Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems


Book Description

This comprehensive text provides the latest research on key concepts, principles and practices for promoting healthy and sustainable food systems. There are increasing concerns about the impact of food systems on environmental sustainability and, in turn, the impact of environmental sustainability on the capacity of food systems to protect food and nutrition security into the future. The contributors to this book are leading researchers in the causes of and solutions to these challenges. As international experts in their fields, they provide in-depth analyses of the issues and evidence-informed recommendations for future policies and practices. Starting with an overview of ideas about health, sustainability and equity in relation to food systems, Healthy and Sustainable Food Systems examines what constitutes a food system, with chapters on production, manufacturing, distribution and retail, among others. The text explores health and sustainable diets, looking at issues such as overconsumption and waste. The book ends with discussions about the politics, policy, personal behaviours and advocacy behind creating healthy and sustainable food systems. With a food systems approach to health and sustainability identified as a priority area for public health, this text introduces core knowledge for students, academics, practitioners and policy-makers from a range of disciplines including food and nutrition sciences, dietetics, public health, public policy, medicine, health science and environmental science.




Applied Welfare Economics, Trade, and Agricultural Policy Analysis


Book Description

This textbook integrates three related fields in economics, namely agricultural/forestry economics, environmental economics, and international trade, by foregrounding cost-benefit analysis as a significant policy tool. Exploring how welfare measures can be used in the analysis of agricultural, trade, and other economic policies, Applied Welfare Economics, Trade, and Agricultural Policy Analysis fills a gap in the literature on agricultural policy analysis by explaining the economic efficiency improvements and income transfers of various agricultural policy reforms in the United States, Canada, and the European Union. G. Cornelis van Kooten addresses methods of identifying and measuring economic surpluses (costs and benefits), the precautionary principle, identification of an appropriate discount rate, the importance of non-market values, and the role of agriculture in trade negotiations and climate change. Applied Welfare Economics, Trade, and Agricultural Policy Analysis draws on new research, brings attention to the existing literature, and includes review questions that challenge programming skills. The techniques developed in this text can be applied to the development and reform of agricultural policies in various regions in response to trade negotiations and many other situations involving government policy.




Food Animal Husbandry and the New Millennium


Book Description

First published in 2001. This highly readable and comprehensive overview of psychophysiology provides information regarding the anatomy and physiology of various body systems, methods of recording their activity, and ways in which these measures relate to human behavior. Biofeedback applications are contained in a separate chapter, and discussions of stress management, job strain, and personality factors that affect cardiovascular reactivity are presented. There is much of interest here to the student, researcher, and clinician in behavioral medicine, ergonomics, emotion, cognitive neuroscience, neuropsychology, and health psychology. Now in its fourth edition, Andreassi's Psychophysiology explores some of the newer areas of importance and updates findings in traditional topics of interest. Significant changes to this edition include: updated information on brain activity in memory, perception, and inteligence; new information on brain imaging and behavior; separate chapters on pupillography and eye movements; new information on the startle pattern and eyeblink; separate chapters on clinical and non-clinical applications; updated information on cardiovascular reactivity and personality; the la test biofeedback and ergonomics applications; novel findings in environmental psychophysiology; brief summaries at the end of each section; and an appendix on laboratory safety. Each chapter is a self-contained unit allowing instructors to customize the presentation of the material. With over 1,700 citations, Andreassi's Psychophysiology is the definitive text in the field. An instructor 's manual is now available. Based on the book, the manual is primarily a test bank to be used in giving examinations to students during the teaching of a course. Both multiple-choice and essay questions have been provided, lists of key terms and ideas, sample syllabi, and laboratory exercises are also provided.




Using the Agricultural, Environmental, and Food Literature


Book Description

This reference provides the groundwork, tools, and terminology required when conducting specialized searches for information and resources pertaining to traditional and emerging fields of agriculture. The editors present 16 contributions from librarians and other information workers that offer information on research resources across the academic a




Farmer Behaviour, Agricultural Management and Climate Change


Book Description

This study examines the broad range of factors driving farm management decisions that can improve the environment, including drawing on the experiences of OECD countries.




