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Books > Professional & Technical > Agriculture & farming > General
Ben Raskin's wide-ranging work in varied locations makes The
Woodchip Handbook a really useful overview of the possibilities
afforded by woodchip. Charles Dowding, author of Charles Dowding's
No Dig Gardening The first and only complete guide to sourcing and
using woodchip - an abundant, inexpensive and ecologically
sustainable material - for savvy growers and landscapers at any
scale, from farm to garden to greenhouse. The Woodchip Handbook is
the essential guide to the many uses of woodchip both in
regenerative agriculture and horticulture. Author Ben Raskin, Head
of Horticulture and Agroforestry at the Soil Association, draws on
his extensive practical experience using woodchip, provides the
latest research from around the world and presents inspiring case
studies from innovative farmers. The book explores and unlocks the
tremendous potential of woodchip to enhance soil health and plant
growth: As a natural mulch for weed suppression, temperature
buffering and water conservation As a growing medium for
propagating plants As a decomposing source of warmth for hotbeds in
the greenhouse or hoop house As a carbon-rich compost ingredient
that supports beneficial fungi and microorganisms As a powerful
soil health booster when applied as small-sized ramial chipped wood
As an ideal substrate for growing many kinds of edible or medicinal
mushrooms As a sustainable, versatile and durable material for foot
paths and ornamental landscaping Some of these techniques, like
mulching - or the renewable harvest potential from coppicing and
pollarding trees - have been around forever. Yet there is always
new science to be discovered, such as the role that salicylic acid
from willow woodchip can play in preventing tree diseases or
promoting livestock health when used as a bedding material. Whether
you are a commercial grower or farmer, a permaculture practitioner
or a serious home gardener producing your own fruit and vegetables,
The Woodchip Handbook will show you how to get the most out of this
readily available and renewable material. I did not know the world
needed a whole book on woodchip, but from the first chapter I could
not put this book down. Alys Fowler, author of The Edible Garden
and The Thrifty Gardener
In large parts of the world, the reduction in the viability of
agriculture and rural areas is an escalating problem. Sustainable
Land Management offers a contemporary overview of the strategies
employed to cope with the marginalisation of agriculture, through
analyses of case studies and regional trends in marginalisation.The
authors argue that complexities and driving forces governing
marginalisation are not always the same across nations and regions
due to climate, geography, economics, legislation and political
status. This book illustrates in what form these complexities
exist, and how these unravel at the national and regional levels.
As the need to understand and cope with marginalisation processes
has developed, the concept of multi-functionality has also gained a
vital place in the string of coping strategies. This work
contributes essential knowledge for the development of
marginalisation mitigation policy actions across the globe.
Informative and well-documented, this book will appeal to those
researching and working in the fields of agricultural and resource
economics, rural geography, environmental governance and
sustainable development.
ONE FAMILY'S REVOLT AGAINST EVERYDAY POLLUTION When a beanbag sent
thousands of polystyrene balls flying through her garden, Kate
Hughes decided to make a break with the throwaway society. She and
her husband transformed the lives of their ordinary family of four.
They ditched plastic, shunned supermarkets, cooked all meals from
scratch, bought only second-hand clothes, and made their own
cleaning agents. Then they went deeper - greening every aspect of
their home life, from their gas and electricity to their car, from
their money to their IT. The Hugheses have achieved the 'zero
waste' goal of sending nothing to landfill. Now they are going even
further... Told with refreshing humility and humour, this
eye-opening story shows that a well-lived life doesn't have to come
wrapped in plastic. Packed with handy tips, it reveals much about
what makes a fulfilling modern family - and how readers can empower
themselves to preserve the climate, forests and seas. And,
heart-warmingly, how that can lead to a more relaxing life. Extract
We were starting to realise that making the journey was leading to
more questions than answers, more grey areas, misinformation and
conflicts of interest than we ever imagined - and that was just
about food. We hadn't even got started on anything else that came
into our home yet. Take a single, uncontroversial ingredient, let's
say peppers. Should we buy them grown in a UK hothouse or ones
trucked in from Spain? What if the Spanish ones are organic? Or the
only UK option is wrapped in plastic? Which is better for the
environment? Or at least less harmful? If we ever want to eat
peppers again without negatively impacting the planet in some way
are we going to have to grow our own? Because self-sufficiency
wasn't really part of the plan... All we could do was dive in and
hope we didn't drown in the detail as we swam around looking for
food that worked for us and the planet. We started with the problem
of transport because food mileage was a well established measure
that meant we could actually make some decisions based on numbers
for once. Or, at least, we thought we could. Three quarters of all
the fruit and veg now eaten in the UK is imported. Almost all the
fruit we eat has been grown overseas, and soft fruit in particular
is flown in. It turns out that the UK only produces half of all the
food that is consumed on these shores - which is somewhat
patriotically disconcerting as well as practically unsustainable.
