Handbook Of Industrial Crops

The demand for plant-based industrial raw materials has increased as well as research into expanding the utility of plants for current and future uses. Plants are renewable, have limited or positive environmental impact and have the potential to yield a wide range of products in contrast to petroleum-based materials. Plants can be used in a variety of different industries and products including bioenergy, industrial oil and starch, fibre and dye, rubber and related compounds, insecticide and land rehabilitation. This title offers a comprehensive coverage of each of these uses. Chapters discuss the identification of plant species with desired traits, their cultivation to obtain the needed raw materials, methods utilized in producing different finished products, current and future research in crop production and processing and the present state and future prospects for the industry. Providing the first systematic review of industrial crops and their uses, this book will be an important resource for students and researchers of crop science and agricultural policy makers.

A handy guide on crops of international importance The Handbook of Industrial Crops is a comprehensive exploration of 12 important agricultural components of economy and export trade. The book examines the aspects of cultivation and trade in addition to the available information on the evolution and adaptation of each agricultural crop. With this extensive resource, you get detailed, up-to-date information on each species’ origin and botany, cultivation and harvest, and prospective future of available production and demand to set you up for higher production and sales. The Handbook of Industrial Crops focuses on such commercial crops as: arecanut cashew cocoa coconut coffee palm oil palmyrah rubber tea wattle In the Handbook of Industrial Crops, you will gain a better understanding of the industries these cash crops are grown for, including: food—such as edible oils, nuts, beverages, or flavorings latex resins and lubricants drugs and nutraceuticals timber With the Handbook of Industrial Crops, you will gain extensive knowledge from the world’s leading experts in plantation crops and individual species. The book supplies the most recent statistics in world production, yields, and income potential. In this manual, you’ll find numerous references, tables, and figures, along with contact information for research centers, organizations, and government entities to help you further.

This book employs a political ecology lens to unravel how industrial crops catalyse ecological, agrarian, socioeconomic, and institutional transformation. Using the conceptual tools and perspectives of political ecology, namely multi-scalar analysis and attention to marginalisation, social difference, and discourses and narratives, this volume provides a critical and comprehensive assessment of the transformative power of industrial cropping systems. It presents a truly international overview by drawing on a range of case studies from the global South, including soybeans in South America, cashew nuts in Guinea Bissau, cotton in India, maize in China, jatropha in Ghana, sugarcane in Peru and Eswatini, and oil palm in Ghana and Peru. The unique case studies are put into perspective with chapters introducing the key concepts of political ecology and critical dimensions of industrial cropping systems related to large-scale land acquisitions, land grabbing, and marginal land. The individual chapters employ different approaches all rooted in political ecology, thus offering a rich overview of how the field engages with such cropping systems. Overall, this volume contains valuable propositions for improving current policies and practices in industrial crop settings in both developed and developing countries. Through its comprehensive and interdisciplinary outlook, this volume will be of great interest to students and scholars of political ecology, agrarian studies, development studies, and ecological economics.

The volume on Industrial Crop Breeding will be part of the series, Handbook of Plant Breeding. This volume will focus on the emerging area of plant breeding for sustainable production of transportation fuels and bio based products using the current advances in the field. The book is scheduled to consist of a total number of 30 chapters divided into four sections. The sections will emphasize crops being considered for different challenge areas including oil crops for biodiesel; sugar, starch and cellulosic crops for biofuel; crops for bio products and issues and future prospects. A chapter introducing the first three sections will also be included. Outstanding scientists for each crop species are proposed as senior authors, who may invite co-authors to contribute part of a chapter to provide additional expertise or perspective. The proposed authors will represent various national and international institutions to get a more diverse view on the topic and somehow get a global view on the common issues that researchers on industrial crops are facing. The book will comprise primarily of specific issues, available germplasm, breeding techniques, and potential geographical areas of production pertaining to individual crops being considered for industrial uses. We hope to encourage the proposed authors of new crops to provide an estimate of the crop readiness for commercial development and discuss the limitations. This book will be will be of interest and envisioned to serve as an updated reference to researchers in both academic and industrial setting, to students and teachers of plant breeding and to policy makers who are looking for alternative solutions to dependency on imported petroleum products.

This book captures how industrial crops can be used in conventional agriculture and greener biopharming for pharmaceutical industries. Pharmaceuticals and industrial compounds are studied from the perspective of their co-existence with plant resources and byproducts. Such plant-based industrial products rely on scientific and technological breakthroughs and provide new opportunities for the agricultural sector, at the same time mitigate the risks associated with climate change. The management of the externalities and of the possible unintended economic effects that arise in this context is critical and poses difficult questions for regulators. The book also provides a review of the emerging agro-industrial biomass technology involved in conversion of most of the solid transgenic industrial crops by products such as plant oil lignocellulosic materials into liquid biobased energy-fuels. The book covers how innovative biotechnology can expand the markets for agricultural producers worldwide, reduce environmental degradation, and provide alternatives to fossil carbon-derived products and energy. Aspects of entrepreneurial biotechnology and bioprospecting are also covered.