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Agendas for Sustainability: Environment and Development into the 21st Century (Routledge/SEI Global Environment and Development Series)
by Mary MacDonaldAgendas and Sustainability considers the processes used for devising global environment and development agendas and provides practical suggestions for their future development and influence. A collaboration of the latest research from the Stockholm Environment Institute and the Earth Council, the book presents similarities and differences in problem definition, objectives, principles, priorities and actions across eleven of the major agendas put forward for environment and development after Rio. Points of divergence and areas of common ground are investigated for over 30 environment and development-related topics, such as biodiversity, consumption patterns, trade, urbanization, population, education, deforestation and water resources.
Agent-Based Modeling of Environmental Conflict and Cooperation
by Todd BenDor Jürgen ScheffranConflict is a major facet of many environmental challenges of our time. However, growing conflict complexity makes it more difficult to identify win-win strategies for sustainable conflict resolution. Innovative methods are needed to help predict, understand, and resolve conflicts in cooperative ways.Agent-Based Modeling of Environmental Conflict and Cooperation examines computer modeling techniques as an important set of tools for assessing environmental and resource-based conflicts and, ultimately, for finding pathways to conflict resolution and cooperation. This book has two major goals. First, it argues that complexity science can be a unifying framework for professions engaged in conflict studies and resolution, including anthropology, law, management, peace studies, urban planning, and geography. Second, this book presents an innovative framework for approaching conflicts as complex adaptive systems by using many forms of environmental analysis, including system dynamics modeling, agent-based modeling, evolutionary game theory, viability theory, and network analysis. Known as VIABLE (Values and Investments from Agent-Based interaction and Learning in Environmental systems), this framework allows users to model advanced facets of conflicts—including institution building, coalition formation, adaptive learning, and the potential for future conflict—and conflict resolution based on the long-term viability of the actors’ strategies.Written for scholars, students, practitioners, and policy makers alike, this book offers readers an extensive introduction to environmental conflict research and resolution techniques. As the result of decades of research, the text presents a strong argument for conflict modeling and reviews the most popular and advanced techniques, including system dynamics modeling, agent-based modeling, and participatory modeling methods. This indispensable guide uses NetLogo, a widely used and free modeling software package, to implement the VIABLE modeling approach in three case study applications around the world. Readers are invited to explore, adapt, modify, and expand these models to conflicts they hope to better understand and resolve.
Agent-Based Modeling of Sustainable Behaviors (Understanding Complex Systems)
by Juan Manuel Corchado Javier Bajo Amparo Alonso-Betanzos Noelia Sánchez-Maroño Oscar Fontenla-Romero J. Gary Polhill Tony CraigUsing the O. D. D. (Overview, Design concepts, Detail) protocol, this title explores the role of agent-based modeling in predicting the feasibility of various approaches to sustainability. The chapters incorporated in this volume consist of real case studies to illustrate the utility of agent-based modeling and complexity theory in discovering a path to more efficient and sustainable lifestyles. The topics covered within include: households' attitudes toward recycling, designing decision trees for representing sustainable behaviors, negotiation-based parking allocation, auction-based traffic signal control, and others. This selection of papers will be of interest to social scientists who wish to learn more about agent-based modeling as well as experts in the field of agent-based modeling.
Agent-Based Models and Complexity Science in the Age of Geospatial Big Data: Selected Papers from a workshop on Agent-Based Models and Complexity Science (GIScience 2016) (Advances in Geographic Information Science)
by Liliana Perez Eun-Kyeong Kim Raja SenguptaThis book contains a selection of papers presented during a special workshop on Complexity Science organized as part of the 9th International Conference on GIScience 2016. Expert researchers in the areas of Agent-Based Modeling, Complexity Theory, Network Theory, Big Data, and emerging methods of Analysis and Visualization for new types of data explore novel complexity science approaches to dynamic geographic phenomena and their applications, addressing challenges and enriching research methodologies in geography in a Big Data Era.
Agent-Based Models of Geographical Systems
by Michael Batty Alison J. Heppenstall Andrew T. Crooks Linda M. SeeThis unique book brings together a comprehensive set of papers on the background, theory, technical issues and applications of agent-based modelling (ABM) within geographical systems. This collection of papers is an invaluable reference point for the experienced agent-based modeller as well those new to the area. Specific geographical issues such as handling scale and space are dealt with as well as practical advice from leading experts about designing and creating ABMs, handling complexity, visualising and validating model outputs. With contributions from many of the world's leading research institutions, the latest applied research (micro and macro applications) from around the globe exemplify what can be achieved in geographical context. This book is relevant to researchers, postgraduate and advanced undergraduate students, and professionals in the areas of quantitative geography, spatial analysis, spatial modelling, social simulation modelling and geographical information sciences.
