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This book is an ideal teaching manual for high school agriscience and consumer science programs, as well as for post-secondary food science courses.It is an excellent overview for anyone interested in attaining a basic understanding of food science. ... Read more

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When other nations are forced to rethink their agricultural and food security strategies in light of the post-peak oil debate, they only have one living example to draw from: that of Cuba in the 1990s. Based on the first and, up till now, only systematic and empirical study to come out of Cuba on this topic, this book examines how the nation successfully headed off its own food crisis after the dissolution of the Soviet Bloc in the early 1990s. It identifies the policies and practices required for such an achievement under conditions of petroleum-scarcity, and in doing so it challenges the more common, free market development approach as encouraged in other food-insecure countries and regions.

Paradoxically, the book debunks the myth that Cuba turned to a widespread organic approach to agriculture, a myth that is perpetuated by the majority of visitors to the country, who only encounter urban gardens. In rural regions, to which the author had authorized access, high-input and integrated agriculture was the intention, although practice was hampered by the fluctuations in availability of agrochemicals and fuel. Cuban institutions and individuals were confronted with a series of challenges to going down the organic route, and these challenges are identified as those that other countries will also have to face as they attempt to develop more sustainable, organic farming systems.

The book counters the rhetoric of international policy on achieving sustainable agriculture and food security for developing countries in the context of dwindling global supplies of fossil fuels, and provides useful learning material for the current fledgling attempts at energy descent plans and the mainstreaming of eco-living in industrialized nations.
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This highly topical book offers a comprehensive study of the interaction of food, politics and science over the last hundred years. Case studies include pasteurisation in Britain and the E coli outbreak. ... Read more

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This book provides a fundamental understanding of physical properties of foods. It is the first textbook in this area and combines engineering concepts and physical chemistry. Basic definitions and principles of physical properties are discussed as well as the importance of physical properties in the food industry and measurement methods. In addition, recent studies in physical properties are summarized. The material presented is helpful for students to understand the relationship between physical and functional properties of raw, semi-finished, and processed food in order to obtain products with desired shelf-life and quality.

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* Essential collection of the most important literature covering the full scope and depth of agriculture and food production world-wide
* Edited by Jules Pretty, the world’s leading authority on sustainable food and agriculture
* Substantial set overview and volume introductions by the editor provide comprehensive treatment of the major themes, historical and current trends and schools of thought – ideal for researchers
*World-wide coverage including perspectives and key literature from and on Asia, Europe,the Middle East, Africa and North and South America

This four volume set, edited by the world’s leading expert on agricultural sustainability, brings together and interprets the most influential, important and time-tested international scholarship across the fields of agriculture and food production with a set overview and individual volume introductions that make sense of this diverse and complex field.

Volume I covers the history of agriculture from its ancient origins through successive technological and institutional revolutions to the present. Volume II examines the relationship between agriculture and the environment including agricultural contamination, greenhouse gases and climate change, environmental improvements and sustainability, integrated farming, eco-agriculture and agro-ecology, landscape restoration and environmental goods and services. Volume III provides full coverage of the modern industrialized global food system, corporate control, poverty, hunger and international successes, failures and challenges, diet and health, consumer behavior and local alternatives to industrialization. Volume IV addresses how we think about land and our relationship to it, governance and stewardship of the rural commons, systems thinking, ecological literacy, social connections and a sustainable rural life, supportive and perverse agricultural subsidies and policies that shape food poverty and sustain agriculture into the future. ... Read more

