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Farm Machinery and Processes Management in Sustainable Agriculture: XI International Scientific Symposium 2022 (Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering #289)
by Simone Pascuzzi Francesco SantoroThis volume gathers the latest advances, innovations, and applications in the field of sustainable and smart agriculture, as presented by leading researchers at the XI Farm Machinery and Processes Management in Sustainable Agriculture (FMPMSA), held in Bari, Italy on June 13-15, 2022. The volume covers highly diverse topics, including: management of field and livestock production machinery; management of biomass and agroenergy production; plant protection, soil management and agrochemicals application; smart farming and sustainability; ergonomic, labour organization, pandemic impact; sustainable agriculture in the European Union and other countries. The papers, which are published after a rigorous international peer-review process, highlight numerous exciting ideas that will spur novel research directions and foster multidisciplinary collaboration among different specialists.
Farm Machinery and Processes Management in Sustainable Agriculture: XII International Scientific Symposium 2024 (Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering #609)
by Edmund Lorencowicz Bruno Huyghebaert Jacek UziakThis book gathers the latest advances, innovations, and applications in the field of sustainable and smart agriculture, as presented by leading researchers at the XII Farm Machinery and Processes Management in Sustainable Agriculture (FMPMSA), held in Lublin, Poland, on June 12–14, 2024. The book covers highly diverse topics, including: management of field and livestock production machinery; management of biomass and agroenergy production; plant protection, soil management and agrochemicals application; smart farming and sustainability; ergonomic, labor organization; and sustainable agriculture in the European Union and other countries. The papers, which are published after a rigorous international peer-review process, highlight numerous exciting ideas that will spur novel research directions and foster multidisciplinary collaboration among different specialists.
Farm Together Now
by Amy Franseschini Daniel TuckeyThe story of the sustainable farming movement, with numerous photos: “Inspirational, informational . . . a glimpse of what the future of food may well look like.” —TreehuggerWith interest in home gardening at an all-time high and concerns about food production and safety making headlines, Farm Together Now explores the current state of grassroots farming in the United States. Part oral history and part treatise on food politics, this fascinating project is an introduction to the many individuals who are producing sustainable food, challenging public policy, and developing community organizing efforts. With hundreds of photographs and a foreword from New York Times columnist Mark Bittman, Farm Together Now will educate, inspire, and cultivate a new wave of modern agrarians.
Farm Tractors on the Move (Lightning Bolt Books)
by Kristin L. NelsonIt drives through dirt and mud. It pulls heavy machines through fields. This farm tractor is on the move! What jobs do tractors do? And how do farmers drive tractors
Farm and Workshop Welding: Everything You Need to Know to Weld, Cut, and Shape Metal
by Andrew PearceAlmost anyone can learn to weld, cut or shape metal. That's the starting point for this supremely practical, comprehensive handbook which, through tips, suggestions and fault finding, helps the beginner to improve and the intermediate operator to broaden his or her technique. The ideal reference for farm, home workshop, school workshop, blacksmith shop, and auto shop, Farm and Workshop Welding even takes you beyond welding metals and plastics, with advice that extends into the wider workshop with chapters on drills, cutting threads, and basic blacksmithing. Author Andrew Pearce lays out pitfalls and common mistakes section by section, and then offers constructive advice to help you to avoid or correct them. Useful if you're stumped by a problem! Hundreds of step-by-step photographs illustrate welding processes and show the differences between good welds and bad welds. Clear, concise, easy-to-understand text takes any confusion or frustration out of learning the processes. Whether you're a complete beginner or an experienced welder who wants to learn more, Farm and Workshop Welding provides a wealth of useful shop-tested advice. You'll discover everything you need to know to learn hands-on welding, and start repairing and creating metal equipment and structures.
