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.

Advances in Agricultural Animal Welfare fully explores developments in the key areas of agricultural animal welfare assessment and improvement. Analyzing current topical issues, as well as reviewing the historical welfare issues, the volume is a comprehensive review of the field. Divided into five sections, the book opens in Part One by reviewing advances in animal welfare science, examining cognitive psychology, genetics and genomics. Part Two then looks at transdisciplinary research in animal welfare, with coverage of bioethics, welfare and sustainability from both environmental and food safety perspectives. Part Three explores the process of translating science into policy and practice, followed by discussion on the global achievability of welfare standards in Part Four. Finally, Part Five highlights some emerging issues in agricultural animal welfare. This book is an essential part of the wider ranging series Advances in Farm Animal Welfare, with coverage of cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry and aquaculture. With its expert editor and international team of contributors, Advances in Agricultural Animal Welfare is a key reference tool for welfare research scientists and students, practicing vets involved in welfare assessment, and indeed anyone with a professional interest in the welfare of agricultural animals. - Provides in-depth reviews of emerging topics, research and applications in agricultural animal welfare - Provides coverage of topics important to all agricultural animals and complements the wider series, Agricultural Animal Welfare, which will provide comprehensive coverage of animal welfare of the world's major farmed animals - Edited by a world leading animal welfare academic, with contributions from a writing team of both leading academics and practitioners

Newly updated, Agricultural Medicine: Rural Occupational Health, Safety, and Prevention, Second Editionis a groundbreaking and comprehensive textbook and reference for students and practitioners of public health, and professionals in the field of rural agricultural occupational health and safety. The book introduces specific occupational and environmental health and safety issues faced by agricultural workers and rural residents, and provides a roadmap to establishing sustainable worker and public health support in agricultural communities. Responding to reader demand, Agricultural Medicine, Second Edition now features more case studies, key point summaries, and new international perspective chapters comparing North American health and agricultural practices to those in Europe, the Asia Pacific, and South America. Agricultural health and safety engages a multidisciplinary team of medical professionals, veterinarians, safety professionals, engineers, sociologists, epidemiologists, and psychologists, for whom this book serves as an essential resource.

Excerpt from Successful Farming: A Ready Reference on All Phases of Agriculture for Farmers of the United States and Canada Ages of farm experience and'a few generations of agricultural research have given us' a vast store of practical knowledge on tilling the soil and raising crops and animals. This knowledge is scattered through many volumes on different phases of the subject, in experiment station bulletins, agricultural journals and encyclopedias. The important facts on which the most successful farming is based are here brought together in orderly and readable form. Not only are directions given for the management of the soil and the raising of crops and livestock, but the business of farming is fully discussed, showing why some achieve success and why others fail. The subject-matter is arranged in ten parts of a number of chapters each, and by referring to the Table of Contents any subject may be quickly found. References are. Freely given at the close Of each chapter. Each chapter has been prepared by a specialist in the subject presented. The name of the author appears at the beginning Of each chapter. Those unacknowledged have been prepared by myself. The illustrations have been secured from many sources. Due credit has been given these. Special acknowledgment is due the publishers of this volume for its conception, and for many helpful suggestions in the presentation Of its subject - matter. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.