One of our family stories is the recollection of the first banana
my great uncle ever tasted after WW2, shipped from the other side
of the world. We were very aware that bananas came from overseas.
But the fact that such a vast proportion of the apples eaten in
Britain are imported from South Africa, or at best France, when the
fruit grows very well in the orchards you can see from near our
house seemed to be absurd. The obvious solution appeared to be only
to buy food produced not just in the UK but as close to us as
possible. That immediately threw up two questions. The first we
were becoming increasingly familiar with. Were we really prepared
to give up things we took great pleasure in for the sake of an
unquantifiable, but undoubtedly minuscule effect? Or even just to
settle for not adding to the runaway levels of damage that our
disconnected food shop was causing each and every day? But the
second question was whether a straightforward food mile approach
was even a worthwhile aim. When I put the question of food miles to
Riverford Organic Farmers, the sustainably produced veg box people,
they told me that for most of the year our carbon impact would be
smaller if we bought organic tomatoes trucked in from Spain than
those heated thanks to fossil fuels in a UK hothouse. That means
the answer has to be to eat food grown in the UK at the time of
year it is traditionally produced. We finally arrived at a robust
solution - seasonal, native eating.
Traffication develops a bold new idea: that the trillions of miles
of driving we do each year are just as destructive to our natural
environment as any of the better known threats, such as habitat
loss or intensive farming. The problem is not simply one of
roadkill; the impacts of roads are far more pervasive, and they
impact our wildlife in many subtle and unpredictable ways. Using
the latest research, the book reveals how road traffic shatters
essential biological processes, affecting how animals communicate,
move around, feed, reproduce and die. Most importantly, it shows
that the influence of traffic extends well beyond the verge, and
that a busy road can strip the wildlife from our countryside for
miles around. In the UK, almost nowhere is exempt from this
environmental toll. Yet the final message here is one of hope: by
identifying the car as a major cause of the catastrophic loss of
wildlife, the solutions to our biodiversity crisis suddenly become
much clearer. The first step to solving any problem is to recognise
that it exists in the first place. But with road traffic, we are
not even at that crucial initial stage in our recovery. Quite
simply, Traffication does for road traffic what Silent Spring did
for agrochemicals: awakening us from our collective road-blindness
and opening up a whole new chapter in conservation. This urgent
book is an essential contribution to the debate on how we restore
the health of our countryside - and of our own minds and bodies.
About two-thirds of Britain's small, traditional orchards have been
lost since 1960. This is a loss in ecological diversity, in
community knowledge and the intricacy of local distinctiveness. In
2007 the pomologist Liz Copas and cidermaker Nick Poole began a
quest to find and identify old varieties of cider apple trees
around Dorset. The search lasted more than a decade, taking them
across the county, searching in forgotten orchards, hedgerows and
the corners of gardens. The Lost Orchards follows the journey they
took to find, propagate and make cider with Dorset's forgotten
apple varieties: Golden Ball, Kings Favourite, Yaffle, Dewbit,
Golly Knapp, Tom Legg, Best Bearer and Symes Seedlings. The book is
also an illustrated guide to the apple varieties they discovered
and an important history of West Country Orchards. This hopeful
story will resonate far beyond Dorset and will encourage readers to
look closely at their surroundings and conserve their local
orchards.
