This book concentrates on the group of plants showing the steepest decline among British flora over the past 25 years--plants that grow among the crops. Easy-to-use format is designed to enable people to take it into the field and to identify these species whether they are a beginner or an expert The text covers the history of--and includes practical recommendations for managing--the places where these plants still occur 100 plant profiles include key identification features, flowering and germination times, and differences between similar species Color distribution maps show where these plants have been seen in the past 25 years, while the accompanying text indicates their current location

This book is about understanding of the biolgy, morphology, ecology, agronomy and use of cultivated plants is essential for work in agriculture. This is a valuable book for students and teachers of agricultural science as well as farmers, horticulturists and all those who are interested in cultivated plants.

The effective management of plants is fundamental to all agricultural enterprise, making plant science a key discipline for all growers. This book provides an integrated explanation of all aspects of plant structure and function for students of agriculture, horticulture and applied biology, with the aim of highlighting the practical relevance of plant science to agriculture. Each chapter is self-contained and self-explanatory, with specific chapters covering energy, water, minerals, structure, growth and development from sowing to harvest, environmental effects and controls, breeding, vegetative propagation, field production and yield, and the nutritional content of produce. Taken as a whole, Plants in Agriculture fulfills the need for a single text which promotes a comprehensive understanding of how plants operate in agriculture.

At a time when the world's food supplies are increasingly unable to meet the needs of a burgeoning population, there is significant diversity of opinion concerning the benefits and perceived dangers of the application of biotechnology to food production. Plants, Biotechnology and Agriculture provides the reader with a guide to plants as both organisms and resources. The first half of the book gives an overview of plant biology, suitable for students of plant biology and agriculture as well as those without a biology background. This is followed by an outline of the human exploitation of plants, from domestication to scientific manipulation. Further chapters describe the technologies that are now being used to improve crops, society's responses to these technologies, and how they are being modified as a result. The book concludes with a discussion of future challenges for biotechnology in the face of rapid population growth, depletion of non-renewable resources and climate change.

This OECD 2005 study takes an in-depth look at the arable crops sector in OECD countries and draws some conclusions about the impacts of agricultural support policies, trade liberalisation, agri-environmental payments, and agri-ennvironmental regulations.

This edited volume documents the current nature conservation status of arable habitats in Europe. Arable farming systems have evolved in the European landscape over more than ten thousand years and now occupy nearly 30% of the European land area. They support species that have life cycles closely synchronised with traditional cereal growing, many of which have experienced massive declines throughout Europe. For example, in Britain, of the 100 plant species exhibiting the greatest declines in the latter half of the 20th century, 47 were typical of arable land. Despite this the habitat and many of the species associated with it remains unprotected across much of Europe. The 22 chapters cover a range of topics, including: · Regional accounts describing the impact of changing agricultural practices on the arable flora; · The results of research and surveillance projects on the soil organisms, bryophyte flora, invertebrate fauna and pollinators of arable habitats; · The potential for designing multifunctional and resilient agricultural landscapes; The use of ex situ conservation to aid the reintroduction of rare arable plants; · Case studies illustrating how changing agricultural practices have impacted on bird populations in Europe; · The roles of remote sensing in monitoring agricultural systems; · How agri-environment schemes can help restore the biodiversity in arable habitats; and · A look forward at ways to help ensure the future security of the species associated with arable habitats. It is clear that the biodiversity of arable land throughout Europe has undergone major changes, particularly during the second half of the 20th century, and that these changes are continuing into the 21st century. We need to develop a deeper appreciation of farmland wildlife and its integration into farming systems to ensure its future security in a world where value is increasingly expressed in terms of material profit. This book is particularly relevant to practitioners, policy-makers and managers working in the fields of nature conservation, agri-environment schemes and land management, and to researchers working in the fields of conservation biology, terrestrial ecology, nature conservation, applied ecology, biodiversity, agriculture, agricultural ethics and environmental studies.

Cultivated Plants, Primarily as Food Sources is a component of Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. Global food demand is forecast to double and possible triple, by the year 2050, when more than 10 billion people will need to be fed worldwide. To ensure adequate nutrition for this growing population food production must be expanded faster than the population. Following a longer introduction chapter with some information on the history of crop production, the land used for agriculture, the cropping systems and the future trends, comes the knowledge in depth: The grain and cereal, the edible been plants, the vegetables and plants for edible starch, oil, sugar and beverage production, the fruits and nuts, the fiber, forage and industrial crops. Each subject contains glossary and bibliography for better and deeper understanding. At each important plant the history, the production technology, the importance of the crop in nutrition of growing population, the feeding value, some short case stories, and the future trends are discussed. When considering plant foods in relation to human health, it should be remembered that plant foods may also have health value in addition to their nutritional value. It would seem possible to modify the composition of plant foods as to improve human health. In developing countries, poverty leads to food shortage and under nutrition and many populations survive largely on plant-based diets. In industrialized countries, relative affluence leads to over consumption of food and especially to over-consumption of animal foods at the expense of plant foods. These two volumes, cultivated plants, primarily as food sources, help to get more detailed knowledge to overcome the mentioned problem of the World. These volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College Students Educators, Professional Practitioners, Research Personnel and Policy Analysts, Managers, and Decision Makers, NGOs and GOs.

In this 1948 book, Dr Bell gives an account of all cultivated farm plants in Britain at the time. In the first chapters he deals with general matters. Then, in the main part of the book he describes individually the different crop plants and their place in British agriculture.

Eight papers from an informal meeting, dealing with examples from Asia, Africa and Latin-America

The new edition of this annual publication (previously published solely by IFOAM and FiBL) documents recent developments in global organic agriculture. It includes contributions from representatives of the organic sector from throughout the world and provides comprehensive organic farming statistics that cover surface area under organic management, numbers of farms and specific information about commodities and land use in organic systems. The book also contains information on the global market of the burgeoning organic sector, the latest developments in organic certification, standards and regulations, and insights into current status and emerging trends for organic agriculture by continent from the worlds foremost experts. For this edition, all statistical data and regional review chapters have been thoroughly updated. Completely new chapters on organic agriculture in the Pacific, on the International Task Force on Harmonization and Equivalence in Organic Agriculture and on organic aquaculture have been added. Published with IFOAM and FiBL