Elements move through Earth's critical zone along interconnected pathways that are strongly influenced by fluctuations in water and energy. The biogeochemical cycling of elements is inextricably linked to changes in climate and ecological disturbances, both natural and man-made. Biogeochemical Cycles: Ecological Drivers and Environmental Impact examines the influences and effects of biogeochemical elemental cycles in different ecosystems in the critical zone. Volume highlights include: Impact of global change on the biogeochemical functioning of diverse ecosystems Biological drivers of soil, rock, and mineral weathering Natural elemental sources for improving sustainability of ecosystems Links between natural ecosystems and managed agricultural systems Non-carbon elemental cycles affected by climate change Subsystems particularly vulnerable to global change 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. Book Review: http: //www.elementsmagazine.org/archives/e16_6/e16_6_dep_bookreview.pdf

Population growth alone dictates that global food supplies must increase by over 50% in coming decades. Advances in technology offer an array of opportunities to meet this demand, but history shows that these can be fully realised only within an enabling policy environment. Sustaining Global Food Security makes a compelling case that recent technological breakthroughs can move the planet towards a secure and sustainable food supply only if new policies are designed that allow their full expression.Bob Zeigler has brought together a distinguished set of scientists and policy analysts to produce well-referenced chapters exploring international policies on genetic resources, molecular genetics, genetic engineering, crop breeding and protection, remote sensing, the changing landscape of agricultural policies in the world's largest countries, and trade. Those entering the agricultural sciences and those who aspire to influence public policy during their careers will benefit from the insights of this unique set of experiences and perspectives.

Low-Rank Coal Applications in Agriculture explores the commercialization and marketing potential of low-rank coal, which is rich in organic matter and humic substances. The author--a noted expert on the topic--clearly shows from a practical perspective, that rather than using it as an energy source, this material can be applied for the agricultural sector. The author investigates low-rank coal;s potential as used in dry and liquid humic products. This book discusses both raw materials and commercial products, and provides data on improved soil quality, crop yields, and livestock productivity. This groundbreaking book: details how this material can benefit agriculture; thus positioning coal in the more "green sector" type of industry presents original data collected from laboratories and agricultural fields, and summarizes literature on the science and regulation of low-rank coal and humic substances Written for field practitioners, end users, marketers, operators, regulators, researchers, and academics, Low-Rank Coal Applications in Agriculture is the first book on the market to explore the real-life use of low-rank coal for the agricultural sector.

'Divide is well written and thought-provoking' Sunday Telegraph 'A lively guide through the thorny challenges of rural life in an urban world. Essential reading for both incomer and local. Anna Jones is insightful but above all sensitive: we walk in everybody's shoes' - Tom Heap This book is a call to action. It warns that unless we learn to accept and respect our social, cultural and political differences as town and country people, we are never going to solve the chronic problems in our food system and environment. As we stare down the barrel of climate change, only farmers - who manage two thirds of the UK's landscape - working together with conservation groups can create a healthier food system and bring back nature in diverse abundance. But this fledgling progress is hindered and hamstrung by simplistic debates that still stoke conflict between conservative rural communities and the liberal green movement. Each chapter, from Family and Politics to Animal Welfare and the Environment, explores a different aspect of the urban/rural disconnect, weaving case studies and research with Anna's personal stories of growing up on a small, upland farm. There is a simple theme and a strong message running throughout the book - a plea to respect our differences, recognise each other's strengths and work together to heal the land.

This book reports thermodynamic investigation, analyses, and options of temperature/humidity control systems and their technologies for agricultural applications including (but not limited to) fruits and vegetable storage, poultry air-conditioning, livestock thermal comfort, and wet market air-conditioning. The optimum temperature and humidity requirements for these agricultural applications are identified. Consequently, energy-efficient heat pump options are explored accordingly. The book helps to understand and to apply the thermodynamic knowledge of the energy-efficient systems for agricultural applications.

Beginning first with the fundamentals of biofuel and co-firing, this essential resource then moves into coverage of the methodology that assists energy scientists and engineers to arrive at optimal biomass materials that are tailored to each company's business and economic environments. Coverage provides vital, ample, accurate, and detailed data of a number of energy crops and their uses by scientists. The unique approach includes not only technical and scientific factors, but also business factors such as environmental and human health factors for using biofuel and co-firing.