Winner of the 2022 Orwell Prize for Journalism | A Sunday Times
(London) Bestseller | Shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize for
Writing on Conservation "George Monbiot is one of the most fearless
and important voices in the global climate movement today." -Greta
Thunberg For the first time in millennia, we have the opportunity
to transform not only our food system but our entire relationship
to the living world. Farming is the world's greatest cause of
environmental destruction-and the one we are least prepared to talk
about. We criticize urban sprawl, but farming sprawls across thirty
times as much land. We have plowed, fenced, and grazed great tracts
of the planet, felling forests, killing wildlife, and poisoning
rivers and oceans to feed ourselves. Yet millions still go hungry
and the price of food is rising faster than ever. Now the food
system itself is beginning to falter. But, as George Monbiot shows
us in this brilliant, bracingly original new book, we can resolve
the biggest of our dilemmas and feed the world without devouring
the planet. Regenesis is a breathtaking vision of a new future for
food and for humanity. Drawing on astonishing advances in soil
ecology, Monbiot reveals how our changing understanding of the
world beneath our feet could allow us to grow more food with less
farming. He meets the people who are unlocking these methods, from
the fruit and vegetable grower revolutionizing our understanding of
fertility; through breeders of perennial grains, liberating the
land from plows and poisons; to the scientists pioneering new ways
to grow protein and fat. Together, they show how the tiniest life
forms could help us make peace with the planet, restore its living
systems, and replace the age of extinction with an age of
regenesis.
Guy Robinson and Doris Carson have assembled a wonderfully
comprehensive and timely book that both reveals and joins together
the many and varied elements of diverse contemporary agriculture
and food production systems. The book stands as a valuable scan of
the diverse forces and processes of change in agriculture and also
makes visible, through its various and well-chosen case analyses,
the abiding and sometimes colliding roles of structure , agency,
power and place in shaping farm and food futures.' - John Smithers,
University of Guelph, Canada'An excellent, timely and innovative
contribution to the wide-ranging debates on the globalisation of
agriculture. The book brings together a wide array of authors who
approach agricultural globalisation issues from various angles
spanning both the social and natural sciences, including key
contributions on agriculture/environment issues, food security
challenges, policy regimes, transnational corporations, and
challenges of an increasingly globalised agriculture.' - Geoff A.
Wilson, Plymouth University, UK Agriculture is becoming
increasingly influenced by globalisation. The result is a more
interconnected world where new forms of trade and cultural exchange
can thrive on an international level. This novel Handbook provides
insights to the ways in which globalization is affecting the whole
agri-food system, from farms to the consumer. The expert
contributors cover themes including the physical basis of
agriculture, the influence of trade policies, the nature of
globalised agriculture, and resistance to globalisation in the form
of attempts to foster sustainability and multifunctional
agricultural systems. They present a state-of-the-art summary of
current debates and provide a starting point for subsequent
research into solutions aimed at addressing food insecurity, global
hunger and uneven development. Drawing upon studies from around the
world, the Handbook will appeal to a broad and varied readership,
across academics, students, and policy-makers interested in
economics, trade, geography, sociology and political science.
Contributors: K. Anderson, D.K. Bardsley, P. Basu, A. Blay-Palmer,
S. Bringezu, L. Bryant, D. Burch, D.A. Carson, A. Dorward, J.
Entwistle, S.J. Fielke, D. Fuchs, T. Gomiero, W. Grant, P. Hoppe,
B. Ilbery, A. Kalfagianni, J. Klepek, I. Knezevic, G. Lawrence, T.
Li, Y. Liu, H. Long, D. Maye, J. Morrison, S. Nicholson, M.
O'Brien, A. Omer, C.R. Parfitt, K.E. Rickson, R.E. Rickson, D.F.
Robinson, G.M. Robinson, N. Russell, B.A. Scholten, H. Schutz, S.R.
Sippel, R. Taylor, B. Winders
Are you excited about permaculture but unclear how to put it into
practice for yourself? In this unique, full colour guide,
experienced permaculture teacher Aranya leads you through the
design process from beginning to end, using clear explanations,
flowcharts and diagrams. It is based on course worksheets which
have been designed, refined and tested on students over time.