Agent-Based Simulation of Vulnerability Dynamics: A Case Study of the German North Sea Coast (Springer Theses)
by Cilli SobiechThis thesis constitutes an extraordinary innovative research approach in transferring the concepts and methods of complex systems to risk research. It ambitiously bridges the barriers between theoretical, empirical and methodical research work and integrates these fields into one comprehensive approach of dealing with uncertainty in socio-ecological systems. The developed agent-based simulation aims at the dynamics of social vulnerability in the considered system of the German North Sea Coast. Thus, the social simulation provides an analytical method to explore the individual, relational, and spatial aspects leading to dynamics of vulnerability in society. Combining complexity science and risk research by the method of agent-based simulation hereby emphasizes the importance of understanding interrelations inside the system for the system's development, i.e. for the evolving. Based on a vulnerability assessment regarding vulnerability characteristics, present risk behavior and self-protection preferences of private households against the impacts of flooding and storm surges, possible system trajectories could be explored by means of simulation experiments. The system-analytical approach therefore contributes to an integrated consideration of multi-dimensional and context-sensitv social phenomena such as vulnerability. Furthermore it achieves conceptually and strategically relevant implications for risk research and complex systems research.
Agents and Implications of Landscape Pattern: Working Models for Landscape Ecology
by Dean L UrbanThis is an ecology textbook focused on key principles that underpin research and management at the landscape scale. It covers (1) agents of pattern (the physical template, biotic processes, and disturbance regimes); (2) scale and pattern (why scale matters, how to ‘scale’ with data, and inferences using landscape pattern metrics); and (3) implications of pattern (for metapopulations, communities and biodiversity, and ecosystem processes). The last two chapters address emerging issues: urban landscapes, and adapting to climate change. This book stems from two graduate-level courses in Landscape Ecology taught at the Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. The subject has evolved over time, from a concepts-based overview of what landscape ecology is, to a more applied practicum on how one does landscape ecology. As landscape ecology has matured as a discipline, its perspectives on spatial heterogeneity and scale have begun to permeate into a wide range of other fields including conservation biology, ecosystem management, and ecological restoration. Thus, this textbook will bring students from diverse backgrounds to a common level of understanding and will prepare them with the practical knowledge for a career in conservation and ecosystem management.
Ages, Geochemistry and Metamorphism of Neoarchean Basement in Shandong Province: Implications for the Evolution of the North China Craton (Springer Theses)
by Meiling WuFocusing on issues of when and how Archean crust in the craton was formed, this PhD thesis book presents major research outcomes of field based metamorphic, geochemical and geochronological investigations on Meso-Neoarchean basement rocks from Shandong Province in the Eastern Block of the North China Craton. Based on major findings and new data, the author proposes that the formation and evolution of Archean crust was governed by mantle plumes, not by plate tectonics. As one of the oldest cratonic blocks in the world containing rocks as old as 3. 85 billion years, the formation and evolution of North China Craton is still controversial. Therefore this book will be of value to anyone interested in the evolution of cratonic blocks and Precambrian geology.
The Ages of Globalization: Geography, Technology, and Institutions
by Jeffrey D. SachsToday’s most urgent problems are fundamentally global. They require nothing less than concerted, planetwide action if we are to secure a long-term future. But humanity’s story has always been on a global scale. In this book, Jeffrey D. Sachs, renowned economist and expert on sustainable development, turns to world history to shed light on how we can meet the challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century. <P><P>Sachs takes readers through a series of seven distinct waves of technological and institutional change, starting with the original settling of the planet by early modern humans through long-distance migration and ending with reflections on today’s globalization. Along the way, he considers how the interplay of geography, technology, and institutions influenced the Neolithic revolution; the role of the horse in the emergence of empires; the spread of large land-based empires in the classical age; the rise of global empires after the opening of sea routes from Europe to Asia and the Americas; and the industrial age. The dynamics of these past waves, Sachs demonstrates, offer fresh perspective on the ongoing processes taking place in our own time—a globalization based on digital technologies. Sachs emphasizes the need for new methods of international governance and cooperation to prevent conflicts and to achieve economic, social, and environmental objectives aligned with sustainable development. The Ages of Globalization is a vital book for all readers aiming to make sense of our rapidly changing world.