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This authoritative reference furnishes exhaustive, single-source coverage of the production and postharvest technology of more than 70 major and minor vegetables grown in tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions throughout the world.Providing comparative data for each vegetable presented, the Handbook of Vegetable Science and Technologydiscusses morphology, anatomy, taxonomy, and cultivarsdetails soil and climatic requirements, propagation, cultural practices, harvesting, and pest and disease controlexplains postharvest handling, including sorting, grading, packaging, and transportationdescribes the chemical constituents of each vegetable such as carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, minerals, dietary fiber, and flavoring compoundsexamines low-temperature, controlled-atmosphere, and subatmospheric storage and the use of irradiation to improve shelf-lifeaddresses canning, freezing, drying, and dehydration as well as the processing of vegetables into value-added productsand more!Written by over 25 experts from North America and Asia, the Handbook of Vegetable Science and Technology is an indispensable resource for agricultural, food, and nutrition engineers and chemists; crop and food scientists and technologists; horticulturists; botanists; agriculturists; agronomists; plant pathologists; postharvest technologists; and upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in these disciplines. ... Read more

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The Second International Food Legume Research Conference(IFLRC-II) was held from 12--16 April 1992 in Cairo, Egypt. Five coolseason food legume crops were included in the deliberations: pea(Pisum sativum), lentil (Lens culinaris), faba bean(Vicia faba), chickpea (Cicer arietinum), andgrasspea (Lathyrus sativus). The principal objectives ofIFLRC-II were to review and assess recent results from national andinternational research programs on cool season food legumes and todevelop strategies for increasing the productivity, improving thequality and extending the use of these crops in different farmingsystems. Topics in both basic and applied research were addressed andmultidisciplinary research efforts were emphasized. The papers published here are organized according to subject areas:Processing and Animal Feeds; Climate Change and Biotic and AbioticStresses; Host Plant Resistance to Manage Biotic Stresses; PolicyIncentives; Breeding Methods and Selection Indices; InfrastructuralSupport; Cool Season Food Legume Breeding; Management to ControlBiotic and Abiotic Stresses; Biotechnology and Gene Mapping; CropPhysiology and Productivity; and Farmers' Constraints and On-FarmResearch. Sessions devoted to Regional Discussion Groups and to theContinuation of the IFLRC Concept were also included.A ConferenceSummary is presented by Professor Eric Roberts. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Story of Hope Against All Odds
"Expanding the Production" is at once beautifully written and powerful.Reminiscent of "Grapes of Wrath", the authors show how ordinary peas and lentils recognize their shared legume heritage while in mortal combat against cold, flood, drought and inevitable infighting.Be warned, faba beans come off very poorly in this tale of struggle and ultimate triumph. A haunting story that stays with you long after you wipe your eyes and close the book.Bravo! ... Read more

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Agriculture in the United States today increasingly operates in two separate spheres: large, corporate-connected commodity production and distribution systems and small-scale farms that market directly to consumers. As a result, midsize family-operated farms find it increasingly difficult to find and reach markets for their products. They are too big to use the direct marketing techniques of small farms but too small to take advantage of corporate marketing and distribution systems. This crisis of the midsize farm results in a rural America with weakened municipal tax bases, job loss, and population flight. Food and the Mid-Level Farm discusses strategies for reviving an "agriculture of the middle" and creating a food system that works for midsize farms and ranches. Activists, practitioners, and scholars from a variety of disciplines, including sociology, political science, and economics, consider ways midsize farms can regain vitality by scaling up aspects of small farms' operations to connect with consumers, organizing together to develop markets for their products, developing food supply chains that preserve farmer identity and are based on fair business agreements, and promoting public policies (at international, federal, state, and community levels) that address agriculture-of-the-middle issues.

Food and the Mid-Level Farm makes it clear that the demise of midsize farms and ranches is not a foregone conclusion and that the renewal of an agriculture of the middle will benefit all participants in the food system—from growers to consumers.

Contributors:
Elizabeth Barham, Sandra S. Batie, Eileen Brady, Fred Buttel, Peter Carstensen, Ken Dahlberg, Mike Duffy, Thomas Gray, Shelly Grow, Amy Guptill, William Heffernan, Mary Hendrickson, Elizabeth Higgins, Fred Kirschenmann, David Lind, Thomas Lyson, Caitlin O’Brady, Rich Pirog, Daryll Ray, Harwood D. Schaffer, G. W. Stevenson, Rick Welsh. ... Read more