Herbicide resistance has become an important constraint on modern agricultural practices. An alarming increase in weed biotypes that are resistant to herbicides has also been reported. Opportunity exists for a novel weed management technology, which is also compatible with no-till agricultural practices. Microwave heating can kill both emerged weed plants and weed seeds in the soil. When the intensity of the microwave fields is moderate, plants, which have already emerged, are susceptible to microwave treatment. If the microwave field is intense enough, very rapid volumetric heating and some thermal runaway in the plant structures cause micro-steam explosions in the plant cells, which rupture the plant structures, leading to death. Soil treatment requires significantly more energy; however, there are secondary benefits for crops growing in microwave treated soil. These include: significant reduction of the dormant weed seed bank; significant reduction of nematode populations; significant reduction of fungal populations; better availability of indigenous nitrogen for the plants; more rapid humification; and significant increases in crop growth and yield. Microwave weed management and soil treatment is not restricted by weather conditions; therefore, the technology may offer some timeliness and environmental benefits, which are yet to be quantified in a cropping system.

This volume offers to scholars of 18th-century social, economic, and cultural history an annotated listing of more than a thousand titles written at the time on agricultural theory, experimentation, and practice. Arranged into 26 topical sections, the titles pertain to subjects ranging from accounts and wages to cattle, chemistry, gardening, horticulture, grains, grasses, manures, fertilizers, plants, population, land surveys, trees, and wool. Along with basic bibliographical information, many entries provide biographical information on the author and background information on the title. An introductory essay provides an overview of the literature about agriculture and of agriculture, showing one more way in which writers portrayed British and American life from the restoration of Charles II to the death of George III.

By providing access to a wealth of primary material, the book will enable scholars to pursue a neglected area of research. Within topical sections, entries, including both serials and books, are arranged alphabetically by author or title. Cross-references and subject and author indexes provide access to titles that fall into more than one subject area. The bibliographical information given includes reprint editions and, when available, the original sales prices, in shillings, thereby enabling scholars to determine the distribution and popularity of a title.

The fifth and last Volume of this IPMD series reviews, in a multi-disciplinary approach, recent achievements in crop protection and integrated management of arthropod pests. The volume is organized in a first Section covering IPM in citrus productions, a Second one dealing with advacements in the integratioon of management technologies and a last Section covering mites and their biological control agents. As for the previous volumes, we attempted to provide an informative coverage for a broad range of agricultural systems and situations. The chapters are mainly organized and centered on crops, with a particular emphasis on citrus. This is one of the main crops in which biological control and IPM approaches were tested successfully, and the experience gained herein may indeed result helpful for IMP efforts deployed worldwide on other crops and/or cropping systems. Chapters in Section 2 review the integration of insect and disease management options in pecan crops, the application of remote sensing technologies, the status of knowledge about plant defense compounds and their potentials. For IPM of invasive species, an update is provided on the experience gained on the Red Palm Weevil (RPW) in Egypt. Long-term technological solutions for IPM in forests and park areas through aerial treatments with Bt spores concludes this Section. Finally, in Section 3, updated reviews about biological control agents of mites are provided.

Implementing the Circular Economy for Sustainable Development presents the concept of the circular economy with the goal of understanding its present status and how to better implement it, particularly through environmental policies. It first tackles the definition of a circular economy in the context of sustainability and the differences in defining the concept across disciplines, including its fallibilities and practical examples. It then goes on to discuss the implementation of a circular economy, including the increasing variety of technological, mechanical, and chemical procedures to contend with and the need for stakeholder support in addition to improved business models. The second half of the book, therefore, presents tools, approaches, and practical examples of how to shape environmental policy to successfully implement a circular economy. It analyzes deficiencies of current regulations and lays the groundwork for the design of integrated environmental policies for a circular economy. Authored by an expert in environmental economics with decades of experience, Implementing the Circular Economy for Sustainable Development is a timely, practical guide for sustainability researchers and policymakers alike to move more efficiently toward a circular economy and sustainable development.

Livestock's Longer Shadow is one the most important books of its kind since Ruth Harrison's Animal Machines (1964). Most people have little idea how eating animal-based foods harm animals, our health and our planet. We want to believe the animals we eat do not suffer pain, injury, live good lives and eating them is a trade-off for the care we afford them. We accept the illnesses we suffer are simply a consequence of getting old. We want to believe our food choices do not cause rainforest and ocean deforestation. We are told farmers are the guardians of the countryside, yet our landscape is over-cultured and biologically dysfunctional, and our environment polluted by livestock farming. Livestock's Longer Shadow, cuts through the noise for anyone wanting to know how we really treat animals, our health and our planet through the ways we farm and consume animals, through a UK lens. Tim Bailey is an Environmental Scientist and one of the UK's leading and most prominent regulatory farm pollution experts. He brings together all aspects of the UK's animal-based farming and food system, from farm to fork, documents its devastation and provides us with a kinder, more compassionate, sustainable and healthier way forward. In sounding the alarm on the paradigms of animal-based food production, the author uses his own first-hand experience of the impacts of livestock farming from a career regulating the industry spanning over 30-years.

