The issue of crop diversity has never been more urgent. Present day agriculture is faced with an erosion of crop variability as the trend toward monoculture persists throughout the world. As a result farmers face increased risks, both biologic and economic, due to a combination of market forces and subsidies that leads inexorably away from rather than toward diversity. An expected doubling of world population continues to be a looming specter upon the horizon, while at the same time, ironically, over-production in the developed world leads to a collapse of small farmers and rural communities. The issue of agricultural sustainability is ever present, especially on fragile soils. In addition, there are new geopolitical pressures brought about by the increasing demands of an oil-based economy. There have been many solutions proposed but the balance still eludes us. Genetic and management solutions to increase production is necessary for the developing world but aggravate overproduction in the developed world. New industrial uses for crops could increase demand and farmer income. Many suggest that a move to a bio-based economy could solve two problems: reduce our dependence on imported petroleum while providing new opportunities to farmers. New crop alternatives could lead to new options for both consumers and farmers. The strategies above are not mutually exclusive.
This book, the fifth of a series, is based on the symposium entitled New Crops and New Uses: Strength in Diversity held Nov. 8 to 11, 2001 in Atlanta, Georgia and organized by the Association for the Advancement of Industrial crops (AAIC), the Purdue University Center for New Crops and Plant Products, the Thomas Jefferson Agricultural Institute, and the New Uses Council, Inc. It supplements four other proceedings: Progress in New Crops (1990, Timber Press, Portland, Oregon); New Crops (1993, Wiley Press, New York), Advances in New Crops, (1996, ASHS Press, Alexandria, Virginia), and Perspectives on New Crops and New Uses (1999, ASHS Press, Alexandria, Virginia). These volumes represent an encyclopedic compendium of new crop information useful to growers, marketers, and researchers.
Hardback, 599 pages
ISBN 0-970756-5-5
Available from:
ASHS Press
113 South West Street, Suite 200
Alexandria, VA 22314-2851 USA
tel: 703-836-4606
Fax: 703-836-2024
email: ashspress@ashs.org