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Agricultural Produce (agricultural + produce)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences40%
Earth and Environmental Science40%

Selected Abstracts

The Wealth of Nations at the Turn of the Millennium: A Classification System Based on the International Division of Labor,

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY, Issue 2 2002
Wolfgang Hoeschele
Abstract: Simple dichotomies, such as First World,Third World, developed,developing countries, and north,south, are no longer adequate for understanding the complex economic geography of the world. Even the division into core, semi-periphery, and periphery groups diverse economies into an excessively limited number of categories. It is time to develop a new scheme that better classifies the countries of the world into coherent groups. This article constructs a new classification based on the international division of labor, using three fundamental dimensions. The first dimension is the success of the industrial and services economy in providing employment to the people within a country. The second is the export orientation of a country, concentrating either on natural-resource-intensive products (e.g., agricultural produce, food and beverages, minerals and metals) or on core industrial manufactures (from textiles to computers). The third is the presence of control functions in the world economy: countries that include the headquarters of major firms and are the source regions of major flows of foreign direct investments. The combination of these three dimensions leads to the creation of eight basic categories. I introduce a terminology that combines these basic categories into larger groups, depending on the context. This new conceptual scheme should facilitate a more informed analysis of world economic, political, social, and environmental affairs. [source]

Feeding the colleges: Cambridge's food and fuel supplies, 1450,1560

ECONOMIC HISTORY REVIEW, Issue 2 2003
John S. Lee
Summary Von Thünen's model of the relationship between concentrated urban demand and rural land use proposes that towns will draw agricultural produce from a series of zones of specialized production around the urban centre. Using the accounts of King's Hall and King's College, this article identifies the areas that supplied Cambridge with food and fuel during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and the persistence of such trade. Local geographical conditions meant that, contrary to von Thünen's model, firewood and charcoal were brought from more distant regions than those supplying wheat and malt barley, and Cambridge's hinterland also had to compete with demand from London. [source]

Seasonal migration and land-use change in Ghana

LAND DEGRADATION AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 1 2004
A. K. Braimoh
Abstract When farmers migrate yearly to a village to carry out intense farming during the rainy season, and thereafter return to a more permanent place of abode this is referred to as seasonal migration. The impact of such migration on land-use/land-cover change in an area within the Volta Basin of Ghana was examined using satellite image analysis and socioeconomic surveys. The most drastic land-cover change involved the conversion of woodland to agricultural land, while there was also a general transition to less vegetation cover. Socioeconomic surveys revealed that most of the migration occurred during the post-structural adjustment period in Ghana with declining soil fertility accounting for the highest per cent of causes of migration. Multiple regression results highlighted the role of population size and distribution, marketing of agricultural produce and technological evolution of the household in determining agricultural land-use change. Policy initiatives that could lead to environment conservation are suggested. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Crops and genotypes differ in efficiency of potassium uptake and use

PHYSIOLOGIA PLANTARUM, Issue 4 2008
Zed Rengel
Cultivars with increased efficiency of uptake and utilization of soil nutrients are likely to have positive environmental effects through reduced usage of chemicals in agriculture. This review assesses the available literature on differential uptake and utilization efficiency of K in farming systems. Large areas of agricultural land in the world are deficient in K (e.g. 3/4 of paddy soils in China, 2/3 of the wheatbelt in Southern Australia), with export in agricultural produce (especially hay) and leaching (especially in sandy soils) contributing to lowering of K content in the soil. The capacity of a genotype to grow and yield well in soils low in available K is K efficiency. Genotypic differences in efficiency of K uptake and utilization have been reported for all major economically important plants. The K-efficient phenotype is a complex one comprising a mixture of uptake and utilization efficiency mechanisms. Differential exudation of organic compounds to facilitate release of non-exchangeable K is one of the mechanisms of differential K uptake efficiency. Genotypes efficient in K uptake may have a larger surface area of contact between roots and soil and increased uptake at the root,soil interface to maintain a larger diffusive gradient towards roots. Better translocation of K into different organs, greater capacity to maintain cytosolic K+ concentration within optimal ranges and increased capacity to substitute Na+ for K+ are the main mechanisms underlying K utilization efficiency. Further breeding for increased K efficiency will be dependent on identification of suitable markers and compounding of efficiency mechanisms into locally adapted germplasm. [source]

Uptake of perchlorate by vegetation growing at field sites in arid and subhumid climates

REMEDIATION, Issue 4 2007
Dawit D. Yifru
Previous greenhouse and field studies show that terrestrial and aquatic vegetation, including trees, grasses, and agricultural produce grown on perchlorate-contaminated soil or with perchlorate-contaminated irrigation water, accumulate perchlorate mainly in their leaf tissue. The phytoaccumulated perchlorate poses potential ecological risk by either contaminating the food chain of humans and animals or recycling in the ecosystem as leaf litter fall that accumulates on topsoil. In this study, the uptake and phytoaccumulation of perchlorate in terrestrial and aquatic vegetation growing at two perchlorate-contaminated sites (the Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant [LHAAP] in Karnack, Texas, and the Las Vegas Wash [LVW], Nevada) was monitored during multiple growing seasons. The LHAAP site is located in a subhumid climate, while the LVW site is located in an arid climate. All vegetation species collected from both sites contained quantifiable levels of perchlorate. The detected concentrations varied with the type of plant species, amount of perchlorate concentration in soil, and season and stage of plant maturity. The highest perchlorate concentrations were measured in willows (Salix nigra), crabgrass (Digitaria spp.), and Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) at the LHAAP, while salt cedar (Tamarix ramosissima) at the LVW phytoaccumulated the highest mass of perchlorate. The concentrations of perchlorate measured in plant leaves growing over contaminated soils at multiple LHAAP locations did not reveal the strong seasonal variability observed at the LVW site. The slow rate of phytodegradation of the perchlorate fraction taken up by plants during the growing season explained the detection of higher perchlorate concentrations in leaves collected later in the growing season (fall) and in senesced leaves compared to younger, live leaves. This proves that senesced plant leaves potentially recycle perchlorate back into the soil on which plant litter collects. To minimize the potential recycling of perchlorate during phytoremediation, it is recommended that senesced leaves be collected and composted or phytoremediation be designed to enhance rapid rhizodegradation (rhizoremediation). © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]