Tropical Agriculture

Insatiable Appetite: The United States and the Ecological Degradation of the Tropical World, Concise Revised Edition (Exploring World History)

Now in a concise edition created expressly for students and general readers, this widely hailed study traces the transformation of the tropics in modern times. Exploring the central role of the United States in the ongoing devastation of tropical lands, Richard Tucker highlights the unrelenting pressure caused by the demands of U.S. consumerism. The forced domestication of varied natural systems ultimately led to a devastating decline in biodiversity. The author brings his analysis to life with a series of vivid case studies of sugar, bananas, coffee, rubber, beef, and timber-each a virtual empire in itself. All readers who are interested in environmental degradation and its links to the world economy will be enlightened by this nuanced history.

Cuban Counterpoint: Tobacco and Sugar

First published in 1940 and long out of print, Fernando Ortiz’s classic work, Cuban Counterpoint is recognized as one of the most important books of Latin American and Caribbean intellectual history. Ortiz’s examination of the impact of sugar and tobacco on Cuban society is unquestionably the cornerstone of Cuban studies and a key source for work on Caribbean culture generally. Though written over fifty years ago, Ortiz’s study of the formation of a national culture in this region has significant implications for contemporary postcolonial studies.
Ortiz presents his understanding of Cuban history in two complementary sections written in contrasting styles: a playful allegorical tale narrated as a counterpoint between tobacco and sugar and a historical analysis of their development as the central agricultural products of the Cuban economy. Treating tobacco and sugar both as agricultural commodities and as social characters in a historical process, he examines changes in their roles as the result of transculturation. His work shows how transculturation, a critical category Ortiz developed to grasp the complex transformation of cultures brought together in the crucible of colonial and imperial histories, can be used to illuminate not only the history of Cuba, but, more generally, that of America as well.
This new edition includes an introductory essay by Fernando Coronil that provides a contrapuntal reading of the relationship between Ortiz’s book and its original introduction by the renowned anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski. Arguing for a distinction between theory production and canon formation, Coronil demonstrates the value of Ortiz’s book for anthropology as well as Cuban, Caribbean, and Latin American studies, and shows Ortiz to be newly relevant to contemporary debates about modernity, postmodernism, and postcoloniality.

Contrapunteo cubano del tabaco y el azucar/Cuban Counterpoint of tabacco & sugar (Letras Hispanicas, 528) (Letras Hispanicas, 528)

Coping With the Coffee Crisis: An Analysis of the Production and Marketing Performance of Coffee Farmers in Costa Rica (Development Economics and Policy)

Tropical Soils: Properties and Management for Sustainable Agriculture (Topics in Sustainable Agronomy)

Agricultural ecology, or agroecology, deals in general with the structure and function of agroecosystems at different levels of resolution. In this text/reference, the authors describe in terms of agroecology the tropical environments of sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin and Central America, focusing on production and management systems unique to each region.

The Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-known Plants of the Andes With Promise for Worldwide Cultivation

This fascinating, readable volume is filled with enticing, detailed information about more than 30 different Incan crops that promise to follow the potato's lead and become important contributors to the world's food supply. Some of these overlooked foods offer special advantages for developing nations, such as high nutritional quality and excellent yields. Many are adaptable to areas of the United States.
Lost Crops of the Incas includes vivid color photographs of many of the crops and describes the authors' experiences in growing, tasting, and preparing them in different ways. This book is for the gourmet and gourmand alike, as well as gardeners, botanists, farmers, and agricultural specialists in developing countries.

Agroforestry and Biodiversity Conservation in Tropical Landscapes

The Banana: Empires, Trade Wars, and Globalization (At Table)

Organic Coffee: Sustainable Development by Mayan Farmers (Ohio RIS Latin America Series)

Despite deepening poverty and environmental degradation throughout rural Latin America, Mayan peasant farmers in Chiapas, Mexico, are creating an environmental and economic success by growing organic coffee. Organic Coffee: Sustainable Development by Mayan Farmers provides a unique and vivid insight into how this coffee is grown, harvested, processed, and marketed to consumers in the North. Maria Elena Martinez-Torres explains how Mayan farmers have capitalized on their ethnic networks to make a crucial difference in their approach to agriculture. Taking us inside Chiapas, Mexico's poorest state, scene of the 1994 Zapatista uprising, she examines the anatomy of the on-going organic coffee boom and the efffects of the free-trade movement. The energy behind this phenomenon arises from very poor farmers forming cooperatives, revaluing their ethnic identity, and adding value to their land through organic farming. The result has been significant economic benefits for their families and ecological benefits for the future sustainability of agriculture in the region. Martinez-Torres explodes the myth that organic farming is less productive than chemical-based agriculture, and gives us reasons to be hopeful for indigenous peoples and peasant farmers. Organic Coffee ultimately shows how sustainable agriculture at the production end can make the coffee commodity chain into a tool for bettering lives and ecologies in poor regions of the world. ABOUT THE AUTHOR---Maria Elena Martinez-Torres is from Mexico and is Global Alternatives Associate at the Center for the Study of the Americas (CENSA) in Berkeley, California. She is director of Desarrollo Alternativo, AC, a non-profit organization in Mexico that works towards alternative, sustainable development practices.

Shelf Life: Food Industry Briefing Series

The crucial subject of the shelf life of food products affects the manufacture, processing, distribution, sale and consumption of all foods. It is a hot topic that is on the mind of every 21st Century consumer and cannot be ignored. Following the clear and concise style of the Blackwell Food Industry Briefing Series, Shelf Life allows the reader to dip in and discover or re-discover how to manage shelf life of foods looking at definitions, regulations, responsibilities, and the important task of determining the shelf life of food products.


Separated into three sections, Shelf Life offers guidance on and answers to questions every person involved with food products should ask. It considers the mechanisms of food deterioration and the factors that can influence shelf life of foods and offers examples of how to determine the length of shelf life for different products.


Dominic Man writes as a recognised expert with proven experience in this field, and enables any reader to tackle day to day problems related to shelf life of foods. Discussing the close relationship between food safety and shelf life this book is an essential resource for all food industry professionals and scholars who need to gain an overview of this extremely important subject.


The book will appeal to senior students of food science and technology and related disciplines, and to practising food professionals such as product developers and quality assurance technologists.


* Concise, easy-to-use, quick reference book.

* Enable user to gain a quick working knowledge of Shelf Life.

* Written by an expert in the field with proven experience.

* Part of the exciting new series 'Food Industry Briefing'.