This Palgrave Pivot investigates barriers to international agricultural trade caused by a lack of standardized maximum residue levels (MRL) for pesticides. Given the preponderance of pesticide use in food production and the increasing disruptions to trade, a better understanding of the reasons for the decline in international cooperation, the trade impacts, and potential solutions is critical. This volume will contribute to that understanding. Through an analysis of the economics of MRL re...

How does nature work? When one looks closely at the enormously complex web of life, it is impossible not to be caught by the wonder of how all living things – including rocks and crystals – are interconnected. Just as there is thought behind action, so there is energy behind matter. The Fertile Earth, the third volume of the Eco-Technology series which presents the original, passionate and convincing research of Viktor Schauberger in translation for the first time, contains his groundbreak...

Earth's human population currently exceeds 7 billion, and by the year 2050 our planet will have at least two billion more mouths to feed. When faced with providing food for so many people, the idea is often advanced that Australia will become the 'food bowl' of Asia. Australia currently grows enough food to feed about three times its population and agricultural exports are important to our economy; however, Australia's role in feeding the world needs careful consideration. This highly topical...

The Economics and Organization of Brazilian Agriculture: Recent Evolution and Productivity Gains presents insights on Brazilian agriculture and its impressive gains in productivity and international competitiveness, also providing insightful examples for global policymakers. In Brazil, as in many countries, many economists and policymakers believe that agriculture is a traditional, low-tech sector that crowds out the development of other economic sectors and the country. This book shows th...

This book is the first detailed and comprehensive guide to the use of feedpads in the dairy industry, from planning and construction to day-to-day management, written especially for farmers. With ongoing droughts and access to water driving up the cost of conserved forages and feeding concentrates, feedpads offer flexible and efficient systems to maximise returns on feeding expensive supplements to grazing dairy cows, and form part of the risk management strategy for dairy farms. Feedpads for...

In this book, Hilary Sunman considers the day-to-day experience of her father, Owen, who served in the Colonial Agricultural Service from 1928-1950. Weaving together a human and family story, she combines her father's work with her own experience as a development economist to discuss colonial policy. Focusing on themes such as All the the 'White Highlands', race, colonial leadership, and the rise of the Mau Mau, she looks at the academic training in agricultural science offered as preparat...

As the oldest and largest human intervention in nature, the science of agriculture is one of the most intensely studied practices. From manipulation of plant gene structure to the use of plants for bioenergy, biotechnology interventions in plant and agricultural science have been rapidly developing over the past ten years with immense forward leaps on an annual basis. This book begins by laying the foundations for plant biotechnology by outlining the biological aspects including gene struc...

This book is an analysis of energy and food subsidies in the MENA region between 2010 and 2014. Using the World Bank’s proprietary SUBSIM model, the book studies the distribution of subsidies and the simulation of subsidy reforms across eight countries within in a partial equilibrium framework. The distributional analysis of subsidies provides information on who benefits from existing subsidies, while the simulations of subsidy reforms provide information on the outcomes of the reforms in ...

This volume discusses a broad range of vital issues encompassing the production and consumption of food in the current period of climate change. All of these add up to looming, momentous challenges to food security, especially for people in regions where malnutrition and famine have been the norm during numerous decades. Furthermore, threats to food security do not stop at the borders of more affluent countries – governance of food systems and changes in eating patterns will have worldwide...

The aim of this manual is to improve the welfare of dairy cattle in tropical developing countries, and by doing so, optimise cow and herd performance. It gives the stockmen and farmers directly concerned with the cattle a better understanding of animal behaviour and the ways cattle communicate their comfort or distress. The book discusses normal cattle behaviour and shows how domestication and breeding can affect behaviour to achieve high levels of production of milk, live weight gain and fer...

Agricultural biomass is abundant worldwide and it can be considered as alternative source of renewable and sustainable materials which can be used as potential materials for different applications. Despite this enormous production of agricultural biomass, only a small fraction of the total biomass is utilized for different applications. Industry must be prepared to take advantage of the situation and utilize the available biomass in the best possible manner. Agricultural biomass such as na...

The proceeding of tropical agriculture is a proceeding of papers presented at the International Conference on Tropical Agriculture. Sustainability of agriculture production system is an important issue in the world, which includes all aspects of sustainable criteria, such as technical, socio-economic, and ecological aspects.This book covers sustainable tropical agriculture, sustainable tropical fisheries, sustainable tropical animal production, sustainable tropical forestry, tropic...