Product Description
Agricultural systems have developed from a research tool in agricultural biology to a discipline that encompasses the whole of the food chain and into institutional and extended education. In this book the current state of agricultural systems is summed up by 14 figures who each deal with their particular specialities. The definitive summaries are now available in book form having been prepared for a conference to commemorate the retirement of a pioneer of agricultural systems, Colin Spedding. The first section deals with the techniques used to develop understanding of plants, animals and the interactions between the two. The book then goes on to discuss systems covering research allocation of the enterprise and farm level, the development of food markets, agricultural strategy formation and insititutional and extension education. Following on from the present state of development each contributor tries to predict the direction which the subject will take in the future. ... Read more

Product Description
Although the application of systems approaches in agriculturalresearch and natural resource management is a rather new field, thereis already increasing demand for implementation of these approaches.This will require a critical mass of specialists in nationalagricultural research systems and international agricultural researchcenters. While these institutions are setting themselves up forsystems research, the experience that has been gained in this areaneeds to be evaluated, further possibilities need to be explored, andnew objectives and targets need to be set. This book contains the papers of a three-day seminar on systemsapproaches and modelling for agricultural development. The seminar,which was held at ISNAR and co-organized by ICASA, was attended byparticipants from twelve national agricultural research systems, nineinternational agricultural research centers, and five advancedresearch organizations. In 24 chapters the book assesses the state ofthe art of systems approaches in agricultural research, resourcemanagement, and rural planning, and gives an impression of theevolution of this interdisciplinary field and its use. ... Read more

Product Description
During the Green Revolution in many developing countries, agroforestry systems tended to reflect modern agricultural systems by their intensive use of fertilizers, pesticides, and site modifications to fit the desired crop. Since the 1980's, agroforestry has learned from traditional indigenous systems to work more closely with the fertility of marginal lands through the use of less intensive cultivation and fallow periods.True to its title, this volume provides a silvicultural framework for thinking about the design and practice of agroforestry systems. Unlike many general agroforestry books, The Silvicultural Basis for Agroforestry Systems emphasizes research and thoughts from a forestry perspective rather than an agricultural one. Many of the examples used in this reference are based on the ecological theory of forests that concern the competition for resources of plant-plant and plant-animal mixtures. This guide also uses the knowledge gained about the temporal and spatial dynamic and productivity of forests as the basis for silvicultural applications in agroforestry systems. The Silvicultural Basis for Agroforestry Systems contains three parts: ... Read more

Product Description
Restocking can be an effective means of poverty alleviation, which enables poor households to be incorporated back into the social and economic fabric of pastoralism. Nevertheless, at present the sustainability of projects is low. Hence the intention of this manual is to offer ‘best practice’ and decision support tools that can increase the number of positive project outcomes. Further, as many practitioners are new to restocking, the manual offers a background to important concepts and the literature. For those readers to whom the full explanation is not necessary, at the end of each chapter a summary of key points is offered.

The manual is the result of a two-year global study on restocking policy and practice. It is based on discussions with over 30 NGOs, donors and governments involved in restocking. More specifically, 85 restocking projects representing a wide range of agencies from donors to Community based organizations (CBO), were analyzed for key design and implementation issues. Overall approximately 700 restocked households participated in the study. ... Read more

Product Description
There are many theoretical approaches to modelling forest systems, but not all of them have valid practical applications. This book reviews current thinking on various models and explores a variety of areas and approaches. The papers in this book have been selected and developed from those presented at a workshop held in Portugal in June 2002. The topics covered include: forest reality and modelling strategies; mathematical approaches and reasoning; estimation processes models; validation and decision under uncertainty and model archives and metadata.The book will be of significant interest to those in areas of forestry, applied ecology, and statistics and economics. ... Read more

Product Description
This book brings together recent advances in the research on the ecological functioning of the soil litter system of tropical plantation forests in relation to their management, which is of crucial importance for the growth of trees and sustainability of the ecosystem. This book includes contributions from internationally renowned researchers in the field, synthesizes considerable body of research available and provides adequate reference at the end of each article (chapter) for further reading. It should be of great value to and a resource book for environmental biologists, ecologists, soil biologists, soil scientists, plant ecologists, plantation managers, forest conservators, and many others with an interest in the tropics. ... Read more

Product Description
Innovative methods of pork production will continue to play animportant part in meeting the food needs of an expanding humanpopulation as we enter the 21st century. An essential reference forswine producers and food scientists, Pork Production Systems is thefirst and only book to offer an integrated, highly efficient approachto modern pork production. The authors bring together information ongenetics, physiology, nutrition, feed formulations, feedstuffs,biotechnology, economics and management, integrating these withmodern concepts of systems analysis and simulation modeling. Theapproach provides an overall pork production systems view whichindividual producers can adapt to their specific resources, needs andgoals. This innovative methodology will help stimulate the growth ofpork production and the improved use of feed and breeding stock forincreased efficiency of resource utilization. ... Read more

Product Description
Based on the author's widely used earlier text African Farm Management, this account updates the economic analysis of tropical agriculture and broadens its perspective to include examples from all parts of the developing world. Writing in a clear, concise style, Professor Upton explains the essential theories of farm economics without numerous mathematical formulae. The text is completely revised, with increased emphasis on farm household economics, in which farms are seen as consumers as well as producers. Also included is a new chapter on the economics of irrigated agriculture. This book provides an invaluable economic framework for better understanding the operation and management of farming systems in the tropics, and will be welcomed by students of tropical agriculture worldwide. From reviews of African Farm Management: "The author produces an authoritative text interlaced with many relevant and illustrative references."-- Experimental Agriculture ... Read more

