes the spread of new agricultural practice in the half millennium after 1350, and reconstructs a neglected part of Europe's agricultural past: the introduction of fodder crops, and the continuous reorganisation of traditional botanical inputs within a new system of farming. New agricultural systems, based on convertible husbandry, clovers, turnips and roots, were introduced to some areas of Europe from the 1750s, and gave new impetus to productivity. However this so-called 'agricultural revolution' had demanded a learning process in which recourse to ancient and medieval botany helped farmers and scholars to overcome a situation of stalemate in early modern technology. The book breaks entirely new ground by showing the distant historical origins of a major transformation in land potential and farm productivity. A vast range of evidence is cited from Italy, France, England and elsewhere to provide a history of the 'agricultural revolution' in Europe.

This book examines environmental sustainability and inclusive economic growth, providing in-depth analysis of foreign direct investment (FDI) in large-scale agriculture in Ethiopia. In most African states, arable land and other natural resources play a pivotal role for economic growth and development. Ethiopia is one of those countries where agriculture is the backbone of the economy. This sector has also been an attraction for FDI in Sub-Saharan Africa since the global food and financial crisis of 2007 and 2008. This book uses six foreign investments in large-scale agriculture as case studies to examine current Ethiopian policies, the patterns of investment they promote, how these impact on land-based resources and communities' wellbeing. Presenting analyses of the economic, social and political realities of foreign direct investment in the local context, Foreign Direct Investment in Large-Scale Agriculture in Africa discusses how the fundamental principles of pro-poor and environmentally sustainable investments intersect with the government's ambition to advance Ethiopia's development agenda. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of African economics and sustainable development, African policy makers, intergovernmental organisations as well as multilateral and bilateral development partners.

Land and Work in Mediaeval Europe was first published in English in 1967. Throughout the work, the idea that Marc Bloch was not only a historian but a great teacher is exemplified, as is his ability to ask interesting and original questions through his writing. Topics covered include medieval Germany, technical problems in the medieval economy and society, and the medieval class structure.

How do rural Chinese households deal with the conflicting pressures of migrating into cities to work as well as staying at home to preserve their fields? This is particularly challenging for rice farmers, because paddy fields have to be cultivated continuously to retain their soil quality and value. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and written sources, Rural-Urban Migration and Agro-Technological Change in Post-Reform China describes farming households' strategic solutions to this predicament. It shows how, in light of rural-urban migration and agro-technological change, they manage to sustain both migration and farming. It innovatively conceives rural households as part of a larger farming community of practice that spans both staying and migrating household members and their material world. Focusing on one exemplary resource - paddy fields - it argues that socio-technical resources are key factors in understanding migration flows and migrant-home relations. Overall, this book provides rare insights into the rural side of migration and farmers' knowledge and agency.

This innovative text provides a compelling narrative world history through the lens of food and farmers. Tracing the history of agriculture from earliest times to the present, Christopher Isett and Stephen Miller argue that people, rather than markets, have been the primary agents of agricultural change. Exploring the actions taken by individuals and groups over time and analyzing their activities in the wider contexts of markets, states, wars, the environment, population increase, and similar factors, the authors emphasize how larger social and political forces inform decisions and lead to different technological outcomes. Both farmers and elites responded in ways that impeded economic development. Farmers, when able to trade with towns, used the revenue to gain more land and security. Elites used commercial opportunities to accumulate military power and slaves. The book explores these tendencies through rich case studies of ancient China; precolonial South America; early-modern France, England, and Japan; New World slavery; colonial Taiwan; socialist Cuba; and many other periods and places. Readers will understand how the promises and problems of contemporary agriculture are not simply technologically derived but are the outcomes of decisions and choices people have made and continue to make.