Geoponika is one of the most celebrated texts to come out of the Byzantine renaissance promoted by the 10th-century emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus. It was a gathering together of many classical and post-classical agricultural works, from Pliny in ancient Rome to the 7th-century Cassianus Bassus and the 4th-century Vindonius Anatolius. Many of these no longer survive, making the Geoponika the more valuable. It is a source both for ancient Roman agricultural practice in the West, and for understanding Near Eastern agriculture and what went on in Byzantine Anatolia. It was once translated into English, in the early 19th century, but has usually only been accessible to scholars of Greek. The history of the manuscript is extremely complicated. Andrew Dalby provides a modern and intelligent translation. He does not explore in any detail textual and linguistic matters, wishing to concentrate on questions of agriculture and food production (meanwhile a definitive Greek text is in preparation elsewhere). This will be an essential tool for students of the classical and medieval worlds.

Recent generations of farmers have reinvented the family farm and its traditions, embracing organic practices and sustainability and, along with them, a bold new use of modern architecture. The New Farm profiles sixteen contemporary farms around the globe, accompanied by plans and colorful images that highlight the connections among family, food, design, terrain, and heritage. Visit a Tasmanian sheep shearers' quarters with a dramatic coastal view and a bamboo-wrapped farm shed in Kentucky. Learn from a fourth-generation poultry breeder and newcomers who have stepped off the corporate ladder and into the barnyard. Projects include an olive oil grove and mill in California, the storied Stone Barns Center in New York, and organic farms in Canada and across Europe. An introduction places the design of these farms in a lineage of celebrated architects including William Wurster, William Turnbull, Edward Larrabee Barnes, Marc Appleton, and Tom Kundig.

This study aims to analyze the coffee value chain in Uganda and identify opportunities and constraints for enhancing youth employment. Coffee is one of the key agricultural commodities in the Government of Uganda's pursuance of sustainable growth and job creation, especially for the rapidly expanding youth population. The study outlines a significant number of job opportunities for young people along this value chain, not only in production but increasingly in processing, trade and marketing, as well as service provision. It also suggests strategic upgrading options and outlines concrete policy actions to maximize youth participation in and benefits from the coffee sub-sector

Viewing the subsistence farm as primarily a 'demographic enterprise' to create and support a family, this book offers an integrated view of the demography and ecology of preindustrial farming. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, it examines how traditional farming practices interact with demographic processes such as childbearing, death, and family formation. It includes topics such as household nutrition, physiological work capacity, health and resistance to infectious diseases, as well as reproductive performance and mortality. The book argues that the farming household is the most informative scale at which to study the biodemography and physiological ecology of preindustrial, non-commercial agriculture. It offers a balanced appraisal of the farming system, considering its strengths and limitations, as well as the implications of viewing it as a 'demographic enterprise' rather than an economic one. A valuable resource for graduate students and researchers in biological and physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, natural resource management, agriculture and ecology.

Introduces readers to the chemical biology of plant biostimulants This book brings together different aspects of biostimulants, providing an overview of the variety of materials exploited as biostimulants, their biological activity, and agricultural applications. As different groups of biostimulants display different bioactivity and specificity, advances in biostimulant research is illustrated by different examples of biostimulants, such as humic substance, seaweed extracts, and substances with hormone-like activities. The book also reports on methods used to screen for new biostimulant compounds by exploring natural sources. Combining the expertise of internationally-renowned scientists and entrepreneurs in the area of biostimulants and biofertilisers, The Chemical Biology of Plant Biostimulants offers in-depth chapters that look at: agricultural functions and action mechanisms of plant biostimulants (PBs); plant biostimulants from seaweed; seaweed carbohydrates; and the possible role for electron shuttling capacity in elicitation of PB activity of humic substances on plant growth enhancement. The subject of auxins is covered next, followed closely by a chapter on plant biostimulants in vermicomposts. Other topics include: exploring natural resources for biostimulants; the impact of biostimulants on whole plant and cellular levels; the impact of PBs on molecular level; and the use of use of plant metabolites to mitigate stress effects in crops. Provides an insightful introduction to the subject of biostimulants Discusses biostimulant modes of actions Covers microbial biostimulatory activities and biostimulant application strategies Offers unique and varied perspectives on the subject by a team of international contributors Features summaries of publications on biostimulants and biostimulant activity The Chemical Biology of Plant Biostimulants will appeal to a wide range of readers, including scientists and agricultural practitioners looking for more knowledge about the development and application of biostimulants.

