Energy Use in the U.S. Food System


Book Description

This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. Energy is an important input in growing, processing, packaging, distributing, storing, preparing, serving, and disposing of food. In the U.S., use of energy along the food chain for food purchases by or for U.S. households increased between 1997 and 2002 at more than six times the rate of increase in total domestic energy use. This increase in food-related energy flows is over 80% of energy flow increases nationwide over the period. The use of more energy-intensive technologies throughout the U.S. food system accounted for half of this increase, with the remainder attributed to population growth and higher real per capita food expenditures. Food-related energy use as a share of the national energy budget grew from 14.4% in 2002 to 15.7% in 2007. Illus.




Farming for Our Future


Book Description

Farming for Our Future examines the policies and legal reforms necessary to accelerate the adoption of practices that can make agriculture in the United States climate-neutral or better. These proven practices will also make our food system more resilient to the impacts of climate change. Agriculture's contribution to climate change is substantial--much more so than official figures suggest--and we will not be able to achieve our overall mitigation goals unless agricultural emissions sharply decline. Fortunately, farms and ranches can be a major part of the climate solution, while protecting biodiversity, strengthening rural communities, and improving the lives of the workers who cultivate our crops and rear our animals. The importance of agricultural climate solutions can not be underestimated; it is a critical element both in ensuring our food security and limiting climate change. This book provides essential solutions to address the greatest crises of our time.




Managing Agricultural Greenhouse Gases


Book Description

Global climate change is a natural process that currently appears to be strongly influenced by human activities, which increase atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHG). Agriculture contributes about 20% of the world's global radiation forcing from carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, and produces 50% of the methane and 70% of the nitrous oxide of the human-induced emission. Managing Agricultural Greenhouse Gases synthesizes the wealth of information generated from the GRACEnet (Greenhouse gas Reduction through Agricultural Carbon Enhancement network) effort with contributors from a variety of backgrounds, and reports findings with important international applications. - Frames responses to challenges associated with climate change within the geographical domain of the U.S., while providing a useful model for researchers in the many parts of the world that possess similar ecoregions - Covers not only soil C dynamics but also nitrous oxide and methane flux, filling a void in the existing literature - Educates scientists and technical service providers conducting greenhouse gas research, industry, and regulators in their agricultural research by addressing the issues of GHG emissions and ways to reduce these emissions - Synthesizes the data from top experts in the world into clear recommendations and expectations for improvements in the agricultural management of global warming potential as an aggregate of GHG emissions




The Anatomy of Life & Energy in Agriculture


Book Description

The author gives background information on soil nutrients and advises how to treat the soil without slowly killing it, and with a higher food quality as result




Handbook of Energy Utilization In Agriculture


Book Description

The aim of this volume is to collect and present available data, both published and unpublished, on energy use in agriculture and forestry production. Energy analyses for some sciences such as ecology are not new, but their applications to agriculture started in 1973. These analyses have grown rapidly in number and complexity. This handbook is intended for agriculturalists and others concerned with energy use in crop, livestock, and forestry production.




Sea Energy Agriculture


Book Description

"Maynard Murray was a medical doctor who researched the crucial importance of minerals - especially trace elements - to plants and animals. Beginning in 1938 and continuing through the 1950s, Dr. Murray used sea solids - mineral salts remaining after water is evaporated from ocean water - as fertilizer on a variety of vegetables, fruits and grains. His extensive experiments demonstrated repeatedly and conclusively that plants fertilized with sea solids and animals fed sea-solid-fertilized feeds grow stronger and more resistant to disease. Sea Energy Agriculture recounts Murray's experiments and presents his astounding conclusions. The work of this eco-pioneer was largely ignored during his lifetime, and his book became a lost classic - out-of-print for more than 25 years. Now this rare volume is once again available, with a new foreward and afterword by the founder of Acres U.S.A., Charles Walters."--Publisher description.










Energy in U.S. Agriculture


Book Description