Product Description
Despite the attempts of a number of Latin American republics to redistribute land resources and carry out agrarian reform programmes, "the land question" remains a vital political issue throughout the region. This book focuses on Bolivia, where government proposals to replace a radical agrarian reform law of 1953 with a neo-liberal Ley INRA provoked heated public debate and violent campesino clashes with the police in September/October 1996. The first five chapters are largely concerned with theoretical aspects and a review of Bolivia's agrarian reform legislation - the remaining six chapters are devoted to analysis, from the viewpoints of participant campesinos and the research, of agricultural change in Aymara communities beside Lake Titicaca, where the author has conducted research over nearly 30 years. Lakeside farming is under threat as a result of land degradation, limited chaos resources, rural-urban migration, tourism and commuterization. ... Read more

Product Description
In the 1980s and 1990s, green manure/cover crop (GMCC) systems became a popular agricultural technology in research and development efforts for smallholder tropical and subtropical farmers. However, few syntheses of these experiences have been conducted. This volume of case studies contributes to bridging this gap by reviewing field-level experiences with these systems.
Twelve case studies are included. Eleven of them describe experiences from Latin America (4 cases), Africa (6 cases) and Asia (1 case) and the twelfth case reports on the development of a GMCC systems database. Two concluding chapters, `Learning from the Case Studies' and `Future Perspectives', build upon the cases.
The systems described are diverse. Some systems have been spontaneously adopted by farmers, while others have been introduced to the farmers through diffusion efforts. Some of the cases reviewed describe small, localized efforts while others report on large-scale, well-known ones, such as the combination of GMCCs and conservation tillage in Santa Catarina, Brazil, the maize-Mucuna system in northern Honduras, and the improved fallow systems in Eastern Zambia. Most experiences include both development and research aspects and to the extent possible the cases integrate these two. Discussion of the strengths and shortcomings of the systems and efforts is frank, and the goal is to learn from these experiences to benefit future efforts.
It is expected that both researchers and development practitioners and students of tropical farming systems and soil management will find this volume of case studies useful. ... Read more

Product Description
Agroforestry in Sustainable Agricultural Systems examines the environmental and social conditions that affect the roles and performance of trees in field-and forest-based agricultural production systems. Various types of ecological setttings for agroforestry are analyzed within temperate and tropical regions. The roles of soil, water, light, nutrient and pest management in mixed, annual, woody perennial and livestock systems are discussed. Important new case studies from around the world offer innovative strategies that have been used successfully in raising forests and tree products on a sustainable basis for commercial harvesting and for providing other environmental services in land conservation and watershed management. ... Read more

Product Description
Models of crop growth and development were originally conceived for scientific purposes. Typically, they describe the mechanisms of crop production, development from emergence through tuber initiation to senescence determined by temperature and day-length. Growth is driven by solar radiation intercepted by the foliage. Yields are enhanced by the availability of water and nutrients and may be reduced by pests, diseases and weeds. These scientific models are leaving the research institutes and increasingly are becoming a means of knowledge transfer for students, and most importantly, to growers and their intermediaries such as extensionists and consultants. Many decision support systems (DSS) have a mechanistic model core that assures their robustness and reliability. This book gives an overview of model-based DSS in potato production. Decision support systems are used by the processing industry to guide them to promising production areas and by breeders to identify the ideal genotype for such environments. Consultants and soil laboratories use them as well as farmers to optimize the use of nitrogen, water and chemicals to control insects, nematodes, late blight and weeds. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from The Geographical Journal, published by Blackwell Publishers Ltd. on June 1, 2007. The length of the article is 7445 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the author: KEY WORDS: Jamaica, local knowledge, agricultural dualism, small-scale farming, farmer innovation

Citation Details
Title: The role and value of local knowledge in Jamaican agriculture: adaptation and change in small-scale farming.(Report)
Author: Clinton Beckford
Publication: The Geographical Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 1, 2007
Publisher: Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
Volume: 173Issue: 2Page: 118(11)

Article Type: Report

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

Product Description
A Guide to Golf Course Irrigation System Design and Drainage details every phase of an irrigation program - from the system design to construction, from scheduling to operation, and much more.  It also covers the fundamentals of drainage design and installation.  Turfgrass managers and golf course superintendents will refer to this handy book often to plan and implement effective irrigation systems, ensure appropriate capacity, easy installation, and practical operation and maintenance. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Basic & easy of golf course irrigation design
It's basic and better guide of golf irrigation design, and also be a complete method from plan to as-built map. This book is very ersy for reading for learner but was older version of 1997, some skill is more than ten years before. ... Read more

Product Description
The problem of water induced soil erosion in the subhumid tropics has gained increasing public attention in recent years. In order to avoid the destruction of agricultural land it is necessary to develop cultivation systems allowing a sustainable agricultural utilization of endangered areas. This goal required knowledge of the causes and the processes of soil erosion in the tropics. The best known model to estimate soil loss by water erosion is the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) which was developed by Wischmeier and Smith (1987). The research reported here aims to collect basic information on the characteristics of erosion processes in a defined area of the Andean zone of Colombia. This should allow readers to make conclusions about the applicability of the USLE. Furthermore, conventional and improved cassava cropping systems adapted to local smallholder conditions were to be tested to obtain knowledge based on the influence of management practices on erosion processes. To this end, erosion trials were established on slopes with a gradiant of 7-20% at two locations in Southern Colombia.The trials were started in the beginning of 1987 and continued during two growing seasons until the beginning of 1989. The trials were established with three repetitions in Santander de Quilichao and with two repetitions in Mondomo. ... Read more