Farm the City: A Toolkit for Setting Up a Successful Urban Farm
by Michael Ableman“A useful manual for anyone interested in turning the concrete jungle green . . . a must-have for any urban dweller serious about farming.” —Publishers WeeklyIn Farm the City, Michael Ableman, the “Spartacus of Sustainable Food Activism,” offers a guide to setting up and running a successful urban farm, derived from the success of Sole Food Street Farms, one of the largest urban agriculture enterprises in North America. Sole Food Street Farms spans four acres of land in Vancouver, produces twenty-five tons of food annually, provides meaningful work for dozens of disadvantaged people, and has improved the surrounding community in countless ways. Coverage includes:Selecting land and choosing the right cropsGrowing food in city farms, including plans for planting and harvestingFundraising and marketing strategies, philosophies, and vital information for selling fresh productsNavigating local government and regulationsEngaging the community and building meaningful livelihoodsFarm the City is an invaluable tool kit for entrepreneurs and activists looking to create economic and social value through urban agriculture.Urban farming has the power to change diets, economies, and lives. Yet starting an urban farm can seem daunting with skills and knowledge that extend beyond growing to include marketing, sales, employees, community relations, and navigating local regulations. With this comprehensive guide, you’ll be running a successful urban farm in no time.“A story of how to bring cities back to life, literally and emotionally . . . Local food not only addresses quality of life, economy, and food security, it changes our hearts . . . [a] wonderfully written testament to life.” —Paul Hawken, New York Times-bestselling author of Drawdown
Farmer Innovation in Africa: A Source of Inspiration for Agricultural Development
by Ann Waters-Bayer Chris ReijOne of Africa's major untapped resources is the creativity of its farmers. This book presents a series of clear and detailed studies that demonstrate how small-scale farmers, both men and women, experiment and innovate in order to improve their livelihoods, despite the adverse conditions and lack of appropriate external support with which they have to contend. The studies are based on fieldwork in a wide variety of farming systems throughout Africa, and have been written primarily by African researchers and extension specialists. Numerous lively examples show how a participatory approach to agricultural research and development that builds on local knowledge and innovation can stimulate the creativity of all involved - not only the farmers. This approach, which recognizes the farmers' capacity to innovate as the crucial component of success, provides a much-needed alternative to the conventional 'transfer of technology' paradigm. This book is a rich source of case studies and analyses of how agricultural research and development policy can be changed. It presents evidence of the resilience and resolution of rural communities in Africa and will be an inspiration for development workers, researchers and policy-makers, as well as for students and teachers of agriculture, environment and sustainable development.
Farmer Innovations and Best Practices by Shifting Cultivators in Asia-Pacific
by Malcolm CairnsThis book, the third of a series, shows how shifting cultivators, from the Himalayan foothills to the Pacific Islands, have devised ways to improve their farming systems. Using case studies collected over many years, it considers the importance of swidden agriculture to food security and livelihoods, and its environmental significance, across multiple cultures, forest and cropping systems. There is a particular focus on soil fertility and climate change challenges. It is a 'must read' for those who realize that if the lives of shifting cultivators are to be improved, then far more attention needs to be directed to the indigenous and often ingenious innovations that shifting cultivators have themselves been able to develop. Many of these innovations and best practices will have strong potential for extrapolation to shifting cultivators elsewhere and to farming systems in general. This book: - Highlights innovations of shifting cultivators. - Combines solid science with accessible language and outstanding artwork. - Provides a collection of case studies unprecedented in its scope. This book will be suitable for students and researchers of agriculture, anthropology, sociology, agricultural economics, human ecology, ethnobotany, forestry, agroforestry, agronomy, soil science, farming systems, geography, environmental science and natural resource management.
Farmers and Plant Breeding: Current Approaches and Perspectives (Issues in Agricultural Biodiversity)
by Tone Winge Ola WestengenThis book presents the history of, and current approaches to, farmer-breeder collaboration in plant breeding, situating this work in the context of sustainable food systems, as well as national and international policy and law regimes. <p><p>Plant breeding is essential to food production, climate-change adaptation and sustainable development. This book brings together experienced practitioners and researchers involved in collaborative breeding programmes across a diversity of crops and agro-ecologies around the world. Case studies include collaborative sorghum and pearl millet breeding for water-stressed environments in West Africa, participatory rice breeding for intensive rice farming in the Mekong Delta, and evolutionary participatory quinoa breeding for organic agriculture in North America. While outlining the challenges, the volume also highlights the positive impacts, such as yield increases, farmers’ empowerment in the innovation and development processes, contributions to maintenance of crop genetic diversity and adaptation to climate change. This collection offers a range of perspectives on enabling conditions for farmer–breeder collaboration in plant breeding in relation to biodiversity agreements such as the Plant Treaty, trade agreements and related intellectual property rights (IPR) regimes, and national seed policies and laws. <p><p>Relevant to a wide audience, including practitioners with experience in plant breeding and management of crop genetic resources and those with a broader interest in agriculture and development, as well as students of international cooperation and development, this volume is a timely addition to the literature.
