Author: Rosa Francaviglia
Publisher: Frontiers Media SA
ISBN: 2832507956
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description

Author: Tony Weis
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
ISBN: 1848136889
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
The Global Food Economy examines the human and ecological cost of what we eat. The current food economy is characterized by immense contradictions. Surplus 'food mountains', bountiful supermarkets, and rising levels of obesity stand in stark contrast to widespread hunger and malnutrition. Transnational companies dominate the market in food and benefit from subsidies, whilst farmers in developing countries remain impoverished. Food miles, mounting toxicity and the 'ecological hoofprint' of livestock mean that the global food economy rests on increasingly shaky environmental foundations. This book looks at how such a system came about, and how it is being enforced by the WTO. Ultimately, Weis considers how we can find a way of building socially just, ecologically rational and humane food economies.

Author: Jules N. Pretty
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136529276
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
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.

Author: Wanda W. Collins
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 9781420049244
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
between the diversity of plant and animal species and host/dependent agricultural systems. Biodiversity in Agroecosystems shows how biodiversity can be thought of not only as the rich make-up of a great number of related and competing species within an ecologically defined community, but also as the robust behavior and resilience of those species over time and as the endurance of their eco-community. This book brings to the fore new research on biodiversity in agricultural ecosystems at both micro and macro levels, heretofore available only in journals and proceedings papers.

Author: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
ISBN: 9251068712
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 116

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Book Description
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.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309148960
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 598

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Book Description
In the last 20 years, there has been a remarkable emergence of innovations and technological advances that are generating promising changes and opportunities for sustainable agriculture, yet at the same time the agricultural sector worldwide faces numerous daunting challenges. Not only is the agricultural sector expected to produce adequate food, fiber, and feed, and contribute to biofuels to meet the needs of a rising global population, it is expected to do so under increasingly scarce natural resources and climate change. Growing awareness of the unintended impacts associated with some agricultural production practices has led to heightened societal expectations for improved environmental, community, labor, and animal welfare standards in agriculture. Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century assesses the scientific evidence for the strengths and weaknesses of different production, marketing, and policy approaches for improving and reducing the costs and unintended consequences of agricultural production. It discusses the principles underlying farming systems and practices that could improve the sustainability. It also explores how those lessons learned could be applied to agriculture in different regional and international settings, with an emphasis on sub-Saharan Africa. By focusing on a systems approach to improving the sustainability of U.S. agriculture, this book can have a profound impact on the development and implementation of sustainable farming systems. Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century serves as a valuable resource for policy makers, farmers, experts in food production and agribusiness, and federal regulatory agencies.

Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309045789
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 456

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Book Description
Interest is growing in sustainable agriculture, which involves the use of productive and profitable farming practices that take advantage of natural biological processes to conserve resources, reduce inputs, protect the environment, and enhance public health. Continuing research is helping to demonstrate the ways that many factorsâ€"economics, biology, policy, and traditionâ€"interact in sustainable agriculture systems. This book contains the proceedings of a workshop on the findings of a broad range of research projects funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The areas of study, such as integrated pest management, alternative cropping and tillage systems, and comparisons with more conventional approaches, are essential to developing and adopting profitable and sustainable farming systems.

Author: Fred Magdoff
Publisher: Sare
ISBN: 9781888626131
Category : Humus
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
"'Published by the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program, with funding from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture."

Author: John A. Dixon
Publisher: Food & Agriculture Org.
ISBN: 9789251046272
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 424

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Book Description
A joint FAO and World Bank study which shows how the farming systems approach can be used to identify priorities for the reduction of hunger and poverty in the main farming systems of the six major developing regions of the world.

Author: Katharina Helming
Publisher: MDPI
ISBN: 3039214799
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
The role of soils for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals is multifarious. Soils are the essential basis for food and biomass provision in support of food security (SDG 2) and energy security (SDG 7). Soil carbon sequestration is paramount for climate action (SDG 13). Soil-mediated water purification and retention, nutrient and matter cycling, and soils habitat functions are essential for maintaining ecosystem services and biodiversity (SDG 15). Healthy soils perform well in all these functions simultaneously. However, the globally increasing demand for food, fiber, and bio-based products poses massive challenges to soil health. Minimizing trade-offs between biomass production and soil health requires systemic approaches to assessment and governance of sustainable soil management in agriculture and food systems. It provides interdisciplinary insights into key questions: What are the impacts of agricultural management practices on sustainability targets in specific geophysical and socio-economic contexts? What are the opportunities and risks of future trends such as climate change, digitalization, and emerging technologies for soil management and soil health? How can institutions and governance instruments be improved to enable decision makers to take action on sustainable soil management? The book was initiated in the frame of the National German research program ‘BonaRes—Soil as a sustainable resource for the bioeconomy’, and it is meant to trigger interdisciplinary thinking.