Sustainable Food Systems from Agriculture to Industry

Sustainable Food Systems from Agriculture to Industry

Author: Charis M. Galanakis

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2018-01-02

Total Pages: 444

ISBN-13: 0128119616

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Sustainable Food Systems from Agriculture to Industry: Improving Production and Processing addresses the principle that food supply needs of the present must be met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. Responding to sustainability goals requires maximum utilization of all raw materials produced and integration of activities throughout all production-to-consumption stages. This book covers production stage activities to reduce postharvest losses and increase use of by-products streams (waste), food manufacturing and beyond, presenting insights to ensure energy, water and other resources are used efficiently and environmental impacts are minimized. The book presents the latest research and advancements in efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly food production and ways they can be implemented within the food industry. Filling the knowledge gap between understanding and applying these advancements, this team of expert authors from around the globe offer both academic and industry perspectives and a real-world view of the challenges and potential solutions that exist for feeding the world in the future. The book will guide industry professionals and researchers in ways to improve the efficiency and sustainability of food systems. - Addresses why food waste recovery improves sustainability of food systems, how these issues can be adapted by the food industry, and the role of policy making in ensuring sustainable food production - Describes in detail the latest understanding of food processing, food production and waste reduction issues - Includes emerging topics, such as sustainable organic food production and computer aided process engineering - Analyzes the potential and sustainability of already commercialized processes and products


Sustainable Food Production

Sustainable Food Production

Author: Shahid Naeem

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2021-11-02

Total Pages: 109

ISBN-13: 0231548443

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Industrial agriculture is responsible for widespread environmental degradation and undermines the pursuit of human well-being. With a projected global population of 10 billion by 2050, it is urgent for humanity to achieve a more sustainable approach to farming and food systems. This concise text offers an overview of the key issues in sustainable food production for all readers interested in the ecology and environmental impacts of agriculture. It details the ecological foundations of farming and food systems, showing how knowledge from the natural and social sciences can be used to create sustainable alternatives to the industrial production methods used today. Beginning with a discussion of the role of agriculture in human development, the primer examines how twentieth-century farming methods are environmentally and socially unsustainable, contributing to global change and perpetuating inequalities. The authors explain the principles of environmental sustainability and explore how these principles can be put into practice in agrifood systems. They emphasize the importance of human well-being and insist on the centrality of social and environmental equity and justice. Sustainable Food Production is a compelling guide to how we can improve our ability to feed each other today and preserve the ability of our planet to do so tomorrow. Appropriate for a range of courses in the natural and social sciences, it provides a comprehensive yet accessible framework for achieving agricultural sustainability in the Anthropocene.


American Farms, American Food

American Farms, American Food

Author: John C. Hudson

Publisher: Lexington Books

Published: 2016-08-16

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 1498508219

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American Farms, American Food bridges the gap between agricultural production and food studies allowing readers to learn about both subjects up close and in detail. Beyond that, the book provides background on the domestication, breeding, and development of crop plants and livestock that have become the food we eat. Themes such as the family farm, local food production, organic agriculture, genetically modified crops, food imports, and commodity exports are developed in nine separate chapters. The chapters treat specific crops or livestock types from the point of view of both production and consumption, highlighting the changes that have taken place in both farming strategies and food preferences over the years.


World Food

World Food

Author: Alfred R. Conklin

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2007-10-26

Total Pages: 461

ISBN-13: 0470168714

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A comprehensive look at food production and consumption worldwide This global overview of agriculture discusses all of the primary aspects of food production and relates that information to human nutritional needs. It covers everything from food crop production to food preparation. Beginning with a detailed description of representative farms in different climates, World Food: Production and Use: Describes how and where food is produced and who produces it Compares and contrasts different farming systems and describes how local culture and environment influence food production and use Contains detailed information on human nutrition Features specific information on: grain crops; vegetables; root crops; fruits, berries and nuts; and farm animals and fish Discusses factors that impact food production, including weather, soil, fertility, and water Includes a chapter on increasing food supplies Addresses some of the issues surrounding Genetically-Modified Organisms (GMOs) Complete with a CD-ROM with color graphs, tables, and pictures, this is an ideal textbook for courses on world food systems in agriculture, agronomy, crop science, and food science programs. It is also an excellent resource for professionals working in agricultural or international development, relief agencies, or volunteer organizations such as the Peace Corps. Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.


Sustainable Food and Agriculture

Sustainable Food and Agriculture

Author: Clayton Campanhola

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2018-11-30

Total Pages: 611

ISBN-13: 0128121351

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Sustainable Food and Agriculture: An Integrated Approach is the first book to look at the imminent threats to sustainable food security through a cross-sectoral lens. As the world faces food supply challenges posed by the declining growth rate of agricultural productivity, accelerated deterioration of quantity and quality of natural resources that underpin agricultural production, climate change, and hunger, poverty and malnutrition, a multi-faced understanding is key to identifying practical solutions. This book gives stakeholders a common vision, concept and methods that are based on proven and widely agreed strategies for continuous improvement in sustainability at different scales. While information on policies and technologies that would enhance productivity and sustainability of individual agricultural sectors is available to some extent, literature is practically devoid of information and experiences for countries and communities considering a comprehensive approach (cross-sectoral policies, strategies and technologies) to SFA. This book is the first effort to fill this gap, providing information on proven options for enhancing productivity, profitability, equity and environmental sustainability of individual sectors and, in addition, how to identify opportunities and actions for exploiting cross-sectoral synergies. - Provides proven options of integrated technologies and policies, helping new programs identify appropriate existing programs - Presents mechanisms/tools for balancing trade-offs and proposes indicators to facilitate decision-making and progress measurement - Positions a comprehensive and informed review of issues in one place for effective education, comparison and evaluation


