Agricultural Buildings and Structures


Book Description

Planning, materials, and basic design; Housing for specific enterprises.




Automation and environmental control in plant tissue culture


Book Description

Automation and Environmental Control in Plant Tissue Culture rigorously explores the new challenges faced by modern plant tissue culture researchers and producers worldwide: issues of cost efficiency, automation, control, and optimization of the in vitro microenvironment. This book achieves a critical balance between the economic, engineering and biological viewpoints, and presents well-balanced, unique, and clearly organized perspectives on current initiatives in the tissue culture arena. Each chapter offers guidelines leading towards an exhaustive, unprecedented level of control over in vitro growth, based on emerging technologies of robotics, machine vision, environmental sensors and regulation, and systems analysis. Unlike other tissue culture books which focus on specific crops and techniques, this book spans the broad range of major tissue culture production systems, and advances evidence on how some underrated aspects of the process actually determine the status of the end product. Key researchers from industry and academia have joined to give up-to-date research evidence and analysis. The collection comprises an essential reference for industrial-scale tissue culture producers, as well as any researcher interested in optimizing in vitro production.




Computer Applications in Agricultural Environments


Book Description

Computer Applications in Agricultural Environments talks about the influence of computers on the industry of agriculture. The text explains how computers help to simplify calculations and other duties related to the field. The book's 21 chapters revolve around the relationship of computers, agriculture, and the environment. The majority of the chapters talks about the different simulation controls that the computer can do. Controls include climate control, greenhouse control, greenhouse climate feedback/feed-forward control (GCFFC) control, glasshouse control, crop drying control, sulfur dioxide control, retort control, animal control, broiler-house ventilation control, and poultry-house control. Other topics related to computers and agriculture are also discussed, such as monitoring rainfall interception, grain drying, monitoring techniques for ammonia, and various techniques for remote monitoring. The text covers a wide range of topics in the mentioned fields, and can therefore serve as an excellent reference for students or professors in the field of agriculture.







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.




The Vertical Farm


Book Description

"The vertical farm is a world-changing innovation whose time has come. Dickson Despommier's visionary book provides a blueprint for securing the world's food supply and at the same time solving one of the gravest environmental crises facing us today."--Sting Imagine a world where every town has their own local food source, grown in the safest way possible, where no drop of water or particle of light is wasted, and where a simple elevator ride can transport you to nature's grocery store - imagine the world of the vertical farm. When Columbia professor Dickson Despommier set out to solve America's food, water, and energy crises, he didn't just think big - he thought up. Despommier's stroke of genius, the vertical farm, has excited scientists, architects, and politicians around the globe. Now, in this groundbreaking book, Despommier explains how the vertical farm will have an incredible impact on changing the face of this planet for future generations. Despommier takes readers on an incredible journey inside the vertical farm, buildings filled with fruits and vegetables that will provide local food sources for entire cities. Vertical farms will allow us to: - Grow food 24 hours a day, 365 days a year - Protect crops from unpredictable and harmful weather - Re-use water collected from the indoor environment - Provide jobs for residents - Eliminate use of pesticides, fertilizers, or herbicides - Drastically reduce dependence on fossil fuels - Prevent crop loss due to shipping or storage - Stop agricultural runoff Vertical farms can be built in abandoned buildings and on deserted lots, transforming our cities into urban landscapes which will provide fresh food grown and harvested just around the corner. Possibly the most important aspect of vertical farms is that they can built by nations with little or no arable land, transforming nations which are currently unable to farm into top food producers. In the tradition of the bestselling The World Without Us, The Vertical Farm is a completely original landmark work destined to become an instant classic.







Durability of Building Materials and Components


Book Description

Durability of Building Materials and Components provides a collection of recent research works to contribute to the systematization and dissemination of knowledge related to the long-term performance and durability of construction and, simultaneously, to show the most recent advances in this domain. It includes a set of new developments in the field of durability, service life prediction methodologies, the durability approach for historical and old buildings, asset and maintenance management and on the durability of materials, systems and components. The book is divided in several chapters that intend to be a resume of the current state of knowledge for benefit of professional colleagues.




The Agricultural Notebook


Book Description

The Twentieth Edition takes The Agricultural Notebook into its third century; it has been thoroughly revised and updated to reflect the considerable changes in agricultural and rural practices and policies which have taken place since publication of the previous edition. The book is divided into four parts: Crops, Management, Animal Production, and Farm Equipment. New sections added to this edition include: 1) A Marketing Perspective on Diversification, 2) Organic Farming, and 3) Farming and Wildlife. Since the first edition was compiled by Primrose McConnell in 1883, The Agricultural Notebook has become established as the standard work of reference for all those in the farming industry. With each edition it has evolved and changed in such a way as to provide agricultural scientists, students of agriculture and related subjects, farmers, farm managers and land agents with an abundance of current information on all aspects of the business of farming. Many comments received from lecturers and students who have used previous editions of the book have been taken into account in producing the twentieth edition. The thirty contributing authors have fully updated chapters, a new clearer layout has been adopted and much new information is included in easy-to-use tables and figures. The Agricultural Notebook is an essential purchase for all students of agriculture, countryside, and rural studies. Professionals such as farmers, land agents, agricultural scientists, advisers, suppliers to the agriculture industry and all those with a connection and interest in the agricultural community will find a huge wealth of information within the book’s covers. All libraries within universities, colleges and research establishments where agricultural and rural sciences are studied and taught should have multiple copies of this important new edition on their shelves.