The New American Farmer Profiles of Agricultural Innovation free dowload

Foreword

Driven by economics, concerns about the environment or a yearning for a more satisfying lifestyle, the
farmers and ranchers profiled in this collection have embraced new approaches to agriculture. Their
stories vary but they share many goals – these new American farmers strive to renew profits, enhance
environmental stewardship and improve life for their families and communities.
The profilees in The New American Farmer, 2nd edition hail from small vegetable farms and ranches
and grain farms covering thousands of acres. They produce commodities like beef, corn and soybeans,
or they raise more unusual crops like ginseng, 25 kinds of lettuce or Katahdin lamb. Others add value
– and profits – by producing ice cream, goat cheese, cashmere wool and on-farm processed meat.
Another set provides agriculture-oriented tourism through “guest” ranches, inns, on-farm zoos and
education centers.
Many producers cut costs with new management strategies, such as replacing purchased fertilizers and
pesticides with cover crops and crop rotations, or raise animals on pasture rather than in confinement.
Some developed innovative marketing strategies to gain a better end price for their products. Others
combine trimming production costs with alternative marketing, doubling their efforts to boost profits.
The paths to their successes come from every direction. Some NAF farmers and ranchers credit the
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program with providing a timely grant or
research-tested information as they approached a fork in the road. Some turned to information centers
such as the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service run by ATTRA or the Alternative
Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC) at the National Agricultural Library. Others found help
from their local Extension agent or educator, or an adviser from a government agency or nonprofit
organization.
These farmers and ranchers were not only willing to share what they learned with us, but they also volunteered
their contact information. To learn how to adapt what they’ve done to your farm or ranch,
consider getting in touch.
This second edition updates many of the profiles from the first New American Farmer, published in
2001. Fourteen new profiles further probe the many options available to today’s producer. (A tagline at
the bottom informs of each updated profile or newly researched one.) We hope The New American
Farmer, 2nd edition provides both inspiration and information as you explore your new approaches to
farming. 

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FOOD QUALITY free handbook

 

 

Preface

Food quality is the quality characteristics of food that is acceptable to consumers. This
includes external factors as appearance (size, shape, colour, gloss, and consistency),
texture, and flavour; factors such as federal grade standards (e.g. of eggs) and internal
(chemical, physical, microbial).
Food quality is an important food manufacturing requirement, because food
consumers are susceptible to any form of contamination that may occur during the
manufacturing process. Many consumers also rely on manufacturing and processing
standards, particularly to know what ingredients are present, due to dietary,
nutritional requirements, or medical conditions (e.g., diabetes, or allergies). Food
quality also deals with product traceability, e.g. of ingredient and packaging suppliers,
should a recall of the product be required. It also deals with labeling issues to ensure
there is correct ingredient and nutritional information.
Besides ingredient quality, there are also sanitation requirements. It is important to
ensure that the food processing environment is as clean as possible in order to produce
the safest possible food for the consumer. Foodborne diseases due to microbial
pathogens, biotoxins, and chemical contaminants in food represent serious threats to
the health of thousands of millions of people. Serious outbreaks of foodborne disease
have been documented on every continent in the past decades, illustrating both the
public health and social significance of these diseases. A recent example of poor
sanitation has been the 2006 North American E. coli outbreak involving spinach, an
outbreak that is still under investigation after new information has come to light
regarding the involvement of Cambodian nationals. Foodborne diseases not only
significantly affect people's health and well-being, but they also have economic
consequences for individuals, families, communities, businesses and countries. These
diseases impose a substantial burden on healthcare systems and markedly reduce
economic productivity. Poor people tend to live from day to day, and loss of income
due to foodborne illness perpetuates the cycle of poverty.
Effective national food control systems are essential to protect the health and safety of
domestic consumers. Governments all over the world are intensifying efforts to
improve food safety in response to an increasing number of problems and growing
consumer concerns in regards to various food risks. Responsibility for food control in

