Farming with Nature

Farming with Nature
Author: Sara J. Scherr
Publisher: Island Press
Total Pages: 468
Release: 2012-09-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1597267570

A growing body of evidence shows that agricultural landscapes can be managed not only to produce crops but also to support biodiversity and promote ecosystem health. Innovative farmers and scientists, as well as indigenous land managers, are developing diverse types of “ecoagriculture” landscapes to generate cobenefits for production, biodiversity, and local people. Farming with Nature offers a synthesis of the state of knowledge of key topics in ecoagriculture. The book is a unique collaboration among renowned agricultural and ecological scientists, leading field conservationists, and farm and community leaders to synthesize knowledge and experience across sectors. The book examines: the knowledge base for ecoagriculture as well as barriers, gaps, and opportunities for developing improved ecoagriculture systems what we have learned about managing landscapes to achieve multiple objectives at a landscape scale existing incentives for farmers, other land managers, and investors to develop and invest in ecoagriculture systems pathways to develop, implement, manage, and scale up successful ecoagriculture Insights are drawn from around the world, in tropical, Mediterranean, and temperate environments, from farming systems that range from highly commercialized to semi-subsistence. Farming with Nature is an important new work that can serve as a foundation document for planners, farm organizations, researchers, project developers, and policy makers to develop strategies for promoting and sustaining ecoagriculture landscapes. Replete with valuable best practice guidelines, it is a critical resource for both practitioners and researchers in the field.

Vegetable Production and Practices

Vegetable Production and Practices
Author: Gregory E Welbaum
Publisher: CABI
Total Pages: 488
Release: 2015-01-30
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1780645341

Successful vegetable production in a modern competitive market requires an understanding of many more factors than the biology of crops and the production techniques involved. This major new textbook brings the science and practice of vegetable production right up to date by addressing modern culture techniques and the recent challenges of consumer demand facing producers today. It introduces vegetable production from the perspective of producing high quality produce that satisfies the needs of the modern consumer. Beginning with the basics of how vegetables are grown using high and low input methods, including organic and sustainable production techniques, the book goes on to introduce and discuss many topics covered less comprehensively in older texts, including Good Agricultural Practices to improve quality, reduce biological contamination and secure food safety; water management; cropping systems; plasticulture; protected culture and mineral nutrition. Vegetable Production and Practices also introduces the use of molecular biology for genetic improvement of crops. Issues specific to individual vegetable crops are addressed by family, including their diseases, harvesting, quality attributes and other issues of increasing importance to consumers, including the role of vegetables in human health. Professor Gregory E. Welbaum has a long history of teaching successful courses in horticulture at Virginia Tech and other universities in the US and worldwide. Vegetable Production Practices has been specifically designed to accompany courses in vegetable crop production, so is ideally suited to inspire students in crop and horticultural sciences, as well as provide a useful reference for experienced practitioners.

Farming for Us All

Farming for Us All
Author: Michael Mayerfeld Bell
Publisher: Penn State Press
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2010-11-01
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 9780271046327

Farming for Us All gives us the opportunity to explore the possibilities for social, environmental, and economic change that practical, dialogic agriculture presents.

North American Agroforestry

North American Agroforestry
Author: Harold E. Gene Garrett
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 580
Release: 2022-02-23
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0891183779

North American Agroforestry Explore the many benefits of alternative land-use systems with this incisive resource Humanity has become a victim of its own success. While we’ve managed to meet the needs—to one extent or another—of a large portion of the human population, we’ve often done so by ignoring the health of the natural environment we rely on to sustain our planet. And by deteriorating the quality of our air, water, and land, we’ve put into motion consequences we’ll be dealing with for generations. In the newly revised Third Edition of North American Agroforestry, an expert team of researchers delivers an authoritative and insightful exploration of an alternative land-use system that exploits the positive interactions between trees and crops when they are grown together and bridges the gap between production agriculture and natural resource management. This latest edition includes new material on urban food forests, as well as the air and soil quality benefits of agroforestry, agroforestry’s relevance in the Mexican context, and agroforestry training and education. The book also offers: A thorough introduction to the development of agroforestry as an integrated land use management strategy Comprehensive explorations of agroforestry nomenclature, concepts, and practices, as well as an agroecological foundation for temperate agroforestry Practical discussions of tree-crop interactions in temperate agroforestry, including in systems such as windbreak practices, silvopasture practices, and alley cropping practices In-depth examinations of vegetative environmental buffers for air and water quality benefits, agroforestry for wildlife habitat, agroforestry at the landscape level, and the impact of agroforestry on soil health Perfect for environmental scientists, natural resource professionals and ecologists, North American Agroforestry will also earn a place in the libraries of students and scholars of agricultural sciences interested in the potential benefits of agroforestry.

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).

Introduction to Crop Husbandry

Introduction to Crop Husbandry
Author: J. A. R. Lockhart
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2012-12-02
Genre: Technology & Engineering
ISBN: 0444596100

Since 1983, when the last edition was published, there have been important new developments in crop husbandry methods as well as an increasing awareness of political and ecological pressures. These pressures have resulted in considerable changes in crop husbandry and the new edition reflects these changes by updating all chapters and by including new sections on combinable crops, organic farming and nitrogen leaching. As in previous editions this book presents all the modern crop production methods in a comprehensive and easily understood manner. As such it should continue to be the standard textbook for all crop husbandry syllabi at all levels of agricultural teaching.