One of the most critical environmental challenges facing both Californians and Australians in the 1860s involved the aftermath of the gold rushes. Settlers on both continents faced the disruptive impacts of mining, grazing, and agriculture; in response to these challenges, environmental reformers attempted to remake the natural environment into an idealized garden landscape. As this cutting-edge history shows, an important result of this nineteenth-century effort to "renovate" nature was a far-reaching exchange of ideas between the United States--especially in California--and Australia. Ian Tyrrell demonstrates how Californians and Australians shared plants, insects, personnel, technology, and dreams, creating a system of environmental exchange that transcended national and natural boundaries. "True Gardens of the Gods" traces a new nineteenth-century environmental sensibility that emerged from the collision of European expansion with these frontier environments.
Tyrrell traces historical ideas and personalities, provides in-depth discussions of introduced plants species (such as the eucalyptus and Monterey Pine), looks at a number of scientific programs of the time, and measures the impact of race, class, and gender on environmental policy. The book represents a new trend toward studying American history from a transnational perspective, focusing especially on a comparison of American history with the history of similar settler societies. Through the use of original research and an innovative methodology, this book offers a new look at the history of environmentalism on a regional and global scale.

All too plausibly, it seems, popes and scientists are warning us of impending collapse-yet humanity and our fellow creatures could still be looking forward to a long and glorious future: at least a million years of peace and personal fulfilment, with abundant and diverse wildlife. But to achieve this we need to re-think everything that we do and take for granted, from the day-to-day mundanities of growing and cooking, to the economy and methods of governance, to the most arcane reaches of science and metaphysics. It all amounts to nothing less than a Renaissance-a re-birth-and the Renaissance to come must be driven and led by us, ordinary Joes and Jos, because the oligarchy of governments, corporates, financiers, and their attendant intellectuals who now dominate the world have largely lost touch with the moral and ecological realities of life. The transformation won't be easy but-the good news!-millions of grassroots initiatives of all kinds the world over are already moving in the right directions.

"Soil Health and Climate Change" presents a comprehensive overview of the concept of soil health, including the significance of key soil attributes and management of soil health in conventional and emerging land use systems in the context of climate change. Starting with a review of the physical, chemical and biological indicators of soil health and their significance for monitoring the impacts of climate change, this book then focuses on describing the role of soil structure, pH, organic matter, nitrogen, respiration and biota in sustaining the basic functions of soil ecosystems, and their anticipated responses to climate change. Further topics include the management of cropping, pastoral, and forestry systems, and rehabilitated mine sites, with a focus on mitigation of and adaptation to climate change impacts. Finally, the opportunities and potential risks of organic farming, biochar and bioenergy systems, and their ability to sustain and even enhance soil health, are discussed.

This book addresses one of the key features of contemporary government policy: how to integrate the economic role of agriculture with the societal role of the rural environment. Historical agricultural policy has focussed on encouraging production while protecting farmers from market risk. However production surpluses combined with growing concern over the environmental impacts of intensive agriculture has led to policy changes, which have exposed farmers to more market risk and required them to take account of their impact on the environment. For the first time this book brings these developing policy issues together with a comprehensive consideration of both theoretical and empirical aspects.

The first part of the book contains a set of six theoretical contributions to the economics of the agri-environment, including consideration of the associated policy implications. Building on this theoretical base, the second part contains four international case studies of agri-environmental policy.

All the authors are well-known experts in their field, and the original material contained in this book should be of interest to academic agricultural and environmental economists, postgraduate students, and policymakers.

The King Ranch Story is the love story of an ambitious young man and his dream of creating a great empire on Texas land. It's about the love between a man and woman, Captain Richard King and his wife Henrietta Chamberlain, the driving force behind King's success. It's a story of passion and power and success on a scale never seen before on this continent. King began his great enterprise with 15,500 acres of arid land called Rincon de Santa Gertrudis, purchased for $300 in 1853. From there it has grown to become an international legend. It was here that the great Santa Gertrudis cattle, and the indispensable western quarter horse were developed. The book also includes terrifying stories of ancient ghosts and hauntings that still imbue many of the secret places on the ranch with a sense of mystery and fear.