Traditional farming systems have dominated the agricultural sector for the past few centuries. However, the past few years have proven that new, non-traditional farming methods, such as passive and non-passive solar drying, are essential in the wake of diminishing food production globally. Optimizing the Use of Farm Waste and Non-Farm Waste to Increase Productivity and Food Security: Emerging Research and Opportunities is a crucial reference source that provides vital research on the application of enhanced productivity, flexibility, competitiveness, and sustainability within an individual farming enterprise to promote food security. While highlighting topics such as biogas production, food distribution network, and aquaculture diversification, this publication explores utilizing farm waste in a circular approach to optimize material utilization in a farming system to realize a zero-waste scenario and the methods individual farms can practice to operate sufficiently to become successful and contribute to the attainment of national food security. This book is ideally designed for policymakers, farmers, researchers, agriculture engineers, environmental engineers, and development specialists seeking current research on non-farm waste contributions as sources of raw materials.

The classification of radioactive waste varies from state to state. This results in different management procedures for each country, while following IAEA and OECD/NEA recommendations. Radioactive waste comes from numerous sources. The largest volumes are generated by the decommissioning and dismantling of nuclear facilities. Long-lived, medium- and high-activity waste - categorized as the most hazardous types of waste - are in fact largely produced by nuclear power reactors, spent fuel reprocessing plants and nuclear accidents. Final disposal of very low-activity, low-activity and very short-lived waste is well controlled. However, final solutions for certain categories, including long-lived waste, sorted waste and spent graphite waste, are not yet in place. Management of Radioactive Waste reviews all the possible solutions and presents those chosen by the various states, including a chapter detailing policy on radioactive waste management, taking France as an example.

Como en todo el territorio nacional, la agricultura protegida en el estado de Queretaro se esta convirtiendo en una estrategia de futuro para los agricultores pequenos. Esto no es una casualidad, ante la crisis en el campo, el cultivo de jitomate y otras hortalizas (pimiento, pepino, melon, etc.) se han anclado en la simpatia de los agricultores debido a los resultados productivamente visibles, el uso de tecnologias viables y economicamente rentables. Es decir, el esfuerzo invertido se traduce en resultados economicos e inmediatos para las familias. De esta manera, la produccion en invernadero representa una alternativa viable de produccion y al mismo tiempo una oportunidad de negocio para los pequenos productores. Veamos por ejemplo, en una superficie de 1,000 m2 existe un potencial de produccion de 35 toneladas, mientras que a cielo abierto esta misma produccion se obtiene en una superficie de 10,000 m2. Esto significa garantizar y recuperar la inversion del capital en el corto plazo (2 a 3 anos). El cultivo de jitomate sigue siendo el principal producto que proporciona los mayores ingresos economicos a los agricultores, es por ello, es urgente mejorar su manejo productivo con enfasis en la sustentabilidad. El documento recoge el conocimiento practico del trabajo de campo de productores y promotores. Es decir, la experiencia proviene directamente de los productores. De ninguna manera pretende ser un texto academico, sino un manual de apoyo tecnico para ser utilizado en la practica diaria del productor. No obstante, la informacion expuesta no es la ultima, ni tampoco intenta ofrecer un manojo de recetas tecnologicas, sino un abanico de opciones tecnologicas que incorpore en el productor principios y metodologias, con el fin de ir probando y cada vez descubriendo nuevas maneras de hacer las actividades en el cultivo, para adaptarse a cada invernadero segun su necesidad, sin perder de vista la eficiencia y el momento oportuno para hacer los trabajos. El manual sintetiza un plan de actividades que el agricultor debe hacer de manera eficiente y oportuna; es decir, bien hechas y en el momento clave, y para ello, se requiere una alta disciplina del productor. Solo de esta forma tendra altas probabilidades de lograr un aumento de su rendimiento. En otras palabras, el mejoramiento en el manejo del cultivo de jitomate como toda actividad agricola es un trabajo de arte. Es decir, los productores deben estar convencidos de que el trabajo en el cultivo depende de la comprension de las actividades que del estricto cumplimiento de una serie de recetas; ademas de su entusiasmo, pero sobre todo, deben creer en su propia capacidad para aplicar los conocimientos con dedicacion y espiritu innovador. Tomas Vazquez Sosa Vicepresidente del Consejo Directivo Nacional Organizacion para los Pueblos Indigenas y Campesinos OPIC, A. C.

The Agricultural Field Experiment A Statistical Examination of Theory and Practice S.C. Pearce Here is a comprehensive overview of the statistical knowledge needed to conduct successful field experiments on crops. Blending theory and practice, it covers a wide range of subjects from the fertility of fields and the allocation of resources to the cooperative efforts needed for a successful experiment. 1983 (0 471-10511-2) 335 pp. Statistics for Experimenters An Introduction to Design, Data Analysis, and Model Building George E. P. Box, William G. Hunter and J. Stuart Hunter This fresh approach to statistics focuses on applications in the physical, engineering, biological, and social sciences. Written for the non-statistician, the book emphasizes the need for the investigator to make his research as effective as possible through the proper choice and conduct of experiments, and the appropriate analysis of data. Included are numerous worked examples, exercises with answers), and end-of-chapter questions and problems. 1978 (0 471-09315-7) 653 pp.

In the Foreword to Culture and Agriculture, distinguished anthropologist John W. Bennett writes Dr. Schusky's book is welcome. It marks a point of maturity for anthropology's interest in agriculture, a distillation of decades of research and thought on the most important survival task facing humankind, the production of food. Although applauded by a specialist in the field, Schusky's book is specifically written for the general reader who is interested in agriculture. It offers a historical overview of the two major periods of agriculture--the Neolithic Revolution, which occurred when humans initally domesticated plants and animals, and the Neoclaric Revolution, which began the introduction of fossil fuel into agriculture in the twentieth century. Culture and Agriculture dramatizes the extensive changes that are occurring in modern agriculture due to the intensified use of fossil energy. The book details how the overdependence on fossil energy, with its looming exhaustion, is a major cause of pessimism about food production. The book also addresses the possible solutions to this scenario--conservation steps, an increase in the mix of solar energy, and an emphasis on human labor--which hold out hope for the future. Part I introduces the discovery or domestication of plants and animals (the Neolithic), along with the later use of irrigation, in order to show that most agricultural development, until the twentieth century, occurred between 5,000 and 10,000 years ago. Part II presents a brief survey of agricultural history which demonstrates that hunger had more to do with inequity in the social system than in the amounts of food produced. Agricultural history also emphasizes how little change occurred in agriculture from 5,000 years ago until the twentieth century, when the use of fossil energy revolutionized food production. In assessing the future of agricultural development, Schusky underscores the importance of economic and political policies that emphasize equity in distribution of wealth and government services. This book should appeal to the general reader interested in agriculture, rural sociology, or anthropology.