First modern biography of Thomas William Coke, first earl of Leicester, who revolutionised agricultural practices and became an outspoken critic of Britain's war against America over independence. Thomas William Coke ("Coke of Norfolk") (1754-1842) is best known as one of the main promoters of the improved farming of the "Agricultural Revolution". He was also a county MP for over forty years between 1776 and 1832; and the owner of one of the finest palladian mansions in Britain, and by far, the largest estate in Norfolk at Holkham Hall. A friend of Charles James Fox, he moved in the highest Whig social circles and lavishly entertained distinguishedfriends from both political and academic fields who came to Holkham for its splendid library, works of art and antiquities as well as the game coverts. A charismatic figure, he was an outspoken critic of Britain's war against theAmericans in their fight for independence which made him friends who visited and corresponded across the Atlantic. Despite his importance, both locally and nationally, there has been no full scale biography of him for a hundred years - a gap which this book sets out to address. It sets his agricultural achievements in a wider context, and places Coke himself in his milieu, as one of a small circle of landed grandees who were of major influence duringa period of political turbulence and agricultural change. The author also examines Coke's reputation as a "patriot". Dr SUSANNA WADE MARTINS is Honorary Research Fellow, School of History, University of East Anglia.

Prevention and preparedness are the two basic approaches to maximize food security against any sort of tampering, whether natural, inadvertent or intentional. The NATO funded project "Tools for crop biosecurity" was designed to strengthen the cooperation among U.S., Europe and Israel in the field of crop biosecurity and to generate awareness on how the psychological, economic and cultural consequences of crop bioterrorism, especially attacks on soft targets such as crop seeds, could have a disproportionate adverse effect on Mediterranean agriculture and, more generally, on society.

This book illustrates the achievements of the project originated from the workshops organized during the project itself taking in consideration main microbiological threads posed to crops, the tools to recognize and to control them, the needs for international cooperation and research funds to create networks which can face emerging risks for agriculture.

This book describes initiatives and concrete examples on sustainable food production worldwide. In the current world scenario, where nations all over the world are struggling to accomplish the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and to ensure sustainable patterns for all, this book provides a contribution towards a more comprehensive and interdisciplinary understanding of the cross-cutting issues related to Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security. This interdisciplinary book supports the efforts to engage a commitment from all fields of science, to work together to provide knowledge that could help to address SDG2 (No hunger) and lead to the promotion of quality of life, by means of a more sustainable food production, and improved food security. This book is expected to fill the gap of publications in this field. It gives a special emphasis to a state-of-the-art descriptions of approaches, methods, initiatives and projects from universities, stakeholders, organizations and civil society across the world, regarding cross-cutting issues in sustainable food production. It includes examples of policies and practices case studies, examples of projects, institutional policies, innovative methods and tools and research outputs, which highlight the interdependence between sustainable agriculture and food security issues. It is expected that the "Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security" will make the many benefits of sustainable food production clearer and, inter alia, lead to an increase in the emphasis provided to this central theme.

These are the final results and reflections of the project MEA-Scope. This project with the full title "Micro-economic instruments for impact assessment of multifunctional agriculture to implement the model of European Agriculture" was a pioneering project. It was among the first which were funded in the new activity Scientific Support to Policies of the th 6 Research Framework Programme. Policy decisions - especially at the European level - are never easy. What policy-makers decide will potentially affect the lives of millions of people for many years. This makes reaching informed decisions crucial, and scientific research can help illuminate their policy choices. MEA-Scope was one of two projects which addressed the research p- orities for European Rural areas which were identified in an EC workshop on Multifunctionality in Agriculture in 2001. Scientific Support to Policies in the Research Framework Programme is facing the challenge to identify in the discussions between policy makers and the research community those topics which can be addressed in a m- term strategic research programme. When the research topic was published Multifunctionality of Agriculture was among the concepts with many - search questions open. It was considered that positivistic approaches into technology aspects of agriculture, forestry and other rural activities based on natural resources and land use are needed, as well as more normative research with regard to trade, food quality and safety, animal welfare, en- ronment, rural development and cultural issues.