This book was first published in 1987 when land degradation was one of the major conservation issues of that decade. Australian scientists were at the fore in awakening world interest in this complex phenomenon and in contributing to debate. This book presents a broad multi-disciplinary perspective on the challenge of problems of degrading land, including the onsite and offsite effects of soil erosion, nutrient loss, and salinisation and on the conservation policies needed to meet the challenge. The volume brings together leading contributors to the field of soil conservation from the natural sciences, from economics and the social sciences, and representatives of farming and conservation organisations. The contributions by natural scientists provide the biological and physical setting to the problem. Chapters on economic, legal and social aspects provide empirical information, together with a conceptual and analytical framework to inform policy makers and to guide them in their choice of policies.

Sustainable Energy Management: Planning, Implementation, Control and Strategy, Second Edition provides the key concepts and practical knowledge needed to successfully plan, implement and control sustainable energy technologies. The book provides new paradigms for measuring energy sustainability, pragmatic methods for applying renewable resources, efficiency improvements, and unique insights on managing risk. It highlights the possible financial and practical impacts of these activities, as well as the methods for their calculation. This new edition provides updated guidelines for planning, analyzing, developing and optimizing sustainable energy production projects in the real world, also presenting real-life examples of the topics covered in each chapter. With its focus on real-life issues and discussions of practical challenges, this book is an ideal resource for engineers, researchers and energy managers developing and rolling out sustainable energy practices. Included case studies will help benchmark decisions, especially in the book's new chapter on energy security.

Agriculture and food systems, forestry, the marine and the bio-based sectors are at the very heart of the climate change crisis. Evidence on climate change reveals that it will affect farming first, through changes to rainfall regimes, rising temperatures, the variability and seasonality of the climate and the occurrence of more frequent extreme events (heatwaves, droughts, storms and floods). In addition to findings ways to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, farmers will need to develop farming systems resilient to fluctuating environmental and socioeconomic conditions. It is thus a great challenge to support ambitious climate targets while satisfying the needs for food, feed, bio-based products and energy for a global population projected to reach 10 billion by 2030. Few books on the market integrate environment studies and climate-smart food production. This book fills the knowledge gap by covering all the relevant aspects in one reference: starting with microclimate management, climate change and food systems, and resilience of mixed farming and agroforestry systems, chapters address agricultural soil management, integrated water management in small agricultural catchments, citizen-driven food system approaches in cities, and ICT-enabled agri-food systems. By focusing on the most recent advances in the field while analyzing the potential of already applied practices, this book can serve as a handbook for regulators and researchers looking to understand all aspects of food production and distribution in this changing environment.

Sustainable Utilization of Carbon Dioxide in Waste Management addresses all aspects of sustainable use of carbon dioxide in waste management processes and provides best practices and process improvements for carbon sequestration in the management of a variety of waste types, including carbide lime waste, construction waste, and reject brine effluents, amongst others. The book also provides underlying research on the environmental impacts of these wastes and the need for carbon capture to emphasize the importance and need for improvements of these processes. Overall, this information will be key to determining lifecycle benefits of CO2 for each newly improved waste process. This is an important source of information for environmental and sustainability scientists and engineers, as well as academics and researchers in the field who should be trying to achieve increased carbon capture in any form of waste process to reduce environmental impact.

"Insect Pests of Potato: Biology and Management" provides a comprehensive source of up-to-date scientific information on the biology and management of insects attacking potato crops, with an international and expert cast of contributors providing its contents. This book presents a complete review of the scientific literature from the considerable research effort over the last 15 years, providing the necessary background information to the subject of studying the biology management of insect pests of potatoes, assessment of recent scientific advances, and a list of further readings. This comprehensive review will be of great benefit to a variety of scientists involved in potato research and production, as well as to those facing similar issues in other crop systems.
Written by top experts in the field, this is the only publication covering the biology, ecology and management of all major potato pestsEmphasizes ecological and evolutionary approaches to pest managementSummarizes information from hard-to-get publications in China, India, and Russia

This book brings together research on cooperative management from the agriculture and food sector. By examining issues from food-policy, trade and environmental perspectives and presenting both methodological and empirical work, it allows readers to develop a deeper understanding of collective management processes and cooperative initiatives, and provides a theoretical background for promoting research in the various sectors in which market communities operate. On a more global level the offers insights into how to building powerful tools for decision making, particularly at a time when agriculture and the economy alike are affected by a volatile political, social and economical environment and are forced to undergo major structural changes.