Linking theory to practice, he places the ethics, principles,
philosophies, tools and techniques directly into the context of the
process itself. While written for anyone with a basic grasp of
permaculture, this book also has plenty to offer the more
experienced designer. This guide covers: Systems and patterns ~
Working as part of a design team ~ Land and non-land based design ~
Design frameworks ~ Site surveying and map making ~ Interviewing
clients ~ Working with large client groups ~ Identifying functions
~ Choosing systems and elements ~ Placement and integration ~
Creating a design proposal ~ Project management ~ Presenting your
ideas to clients ~ and much more. A great reference for anyone who
has done, or is thinking of doing, any kind of permaculture course.
The Instructor's Manual serves as an instructional resource and
includes a listing of chapter objectives, teaching tips,
instructional strategies, learning activities, and an answer key
for end of chapter discussion and review questions.
Includes sustainable gardening methods from seed preparation to
harvest, including the ceremonies, songs, and stories required for
a bountiful harvest.
Farming – whether domestic crops, forestry, fish or livestock –
is one of the pillars of human civilization, dating back to the
early settlements of Neolithic times. Today, approximately one
billion people work the land, providing food and other products for
our ever-increasing human population. Arranged geographically,
Farming explores the many types of farm and farming that exist
today. See how farmers in Malaysia extract milky latex from the
bark of rubber trees, used to make everything from protective
gloves to vehicle tires; be amazed at the gorgeous stepped rice
fields of Bali, where the traditional subak irrigation system is
created around ‘water temples’ and managed by Hindu priests;
marvel at the vast corn and soya bean fields of Ontario, much of it
used for animal feed to support Canada’s beef industry; learn
about nomadic pastoralism in low rainfall areas such as Somalia,
where herders move camels, cattle, sheep and goats in search of
grazing; explore the wineries and vineyards in Bordeaux, where more
than 700 million bottles of wine are produced each year by more
than 8,500 châteaux; and see how freshwater prawns are harvested
for export in the watery deltas of Bangladesh. Presented in a
landscape format and with more than 180 outstanding photographs of
farming from every part of the planet, Farming offers a pictorial
celebration of mankind’s deep connection with the land that
sustains us.
Fungal Cell Factories for Sustainable Nanomaterials Productions and
Agricultural Applications explores the mycogenic synthesis of many
metal nanoparticles, including processing processes, environmental
protection, and future perspectives. Nanomaterials, including
silver, gold, palladium, copper, zinc, selenium, titanium dioxide,
metal sulphide, cellulose, have been formed by major fungal genes,
such as mushrooms, Fusarium, Trichoderma, endophytic fungi, and
yeast, in addition to lichens. Understanding the exact process
involved in the synthesis of nanoparticles and the effects of
various factors on the reduction of metal ions can help to improve
low-cost strategies for the synthesis and extraction of
nanoparticles. Other sections focus on a new framework for the
production of nano-antimicrobial, the use of myconanoparticles
against plant diseases, post-harvest antibiotics, mycotoxin control
and plant pests in addition to certain animal pathogens.
Myconanomaterials are well developed with great potential and
promise for advanced diagnostics, biosensors, precision farming and
targeted smart delivery systems.
The expanding membership of the EU means significant changes for
accession countries' international trade relations, affecting
imports, exports, tax revenues, government expenditures and
domestic regulatory regimes. There are also significant
ramifications for the EU budget. This book is a valuable
comprehensive tool kit for analysing the economic effect of EU
accession, using examples from the most complex sector for both
candidate countries and the EU itself - agriculture. The authors
provide a complete set of market configurations with which to
analyse harmonisation with the Common Agriculture Policy in both
the long and short run. It also provides insights into the
questions of regulatory harmonisation in areas of food safety,
animal and plant health, the environment, animal welfare, technical
standards and the protection of intellectual property. Background
is provided on the EU and its policies, economic developments in
transition economies and the accession process. The book also
provides a unique insight into how negotiating positions can be
developed. A wide audience will find this book of great value and
interest including policymakers and analysts in governments and
related think tanks, businesses and consultancy firms trading in
the EU. Scholars and researchers of European studies, international
trade and agriculture will also find the book invaluable.