The joint challenges of population increase, food security and conservation of agrobiodiversity demand a rethink of plant breeding and agricultural research from a different perspective. While more food is undeniably needed, the key question is rather about how to produce it in a way that sustains biological diversity and mitigates climate change. This book shows how social sciences, and more especially law, can contribute towards reconfiguring current legal frameworks in order to achieving a better balance between the necessary requirements of agricultural innovation and the need for protection of agrobiodiversity. On the assumption that the concept of property can be rethought against the background of the 'right to include', so as to endow others with a common 'right to access' genetic resources, several international instruments and contractual arrangements drawn from the plant-breeding field (including the Convention on Biological Diversity, technology exchange clearing houses and open sources licenses) receive special consideration. In addition, the authors explore the tension between ownership and the free circulation and exchange of germplasm and issues such as genetic resources managed by local and indigenous communities, the ITPGRFA and participatory plant-breeding programmes. As a whole, the book demonstrates the relevance of the 'Commons' for plant breeding and agricultural innovation.

The Global Food Economy examines the human and ecological cost of what we eat. The current food economy is characterized by immense contradictions. Surplus 'food mountains', bountiful supermarkets, and rising levels of obesity stand in stark contrast to widespread hunger and malnutrition. Transnational companies dominate the market in food and benefit from subsidies, whilst farmers in developing countries remain impoverished. Food miles, mounting toxicity and the 'ecological hoofprint' of livestock mean that the global food economy rests on increasingly shaky environmental foundations. This book looks at how such a system came about, and how it is being enforced by the WTO. Ultimately, Weis considers how we can find a way of building socially just, ecologically rational and humane food economies.

Onshore unconventional gas operations, in most jurisdictions, operate on the legal principle that all activities during exploration and extraction are 'temporary' in nature. The concept that the onshore unconventional gas industry has a temporary effect on the land on which it operates creates a regulatory paradox. On one hand, unconventional gas activities create energy security, national wealth and a bourgeoning export industry. On the other, agricultural land and agriculturalists may be significantly disadvantaged by unconventional gas activities potentially producing permanent damage to non-renewable fertile soils and spoiling the underground water tables. Thus, threatening future food security and food sovereignty. This book explores the socio-regulatory dimensions of coexistence between agricultural and onshore unconventional gas land uses in the jurisdictions with the highest concentration of proven unconventional gas reserves - Australia, Canada, the USA, the UK, France, Poland and China. In exploring the differing regulatory standpoints of unconventional gas land uses on productive farming land in the chosen jurisdictions, this book provides an original three-part categorisation of regulatory approaches addressing the coexistence of agricultural land and unconventional gas namely: adaptive management, precautionary and, finally, statism. It offers a timely and topical approach to socio-legal natural resource governance theory based on the participation, transparency and empowerment for agricultural landholders, examining how differing frameworks such as the collective bargaining framework can create equitable and sustainable contractual arrangements with unconventional gas companies.

This text not only explores the breeding problems for Agaricus bisporus, the button mushroom, but approaches the subject in the context of the large range of edible mushrooms which are currently under commercial cultivation worldwide. From the background and general objectives of culture collection and breeding to the genetic systems of edible mushrooms and the molecular biological approaches to breeding, the coverage is in-depth and current. The applications of breeding programmes for specific purposes, including provision of a food source, production of high value fungal metabolites and upgrading of lignocellulosic wastes and wastewater treatment are also discussed.

Management of Problem Soils in Arid Ecosystems examines the challenges of managing soils in arid and semiarid regions. These soils contain low organic matter, are not leached, and accumulate lime, gypsum, and/or soluble salts, requiring special management and practices. This book discusses how to identify problems, reclaim the soils, and then use them efficiently and economically. Water management and desertification in these areas are also discussed. It contains extensive references as well as 40 tables and illustrations.

The 2016 referendum resulted in a vote for the United Kingdom to withdraw from the European Union. This has led to frenzied political debate across the whole spectrum of policy, and agriculture is no exception. For the first time in a generation, the future of agriculture is unclear and unfettered by the constraints and incrementalism of the Common Agricultural Policy. This book makes an empirical contribution to the Brexit debate, bringing a social dimension to agri-Brexit and sustainable agriculture discourses. Understanding the social in the context of farmers is vital to developing a way forward on food security and agricultural sustainability. Farmers are the recipients of the market and policy signals that link to global uncertainties and challenges. This book is a commitment to understanding farmers as occupiers and managers of land. Chapters in this book explore farmers' own aspirations and knowledge about patterns of land use and production, which underpin discussions around the environment and sustainability. There is a deficit in understanding what kind of agricultural industry we now have, following years of restructuring and repositioning. This book is an attempt to address that deficit and will appeal to students and researchers exploring agriculture, food politics and rural sociology.

