Biomass obtained from agricultural residues or forest can be used to produce different materials and bioenergy required in a modern society. As compared to other resources available, biomass is one of the most common and widespread resources in the world. Thus, biomass has the potential to provide a renewable energy source, both locally and across large areas of the world. It is estimated that the total investment in the biomass sector between 2008 and 2021 will reach the large sum of $104 billion. Presently bioenergy is the most important renewable energy option and will remain so the near and medium-term future. Previously several countries try to explore the utilization of biomass in bioenergy and composite sector. Biomass has the potential to become the world s largest and most sustainable energy source and will be very much in demand. Bioenergy is based on resources that can be utilized on a sustainable basis all around the world and can thus serve as an effective option for the provision of energy services. In addition, the benefits accrued go beyond energy provision, creating unique opportunities for regional development. The present book will provide an up-to-date account of non-wood, forest residues, agricultural biomass (natural fibers), and energy crops together with processing, properties, and its applications to ensure biomass utilization and reuse. All aspects of biomass and bioenergy and their properties and applications will be critically re-examined. The book consists of three sections, presenting Non wood and forest products from forestry, arboriculture activities or from wood processing, agricultural biomass (natural fibers) from agricultural harvesting or processing and finally energy crops: high yield crops and grasses grown especially for energy production. "

Global climate change is a natural process that currently appears to be strongly influenced by human activities, which increase atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHG). Agriculture contributes about 20% of the world's global radiation forcing from carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, and produces 50% of the methane and 70% of the nitrous oxide of the human-induced emission. Managing Agricultural Greenhouse Gases synthesizes the wealth of information generated from the GRACEnet (Greenhouse gas Reduction through Agricultural Carbon Enhancement network) effort with contributors from a variety of backgrounds, and reports findings with important international applications.

This book is the result of remarkable contribution from the experts of interdisciplinary fields of Science with comprehensive, in-depth and up-to-date research and reviews. It describes the applications of date palm for food, medicine and the environmental sectors. Date palm is one of the oldest cultivated trees and its fruit has been a dietary staple around the world for many centuries. Date pulps contain dietary fibers and easily digestible sugars (70%), mainly glucose, sucrose and fructose. They also contain vitamins like biotin, thiamine, riboflavin, ascorbic and folic acid that are important for our body. The date palm fruit has been used in folk remedies for the treatment of various infectious diseases, cancer and immuno-modulatory activity. Date stones and date palm leaves are freely and abundantly available biomass. Therefore, the renovation of agricultural biomass wastes into activated carbons for drinking water purification, wastewater treatment, treatment of dyes, and metal-ions from aqueous solution would add value to agricultural commodities which offer a solution to environmental problems as well as reduce the cost of waste disposal.

As technology continues to saturate modern society, agriculture has started to adopt digital computing and data-driven innovations. This emergence of "smart" farming has led to various advancements in the field, including autonomous equipment and the collection of climate, livestock, and plant data. As connectivity and data management continue to revolutionize the farming industry, empirical research is a necessity for understanding these technological developments. Artificial Intelligence and IoT-Based Technologies for Sustainable Farming and Smart Agriculture provides emerging research exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of critical technological solutions within the farming industry. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as crop monitoring, precision livestock farming, and agronomic data processing, this book is ideally designed for farmers, agriculturalists, product managers, farm holders, manufacturers, equipment suppliers, industrialists, governmental professionals, researchers, academicians, and students seeking current research on technological applications within agriculture and farming.