Agglomeration and Firm Performance (Advances in Spatial Science)
by Fiorenza Belussi Jose-Luis Hervas-OliverThis contributed volume studies and explains the effect of agglomeration on a firm’s innovation and performance. It presents new cases as well as new topics within the agglomeration phenomenon, exploring also their role under the Great Recession. Beyond the analysis of regions or clusters, this volume focuses on firms within agglomerations and captures this phenomenon from different perspectives, contexts and diverse literatures. Specifically, it looks at the question under what circumstances exert generate benefits on firms’ performance, and how those gains are generated and distributed, usually asymmetrically, across agglomerated firms. In this context, the book addresses topics such as networks, collocation, labor mobility, firm’s strategies, innovation, competitiveness and collective actions across a diverse set of literatures, including economic geography, business economics, management, social networks, industrial districts, international business, sociology or industry dynamics.
Agglomeration of Iron Ores (Metals And Alloys Ser.)
by Ram Pravesh BhagatThis book focuses on agglomeration, or the size enlargement process, of iron ores. This process sits at the interface of mineral processing and extractive metallurgy. The book begins with a discussion of raw materials preparation and the beneficiation process. It then describes fundamental principles of the sintering and pelletization processes, including formation of green mix through granulation and green balls as well as chemical reactions during sintering. Finally, it offers a brief description of iron making processes and correlations related to the agglomerates: quality parameters and BF productivity and coke rate.
Aging, Shaking, and Cracking of Infrastructures: From Mechanics to Concrete Dams and Nuclear Structures
by Victor E. Saouma M. Amin Hariri-ArdebiliThis self-contained book focuses on the safety assessment of existing structures subjected to multi-hazard scenarios through advanced numerical methods. Whereas the focus is on concrete dams and nuclear containment structures, the presented methodologies can also be applied to other large-scale ones.The authors explains how aging and shaking ultimately lead to cracking, and how these complexities are compounded by their random nature. Nonlinear (static and transient) finite element analysis is hence integrated with both earthquake engineering and probabilistic methods to ultimately derive capacity or fragility curves through a rigorous safety assessment.Expanding its focus beyond design aspects or the state of the practice (i.e., codes), this book is composed of seven sections:Fundamentals: theoretical coverage of solid mechnics, plasticity, fracture mechanics, creep, seismology, dynamic analysis, probability and statisticsDamage: that can affect concrete structures, such as cracking of concrete, AAR, chloride ingress, and rebar corrosion,Finite Element: formulation for both linear and nonlinear analysis including stress, heat and fracture mechanics,Engineering Models: for soil/fluid-structure interaction, uncertainty quantification, probablilistic and random finite element analysis, machine learning, performance based earthquake engineering, ground motion intensity measures, seismic hazard analysis, capacity/fragility functions and damage indeces,Applications to dams through potential failure mode analyses, risk-informed decision making, deterministic and probabilistic examples,Applications to nuclear structures through modeling issues, aging management programs, critical review of some analyses,Other applications and case studies: massive RC structures and bridges, detailed assessment of a nuclear containment structure evaluation for license renewal. This book should inspire students, professionals and most importantly regulators to rigorously apply the most up to date scientific methods in the safety assessment of large concrete structures.
Agrarian Capitalism, War and Peace in Colombia: Beyond Dispossession (Routledge Studies in Global Land and Resource Grabbing)
by Jacobo GrajalesBased on extensive research conducted in Colombia since 2009, this book addresses the connection between land grabbing and agrarian capitalism, as well as the unfulfilled promises of peace and justice. While land remains a key resource at the core of many contemporary civil wars, the impact of high-intensity armed violence on the formation of agrarian capitalism is seldom discussed. Drawing on nearly 200 interviews, archival research, and geographical data, this book examines land grabbing and the role of violence in capital with a particular focus on one key actor in the Colombian civil war: paramilitary militias. This book demonstrates how the intricate ties between armed conflict and economy formation are obscured by the widespread belief that violence is a radical form of action, breaking with the normal course of society and disconnected from the legal economy. Under this view, dispossession is perceived as diametrically opposed to capitalist accumulation. This belief is enormously influential in precisely those bureaucratic agencies that are in charge of peacebuilding, both domestically and internationally. However, this narrow view of the relationship between armed violence and capitalism belies the close ties between plunder and lawful profit, and obscures the continuity between violent dispossession and the free market. By the same token, it legitimizes post-war inequality in the name of capitalist development. The book concludes by arguing that the promotion of radical democracy in the government of land and rural development emerges as the only reasonable path for pacifying a violent polity. The book is essential reading for students, scholars, and development aid practitioners interested in land and resource grabbing, agrarian capitalism, civil wars, and conflict resolution.
