Agricultural Research Alternatives

Agricultural Research Alternatives PDF Author: William Lockeretz
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803229013
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 262

Get Book Here

Book Description
Clearly, the debate is no longer over agricultural sustainability as a legitimate goal, but about how to fulfill that goal. Research is a vital factor contributing to the creation of a sustainable agriculture. Entrenched ideas about the way agricultural research is conducted have been challenged by farmers, environmentalists, food-safety advocates, rural activists, and others. ø William Lockeretz and Molly D. Anderson meet these challenges and chart a reasoned course through the fray. They analyze the potential and the limits of various research approaches associated with alternative agriculture: multidisciplinary research, application of ecological principles in understanding agricultural systems, emphasis on the use of agricultural information, use of working farms as research sites, and the involvement of farmers in agricultural research. They also propose reforms in institutional aspects of agricultural research?the organization of academic departments, evaluation of professional achievement, functioning of grant programs, and the education of agricultural researchers.

Agricultural Research Alternatives

Agricultural Research Alternatives PDF Author: William Lockeretz
Publisher: U of Nebraska Press
ISBN: 9780803229013
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 262

Get Book Here

Book Description
Clearly, the debate is no longer over agricultural sustainability as a legitimate goal, but about how to fulfill that goal. Research is a vital factor contributing to the creation of a sustainable agriculture. Entrenched ideas about the way agricultural research is conducted have been challenged by farmers, environmentalists, food-safety advocates, rural activists, and others. ø William Lockeretz and Molly D. Anderson meet these challenges and chart a reasoned course through the fray. They analyze the potential and the limits of various research approaches associated with alternative agriculture: multidisciplinary research, application of ecological principles in understanding agricultural systems, emphasis on the use of agricultural information, use of working farms as research sites, and the involvement of farmers in agricultural research. They also propose reforms in institutional aspects of agricultural research?the organization of academic departments, evaluation of professional achievement, functioning of grant programs, and the education of agricultural researchers.

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education in the Field

Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education in the Field PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309045789
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 456

Get Book Here

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.

Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century

Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309148960
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 598

Get Book Here

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.

Alternative Food Networks

Alternative Food Networks PDF Author: Alessandro Corsi
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319904094
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 329

Get Book Here

Book Description
In recent years, Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) have been a key issue both in the scientific community and in public debates. This is due to their profound implications for rural development, local sustainability, and bio-economics. This edited collection discusses what the main determinants of the participation of operators – both consumers and producers – in AFNs are, what the conditions for their sustainability are, what their social and environmental effects are, and how they are distributed geographically. Further discussions include the effect of AFNs in structuring the food chain and how AFNs can be successfully scaled up. The authors explicitly take an interdisciplinary approach to analyse AFNs from different perspectives, using as an example the Italian region of Piedmont, a particularly interesting case study due to the diffusion of AFNs in the area, as well as due to the fact that it was in this region that the ‘Slow Food’ movement originated.

Systems Research for Agriculture

Systems Research for Agriculture PDF Author: Laurie E. Drinkwater
Publisher: Department of Agriculture
ISBN: 9781888626162
Category : Agricultural systems
Languages : en
Pages :

Get Book Here

Book Description


Contested Agronomy

Contested Agronomy PDF Author: James Sumberg
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136450254
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 278

Get Book Here

Book Description
The dramatic increases in food prices experienced over the last four years, and their effects of hunger and food insecurity, as well as human-induced climate change and its implications for agriculture, food production and food security, are key topics within the field of agronomy and agricultural research. Contested Agronomy addresses these issues by exploring key developments since the mid-1970s, focusing in particular on the emergence of the neoliberal project and the rise of the participation and environmental agendas, taking into consideration how these have had profound impacts on the practice of agronomic research in the developing world especially over the last four decades. This book explores, through a series of case studies, the basis for a much needed ‘political agronomy’ analysis that highlights the impacts of problem framing and narratives, historical disjunctures, epistemic communities and the increasing pressure to demonstrate ‘success’ on both agricultural research and the farmers, processors and consumers it is meant to serve. Whilst being a fascinating and thought-provoking read for professionals in the Agriculture and Environmental sciences, it will also appeal to students and researchers in agricultural policy, development studies, geography, public administration, rural sociology, and science and technology studies.

Alternative Agriculture in Europe (sixteenth-Twentieth Centuries)

Alternative Agriculture in Europe (sixteenth-Twentieth Centuries) PDF Author: Gerard Beaur
Publisher:
ISBN: 9782503586748
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 349

Get Book Here

Book Description
The treatment of long-term agricultural transformation remains a lively topic for historians. Much debate arose when agricultural development patterns were discovered that did without a dominant, production-oriented cereal crop, even when it was accompanied by livestock farming. Joan Thirsk hoped to conclude this debate by putting forward the hypothesis that such "alternative agriculture" was the farmers' way of responding to the difficulties caused by periods of low agricultural prices. This theory stirred up controversy and arguments both for and against.00The contributions to this volume take this hypothesis seriously and attempt to assess its validity. Examining a large number of "alternative agricultures" over the long term, from the fifteenth to the twentieth century, they discuss the issues encountered in tracing the links between the spread of alternative crops, such as fruits and vegetables, flowers, and industrial crops, and the general economic environment, across a vast swathe of territory stretching from Flanders to Spain and from France, through Italy and Switzerland, as far as Russia.

Alternative Approaches to On-farm Research and Technology Exchange

Alternative Approaches to On-farm Research and Technology Exchange PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Agricultural innovations
Languages : en
Pages : 184

Get Book Here

Book Description


Oversight on Implementation of the Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization (AARC) Act of 1990

Oversight on Implementation of the Alternative Agricultural Research and Commercialization (AARC) Act of 1990 PDF Author: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Subcommittee on Agricultural Research, Conservation, Forestry, and General Legislation
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 132

Get Book Here

Book Description


Alternative Agriculture

Alternative Agriculture PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309039851
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 465

Get Book Here

Book Description
More and more farmers are adopting a diverse range of alternative practices designed to reduce dependence on synthetic chemical pesticides, fertilizers, and antibiotics; cut costs; increase profits; and reduce the adverse environmental consequences of agricultural production. Alternative Agriculture describes the increased use of these new practices and other changes in agriculture since World War II, and examines the role of federal policy in encouraging this evolution, as well as factors that are causing farmers to look for profitable, environmentally safe alternatives. Eleven case studies explore how alternative farming methods have been adoptedâ€"and with what economic resultsâ€"on farms of various sizes from California to Pennsylvania.