This book explores the agrifood system transitions in Brazil to provide a new understanding of the trajectory of agriculture and rural development in this country. It accentuates the increasing diversifi cation and hybridization of food production and consumption practices throughout history. With a framework that combines convention theory, neoinstitutional approaches and practice theory, this book suggests the concept of "food orders" which represents different arrangements of practices, institutions and sociotechnical artifacts. By exploring the interrelations between these elements, the book looks at six different food orders: industrial, commercial, domestic, aesthetic, civic and fi nancial, in tandem with examples of practices, sectors and territories to understand the dynamics of each one. This aids in understanding the main tendencies of the agrifood sector in such a vast country that, being a major player in global food markets, also affect production and consumption dynamics in several other countries. Besides, this book also seeks to comprehend the current institutional changes in Brazil that may be critical to interpret the global dissemination of populist and autocratic governments. Offering key insights into the contemporary sociology of agriculture and food, this book demonstrates how strengthening democracy and supporting the organization of civil society are major challenges when we think about transition for sustainable food systems.

Focuses on the coffee and tea industries, using accounts of single producer communities to highlight the transformation from plantation-style colonial agriculture towards systems that now claim to produce social and environmental benefits from the farm to the cup Includes tandem case studies of coffee in the Guatemalan highlands and tea in the hill country of Sri Lanka, incorporating the perspectives of coffee exporters, importers, roasters, and cafe owners.

We are surrounded by thousands of animals, alive and dead. They are an intimate and ever-present part of our human lives. As a society, we privilege veterinarians as experts on these animals: they are our educators and teachers in what they say, what they do, and the decisions that they make. Yet, within the field of education, there is little research on the curriculum, pedagogy, and experiences of veterinary school and students. What do veterinarians learn in veterinary school? How do their experiences during those four years shape their perceptions of animals? How do the structures, curriculum, and pedagogy of veterinary college create and influence these experiences? Learning Animals opens up this conversation through an exploration of the complicated, fascinating and often painful stories of a cohort of veterinary students as they make their four-year journey from matriculation through graduation. The book examines how the experiences of veterinary students shape how humans relate to animals, from public policy and decision-making about the environment and animals slaughtered for food, to the most personal decisions about euthanizing companion animals. The first full-length, critical, qualitative study of the perspectives of our primary teachers about animals, this will be a thought-provoking read for those in the fields of both educational research and veterinary education.

This book deals with an array of topics in the broad area of biotic stress responses in plants, focusing on "problems and their management" by selecting some of the widely investigated themes. Such as: major insect-pest of cereal crops in India and their management, biotic stresses of major pulse crops and their management strategies, insect pests of oilseed crops and their management, biotic stresses of vegetable crops and their management, insect pests infesting major vegetable crops and their management strategies, fruit crops insect pests and their biointensive integrated pest management techniques, mass trapping of fruit flies using Methyl Eugenol based traps, organic means of combating biotic stresses in plants, nematode problem in pulses and their management, and approaches in pest management of stored grain pests. This book is useful for undergraduate and postgraduate students in Entomology, Plant Pathology, Agronomy, Horticulture, other cognate disciplines of agriculture and allied sciences and other research workers. Note: T& F does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. This title is co-published with NIPA.

This book explores the emergence and development of the legal concept of fair and equitable benefit-sharing, and its application in agriculture. Developed in the 1990s, the concept of fair and equitable benefit-sharing has been deployed in an ever-wider variety of international instruments, including those on biodiversity, climate change and human rights. A lack of clarity persists, however, on what fair and equitable benefit-sharing requires and entails, and whether its implementation supports or eventually undermines equity and justice. This book examines these questions in the area of land, food and agriculture, addressing for the first time several instances of the agricultural production chain, including research and development, land governance and land use and access to markets. It identifies challenges regarding implementation of the concept as enshrined in environmental treaties and soft-law instruments, with a focus on the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, the Voluntary Guidelines on Tenure and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants. It investigates its role, enabling conditions and limitations, in a contradictory policy context involving environmental, food security and human rights objectives but also a growing web of multilateral and bilateral trade and investment agreements. Linking international law research with a socio-legal analysis, the book addresses four grassroots examples, which offer ideas for institutional and legal innovation from the local to the global level. This interdisciplinary title will be of great interest to students and scholars of international environmental law, agriculture, land law, development studies and global governance, as well as policymakers and practitioners working in these fields. "The Open Access version of this book, available at https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429198304, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license."