The Social Consequences And Challenges Of New Agricultural Technologies


Book Description

Although formal social impact assessment of changing technologies in U.S. agriculture is still in its infancy, scholars have been documenting the effects of new technology throughout the twentieth century. In this collection, Prcfessors Berardi and Geisler bring together historically relevant research and a carefully chosen cross section of contemporary work. Their review of the literature is followed by an evaluation of the effects of mechanization on labor and production, written in 1904, which provides a backdrop for papers from the 1940s and 1950s examining the mechanization of agriculture in the South, in the Midwest, and in rural areas in general. Subsequent chapters offer present-day insights on such topics as the socioeconomic consequences of automated vegetable and tobacco harvesting, center-pivot irrigation, and organic and no-till cultivation. The authors also look at compensation and adjustment programs for displaced labor, the relationship between technology and agribusiness growth, and the effectiveness of university programs that prepare students to perform social impact assessments in agriculture. The edited proceedings of a spirited roundtable discussion on new directions for the study of the social impacts of farm technology and the political economy of agriculture provide the thought-provoking conclusion to this overview of the field.




Animals in Our Midst: The Challenges of Co-existing with Animals in the Anthropocene


Book Description

This Open Access book brings together authoritative voices in animal and environmental ethics, who address the many different facets of changing human-animal relationships in the Anthropocene. As we are living in complex times, the issue of how to establish meaningful relationships with other animals under Anthropocene conditions needs to be approached from a multitude of angles. This book offers the reader insight into the different discussions that exist around the topics of how we should understand animal agency, how we could take animal agency seriously in farms, urban areas and the wild, and what technologies are appropriate and morally desirable to use regarding animals. This book is of interest to both animal studies scholars and environmental ethics scholars, as well as to practitioners working with animals, such as wildlife managers, zookeepers, and conservation biologists.




Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030


Book Description

For nearly a century, scientific advances have fueled progress in U.S. agriculture to enable American producers to deliver safe and abundant food domestically and provide a trade surplus in bulk and high-value agricultural commodities and foods. Today, the U.S. food and agricultural enterprise faces formidable challenges that will test its long-term sustainability, competitiveness, and resilience. On its current path, future productivity in the U.S. agricultural system is likely to come with trade-offs. The success of agriculture is tied to natural systems, and these systems are showing signs of stress, even more so with the change in climate. More than a third of the food produced is unconsumed, an unacceptable loss of food and nutrients at a time of heightened global food demand. Increased food animal production to meet greater demand will generate more greenhouse gas emissions and excess animal waste. The U.S. food supply is generally secure, but is not immune to the costly and deadly shocks of continuing outbreaks of food-borne illness or to the constant threat of pests and pathogens to crops, livestock, and poultry. U.S. farmers and producers are at the front lines and will need more tools to manage the pressures they face. Science Breakthroughs to Advance Food and Agricultural Research by 2030 identifies innovative, emerging scientific advances for making the U.S. food and agricultural system more efficient, resilient, and sustainable. This report explores the availability of relatively new scientific developments across all disciplines that could accelerate progress toward these goals. It identifies the most promising scientific breakthroughs that could have the greatest positive impact on food and agriculture, and that are possible to achieve in the next decade (by 2030).




Conservation Policies for Agricultural Biodiversity


Book Description

Conservation Policies for Agricultural Biodiversity: A Comparative Study of Laws and Policies focuses on the challenge of securing the ecological future of the planet and its inhabitants by exploring the Convention of Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit Sharing and WTO laws, such as SPSS, TBT GATT. This book demonstrates how the urgent problem of biodiversity loss can be addressed by challenging notions of national self-interest and security for the purpose of implementing policies that will benefit humanity and, more importantly, ensure the future of our planet. - Delves into the current approaches adopted in the framework of global environmental governance - Investigates the origins, operations and effects of legal regimes, policies and practices related to the conservation of biodiversity - Presents a comparative study of laws and policies, providing an in-depth understanding of the factors behind the lack of success in conserving agricultural biodiversity




Breaking New Ground


Book Description

Anthropology and agriculture: the historical interface. The case of the International Potato Center. Anthropologist as interdisciplinary team members: developng post-harvest technology. The anthropological perspective: an overview. The future: where to from here?