Contents

Preface IX
Section 1 Molecular Approaches to Achieve the Food Quality 1
Chapter 1 Strategies for Iron Biofortification of Crop Plants 3
Mara Schuler and Petra Bauer
Chapter 2 Monitoring Harmful Microalgae
by Using a Molecular Biological Technique 15
Tomotaka Shiraishi, Ryoma Kamikawa,
Yoshihiko Sako and Ichiro Imai
Chapter 3 Species Identification
of Food Spoilage and Pathogenic Bacteria
by MALDI-TOF Mass Fingerprinting 29
Karola Böhme, Inmaculada C. Fernández-No,
Jorge Barros-Velázquez, Jose M. Gallardo,
Benito Cañas and Pilar Calo-Mata
Chapter 4 Raman Spectroscopy: A Non-Destructive
and On-Site Tool for Control of Food Quality? 47
S. Hassing, K.D. Jernshøj and L.S. Christensen
Chapter 5 Contamination of Foods by Migration
of Some Elements from Plastics Packaging 73
O. Al-Dayel, O. Al-Horayess, J. Hefni,
A. Al-Durahim and T. Alajyan
Section 2 Some Case Studies Improving the Food Quality 81
Chapter 6 Senescence of the Lentinula edodes
Fruiting Body After Harvesting 83
Yuichi Sakamoto, Keiko Nakade,
Naotake Konno and Toshitsugu Sato

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OILSEEDS handbook free download

1. Introduction

Oilseed rape has become a major crop in North America, with cropland dedicated to
rapeseed production increasing from 4,391,660 ha in 2001 to 7,103,725 ha in 2010 in both
U.S.A. and Canada (Canola Connection, 2011; National Agricultural Statistics Service, 2011).
Most of these are cultivated in spring in the Canadian Prairie Provinces and the northern
Great Plains of the USA.
Canola is cultivated both during winter and spring seasons in the United States and this
exposes the crop to winter kill, frost, and high temperatures, during the reproductive
period. The temperatures during winter and spring are known to influence all the crucial
steps of the reproductive cycle including gametogenesis, pollination, fertilization and
embryogenesis (Angadi, 2000). Winter rapeseed has been successfully grown in the Pacific
Northwest, southern Great Plains, Midwest, and southeast regions of the USA. The
hardiest cultivars will routinely survive winters in the north east of USA but survival is
inconsistent further south (Rife et al., 2001). Winter-grown canola (Brassica napus L.)
production is limited mostly by frost and winter-kill in the southern canola-growing
regions of the United States (Singh et al., 2008). For instance, the late freeze in 2007
resulted in significant damage to most of the winter canola cultivars at the National
Winter Canola Variety Trials in Alabama, U.S. (Cebert and Rufina, 2007). Winter
hardiness and freezing tolerance are a major concern for improving production
consistency in many regions of the canola growing countries.

Introduction and cultivation of new crops in a given environment require management
practices and trait selection that enable optimum performance of the crop. Canola is an
important oilseed crop and its cultivation is expanding, particularly in the western world
because of its importance as both an oilseed and a bio-diesel crop.

Contents

Chapter 1 Prospects for Transgenic and Molecular Breeding
for Cold Tolerance in Canola (Brassica napus L.) 1
Anthony O. Ananga, Ernst Cebert, Joel W. Ochieng,
Suresh Kumar, Devaiah Kambiranda, Hemanth Vasanthaiah,
Violetka Tsolova, Zachary Senwo, Koffi Konan and Felicia N. Anike
Chapter 2 Oil Presses 33
Anna Leticia M. Turtelli Pighinelli and Rossano Gambetta
Chapter 3 Effect of Seed-Placed Ammonium
Sulfate and Monoammonium Phosphate
on Germination, Emergence and Early Plant
Biomass Production of Brassicae Oilseed Crops 53
P. Qian, R. Urton, J. J. Schoenau,
T. King, C. Fatteicher and C. Grant
Chapter 4 Nitrogen Efficiency in Oilseed Rape
and Its Physiological Mechanism 63
Zhen-hua Zhang, Hai-xing Song and Chunyun Guan
Chapter 5 Sesame Seed 81
T. Y. Tunde-Akintunde, M. O. Oke and B. O. Akintunde
Chapter 6 Adaptability and Sustainable
Management of High-Erucic
Brassicaceae in Mediterranean Environment 99
Federica Zanetti, Giuliano Mosca,
Enrico Rampin and Teofilo Vamerali
Chapter 7 Oilseed Pests 117
Masumeh Ziaee

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