Farmers' Bounty: Locating Crop Diversity in the Contemporary World
by Stephen B. BrushOver the course of generations, pre-industrial human agriculture left a bounty of crop diversity across the earth. Bringing together a quarter century of research on the subject and his own field work in the Peruvian Andes, Mexico, and Turkey, Brush (agricultural and environmental science, U. of California at Davis) investigates questions related to patterns of agricultural crop diversity, the impact of farming changes such as industrialization, and methods of conserving diversity. He looks at the questions through lenses of evolutionary science and anthropological ethnobiology. Central to the discussion is the notion of genetic erosion, and Brush discusses both likely causes and possible policy solutions. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc. , Portland, OR (booknews. com)
Farmers' Cooperatives and Sustainable Food Systems in Europe (Earthscan Food and Agriculture)
by Raquel Ajates GonzalezFarmers' cooperatives are very prevalent in the European Union, where they account for approximately half of agricultural trade and thus are key to articulating rural realities and in shaping the sustainability credentials of European food and farming. This book analyses to what extent farmers' cooperatives are working to benefit their members, are showing concern for their communities and are promoting cooperative economies. It offers a multilevel set of theoretical, disciplinary, methodological, empirical and social perspectives, using the UK and Spain as contrasting examples, and analyses whether agricultural cooperatives contribute to achieving sustainable food systems. The book presents empirical data from diverse and rich case studies, from large, international cooperatives, to small, multi-stakeholder initiatives. This provides an alternative viewpoint to that of economics, which tends to dominate the study of agricultural cooperatives. The author presents a new theoretical framework that provides a novel lens to study farmers’ cooperatives as organisations deeply embedded in power dynamics of the food system and agricultural policy that shape and constraint their potential to adopt cooperative and sustainable practices. The book is a major addition to the study of agricultural cooperatives and their impact in the development of fairer and more sustainable food systems and it is one of the first detailed accounts of multi-stakeholder food and farming cooperatives in Europe. It is a valuable resource for all scholars working on cooperatives, as well as for students studying agricultural and food policy, environmental justice and rural sociology.
Farming Communities in the Western Alps, 1500–1914: The Enduring Bond (Historical Geography and Geosciences)
by Robert DodgshonThis monograph explores traditional farming communities in French-speaking areas of the western Alps for the period 1500-1914 and how they endured in such an environment despite the many problems and risks which it posed for their subsistence and welfare. Using an extensive amount of archival material drawn from the relevant regional archives, the book presents a great deal of fresh data. Its central theme is how such communities responded to the opportunities and challenges presented by the highly variegated environment of their setting. The view taken is that their strategies of exploitation stressed diversity and flexibility, mapping the highly varied ecologies and resource opportunities of their setting into these strategies by spreading livelihood and risk as widely as possible. This interpretative framework is developed across all the book's themes: landholding, arable and livestock sectors, use of the commons and, finally, how communities coped with climate-based risks.The book appeals to geographers, historians, environmental scientists and everyone interested in traditional farming communities and their long-term challenges.
Farming Industry: Images Of The Past (Images of the Past)
by Diane Canwell Jon SutherlandWorking with prestigious archives of contemporary photographs, the authors chart the history of Britain's farming heritage with 120 rarely seen photographs. Nearly eleven thousand years ago humans moved away from hunting and gathering and began to raise livestock and plant crops. Our nostalgia for the way the countryside had been is an enduring passion. Ultimately mechanization began to replace more traditional forms of farming, and the Industrial Revolution was drawing more and more people away from the fields. Photography emerged at a crucial time when farming tasks could be done with a speed and on a scale previously unimaginable. Farming history has been driven by experimentation, innovation, and invention. The 19th century was one of those times marked by such change. This book looks at that pivotal period in history after which the British countryside would never be the same.