An Introduction to Soils for Environmental Professionals assembles and presents the basic principles of each of the major soil science fields. It introduces fundamental concepts and shows the interrelationships between the various branches of soil science - from mineralogy to soil physics. Each chapter was reviewed by a professional in the particul

After almost fifteen years in the laboratory and in the test plots, bioengineered crops arrived to the market in the mid-1990s. Adoption was rapid and wide spread. In 1996, less than 4 million acres in six countries were planted with bioengineered crops. By 2001, worldwide adoption had expanded to more than 115 million acres. Important questions quickly followed. What were the factors driving the widespread adoption and rapid diffusion of these first-generation agrobiotech nologies? What were their economic and environmental impacts? How were such impacts distributed among large and small producers, innovators and adopters, developed and developing countries, exporters and importers, domestic and foreign consumers? How were such impacts and their distribu tion affected by market structure and government policies? A growing body of literature has provided valuable answers to some of these questions. However, an assessment that accounts for the full range of differences in geography, weather, pests, farm structures, and institutions had not been completed. It brings together leading This book provides just such an assessment. authors from around the world who have analyzed the production, environ mental, and economic impacts of first-generation crop biotechnologies. By pooling experiences across various countries, time periods, crops, and traits, this global panel is able to synthesize a complete picture of the impacts of first-generation crop biotechnologies."

Megaplasmids are extrachromosomal genetic elements in the size range of 100 kb and larger. They are found in physiologically and phylogenetically diverse groups of bacteria and archaea. By definition, megaplasmids are not essential for the viability of their hosts under all growth conditions, but paradoxically many megaplasmids carry the genetic information for the defining and characteristic traits of the organism in which they reside.

Microbial Megaplasmids reviews our knowledge of the extensively studied representatives, such as the catabolic plasmids of the pseudomonads, the rhizobial Sym plasmids, the Ti plasmids of the genus Agrobacterium and the giant enterobacterial virulence plasmids. It also presents snapshots of more recently discovered megaplasmids. The contribution of megaplasmids to the biology of their hosts is described, highlighting the interactions between megaplasmid and chromosomal genes.

Originally published in 1975 this book analyses the factors making for success and failure in agricultural development among black Zimbabweans during the 20th century. A detailed analysis is given of 2 tribal trust lands, including government policies and administrative control of these areas, voluntary and forced adjustment to land shortage and the economic resources and productivity of peasant cultivators. Settlements under individual land tenure are examined, as are government policies to these, the internal transofrmation of these communities and their economic resources and productivity. There is also a section on irrigation schemes and the reaction of people to irrigation farming. This is an indispensable book in understanding the present-day situation of agriculture in Zimbabwe.

The potato is one of the world's most important food crops. It produces more nutritious food from less land in a shorter time than any other major crop. Therefore advances in the production of new potato varieties will greatly contribute to the world's food supply. The book outlines strategies used in the breeding and testing of potato varieties. It considers prospects for varietal improvement using both traditional and new techniques, including genetic manipulation, tissue culture and protoplast fusion. Opportunities for breeding varieties suitable for propagation from true seed, of particular significance to the agricultural systems of developing countries, are also featured, together with an extensive and bibliography. The book is based on the proceedings of a joint meeting of EAPR and EUCARPIA at King's College, Cambridge, December 1985. It contains contributions from many leading authorities in potato breeding and variety assessment throughout the world, and will interest post-graduate students in plant breeding, genetics and molecular biology, together with professionals engaged in potato research and the application of molecular biology to agriculture.

Plant Breeding Reviews is an open-ended, serial continuation series of review articles on research in plant genetics, especially the breeding of commercially important crops. This detailed analysis bridges the gap between the specialized researcher and the broader community of plant scientists.