In this book, historical narratives chart how people created forms
of agriculture in the highlands of New Guinea and how these
practices were transformed through time. The intention is twofold:
to clearly establish New Guinea as a region of early agricultural
development and plant domestication; and, to develop a contingent,
practice-based interpretation of early agriculture that has broader
application to other regions of the world. The multi-disciplinary
record from the highlands has the potential to challenge and change
long held assumptions regarding early agriculture globally, which
are usually based on domestication. Early agriculture in the
highlands is charted by an exposition of the practices of plant
exploitation and cultivation. Practices are ontologically prior
because they ultimately produce the phenotypic and genotypic
changes in plant species characterised as domestication, as well as
the social and environmental transformations associated with
agriculture. They are also methodologically prior because they
emplace plants in specific historico-geographic contexts.
Using a political-economic approach supplemented with insights from
human ecology, this volume analyzes the long-term dynamics of food
security and economic growth. The book begins by discussing the
nature of preindustrial food crises and the changes that have
occurred since the 19th century with the ascent of technical
science and the fossil fuel revolution. It explains how these
changes improved living standards but that the realization of this
improvement was usually dependent on government support for
smallholder modernization. The author sets out how the evolution of
food security in different regions has been influenced by farm
policy choices and how these choices were shaped by local societal
characteristics, international relations and changing
configurations in metropolitan countries. Separate chapters are
devoted to the interaction of this evolution with debates on food
security and economic growth and with international economic
policies. The final chapters highlight the new challenges for
global food security that will arise as traditional sources of
biomass production and the more easily extractable reserves of
fossil biomass become depleted or can no longer be used. Overall,
the book emphasizes the inadequacy of current explanations with
regard to these challenges. It explores what is needed to ensure a
sustainable future and calls for a rethinking of these issues; a
necessary reflection in today's unstable global political
situation.
Environmental Management Technologies: Challenges and Opportunities
details the environmental problems posed by the various types of
toxic organic and inorganic pollutants discharged from both natural
and anthropogenic activities and their toxicological effects in
environments, humans, animals, and plants. This book also
highlights the recent advanced and innovative methods for the
effective degradation and bioremediation of organic pollutants,
heavy metals, dyes, etc. from the environment for sustainable
development. Features of the book: * Provides state-of-the-art
information on pollutants, their sources, and deleterious impacts
on the environment * Elucidates the recent updates on Emerging
Pollutants (EPs) in pharmaceutical waste and personal care products
* Discusses the various physico-chemical, biological, and
combination treatment systems for sustainable development * Details
recent research findings in the area of environmental waste
management and their future challenges and opportunities
Land quality and land degradation affect agricultural productivity
and food security, but quantifying these relationships has been
difficult. Data are extremely limited and outcomes are sensitive to
the choices that farmers make. The contributors to this book -
including soil scientists, geographers, and economists - analyse
data on soils, climate, land cover, agricultural inputs and
outputs, and a variety of socio-economic factors to provide new
insights into three key issues: * the extent to which differences
in land quality generate differences in agricultural productivity
across countries * how farmers' responses to differences or changes
in land quality are influenced by economic, environmental, and
institutional factors, and * whether land degradation over time
threatens productivity growth and food security at local, regional,
and global levels. This book can be thoroughly recommended to
policymakers, public and private sector researchers, university
faculty and graduate students, and non-profit organizations for use
in research, education, and decision-making.
The family farm lies at the heart of our national identity, and yet
its future is in peril. Rick Hammond grew up on a farm, and for
forty years he has raised cattle and crops on his wife's
fifth-generation homestead in Nebraska, in hopes of passing it on
to their four children. But as the handoff nears, their family
farm-and their entire way of life-are under siege on many fronts,
from shifting trade policies, to encroaching pipelines, to climate
change. Following the Hammonds from harvest to harvest, Ted
Genoways explores the rapidly changing world of small, traditional
farming operations. He creates a vivid, nuanced portrait of a
radical new landscape and one family's fight to preserve their
legacy and the life they love.
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