Agrarian Reform in Contemporary Developing Countries: A Study Prepared for the International Labour Office within the Framework of the World Employment Programme (Routledge Library Editions: Development)
by Ajit Kumar GhoseInitially published in 1983, in association with the International Labour Organisation (ILO), this book is about the meaning, relevance and process of agrarian reform in contemporary developing countries. It includes seven detailed case studies – one each on Ethiopia, Peru, Chile, Nicaragua, Iran, Kerala, (India) and West Bengal (India). In all the cases, serious contemporary efforts were made to implement agrarian reform programmes and the case studies focus upon selected aspects of this reform process – origins, basic characteristics, problems of implementation and immediate consequences. Each region differs considerably in terms of socio-economic and administrative conditions, but when the reform efforts are placed in their respective historical contexts, several common themes emerge which are dealt with in detail. In all cases, it is clear that agrarian reform is essentially a political process, requiring major social movements and that piecemeal reforms will not solve the grave problems of growth, distribution and poverty in the Third World.
Agrarian Reform in Theory and Practice: A Study of the Lake Titicaca Region of Bolivia (Routledge Revivals)
by Jane BentonPublished in 1999. 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 (witnessed by the author) 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 an analysis, from the viewpoints of participant campesinos and the researcher, of agricultural change in Aymara communities beside Lake Titicaca, where the author has conducted research over nearly 30 years. Currently lakeside farming is under severe threat as a result of land degradation, limited cash resources, rural-urban migration, tourism and commuterisation.
An Agrarian Republic
by Adam Wesley DeanThe familiar story of the Civil War tells of a predominately agricultural South pitted against a rapidly industrializing North. However, Adam Wesley Dean argues that the Republican Party's political ideology was fundamentally agrarian. Believing that small farms owned by families for generations led to a model society, Republicans supported a northern agricultural ideal in opposition to southern plantation agriculture, which destroyed the land's productivity, required constant western expansion, and produced an elite landed gentry hostile to the Union. Dean shows how agrarian republicanism shaped the debate over slavery's expansion, spurred the creation of the Department of Agriculture and the passage of the Homestead Act, and laid the foundation for the development of the earliest nature parks.Spanning the long nineteenth century, Dean's study analyzes the changing debate over land development as it transitioned from focusing on the creation of a virtuous and orderly citizenry to being seen primarily as a "civilizing" mission. By showing Republicans as men and women with backgrounds in small farming, Dean unveils new connections between seemingly separate historical events, linking this era's views of natural and manmade environments with interpretations of slavery and land policy.
Agri-Food Commodity Chains and Globalising Networks (The Dynamics of Economic Space)
by Richard Le HeronWithin the international agri-food community at least four theoretical targets are attracting increasing attention. They are: (1) the established notions of networks and commodity chains that are being revisited by way of critical engagement informed by the insights of in-depth empirical work, (2) the metrics of calculation and institutional embedding that underpin the rise and functionality of governance technologies, (3) the place of regional networking in creating conditions that make possible agri-food producer participation in local provisioning and supply, and (4) the geo-historical dimensions of interconnection and interdependency in the agri-food sphere. This volume brings together an interdisciplinary team of anthropologists, economists, business and management academics and geographers to examine a wide range of case studies illustrating various agri-food commodity chains and networks around the world and to discuss how they link globally.
