Linking Research to Crop Production

Linking Research to Crop Production
Author: Richard C. Staples
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1468410210

In 1941, The Rockefeller Foundation sent a team of three American agricultural scientists to Mexico to survey the pros pects for increasing grain production there. The nature of the program that was subsequently established by the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations has had a large influence upon the evolu tion of agricultural research for the developing countries, and the project grew into what is now called the Green Revolution. The Green Revolution has been vastly successful because there was abundant research and technology available to draw upon. Now the Green Revolution has evolved into a very complex program of development; the momentum has slowed; and it appears that the time has come to reconstruct the research base which underlies the cropping systems for the third world. What are some of the problems that we face? The expanding world population is taking up more living space just when land is urgently needed to feed the 6.3 billion persons projected for the year 2000. The causes of the population problem are deeply imprinted in the social pattern of most countries, and certainly there are no simple solutions in a nation unwilling to restrain population growth. The problem of population growth, and others like it, is very much a sociological problem.

Sustainable Intensification

Sustainable Intensification
Author: Jules N. Pretty
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2012-06-25
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1136529276

Continued population growth, rapidly changing consumption patterns and the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation are driving limited resources of food, energy, water and materials towards critical thresholds worldwide. These pressures are likely to be substantial across Africa, where countries will have to find innovative ways to boost crop and livestock production to avoid becoming more reliant on imports and food aid. Sustainable agricultural intensification - producing more output from the same area of land while reducing the negative environmental impacts - represents a solution for millions of African farmers. This volume presents the lessons learned from 40 sustainable agricultural intensification programmes in 20 countries across Africa, commissioned as part of the UK Government's Foresight project. Through detailed case studies, the authors of each chapter examine how to develop productive and sustainable agricultural systems and how to scale up these systems to reach many more millions of people in the future. Themes covered include crop improvements, agroforestry and soil conservation, conservation agriculture, integrated pest management, horticulture, livestock and fodder crops, aquaculture, and novel policies and partnerships.

Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030

Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 243
Release: 2019-04-21
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309473926

For nearly a century, scientific advances have fueled progress in U.S. agriculture to enable American producers to deliver safe and abundant food domestically and provide a trade surplus in bulk and high-value agricultural commodities and foods. Today, the U.S. food and agricultural enterprise faces formidable challenges that will test its long-term sustainability, competitiveness, and resilience. On its current path, future productivity in the U.S. agricultural system is likely to come with trade-offs. The success of agriculture is tied to natural systems, and these systems are showing signs of stress, even more so with the change in climate. More than a third of the food produced is unconsumed, an unacceptable loss of food and nutrients at a time of heightened global food demand. Increased food animal production to meet greater demand will generate more greenhouse gas emissions and excess animal waste. The U.S. food supply is generally secure, but is not immune to the costly and deadly shocks of continuing outbreaks of food-borne illness or to the constant threat of pests and pathogens to crops, livestock, and poultry. U.S. farmers and producers are at the front lines and will need more tools to manage the pressures they face. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030 identifies innovative, emerging scientific advances for making the U.S. food and agricultural system more efficient, resilient, and sustainable. This report explores the availability of relatively new scientific developments across all disciplines that could accelerate progress toward these goals. It identifies the most promising scientific breakthroughs that could have the greatest positive impact on food and agriculture, and that are possible to achieve in the next decade (by 2030).

Save and Grow

Save and Grow
Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
Total Pages: 116
Release: 2018-06-22
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9251068712

The book offers a rich toolkit of relevant, adoptable ecosystem-based practices that can help the world's 500 million smallholder farm families achieve higher productivity, profitability and resource-use efficiency while enhancing natural capital.

Managing Cover Crops Profitably (3rd Ed. )

Managing Cover Crops Profitably (3rd Ed. )
Author: Andy Clark
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2008-07
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1437903797

Cover crops slow erosion, improve soil, smother weeds, enhance nutrient and moisture availability, help control many pests and bring a host of other benefits to your farm. At the same time, they can reduce costs, increase profits and even create new sources of income. You¿ll reap dividends on your cover crop investments for years, since their benefits accumulate over the long term. This book will help you find which ones are right for you. Captures farmer and other research results from the past ten years. The authors verified the info. from the 2nd ed., added new results and updated farmer profiles and research data, and added 2 chap. Includes maps and charts, detailed narratives about individual cover crop species, and chap. about aspects of cover cropping.

Crop Systems Biology

Crop Systems Biology
Author: Xinyou Yin
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2015-11-11
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 3319205625

The sequencing of genomes has been completed for an increasing number of crop species, and researchers have now succeeded in isolating and characterising many important QTLs/genes. High expectations from genomics, however, are waving back toward the recognition that crop physiology is also important for realistic improvement of crop productivity. Complex processes and networks along various hierarchical levels of crop growth and development can be thoroughly understood with the help of their mathematical description – modelling. The further practical application of these understandings also requires quantitative predictions. In order to better support design, engineering and breeding for new crops and cultivars for improving agricultural production under global warming and climate change, there is an increasing call for an interdisciplinary research approach, which combines modern genetics and genomics, traditional physiology and biochemistry, and advanced bioinformatics and modelling. Such an interdisciplinary approach has been practised in various research groups for many years. However, it does not seem to be fully covered in the format of book publications. We want to initiate a book project on crop systems biology - narrowing the gaps between genotypes and phenotypes and the gaps between crop modelling and genetics/genomics, for publication in 2013/2014. The book will be meant for those scientists and graduate students from fundamental plant biology and applied crop science who are interested in bridging the gap between these two fields. We have invited a group of scientists (who have very good track records in publishing excellent papers in this field or in a closely related area) to contribute chapters to this new book, and they have agreed to do so.​

Crop Rotation on Organic Farms

Crop Rotation on Organic Farms
Author: Charles L. Mohler
Publisher: Natural Resource Agriculture and Engineering Service (Nraes)
Total Pages: 156
Release: 2009
Genre: Crop rotation
ISBN: 9781933395210