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  • Book cover of Pruning and Training Systems for Modern Olive Growing

    Olive growing is expanding rapidly in many countries around the world in which olives have not previously been widely cultivated. Pruning olive trees is quite different from pruning other fruit trees of the temperate zone, because of their biological peculiarities. Errors in pruning may result in yield losses or higher cultivation costs. Pruning also determines the training system which, in turn, is one of the major factors for successful tree performance and orchard profitability. Pruning and Training Systems for Modern Olive Growing summarises the information available on current pruning techniques and training systems. It specifically addresses the problems faced by growers, professionals and students who are new to olive growing and provides information previously not available in English. The fundamental aim of this book is to explain the basic concepts at a practical level. It will allow the reader, whether experienced horticulturalist or beginner, to develop his or her own skills and pruning strategy.

  • Book cover of How to Feed the World

    By 2050, we will have ten billion mouths to feed in a world profoundly altered by environmental change. How will we meet this challenge? In How to Feed the World, a diverse group of experts from Purdue University break down this crucial question by tackling big issues one-by-one. Covering population, water, land, climate change, technology, food systems, trade, food waste and loss, health, social buy-in, communication, and equal access to food, the book reveals a complex web of challenges. Contributors unite from different perspectives and disciplines, ranging from agronomy and hydrology to economics. The resulting collection is an accessible but wide-ranging look at the modern food system.

  • Book cover of Industrial Chocolate Manufacture and Use

    Since the third edition of this standard work in 1999, there has been a significant increase in the amount of chocolate manufactured worldwide. The fourth edition of Industrial Chocolate Manufacture and Use provides up-to-date coverage of all major aspects of chocolate manufacture and use, from the growing of cocoa beans to the packaging and marketing of the end product. Retaining the important and well-received key features of the previous edition, the fourth edition also contains completely new chapters covering chocolate crumb, cold forming technologies, intellectual property, and nutrition. Furthermore, taking account of significant changes and trends within the chocolate industry, much new information is incorporated, particularly within such chapters as those covering the chemistry of flavour development, chocolate flow properties, chocolate packaging, and chocolate marketing. This fully revised and expanded new edition is an essential purchase for all those involved in the manufacture and use of chocolate.

  • Book cover of Sorghum

    The newest addition to the Wiley Series in Crop Science, this book is an all-in-one guide to sorghum, one of the eight major grain crops grown worldwide. While presenting information in adequate detail for scientists, it is also an invaluable reference for growers, processors, and grain merchants.

  • Book cover of Potato Production Systems

    This comprehensive guide to potato production systems management contains 20 chapters and more than 350 color photographs. Beginning with the history of potato culture, it spans all aspects of potato production, pest and planting management, storage, and marketing. Written by a team of over 35 scientists from North America, this book offers updated research-based information and serves as a unique, valuable tool for researchers, extension specialists, students, and farm managers. More than a description of principles, it contains practical analytical tools, charts, and methods to create guidelines for best production practices and cost estimates. Some key areas include: Potato Growth and Development, Potato Variety Selection and Management, Seed and Planting Management, Seed Production and Certification, Field Selection, Crop Rotation, and Soil Management, Integrated Pest Management for Potatoes, Potato Nutrient Management, Irrigation Management, Tuber Quality, Economics and Marketing, Production Costs, among others. Potato Production Systems should be a valuable reference for successful culture of the "noble tuber."

  • Book cover of Feeding the Ten Billion
    L. T. Evans

     · 1998

    A unique and accessible account of the interaction between population growth and agricultural innovation.

  • Book cover of Wood - The Internal Optimization of Trees

    Here are two physicists looking over the fence of physics, getting thrilled by the life and growth of trees, taking an altogether different, exciting view of wood: trees produce wood for their own benefit. They do not live for the benefit of man who builds his world using wood as a raw material. Timber is revealed in a different light, and the reader is taught to stop thinking of it in terms of defective beams and boards. Wood only fails as a part of the living tree. To us, the tree and wood biologists, this new definition is a real, inspiring challenge, which is just what Kubler and Mattheck intended it to be. Their answers may seem too simple or little logical to some of us; but the authors are not at a loss for sound and solid arguments. Their field studies prove the incredible, their hypotheses makes us want to get to the bottom of the un proven unbelievable. The authors' answers and arguments are bold and cour ageous. They arouse our curiosity and force us to fathom the facts. It seems as if Kubler and Mattheck wanted to trick us into believing that trees only live and react following mechanical rules and strategies. To tell the truth, that was what I first suspected the authors of: but I was wrong.

  • Book cover of The Botany of Desire

    “Pollan shines a light on our own nature as well as on our implication in the natural world.” —The New York Times “A wry, informed pastoral.” —The New Yorker The book that helped make Michael Pollan, the New York Times bestselling author of How to Change Your Mind, Cooked and The Omnivore’s Dilemma, one of the most trusted food experts in America Every schoolchild learns about the mutually beneficial dance of honeybees and flowers: The bee collects nectar and pollen to make honey and, in the process, spreads the flowers’ genes far and wide. In The Botany of Desire, Michael Pollan ingeniously demonstrates how people and domesticated plants have formed a similarly reciprocal relationship. He masterfully links four fundamental human desires—sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control—with the plants that satisfy them: the apple, the tulip, marijuana, and the potato. In telling the stories of four familiar species, Pollan illustrates how the plants have evolved to satisfy humankind’s most basic yearnings. And just as we’ve benefited from these plants, we have also done well by them. So who is really domesticating whom?

  • Book cover of Garlic and Other Alliums
    Eric Block

     · 2010

    Outlines the extensive history and use since the dawn of civilization of alliums, as well as the understanding of their botany and chemistry.

  • Book cover of Weeds of North America

    American Horticultural Society Book Award Winner: “An essential reference for all who wish to understand the science of the all-powerful weed.” —Better Homes and Gardens “What is a weed,” opined Emerson, “but a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered?” While that may be a worthy notion in theory, these plants of undiscovered virtue cause endless hours of toil for backyard gardeners. Wherever they take root, weeds compete for resources, and most often win. They also wreak havoc on industry—from agriculture to golf courses to civic landscape projects, vast amounts of money are spent to eradicate these virile and versatile invaders. With so much at stake, reliable information on weeds and their characteristics is crucial. Richard Dickinson and France Royer shed light on this complex world with Weeds of North America. Organized by plant family, this encyclopedic volume features over five hundred species in two-page spreads with images and text identification keys. Species are arranged within family alphabetically by scientific name, and entries include vital information on seed viability and germination requirements. No matter what your philosophy on weeds, this guide provides much-needed background on these intrusive organisms. In the battle with weeds, knowledge truly is power, and Weeds of North America is perfect for gardeners, botanists, nature lovers, or anyone working in the business of weed ecology and control. “Royer’s photographs are almost perversely alluring. . . . How can you not be ensnared by a book populated by prostrate pigweed, tansy ragwort and dog-strangling vine?” —New York Times Book Review