Agronomists and ecologists need each other and can learn from each other: agriculture cannot ignore ecological facts, neither can ecology study and conserve ecosystems without understanding contemporary agriculture. With this intention a symposium was organized on "the ecological implications of contemporary agriculture." Five major groups of problems were discussed, related to major elements of the system, each corresponding to a session of the symposium:

- the soil and its life;
- the plants, especially the unwanted ones;
- the fauna, with emphasis on the control of pests;
- the nutrient cycles and nutrient budgets (the driving force);
- the connecting elements in the rural landscape, related as they are with lotting out.

For each subject (session) two invited papers were presented in combination with a varying number of posters. All these papers were encompassed by the opening and closing lectures, which sketch the societal framework within which a more ecological approach of agriculture has to be worked out.

In this overview the different elements are rearranged and assessed according to four major groups of problems: lotting out, nutrient management, soil treatment, and weed and arthropod control. It is concluded with some comments on the possibilities to realize more ecological approaches in the framework of farming-practice and EC-politics.

This book describes the alarming condition of agriculture in the Anthropocene, when the ethical conception of agriculture as a service of common utility for both society and environment has progressively been marginalized. The ethical utility of agriculture has been sidetracked with the increasing industrialisation of society, the involvement of agriculture in the business-as-usual economy, and the consequential environmental and societal impacts it has had. Thus, re-establishing a meaningful bridge between ethics and agriculture is necessary. A relatively new science (ecology) with both a new epistemological tool (that of the ecosystem concept), and a unique narrative of sustainable development, can help bridge this gap. This book focuses on ethics as a lever for raising scientific, technical, social, economic and political solutions to adopt in agriculture as a model of symbiotic relationships between man and nature. It provides a detailed discussion of the ecological intensification practices in order to maximize ecological and ethical services, wherein agroecosystems will follow.

During the Zimbabwean crisis, millions crossed through the apartheid-era border fence, searching for ways to make ends meet. Maxim Bolt explores the lives of Zimbabwean migrant labourers, of settled black farm workers and their dependants, and of white farmers and managers, as they intersect on the border between Zimbabwe and South Africa. Focusing on one farm, this book investigates the role of a hub of wage labour in a place of crisis. A close ethnographic study, it addresses the complex, shifting labour and life conditions in northern South Africa's agricultural borderlands. Underlying these challenges are the Zimbabwean political and economic crisis of the 2000s and the intensified pressures on commercial agriculture in South Africa following market liberalization and post-apartheid land reform. But, amidst uncertainty, farmers and farm workers strive for stability. The farms on South Africa's margins are centers of gravity, islands of residential labour in a sea of informal arrangements.

In recent decades, practices like the cultivation of a few high-yielding crop varieties on a large scale, the application of heavy machinery and continued mechanization of agriculture, the removal of natural habitats, and the application of pesticides and synthetics have resulted in the simplification of agro-ecosystems. This has enabled a substantial increase in food production but has at the same time transformed landscapes. Indeed, there is a concern that a decline in biodiversity has affected microbiome activities that support processes across soils, plants, animals, the marine environment, and humans. Although they have increased food production, the above practices cannot be considered sustainable in long-term applications. Biodiversity, Functional Ecosystems, and Sustainable Food Production explore ecosystems in terms of crop and animal production, pest and disease control, nutrient cycling, and soil fertility. Chapters range from agro-biodiversity to antimicrobial use in animal food production to microbiome applications for sustainable food systems and the impacts of environment-friendly unit operations on the functional properties of bee pollen. By examining such topics about each other, the text emphasizes how food production, ecosystem function, food quality, and consumer health are all interconnected.

Application of Machine Learning in Smart Agriculture is the first book to present a multidisciplinary look at how technology can not only improve agricultural output, but the economic efficiency of that output as well. Through a global lens, the book approaches the subject from a technical perspective, providing important knowledge and insights for effective and efficient implementation and utilization of machine learning. As artificial intelligence techniques are being used to increase yield through optimal planting, fertilizing, irrigation, and harvesting, these are only part of the complex picture which must also take into account the economic investment and its optimized return. The performance of machine learning models improves over time as the various mathematical and statistical models are proven. Presented in three parts, Application of Machine Learning in Smart Agriculture looks at the fundamentals of smart agriculture; the economics of the technology in the agricultural marketplace; and a diverse representation of the tools and techniques currently available, and in development. This book is an important resource for advanced level students and professionals working with artificial intelligence, internet of things, technology and agricultural economics.

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.