By 2050 the world’s population will rise to 9 billion. To satisfy demand, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has predicted that food production will need to increase by 70 per cent. Meanwhile, land and water resources are increasingly being degraded and depleted, which has serious implications for developing countries, and in particular for the African continent.

Investing in agriculture is essential for reducing hunger and promoting sustainable agricultural production. Those parts of the world where agricultural capital per worker and public investments in agriculture have stagnated are the epicentres of poverty and hunger today. Demand growth over the coming decades will place increasing pressure on the natural resource base. Eradicating hunger sustainably will require a significant increase in agricultural investments, but also an improvement in their effectiveness.

This book is a continuation of the book Agriculture and Food Science Researcher Biographical Sketches and Research Summaries which compiles biographical sketches of top professionals in the field of agriculture and food science research, as well as research summaries from a number of different focuses in this important field.

Building on the extremely successful and popular Russell’s Soil Conditions and Plant Growth, Wiley-Blackwell is pleased to publish this completely revised and updated edition of the soil science classic. Covering all aspects of the interactions between plant and soil, Peter Gregory and Stephen Nortcliff, along with their team of internationally-known and respected authors, provide essential reading for all students and professionals studying and working in agriculture and soil science.

The effects of climate change can already be felt around the world, and they will likely impact all facets of human civilization—from health, livelihood security, agricultural production, and shelter to international trade. Since anthropogenic factors are mainly to blame for the current trends in global warming, human intervention will be necessary to mitigate it. With 17 authoritative chapters, Combating Climate Change: An Agricultural Perspective outlines a framework for preparing agriculture for climate change, presenting the causes and consequences of climate change and possible remediation measures.

Currently 925 million people are undernourished and 195 million children under five years of age are stunted. At the same time, over 1 billion people are overweight and obese in both the developed and developing world. Diseases previously associated with affluence, such as cancer, diabetes and cardio-vascular disease, are on the rise.

This book presents current research in the study of the cultivation, varieties and uses of cotton. Topics included in this compilation include cotton pests and strategies for management control; cotton biotechnology and application in breeding; phosphorous acquisition characteristics of cotton plants; chemically modified cotton fibres for biomedical applications; China and Australia’s global cotton production; and climatic conditions affecting Egyptian cotton.

This bilingual CD-ROM is a compilation of analyses published on the Agritrade website in 2012. It brings together executive briefs that impartially review developments affecting trade in the agricultural and fisheries sectors of ACP countries.

This book offers a broad introduction to food policies in the United States. Real-world controversies and debates motivate the book’s attention to economic principles, policy analysis, nutrition science and contemporary data sources. It assumes that the reader’s concern is not just the economic interests of farmers, but also includes nutrition, sustainable agriculture, the environment and food security. The book’s goal is to make US food policy more comprehensible to those inside and outside the agri-food sector whose interests and aspirations have been ignored.

This book is the latest compilation of manure research activities beyond the adverse environmental concerns. This book covers issues relevant to manure from alternative animal farming practices, energy production from animal manure, processed manure products, and benign effects of manure components in bioremediation.