[F]or anyone who has ever sat in a city office dreaming of owning a smallholding one day and living off the land, this book will inspire them to take the plunge. Rated 5 stars by The Telegraph I raced through this beautiful story with mounting awe and excitement. What Lynn and Sandra have achieved on their croft in Scotland is a miracle of rebirth on land Isabella Tree, author of Wilding The inspiring story of two courageous women who took the leap and embraced a whole new way of life. Kate Humble, author of Home Cooked As seen on the BBC’s This Farming Life  Our Wild Farming Life is what happens when you follow your dreams of living on the land; a story of how two people became farmers – and how they learned to make a living from it, their way. Lynn and Sandra left their friends, family and jobs in England to travel north to Scotland to find a small piece of land they could call their own. They had no money, no plan and no experience in farming. They had in mind keeping a few chickens, a kitchen garden and renting out some camping space, but instead, they fell in love with Lynbreck Croft – 150 acres of wild Scottish Highlands filled with opportunity and beauty, shrouded by the Cairngorms mountains. This is the inspirational true story of Lynbreck Croft – a regenerative Scottish croft rooted in local food and community – and the dreams of two women in search of a new, wilder existence. In Our Wild Farming Life, Lynn and Sandra recount their experiences as they rebuild their new home and work out what kind of farmers they want to be. They learn how to work with Highland cattle, become part of the crofting community and begin to truly understand how they can farm in harmony with nature to produce wonderful food for themselves and the people around them. Through efforts like these, Lynn and Sandra have been able to combine regenerative farming practices with old crofting traditions to keep their own personal values intact.

Biometry for Forestry and Environmental Data with Examples in R focuses on statistical methods that are widely applicable in forestry and environmental sciences, but it also includes material that is of wider interest. Features: * Describes the theory and applications of selected statistical methods and illustrates their use and basic concepts through examples with forestry and environmental data in R. * Rigorous but easily accessible presentation of the linear, nonlinear, generalized linear and multivariate models, and their mixed-effects counterparts. Chapters on tree size, tree taper, measurement errors, and forest experiments are also included. * Necessary statistical theory about random variables, estimation and prediction is included. The wide applicability of the linear prediction theory is emphasized. * The hands-on examples with implementations using R make it easier for non-statisticians to understand the concepts and apply the methods with their own data. Lot of additional material is available at www.biombook.org. The book is aimed at students and researchers in forestry and environmental studies, but it will also be of interest to statisticians and researchers in other fields as well.

This publication provides insight into the agricultural sector. It illustrates new tendencies in agricultural economics and dynamics (interrelationship with other sectors in rural zones and multifunctionality) and the implications of the World Trade Organization negotiations in the international trade of agricultural products. Due to environmental problems, availability of budget, consumer preferences for food safety and pressure from the World Trade Organization, there are many changes in the agricultural sector. This book addresses those new developments and provides insights into possible future developments. The agricultural activity is an economic sector that is fundamental for a sustainable economic growth of every country. However, this sector has many particularities, namely those related with some structural problems (many farms with reduced dimension, sometimes lack of vocational training of the farmers, difficulties of put the farmers together in associations and cooperatives), variations of the productions and prices over the year and some environmental problems derived from the utilization of pesticides and fertilizers.

This long-needed book highlights how traditional Mexican agriculture has changed according to environmental, climatic, geographical, social and cultural conditions. Grounded in archaeological-historical data from interrelated research of various scientific disciplines, the book also draws on studies made by anthropologists of varied small-scale agricultural groups. Traditional Mexican Agriculture is the result of a holistic study of Mexican agriculture. It offers the reader a perspective of traditional agriculture in Mexico from social, cultural and ecological Anthropology, Ethnology, regional and environmental History, and Agroecology, to help obtain sustainable agroecology where human societies obtain better ways of life and a healthy and nutritious food system. The book further aims to recover ideas, management, and components of local knowledge of small-scale farmers. Pitched at university students and academics, as well as researchers and developers of agricultural matters, this book will be ideal reading at agrarian universities and related institutions. It provides a basis for future studies in sustainable agricultural systems in this region.