Farming Systems Research into the 21st Century: The New Dynamic
by Ika Darnhofer Benoît Dedieu David GibbonFarming Systems Research has three core characteristics: it builds on systems thinking, it depends on the close collaboration between social and biophysical sciences, and it relies on participation to build co-learning processes. Farming Systems Research posits that to contribute towards sustainable rural development, both interdisciplinary collaborations and local actor engagement are needed. Together, they allow for changes in understanding and changes in practices. This book gives an overview of the insights generated in 20 years of Farming Systems Research. It retraces the emergence and development of Farming Systems Research in Europe, summarises the state-of-the-art for key areas, and provides an outlook on new explorations, especially those tackling the dynamic nature of farming systems and their interaction with the natural environment and the context of action.
Farming Systems and Food Security in Africa: Priorities for Science and Policy Under Global Change (Earthscan Food and Agriculture)
by John Dixon Timothy O. Williams Dennis P. Garrity Jean-Marc Boffa Tilahun Amede Christopher Auricht Rosemary Lott George MburathiKnowledge of Africa’s complex farming systems, set in their socio-economic and environmental context, is an essential ingredient to developing effective strategies for improving food and nutrition security. This book systematically and comprehensively describes the characteristics, trends, drivers of change and strategic priorities for each of Africa’s fifteen farming systems and their main subsystems. It shows how a farming systems perspective can be used to identify pathways to household food security and poverty reduction, and how strategic interventions may need to differ from one farming system to another. In the analysis, emphasis is placed on understanding farming systems drivers of change, trends and strategic priorities for science and policy. Illustrated with full-colour maps and photographs throughout, the volume provides a comprehensive and insightful analysis of Africa’s farming systems and pathways for the future to improve food and nutrition security. The book is an essential follow-up to the seminal work Farming Systems and Poverty by Dixon and colleagues for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Bank, published in 2001.
Farming Systems and Sustainable Agriculture in the Himalaya (Sustainable Development Goals Series)
by Vishwambhar Prasad SatiThe farming system in the Central Himalayan Region is distinctive and unique, mainly focusing on the cultivation of traditional subsistence cereal crops. The agrobiodiversity in this region is rich, with the Central Himalaya growing numerous cultivars and crop races. The practice of cultivating many crops or cultivars in a single field is known as the 'Barahnaja System.' Another peculiar system is the Sar/Sari system, where different crops grow in the two Sars during the same seasons, with one Sar left fallow for six months while the other grows crops. This century-old farming method involves plowing fields with oxen and using organic manure to enhance crop production and productivity. However, recent changes have been observed in the farming systems. The area under traditionally growing millets is declining. In river valleys and middle altitudes, there is a recent trend towards cultivating paddy and wheat. Unfortunately, the cultivation of temperate fruits – apple and citrus has seen a decline in terms of area, production, and productivity. Various factors are influ encing farming systems in the Central Himalaya, such as high climate variability and change, decreasing crop production and productivity, evolving food habits, and out-migration. The book contains 12 chapters illustrating introduction, land use and land cover change, cropping patterns, crop diversity and agro-ecological zones, farming systems and sustainable agriculture, climate change and its impact on agriculture, infrastructural facilities for sustainable agriculture, declining agriculture: a case study, crop productivity and suitability analyzes, agribusiness, policies and planning for sustainable agriculture, and conclusions. It serves as a valuable resource for students, academicians, researchers, policymakers, and farmers.