Sustainable Agriculture and Resistance

Sustainable Agriculture and Resistance

Author: Fernando Funes

Publisher:

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 352

ISBN-13:

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"This is a story of resistance against all odds, of Cuba's remarkable recovery from a food crisis brought on by the collapse of trade relations with the former socialist bloc and the tightening of the U.S. embargo. Unable to import either food or the farm chemicals and machines needed to grow it via conventional agriculture, Cuba turned inward toward self-reliance. Sustainable agriculture, organic farming, urban gardens, smaller farms, animal traction and biological pest control are part of the successful paradigm shift underway in the Cuban countryside. In this book Cuban authors offer details-for the first time in English-of these remarkable achievements, which may serve as guideposts toward healthier, more environmentally friendly and self-reliant farming in countries both North and South."--Publisher's description


Eating Tomorrow

Eating Tomorrow

Author: Timothy A. Wise

Publisher: The New Press

Published: 2019-02-05

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 1620974231

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"A powerful polemic against agricultural technology." —Nature A major new book that shows the world already has the tools to feed itself, without expanding industrial agriculture or adopting genetically modified seeds, from the Small Planet Institute expert Few challenges are more daunting than feeding a global population projected to reach 9.7 billion in 2050—at a time when climate change is making it increasingly difficult to successfully grow crops. In response, corporate and philanthropic leaders have called for major investments in industrial agriculture, including genetically modified seed technologies. Reporting from Africa, Mexico, India, and the United States, Timothy A. Wise's Eating Tomorrow discovers how in country after country agribusiness and its well-heeled philanthropic promoters have hijacked food policies to feed corporate interests. Most of the world, Wise reveals, is fed by hundreds of millions of small-scale farmers, people with few resources and simple tools but a keen understanding of what and how to grow food. These same farmers—who already grow more than 70 percent of the food eaten in developing countries—can show the way forward as the world warms and population increases. Wise takes readers to remote villages to see how farmers are rebuilding soils with ecologically sound practices and nourishing a diversity of native crops without chemicals or imported seeds. They are growing more and healthier food; in the process, they are not just victims in the climate drama but protagonists who have much to teach us all.


Integrated Processing Technologies for Food and Agricultural By-Products

Integrated Processing Technologies for Food and Agricultural By-Products

Author: Zhongli Pan

Publisher: Academic Press

Published: 2019-07-13

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13: 0128141395

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Feeding our globally expanding population is one of the most critical challenges of our time and improving food and agricultural production efficiencies is a key factor in solving this problem. Currently, one-third of food produced for humans is wasted, and for every pound of food produced, roughly an equal amount of nonfood by-product is also generated, creating a significant environmental impact. In Integrated Processing Technologies for Food and Agricultural By-Products experts from around the world present latest developments, recognizing that while some by-products have found use as animal feed or are combusted for energy, new technologies which integrate conversion of production and processing by-products into higher-value food or nonfood products, nutraceuticals, chemicals, and energy resources will be a critical part of the transition to a more sustainable food system. Organized by agricultural crop, and focusing on those crops with maximum economic impact, each chapter describes technologies for value-added processing of by-products which can be integrated into current food production systems. Integrated Processing Technologies for Food and Agricultural By-Products is a valuable resource for industry professionals, academics, and policy-makers alike. - Provides production-through-processing coverage of key agricultural crops for a thorough understanding and translational inspiration - Describes and discusses major by-product sources, including physical and chemical biomass characterizations and associated variability in detail - Highlights conversions accomplished through physical, biological, chemical, or thermal methods and demonstrates examples of those technologies


A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System

A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2015-06-17

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 030930783X

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How we produce and consume food has a bigger impact on Americans' well-being than any other human activity. The food industry is the largest sector of our economy; food touches everything from our health to the environment, climate change, economic inequality, and the federal budget. From the earliest developments of agriculture, a major goal has been to attain sufficient foods that provide the energy and the nutrients needed for a healthy, active life. Over time, food production, processing, marketing, and consumption have evolved and become highly complex. The challenges of improving the food system in the 21st century will require systemic approaches that take full account of social, economic, ecological, and evolutionary factors. Policy or business interventions involving a segment of the food system often have consequences beyond the original issue the intervention was meant to address. A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System develops an analytical framework for assessing effects associated with the ways in which food is grown, processed, distributed, marketed, retailed, and consumed in the United States. The framework will allow users to recognize effects across the full food system, consider all domains and dimensions of effects, account for systems dynamics and complexities, and choose appropriate methods for analysis. This report provides example applications of the framework based on complex questions that are currently under debate: consumption of a healthy and safe diet, food security, animal welfare, and preserving the environment and its resources. A Framework for Assessing Effects of the Food System describes the U.S. food system and provides a brief history of its evolution into the current system. This report identifies some of the real and potential implications of the current system in terms of its health, environmental, and socioeconomic effects along with a sense for the complexities of the system, potential metrics, and some of the data needs that are required to assess the effects. The overview of the food system and the framework described in this report will be an essential resource for decision makers, researchers, and others to examine the possible impacts of alternative policies or agricultural or food processing practices.