Healthy Crops

Healthy Crops
Author: Francis Chaboussou
Publisher: Jon Carpenter Publishing
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2004
Genre: Science
ISBN:

This work powerfully asserts the idea that rather than using pesticides, the key to helping crops resist attacks from pests is to improve their strength through natural processes. Many of industrial agriculture's fundamental principles for fighting disease, in particular the reliance on pesticides and fertilizers, are explained and convincingly challenged and a new set of guiding principles for an ecological agricultural system are presented as a genuine alternative to the widespread use of chemicals.

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.

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.

Farming for Our Future

Farming for Our Future
Author: PETER H.. ROSENBERG LEHNER (NATHAN A.)
Publisher:
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2021-12-07
Genre:
ISBN: 9781585762378

Farming for Our Future examines the policies and legal reforms necessary to accelerate the adoption of practices that can make agriculture in the United States climate-neutral or better. These proven practices will also make our food system more resilient to the impacts of climate change. Agriculture's contribution to climate change is substantial--much more so than official figures suggest--and we will not be able to achieve our overall mitigation goals unless agricultural emissions sharply decline. Fortunately, farms and ranches can be a major part of the climate solution, while protecting biodiversity, strengthening rural communities, and improving the lives of the workers who cultivate our crops and rear our animals. The importance of agricultural climate solutions can not be underestimated; it is a critical element both in ensuring our food security and limiting climate change. This book provides essential solutions to address the greatest crises of our time.

Genetic Engineering of Plants

Genetic Engineering of Plants
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 97
Release: 1984-02-01
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309034345

"The book...is, in fact, a short text on the many practical problems...associated with translating the explosion in basic biotechnological research into the next Green Revolution," explains Economic Botany. The book is "a concise and accurate narrative, that also manages to be interesting and personal...a splendid little book." Biotechnology states, "Because of the clarity with which it is written, this thin volume makes a major contribution to improving public understanding of genetic engineering's potential for enlarging the world's food supply...and can be profitably read by practically anyone interested in application of molecular biology to improvement of productivity in agriculture."

Insect and Hydroponic Farming in Africa

Insect and Hydroponic Farming in Africa
Author: Dorte Verner
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2021-12-16
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 1464817677

Interestingly, some relief from today's woes may come from ancient human practices. While current agri-food production models rely on abundant supplies of water, energy, and arable land and generate significant greenhouse gas emissions in addition to forest and biodiversity loss, past practices point toward more affordable and sustainable paths. Different forms of insect farming and soilless crop farming, or hydroponics, have existed for centuries. In this report the authors make a persuasive case that frontier agriculture, particularly insect and hydroponic farming, can complement conventional agriculture. Both technologies reuse society's agricultural and organic industrial waste to produce nutritious food and animal feed without continuing to deplete the planet's land and water resources, thereby converting the world's wasteful linear food economy into a sustainable, circular food economy. As the report shows, insect and hydroponic farming can create jobs, diversify livelihoods, improve nutrition, and provide many other benefits in African and fragile, conflict-affected countries. Together with other investments in climate-smart agriculture, such as trees on farms, alternate wetting and drying rice systems, conservation agriculture, and sustainable livestock, these technologies are part of a promising menu of solutions that can help countries move their land, food, water, and agriculture systems toward greater sustainability and reduced emissions. This is a key consideration as the World Bank renews its commitment to support countries' climate action plans. This book is the Bank's first attempt to look at insect and hydroponic farming as possible solutions to the world's climate and food and nutrition security crisis and may represent a new chapter in the Bank's evolving efforts to help feed and sustain the planet.

Genetically Engineered Crops

Genetically Engineered Crops
Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 607
Release: 2017-01-28
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0309437385

Genetically engineered (GE) crops were first introduced commercially in the 1990s. After two decades of production, some groups and individuals remain critical of the technology based on their concerns about possible adverse effects on human health, the environment, and ethical considerations. At the same time, others are concerned that the technology is not reaching its potential to improve human health and the environment because of stringent regulations and reduced public funding to develop products offering more benefits to society. While the debate about these and other questions related to the genetic engineering techniques of the first 20 years goes on, emerging genetic-engineering technologies are adding new complexities to the conversation. Genetically Engineered Crops builds on previous related Academies reports published between 1987 and 2010 by undertaking a retrospective examination of the purported positive and adverse effects of GE crops and to anticipate what emerging genetic-engineering technologies hold for the future. This report indicates where there are uncertainties about the economic, agronomic, health, safety, or other impacts of GE crops and food, and makes recommendations to fill gaps in safety assessments, increase regulatory clarity, and improve innovations in and access to GE technology.

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.