Farming While Black: Soul Fire Farm’s Practical Guide to Liberation on the Land
by Leah PennimanRecipient of the 28th Heinz Awards for the Economy: Leah PennimanJames Beard Foundation Leadership Award 2019: Leah PennimanChoice Reviews, Outstanding Academic Title&“An extraordinary book…part agricultural guide, part revolutionary manifesto.&”—VOGUENamed a &“Best Book on Sustainable Living and Sustainability&” by Book RiotIn 1920, 14 percent of all land-owning US farmers were black. Today less than 2 percent of farms are controlled by black people—a loss of over 14 million acres and the result of discrimination and dispossession. While farm management is among the whitest of professions, farm labor is predominantly brown and exploited, and people of color disproportionately live in &“food apartheid&” neighborhoods and suffer from diet-related illness. The system is built on stolen land and stolen labor and needs a redesign.Farming While Black is the first comprehensive &“how to&” guide for aspiring African-heritage growers to reclaim their dignity as agriculturists and for all farmers to understand the distinct, technical contributions of African-heritage people to sustainable agriculture. At Soul Fire Farm, author Leah Penniman co-created the Black and Latinx Farmers Immersion (BLFI) program as a container for new farmers to share growing skills in a culturally relevant and supportive environment led by people of color. Farming While Black organizes and expands upon the curriculum of the BLFI to provide readers with a concise guide to all aspects of small-scale farming, from business planning to preserving the harvest. Throughout the chapters Penniman uplifts the wisdom of the African diasporic farmers and activists whose work informs the techniques described—from whole farm planning, soil fertility, seed selection, and agroecology, to using whole foods in culturally appropriate recipes, sharing stories of ancestors, and tools for healing from the trauma associated with slavery and economic exploitation on the land. Woven throughout the book is the story of Soul Fire Farm, a national leader in the food justice movement. The technical information is designed for farmers and gardeners with beginning to intermediate experience. For those with more experience, the book provides a fresh lens on practices that may have been taken for granted as ahistorical or strictly European. Black ancestors and contemporaries have always been leaders—and continue to lead—in the sustainable agriculture and food justice movements. It is time for all of us to listen.&“A moving and powerful how-to book for Black farmers to reclaim the occupation and the contributions of the BIPOC community that introduced sustainable agriculture.&”—BookRiot.com&“Leah Penniman is . . . opening the door for the next generation of farmers.&”—CBS This Morning
Farming for Food and Water Security
by Eric LichtfouseSustainable agriculture is a rapidly growing field aiming at producing food and energy in a sustainable way for our children. This discipline addresses current issues such as climate change, increasing food and fuel prices, starvation, obesity, water pollution, soil erosion, fertility loss, pest control and biodiversity depletion. Novel solutions are proposed based on integrated knowledge from agronomy, soil science, molecular biology, chemistry, toxicology, ecology, economy, philosophy and social sciences. As actual society issues are now intertwined, sustainable agriculture will bring solutions to build a safer world. This book series analyzes current agricultural issues and proposes alternative solutions, consequently helping all scientists, decision-makers, professors, farmers and politicians wishing to build safe agriculture, energy and food systems for future generations.
Farming for Us All: Practical Agriculture and the Cultivation of Sustainability (Rural Studies)
by Michael Mayerfeld BellClimate change. Habitat loss. Soil erosion. Groundwater depletion. Toxins in our food. Inhumane treatment of farm animals. Increasing farm worker exploitation. Hunger and malnutrition in the midst of plenty. What will it take for farmers in the United States to embrace sustainable practices?Michael Mayerfeld Bell’s Farming for Us All first tackled this question twenty years ago, providing crucial insight into how the structure of US agriculture created this situation and exploring, by contrast, the practices of farmers who are working together to radically change how they think, learn, and grow. This updated edition of his now-classic work reflects on the lessons learned over the past two decades.Constrained by an oppressive nexus of markets, regulations, subsidies, and technology, farmers find themselves undermining their own economic and social security as well as the security of the land. Bell turns to Practical Farmers of Iowa (PFI), that state’s largest sustainable-agriculture group. He traces how PFI creates an agriculture that engages others—farmers, researchers, officials, and consumers—in a common conversation about what agriculture could look like. Through dialogue, PFI members crossbreed knowledge, discovering pragmatic solutions to help crops grow in ways that sustain families, communities, societies, economies, and environments.Farming for Us All makes the case that for sustainable farming to flourish, new social relations are as important to cultivate as new crops. This book is necessary—and hopeful—reading for anyone concerned about the present and future of food and farming.
