Agriculture, one of the oldest human occupations, is practised all over the world, using techniques ranging from the profoundly traditional to the most scientifically advanced. Without it we would starve. Yet how many of us understand what is happening in the fields that we see as we drive through the countryside? How often do we think about the origins of the food in our trolley? In this Very Short Introduction Paul Brassley and Richard Soffe explain what farmers do and why they ...

Agriculture, one of the oldest human occupations, is practised all over the world, using techniques ranging from the profoundly traditional to the most scientifically advanced. Without it we would starve. Yet how many of us understand what is happening in the fields that we see as we drive through the countryside? How often do we think about the origins of the food in our trolley? In this Very Short Introduction Paul Brassley and Richard Soffe explain what farmers do and why they ...

The Chainsaw Operator's Manual is an essential safety tool for chainsaw operators. It is the ultimate guide to basic chainsaw operating techniques covering safety, maintenance and cross-cutting, but not tree felling. Detailed diagrams illustrate horizontal, vertical and boring cuts, as well as trimming and cross-cutting techniques.Safety considerations are discussed, including workplace safety, occupational hazards, kick-back and identifying dangerous trees. An explanation...

'This is The Good Life meets A Year in Provence'. Sue Collins, The Nualas 'A luminous, funny and profound reading experience.' Sebastian Barry First, a dream of escaping the city… and then a century-old cottage to match the dream. Moving to a small village in the heart of the countryside was the beginning of a new life for Philip Judge and his Beloved – the beginning of life In Sight of Yellow Mountain. Judge describes the season-by-season charms and frustrations that he, his Beloved, and ...

Precision Agriculture (PA) is an approach to managing the variability in production agriculture in a more economic and environmentally efficient manner. It has been pioneered as a management tool in the grains industry, and while its development and uptake continues to grow amongst grain farmers worldwide, a broad range of other cropping industries have embraced the concept. This book explains general PA theory, identifies and describes essential tools and techniques, and includes practical e...

This book evaluates the history, the present and the future of water markets on 5 continents, beginning with the institutional underpinnings of water markets and factors influencing transaction costs. The book examines markets in seven countries and three different U.S. states, ranging from village-level water markets in Oman to basin wide formal water markets in Australia's Murray-Darling River basin.Introductory chapters on the background of water markets and on transaction costs...

This book contains a vintage handbook on farm economics, with information on different farming systems, machinery, marketing produce, buying equipment, keeping records, and much more. Although old, much of the information contained within this book is timeless and will be of considerable utility to modern prospective farmers. Contents include: “The Nature and Scope of Agricultural Economics”, “Systems of Farming”, “The Farming Considered as a Business Empire”, “Some Units of Economic Measu...

One of the early set of reforms that South Africa embarked on after emerging from apartheid was in the water sector, following a remarkable, consultative process. The policy and legal reforms were comprehensive and covered almost all aspects of water management including revolutionary changes in defining and allocating rights to water, radical reforms in water management and supply institutions, the introduction of the protection of environmental flows, and major shifts in charging for wat...

Federal Data Science serves as a guide for federal software engineers, government analysts, economists, researchers, data scientists, and engineering managers in deploying data analytics methods to governmental processes. Driven by open government (2009) and big data (2012) initiatives, federal agencies have a serious need to implement intelligent data management methods, share their data, and deploy advanced analytics to their processes. Using federal data for reactive decision making is ...

This book covers the broad spectrum of system dynamics methodologies for the modelling and simulation of complex systems: systems thinking, causal diagrams, systems structure of stock and flow diagrams, parameter estimation and tests for confidence building in system dynamics models. It includes a comprehensive review of model validation and policy design and provides a practical presentation of system dynamics modelling. It also offers numerous worked-out examples and case studies in dive...

This book shows how Rwanda’s development model and the organisation of genocide are two sides of the same coin. In the absence of mineral resources, the elite organised and managed the labour of peasant producers as efficient as possible. In order to stay in power and benefit from it, the presidential clan chose a development model that would not change the political status quo. When the latter was threatened, the elite invoked the preservation of group welfare of the Hutu, called for Hutu...

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...