This book presents recent research and advances in various solid-liquid separation technologies and some applications for treating produced water. It covers fundamental principles and the importance of produced water in major industrial sectors and compares solid-liquid separation technologies. In addition, this book Presents the results of research studies conducted to evaluate the performance of solid-liquid separation technologies Discusses a wide range of technologies, including membrane, filtration, crystallization, desalination, supercritical fluids, coagulation, and floatation Includes experimental, theoretical, modeling, and process design studies With its comprehensive coverage, this book is an essential reference for chemical researchers, scientists, and engineers in industry, academia, and professional laboratories. It is also an important resource for graduate and advanced undergraduate students studying solid-liquid separations.

Provides historical context for the many contributions made by using the Xenopus model System. Chapters written by an international team of leading researchers using Xenopus as a model organism. Chapters deal with cell biology, developmental biology, genomics, and evolutionary biology and include the results of the research. Well illustrated with color diagrams and photos.

This book explores how the state can foster collective action by fisher's communities in fisheries management. It presents a different perspective from Elinor Ostrom's classic work on the eight institutional conditions that foster collective action in natural resource management and instead emphasizes the role of the state in fisheries co-management, engaging a state-centric notion of 'meta-governance'. It argues that first, the state is required to foster collective action by fishers; and secondly, that the current fisheries co-management arrangements are state-centric. The study develops these arguments through the analysis of three case studies in Japan, Vietnam and Norway. The author also makes a theoretical contribution to governance literature by developing Ostrom's 'society-centric' framework in a way which makes it more amenable to the analysis of state capacity and government intervention in a comparative context. This book will appeal to students and scholars of global governance, fisheries management, co-management, and crisis management, as well as practitioners of fisheries management.

Sustainable Biological Systems for Agriculture: Emerging Issues in Nanotechnology, Biofertilizers, Wastewater, and Farm Machines explores and introduces the use of nanotechnology, biofertilizers, and design of farm machines in agriculture. The contributions are from India, Africa and the USA; the chapters emphasize sustainable solutions for the enhancement of agriculture processes. The volume provides a wealth of information on new and emerging issues in this interdisciplinary field. The book is divided into several sections: Potential Applications of Nanotechnology in Biological Systems Emerging Issues, Challenges and Specific Examples of Nanotechnology for Sustainable Biological Systems Potential of Nano- and Bio- fertilizers in Sustainable Agriculture Emerging Focus Areas in Biological Systems Performance of Farm Machines for Sustainable Agriculture The information provided here will be valuable to government agricultural professionals, scientists, researchers, farmers, and faculty and students all over the world.

This book discusses theoretical approaches to the taxonomy of biological systems and theory and mathematical approaches to the problem of plant diversity, cultivation, and the environment. Particular attention is given to theoretical and practical problems of soil and the environmental sustainability of phytocoenosis, with the goal to enhance the productivity of agricultural crops: cereals, legumes, vegetables, and fruit. Providing valuable information on the distribution of chemical elements in the soil-plant system and on the migration of chemical elements in the food chain, this book looks at the composition of the soil and the distribution of elements in the soil-plant system that are manifested as adaptations of plant organism to environmental conditions. With chapters written by acknowledged scientists in the field of genetics, plant selection, ecology, and agro-economy, the book attempts, in many cases, to find consensus between the need to address ways to decrease the excess load on the environment and the need to provide adequately for the human population in agro-developed countries. This book also presents precision farming techniques, including the introduction of differentiated agrochemicals and considering variability of soil fertility and crop conditions. An important element for the conservation and adaptation of plant organism to environmental conditions is the use of physiologically active compounds.