Agri-Innovations and Development Challenges: Engineering, Value Chains and Socio-economic Models
by Vanessa Casadella Dimitri UzunidisInnovation is a major challenge for economic development and social progress. Faced with the ecological and food problems that the world is currently experiencing, the legitimacy of innovation takes on its full meaning, particularly in developing countries. As emphasized by international organizations (UN, FAO), building skills and abilities in the agricultural and food sectors are necessary when launching innovation processes for the benefit of suffering populations. This book deals with different experiences launched in many developing countries in these sectors and shows how local initiatives can provide answers to the pessimism of experts and the media. Multidisciplinary analysis and practices explain how collective work creates value chains that can foster local and national economic development. The authors revisit the innovation agri-food models that contribute to economic development. Agri-Innovations and Development Challenges is composed of general presentations of innovations applied in developing countries, as well as specific studies on the joint valorization of knowledge and experience in agri-food engineering
Agribusiness and the Neoliberal Food System in Brazil: Frontiers and Fissures of Agro-neoliberalism (Earthscan Food and Agriculture)
by Antonio Augusto IorisDue to new production areas and persistent productivity gains, Brazil has consolidated its position as a global leader and even as a ‘model’ of commercial, integrated crop production. The country is now seen as an agricultural powerhouse that has a lot to offer in terms of reducing the prospect of a looming, increasingly global, food crisis. Agribusiness and the Neoliberal Food System in Brazil focuses on the intensification of Brazilian agribusiness as a privileged entry point into the politicised geography of globalised agri-food. Drawing on rich empirical analysis based around three fieldwork campaigns in the state of Mato Grosso, the book examines the connections between farming, markets and the apparatus of the state. The importance of agribusiness expansion within the wider politico-economic context of Brazilian neoliberalism is demonstrated, thus drawing broader conclusions about the main trends of agribusiness in the world today and providing recommendations for future research. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of agribusiness, neoliberalism and global food production, as well as those interested in Brazil and Latin America more generally.
Agribusiness Innovation and Contextual Evolution, Volume I: Strategic, Managerial and Marketing Advancements (Palgrave Intersections of Business and the Sciences, in association with Gnosis Mediterranean Institute for Management Science)
by Demetris Vrontis Alkis Thrassou Antonino Galati Mariantonietta FioreAgriculture is the oldest and most traditional of economic sectors, and its business has seen major evolutionary leaps over the past century. Contemporary agribusiness is being influenced and reshaped by technological advancements, geopolitical developments, globalisation, transport and logistics innovations, as well as changes in industry structure and consumer behaviour. Reflecting on these changes and providing a deep dive into this sector, this two-volume scientific works’ collection defines, refines, analyses, and prescribes the evolution of agribusiness in the present and future. Taken together, the books offer a comprehensive conceptualisation of the multifactorial macro, micro and organisational elements of agribusiness, including strategic, managerial, marketing, technological and geo-socio-political forces. Volume I explores the strategic, managerial and marketing aspects of contemporary agribusiness, and descriptively and prescriptively investigates the organisational and immediate industry practices and sectoral forces. Topics covered include circular business models, CSR communication practices, digital marketing, organisational sustainability and contemporary farming systems, to name a few..
Agribusiness Innovation and Contextual Evolution, Volume II: Technological, Societal and Channel Advancements (Palgrave Intersections of Business and the Sciences, in association with Gnosis Mediterranean Institute for Management Science)
by Demetris Vrontis Alkis Thrassou Antonino Galati Mariantonietta FioreAgriculture is the oldest and most traditional of economic sectors, and its business has seen major leaps in innovation over the past century. Contemporary agribusiness is being influenced and reshaped by technological developments, geopolitical developments, and globalisation, as well as transport and logistics innovations, changes in consumer behaviour.Reflecting on these changes and providing a deep dive into this sector, this two-volume work defines, refines, analyses, and prescribes the evolution of agribusiness in the present and future. Taken together, the books offer a comprehensive conceptualisation of the multifactorial macro, micro and organisational elements of agribusiness, including strategic, managerial, marketing, technological and geo-socio-political forces.Volume II focuses on the wider, macro-environmental forces acting upon agribusinesses, exploring the contextual evolutions that impact the sector, and the means, practices and avenues for its development.It includes topics such as digital technologies adoption, supply chain sustainability, big data analytics, women’s agricultural entrepreneurship, and simulation model decision making.