Explores soil as a nexus for water, chemicals, and biologically coupled nutrient cycling Soil is a narrow but critically important zone on Earth's surface. It is the interface for water and carbon recycling from above and part of the cycling of sediment and rock from below. Hydrogeology, Chemical Weathering, and Soil Formation places chemical weathering and soil formation in its geological, climatological, biological and hydrological perspective. Volume highlights include: The evolution of soils over 3.25 billion years Basic processes contributing to soil formation How chemical weathering and soil formation relate to water and energy fluxes The role of pedogenesis in geomorphology Relationships between climate soils and biota Soils, aeolian deposits, and crusts as geologic dating tools Impacts of land-use change on soils The American Geophysical Union promotes discovery in Earth and space science for the benefit of humanity. Its publications disseminate scientific knowledge and provide resources for researchers, students, and professionals. Find out more about this book from this Q&A with the Editors

Research policy favours projects that integrate disciplinary knowledge and involve non-academic stakeholders. Consequently, integrative concepts - interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity - are gaining currency in landscape research and planning. Researchers are excited by the prospect of merging disciplinary and non-academic expertise to improve their understanding and performance, but often struggle with the challenges of operationalizing integration.This book provides guidelines for those coping with these challenges, whether they are members of an integrative research team or individuals working on a problem that demands integration. They must define terminology, choose appropriate methodologies, overcome epistemological barriers and cope with the high expectations of some stakeholders while encouraging others to participate at all.

When city-dwelling journalist Kiera Butler visits a county fair for the first time, she is captivated by the white-uniformed members of the 4-H club and their perfectly groomed animals. She sets off on a search for a real" 4-H'er, a hypothetical wholesome youth whom she imagines wearing cowboy boots and living on a ranch. Along the way, she meets five teenage 4-H'ers from diverse backgrounds and gets to know them as they prepare to compete at the fair. Butler's on-the-ground account of the teens' concerns with their goats, pigs, sheep, proms, and SAT scores is interwoven with a fascinating history of the century-old 4-H club as it solicits corporate donations from top agribusiness firms such as DuPont, Monsanto, and Cargill. Her quest takes her from California's cities and suburbs all the way to Ghana, where she investigates 4-H's unprecedented push to expand its programs in the developing world and the corporate partnership that is supporting this expansion. Raise masterfully combines vivid accounts from a little-known subculture with a broader analysis of agriculture education today, using 4-H as a lens through which to view the changing landscape of farming in America and the rest of the world. Lively, deeply informed, and perceptive in its analysis, Raise provides answers to complex questions about our collective concern over the future of food. Photographs by Rafael Roy.

This book explores the role of in silico deployment in connection with modulation techniques for improving sustainability and competitiveness in the agri-food sector; pharmacokinetics and molecular docking studies of plant-derived natural compounds; and their potential anti-neurodegenerative activity. It also investigates biochemical pathways for bacterial metabolite synthesis, fungal diversity and plant-fungi interaction in plant diseases, methods for predicting disease-resistant candidate genes in plants, and genes-to-metabolites and metabolites-to-genes approaches for predicting biosynthetic pathways in microbes for natural product discovery. The respective chapters elaborate on the use of in situ methods to study biochemical pathways for bacterial metabolite synthesis; tools for plant metabolites in defence; plant secondary metabolites in defence; plant growth metabolites; characterisation of plant metabolites; and identification of plant derived metabolites in the context of plant defence. The book offers an unprecedented resource, highlighting state-of-the-art research work that will greatly benefit researchers and students alike, not only in the field of agriculture but also in many disciplines in the life sciences and plant sciences.

Written by leading academics and practitioners in the field, Smart Villages in the EU and Beyond offers a detailed insight into issues and developments that shape the debate on smart villages, together with concepts, developments and policymaking initiatives including the EU Action for Smart Villages. This book derives from the realization that the implications of the increasing depopulation of rural areas across the EU is a pending disaster. This edited collection establishes a framework for action today, which will lead to sustainable revitalization of rural areas tomorrow. Using country-specific case studies, the chapters examine how integrated and ICT-conscious strategies and policy actions focused on wellbeing, sustainability and solidarity could provide a long-term solution in the revitalization of villages across the EU and elsewhere. Best practices pertinent to precision farming, energy diversification, tourism, entrepreneurship are discussed in detail. As an in-depth exploration of the Smart Village on a multinational scale, this book will serve as an indispensable resource for students, researchers and policy leaders in the fields of politics, strategic management and urban and rural studies.