The expanding interest in new crops and new uses world wide has been energized as a result of the realization that biofuels and biobased products will play a key role in the search for energy independence as well as providing increased opportunities for farmers in the United States of America and, indeed, the world over. New Crops have long been considered part of a broad strategy to increase farmers’ income and to diversify risks as well as to increase agricultural productivity, so necessary in a world faced by expanding populations. In the past, the pleas of new crop scientists have often been politely ignored but this is no longer the case. As a result, of the quest for energy independence, new crop workers in all fields are finally being considered key players in the agricultural research community, a need that we have felt is long overdue.
This book, the sixth of a series, is based on the symposium entitled Creating Markets for Economic Development of New Crops and New Uses held October 14 to 18, 2006, in San Diego, California. It was organized under the auspices of the Association for the Advancement of industrial Crops (AAIC), Purdue University Center for New Crops and Plant Products, and the Jefferson Institute with sponsorship and support by US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, Soil Society of America, American Society for Horticultural Science, and San Diego Natural History Museum. It supplements five other proceedings: Progress in New Crops (1990) New Crops (1993) Advances in New Crops (1996), Perspectives on New Crops and New Uses (1999), and Trends in New Crops and New Uses (2002). These volumes taken together represent an encyclopedic compendium of new crop information useful to growers, marketers, students, and researchers. All volumes can be accesses at the New Crop website (www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop) under CropREFERENCE and under individual crops.
This volume contains a total of 56 papers from 156 contributors and is divided into two parts: RESEARCH ISSUES, STRATEGIES, AND BIOENERGY (13 papers) with sections on Research Strategies and Tools and Bioenergy; and NEW CROP REVIEWS (43 papers) with sections on Industrial Crops; Industrial Oilseeds; Edible Oilseeds; Grains and Grain Legumes; Fruits, Vegetables, and Nursery Crops; and Botanicals and Medicinals. The index of species crops and products contains over 860 entries.
Hardback, 366 pages
ISBN 0-9707546-8-X