Agricultural Adaptation to Climate Change
by Christopher R. Bryant Mamadou A. Sarr Kénel DéluscaThis book deals with one of the major challenges facing human society and its governments, climate change and variability. The principal objective of the book is to explore how agricultural production through the actions primarily of farmers, including peasant farmers, adapt to these changing circumstances, what the limitations of adaptation are, how the process of adaptation varies between different territories (e. g. developed countries versus developing countries), and what are or can be the most effective roles for actors other than the farmers, including different levels of government and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as professional associations of farmers and community organizations. The principal argument is threefold: 1) while there are significant differences between territories and countries in terms of the capacity of farmers (and the other actors) to engage in capacity building to be able to adapt effectively to climate change and variability, 2) the critical roles are those played out by the farmers themselves, but that 3) other actors can play an important role in accompanying farmers in their adaptation process, providing relevant and strategic information, counseling them and facilitating networking and meetings when appropriate. This effectively means that without engaging in the local adaptation processes governments can really only play effective roles by working with other actors at the local and regional levels. When it occurs, it can be very effective, but when it does not, farmers are left to their own devices (and even then, many are able to use their own creativity and local knowledge to survive and continue to develop). Essentially therefore, the secondary argument that is followed throughout the book is that adaptation is essentially a social process that requires an understanding of social processes and dynamics in each farming community and territory. It involves an understanding, for instance, of information diffusion processes in the different farming communities and territories, which provides a set of tools to promote and facilitate the adoption process in the context of adaptation to climate change and variability.
Agricultural Commercialization, Gender Equality and the Right to Food: Insights from Ghana and Cambodia (Earthscan Food and Agriculture)
by Joanna Bourke Martignoni Christophe Gironde Christophe Golay Elisabeth Prügl Dzodzi TsikataThis volume explores agricultural commercialization from a gender equality and right to food perspective. Agricultural commercialization, involving not only the shift to selling crops and buying inputs but also the commodification of land and labour, has always been controversial. Strategies for commercialization have often reinforced and exacerbated inequalities, been blind to gender differences and given rise to violations of the human rights to food, land, work and social security. While there is a body of evidence to trace these developments globally, impacts vary considerably in local contexts. This book systematically considers these dynamics in two countries, Cambodia and Ghana. Profoundly different in terms of their history and location, they provide the basis for fruitful comparisons because they both transitioned to democracy in the early 1990s, made agricultural development a priority, and adopted orthodox policies of commercialization to develop the sector. Chapters illustrate how commercialization processes are gendered, highlighting distinctive gender, ethnic and class dynamics in rural Ghana and Cambodia and the different outcomes these generate. They also show the ways in which food cultures are changing and the often-problematic impact of these changes on the safety and quality of food. Specific policies and legal norms are examined, with chapters addressing the development and implementation of frameworks on the right to food and land administration. Overall, the volume brings into relief multiple dimensions shaping the outcomes of processes of commercialization, including gender orders, food cultures, policy translation, national and sub-national policies, corporate investments and programmes, and formal and informal legal norms. In doing so, it offers insight not only on our case countries, but also provides proposals to advance rights-based research on food security. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of food security, agricultural development and economics, gender, human rights and sustainable development.
Agricultural Depression in the 1920's: Economic Fact or Statistical Artifact? (Routledge Library Editions: Agriculture #1)
by Thomas H. JohnsonFirst published in 1985. This study explores the agricultural depression in the United States of America in the 1920’s. The author examines overproduction, wartime optimism and the farm crisis, and continuity and change in agriculture during this period. This title will be of great interest to students of history, agriculture, and economics.
Agricultural Digitization and Zhongyong Philosophy: Creating a Sustainable Circular Economy (Routledge Focus on Environment and Sustainability)
by Yiyan Chen Hooi Hooi Lean Ye LiThis interdisciplinary book combines digital technology with Eastern philosophy to examine how the concept of Zhongyong in Confucianism can be used to coordinate digital technology with sustainable agriculture. Zhongyong comes from the connotation of moderate and sustainable in ancient Chinese culture. It is with this concept in mind that this book presents a novel collaboration between philosophy and computer technology to explain how Zhongyong can play an important part in realizing agricultural digitization within a circular economy in order to help solve the current food crisis. The book examines two popular, yet contradictory, digital technologies—blockchain and the green data center. It showcases how the use of traditional Chinese Zhongyong can promote the decentralization of blockchain and the centralization of the green data center and explains the advantages of using both technologies simultaneously. The book puts forward a digital circular agricultural framework that embeds both blockchain and the green data center through an actual case study. While this book specifically focuses on agriculture, it also provides readers with a new perspective for thinking further on how to break down the disciplinary barriers between the social sciences and natural sciences. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of agriculture, digital technologies, circular economy, sustainable development, and Eastern philosophy.