Maize is among the most widely spread and widely used crops of the world, used for cereals for over 4 billion humans, as food for farm animals, and as a source material for biofuel production. Yet there are relatively few books on the cropping system of this important crop. This book, Maize Agroecosystem, is a concise treatise dealing with agronomy, soil fertility, and productivity of maize. The information is global in nature and considers recent developments in all maize cropping belts. The "global maize agroecosystem" is a conglomerate of several "maize cropping belts" that flourish on different continents. The impact of nutrient management on the productivity of maize agroecosystems is the main focus of this book. The book includes the history of maize growing, the kinds of soil needed, nutrient dynamics, the use of soil organic matter, the physiology and genetics of maize, and integrated nutrient management. It presents comprehensive knowledge regarding the physicochemical dynamics of the three major nutrients: nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Also covered is how fertilizers impinge on soils of maize farms and their impact on soil and groundwater quality. The impact of crop genotype on soil nutrient dynamics and productivity is also highlighted. The information provided here will be highly useful to students at colleges and universities in the fields of agricultural sciences and environmental science and ecology, and the book also functions as valuable resource for researchers and professors in crop science. Several figures and tables are included that describe and summarize the impact of various agronomic/fertilizer management procedures on crop productivity.

This title includes a number of Open Access chapters. Organic practices are quickly redefining how agriculture is done around the world, as we come to realize how detrimental conventional agriculture is to local and global environments and economies. This book serves as an overview of some of the important topics in organic agriculture. The volume is broken into several sections which explore the effects of organic practices on crop productivity, the use of biofertilizers, plant cultivars, and compare the environmental impact with conventional agriculture. Also covered are the following topics: *Organic agriculture as a strategy to combat many of the negative effects of conventional agriculture, such as pollution and loss of soil fertility *How practices, such as the use of biofertilizers, can enhance plant growth over the use of chemical fertilizers *Vermicompost and the high potential to benefit land in agricultural use *Organic practices' associations with increased soil fertility, increased biodiversity, and greenhouse gas sequestration *The negative effects of organic agriculture practices, such as an increase in nitrogen pollution or pests This easily accessible reference volume offers a comprehensive guide to this rapidly expanding field. Edited by an experienced writer with experience in both food systems and agricultural sociology, Organic Agricultural Practices: Alternatives to Conventional Agricultural Systems is an authoritative and easy-to-use reference, ideal for both researchers in the field and students who wish to gain an overview to this important field of study.

This title includes a number of Open Access chapters. In order to function and survive, plants produce a wide array of chemical compounds not found in other organisms. Photosynthesis requires a large array of pigments, enzymes, and other compounds to function, and these chemicals have multiple practical uses in the human world as well, with applications to agriculture, forestry, and horticulture. This book presents an important collection of research and studies on the physiology of photosynthesis.

This book covers topics on the basic models, assessments, and techniques to calculate evapotranspiration (ET) for practical applications in agriculture, forestry, and urban science. This simple and thorough guide provides the information and techniques necessary to develop, manage, interpret, and apply evapotranspiration [ET] data to practical applications. The simplicity of the contents facilitates a technician to develop an ET data for effective water management.

This valuable book, the third volume in the Research Advances in Sustainable Micro Irrigation series, focuses on sustainable micro irrigation management for trees and vines. It covers the principles as well as recent advances and applications of micro irrigation techniques. Specialists throughout the world share their expertise on: * Automation of micro irrigation systems * Service and maintenance of micro irrigation systems * Evaluation of micro irrigation systems * Scheduling of irrigation * Using municipal wastewater for micro irrigation * Micro-jet irrigation and other systems * The effect of potassium, acid lime, and other elements

Down from the Trees: Man's Amazing Transition from Tree-Dwelling Ape Ancestors covers the evolution of man from tree-dwelling ape to Homo sapiens as he is today. Using easy-to-read language, the author takes complex, jargon-filled material and extracts the essence of the topic and coveys it in a clear and engaging manner. He approaches the subject of human evolution from three different disciplines: fossil evidence and its interpretation, evolutionary theory and its applicability, and genetic evidence and its ability to unlock prehistoric information. The third discipline has advanced unbelievably in the last few years, and this book includes the most up-to-date research. There is nothing more interesting to humans than the story of their origins. The evolutionary process of a tree-dwelling ape becoming a walking, talking man who has developed the technology to walk on the moon, transplant hearts, or modify living things is no trivial story. This book provides a fascinating and comprehensive view of what science has learned of human evolution.