Farming in Carroll County
by Lyndi McnultyCarroll County's road signs are a testament to the farm families who settled here. Bollinger, Hoff, Roop, Baugher, Royer, Bushey, and many more are road names that honor those who have produced food for themselves and the nation in times of peace, war, and the Great Depression. In 1917, when the first county agricultural agent arrived, 96.6 percent of the land was held in 3,384 farms. By 1926, Carroll County, Maryland, led the state in corn, swine, and poultry production. It was second in dairy and beef, and it was the world leader in wormseed oil production. A prominent feature of Carroll County's landscape has always been the red barns, and they still are today. The photographs in this book were collected from farm families and historical organizations, portraying a unique insider's view of the history of farm life in Carroll County.
Farming in the City (Fountas & Pinnell LLI Purple #Level S)
by Mia LewisThe Perks of Being a City Gardener. Living in the city doesn't mean you have to go without a vegetable garden. It just means you have to garden smart and find creative ways to grow more plants in less space. If you do, you'll be rewarded with flavorful, healthy, environmentally friendly, and fresh food--plus what many city gardeners say is a great sense of accomplishment!
Farming on the Fringe
by Sarah JamesThis volume offers a new perspective to debates on local food and urban sustainability presenting the long silenced voices of the small-scale farmers from the productive green fringe of Sydney's sprawling urban jungle. Providing fresh food for the city and local employment, these culturally and linguistically diverse farmers contribute not only to Sydney's globalizing demographic and cultural fabric, but also play a critical role in the city's environmental sustainability. In the battle for urban space housing development threatens to turn these farmlands into sprawling suburbia. In thinking from and with the urban 'fringe', this book moves beyond the housing versus farming debate to present a vision for urban growth that is dynamic and alive to the needs of the 21st century city. In a unique bringing together of the twin forces shaping contemporary urbanism - environmental change and global population flows - the voices from the fringe demand to be heard in the debate on future urban food sustainability.
Farming the Black Earth: Sustainable and Climate-Smart Management of Chernozem Soils (International Year Of Planet Earth Ser.)
by David Dent Boris Boincean'This book deals with the sustainability of agriculture on the Black Earth by drawing on data from long-term field experiments. It emphasises the opportunities for greater food and water security at local and regional levels.The Black Earth, Chernozem in Russian, is the best arable soil in the world and the breadbasket of Europe and North America. It was the focus of scientific study at the very beginnings of soil science in the late 19th century—as a world in itself, created by the roots of the steppe grasses building a water-stable granular structure that holds plentiful water, allows rapid infiltration of rain and snow melt, and free drainage of any surplus.Under the onslaught of industrial farming, Chernozem have undergone profound but largely unnoticed changes with far-reaching consequences—to the point that agriculture on Chernozem is no longer sustainable. The effects of agricultural practices on global warming, the diversion of rainfall away from replenishment of water resources to destructive runoff, and the pollution of streams and groundwater are all pressing issues. Sustainability absolutely requires that these consequences be arrested.
Farming the Red Land: Jewish Agricultural Colonization and Local Soviet Power, 1924-1941
by Jonathan L. Dekel-ChenThis is the first history of the Jewish agricultural colonies that were established in Crimea and Southern Ukraine in 1924 and that, fewer than 20 years later, ended in tragedy. Jonathan Dekel-Chen opens an extraordinary window on Soviet rural life during these turbulent years, and he documents the remarkable relations that developed among the American-Jewish sponsors of the ambitious project, the Soviet authorities, and the colonists themselves. Drawing on extensive and largely untouched archives and a wealth of previously unpublished oral histories, the book revises what has been understood about these agricultural settlements. Dekel-Chen offers new conclusions about integration and separation among Soviet Jews, the contours of international relations, and the balance of political forces within the Jewish world during this volatile period.
Farming with Native Beneficial Insects: Ecological Pest Control Solutions
by The Xerces SocietyHarness the power of beneficial insects to deter pests and reduce crop damage. This comprehensive guide to farming with insects will have you building beetle banks and native plant field borders as you reap a bountiful and pesticide-free harvest. With strategies for identifying the insects you’re trying to attract paired with step-by-step instructions for a variety of habitat-building projects, you’ll soon learn how to employ your own biocontrol conservation tactics. Lay out the brush piles and plant the hedgerows because the insects are going to love it here!