Description:
This volume reviews the wealth of research addressing these challenges. Part 1 reviews developments in improving cultivation across the value chain, from breeding more robust, low input varieties to ways of maintaining soil health and improving crop nutrition. Part 2 discusses the key topic of pests and diseases with reviews of integrated pest and weed management as well as organic plant protection products. Part 3 covers ways of monitoring the environmental impact of organic farming whilst the final part of the book discusses ways of supporting organic cultivation in the developing world.
With its distinguished editor and an international team of expert authors, this will be a standard reference for all those interested in understanding, improving and promoting organic farming.Brief description: Professor Ulrich Köpke is Director and Head of the Institute of Organic Agriculture at the University of Bonn, Germany. He was Founding President of the International Society of Organic Agriculture Research (ISOFAR) which plays a leading role in promoting collaboration in international organic research. Professor Köpke has written over 200 publications on nutrient management, life cycle analysis and other techniques for optimising agronomic practices in organic agriculture, as well as coordinating a number of major European research projects in organic agriculture.
Review Quotes:
"Improving organic crop production provides a valuable resource for the current 'state of the art' on understanding mechanisms in these systems that are both similar and different from those in conventional systems....The book is especially recommended for libraries and other places that will provide access to large numbers of interested people, and as it gives a valuable overview on current organic farming to graduate students and others in academia." review by Professor Charles Francis in Agronomy Journal