Wild Edible Underutilized Plants explores the role of wild plants in human nutrition-a topic that continues to take precedence in various fields of research. Despite the increasing evidence on past and present nutritional roles of wild edible plants, the use of these resources is often overlooked and neglected in countless policy areas. This book emphasizes the importance of these plants and explores their relevance to sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, and public health in different agro-ecological regions. The book implements a conceptual approach to wild plants, focusing on the benefits of incorporating these plants into people's diets and daily lives and the advantage they will provide to future generations. The book also addresses widespread issues of scarcity, proposing solutions that promote food sovereignty and security. The book begins by first discussing the nutritional aspects of wild edible plants to explore their value as a source of vitamins, antioxidants, fiber, minerals, and other nutrients. It then continues to elaborate on the anti-nutritional elements of these plants, providing a comprehensive overview of their utility.

The tenth and final volume in the series Research Advances in Sustainable Micro Irrigation, this valuable book focuses on new and recent innovations in technology, methods, and applications for micro irrigation. The book covers a wide variety of topics, including successes in micro irrigation in India, how new methods have helped the local economies in several areas, ways to enhance crop yield through new building programs, and new technology and systems. It looks at different aspects of these new innovations in micro irrigation, including economic impact, evaluation methods, bubbler systems, success with particular crops, scheduling, and more.

The grass family is one of the largest and most diverse families in the plant kingdom and is of great economic value. Grasses provide human beings and domestic animals with the main necessities of life, add diversity to the landscape and stability to the ground surface, and also provide ornamental and amenity value. The present handbook is a pictorial resource guide to the identification of different common grasses in their early growth stage. In this book, 100 of the most common grasses (palatable and unpalatable) growing in the grasslands have been characterized on the basis of the vegetative characters of the seedling. A key to the identification of the grasses at their seedling stages is provided to help easily identify the grasses at their early stage of development. Many of the grasses described in the book are cosmopolitan, and many grow worldwide. Terms used to describe a grass seedling are used with help of photographs. Different diagnostic features of the seedling-such as growth habits, types of vernation, nodes, internodes, leaf laminas, leaf tips, leaf sheaths, ligules, auricles, and collars-have been used for their identification. The descriptions and photographs enable users to successfully and easily identify these species in a field environment. The book has been divided into two main sections. The first section covers the characteristic features of the caryopses. It includes light and scanning electron microscopic features and a diagnostic key to the identification of the species. The second section deals with grass seedling morphology and provides a key to the identification of the species on the basis of early vegetative features. Each of the sections includes an introduction, materials and methods, and results, supplemented with microphotographs representing the features of identification. This handbook is the first of its kind to include so many grass species that can be authentically identified with the help of pictorial diagnostic features of the seedlings and caryopses. The identifying features are solely on the basis of morphological, micromorphological, and morphometric characters. This handbook will be an important reference book of value to students in basic grass taxonomy or ecology classes as well as to academicians, researchers, pasture management practitioners, as well as professionals working in grassland restoration.

Fundamentals of Molecular Mycology provides a complete overview of recent developments and applications in molecular mycology. It serves as a comprehensive guide for the identification of fungi and the application of fungal biomolecules in agriculture, food, environment, and pharmaceutical sectors by providing detailed information about application molecular markers and bioinformatics tools for mycology. Covering the most important aspects of molecular mycology, the book focuses on: The application of fungal secondary metabolites in ecosystem management and sustainable agriculture The application of DNA recombinant techniques to improve industrially important fungal species Different molecular markers and genetic approaches for the taxonomical identification of fungi The bioinformatics tool for the identification of fungal species and its secondary metabolites Advances in molecular tools have created a new path for the mycological research and applications in different sectors. Fundamentals of Molecular Mycology is an excellent source of information on molecular mycology tools and applications in various fields. This book will be valuable to biotechnologists at research institutes, academia, and industry researchers, and professionals. The book is also a rich resources for undergraduate and postgraduate biology students in in mycology, botany, microbiology, fungal biology, biotechnology, and molecular biology as well.

This new book, Sustainable Micro Irrigation Design Systems for Agricultural Crops, brings together the best research for efficient micro irrigation methods for field crops, focusing on design methods and best practices. Covering a multitude of topics, the book presents research and studies on: Indigenous alternatives for use of saline and alkali waters Hydraulic performance Distribution of moisture Fertigation technology Buried micro irrigation laterals Drip irrigation scheduling Rainwater harvesting Adoption and economic impact of a micro irrigation model This book is a must for those interested in irrigation planning and management, namely, researchers, scientists, educators, and students.