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"This book develops an integrated research framework in which social science and natural science merge in the analysis of the relationships and transactions within the mango supply chain from Costa Rica. More specifically, behaviour economics, and institutional economics is combined with quality management and product development techniques. This book is also important because it uses an innovative gaming simulation for research and not only for training. The game develops a standard supply chain for a perishable product, which is used for simulating the bargaining power and revenue distribution of the agents in the chain and the governance structure preferred for doing business. This game simulation is played by the real producers in the field. Other important topics covered are quality management and quality variability. Studying quality management (intrinsic and extrinsic attributes) in relation to the farm household characteristics, production system and agreements, enables us to define some economic incentives to improve the quality of the produce. Studying the variability of the produce helps us understand and describe how the different management practices throughout the chain affects the quality of the produce. This relates to the market outlet choice the producers make and the strategic behaviour they have. This book is of interest for professionals and practitioners involved in the design, management and assessment of national and international supply chains for perishable produce."

"This book discusses the links between land access, property rights, and economic development, analyzing the results and limitations of a public intervention- Land Titling and Registration- that constitutes one of the main instruments for contemporary land policy in Peru. It attempts to provide a comprehensive analysis and discussion of the importance of institutions, like land property rights, in the context of market liberalization reforms. In operational terms, this means verifying whether land titling constitutes a necessary and/or sufficient condition to promote investments and increase land values. This book reveals that titling and registration can be considered as a necessary condition to improve investment opportunities when its implementation procedure is based on the recognition of previous informal land rights and community networks, because its effect on the reduction of transaction costs at a regional level improves the dynamics of land markets and facilitates the entrance of formal financial institutions. A decentralized program is more likely to understand and correctly assess local conditions, as well as to concentrate its work on poorer farmers confronting stronger limitations to acquire tenure security by other means. Targeting must be applied also at the regional level, identifying less-developed areas that can benefit from the externality effects provided by increased levels of titling density. The presence of other limitations that constrain the participation of small farmers in the formal credit market, and the inability of titling to solve them by itself, makes it difficult to consider this policy as a sufficient condition to improve the livelihood of poorer farmers. Complementary policies that provide small farmers with the opportunity to increase their land-holdings, as well as the possibility to acquire insurance against negative shocks, need urgent implementation."

"Because of the growing societal concerns regarding industrial environmental pollution, it is essential to get a deeper understanding of the factors influencing firms to reduce their environmental impact. This book considers these concerns by evaluating the importance of these factors in reference to environmental management in the Dutch food and beverage industry. It develops an integrated research framework building on the inside-out and outside-in perspectives on environmental management. Empirical data were gathered in 2002 and 2005. This book provides interesting insights into the developments in this period showing that the impact of the business environment has extended from the traditionally important stakeholders, such as government and societal groups, to include commercial chain and network actors as well, including buyers and suppliers, but also bank and insurance firms. Furthermore, the analyses demonstrate that public-private voluntary agreements can be an effective policy instrument. Firms with a proactive business strategy appear to pay more attention to environmentally friendly product (re)design, which is crucial to reduce environmental impact from a cradle-to-cradle perspective. This book is of interest to environmental and general management in firms that want to reach environmental excellence. Policy implications are drawn for environmental policy-makers, environmental agencies and environmental interest groups that aim for stimulating firms to clean up."

"The role of producer organizations in market chains has received increasing attention in recent years, both from governments and donors. In order to lower transaction costs, markets demand that smallholder farmers operate in an organized manner. However, though the policy openings for support seem promising, smallholder market access through farmer-led economic organisations is not easy. This book presents various approaches to support producer organisations in terms of providing economic services to their members, with a focus on developing countries. Markets are increasingly fragmented in value chains that link farmers with specific processors, retailers and consumer segments. Several contributions in this book analyse these dynamics in specific value chains, such as the fair trade and organic agriculture and their potential to provide market outlets for smallholder farmers. This book is the result of a Dutch partnership between policy makers, researchers and practitioners designed to confront ideas with realities. Organized in a platform called Agri-ProFocus, members aim to provide more and better support to producer organisations in the South. Through so-called expert meetings, staff from donor organisations and knowledge centres, government officials, and business representatives, share their experiences and lessons learned. The experiences presented in this book are not recipes for instant success, but instead, highlight that support processes are often more fragile and slower moving than policy makers realise. This book is essential reading for scholars, practitioners and researchers interested in supporting and facilitating trajectories of change led by producer organisations in developing countries."

"Multinational enterprises often seem to be on a 'roller coaster' when managing their operations in transition economies, especially because of the volatile business and political environment. By combining agency and stewardship theory, this book describes the subtle equilibrium between formal control and day-to-day coordination in the Headquarters-Subsidiary (HQ-S) governance relationship. Using the Polish situation as an example, it places HQ-S governance in the context of a transitional economy while taking the cultural differences between the headquarters and subsidiary country into account. This explorative empirical study shows that the use of strategic and operational control mechanisms work as a transparent 'platform' on which coordination and attuning mechanisms can be build to deal with the day-to-day management challenges in a transition economy. Creating flexibility and learning capabilities at the subsidiary level, rather than maintaining a subsidiary in a state of dependence can clearly contribute to the success of international operations. However, it also reveals that there is no simple and uniform recipe for managing subsidiaries. The road from governance to performance is not a one-way street and alternative routes are available to accelerate performance. This book is a valuable resource to all directors and managers of multinational enterprises, as well as academic researchers who concern themselves with the study of multinational enterprises in transition economies."

"This volume in the Mansholt series presents state of the art discussions on a wide variety of topics in the field of (agricultural) development. More than 20 chapters have been prepared by internationally known scholars and policy analysts, providing a concise overview of a variety of recent debates in development economics. While the background of most contributors is in economic science, the chapters are prepared so that they feed into ongoing policy discussions and are accessible to a wide readership. The contributions in this volume are organized around five themes: prospects for rural poverty alleviation, sustainable management of natural resources, strategies for enhancing food security, markets and the role of the state, and institutions and governance. It is obvious there are many links between these themes, and indeed the integration between them is emphasized in various chapters. This book is prepared as a festschrift or Liber Amicorum for professor Arie Kuyvenhoven. His retirement from the Development Economics Group at Wageningen University, The Netherlands is a good opportunity to take stock of recent developments in the area of agricultural development economics. Therefore, in addition to being a valuable source of information for readers with an interest in development, this volume is also intended as a farewell gift: to Arie, from friends and colleagues."

"Sustainability has become an issue widely debated in many countries. Given the central role of food supply and the emotional relationship that modern mankind still has to its food, sustainability is seen as a value which has to be maintained throughout food supply chains. The complexity of modern food systems invokes a variety of ethical implications which emerge from contrasts between ideals, perceptions and the conditions of technical processes within food systems, and the concerns connected to this. This book covers a broad range of aspects within the general issue of sustainable food production and ethics. Linking different academic disciplines, topics range from reflections about the roots of sustainability and the development of concepts and approaches to globalisation and resilience of food systems as well as specific ethical aspects of organic farming and animal welfare. Modern technologies which are intensely advocated by certain stakeholder groups and their societal challenges are addressed, as are many other specific cases of food production and processing, consumer perception and marketing."

"Globally, dairy and meat production has become an extremely competitive industry. The world milk production is predicted to grow significantly by 2020 with the emergence of new consumers in developing countries. Yet, there is still intense competition for the industry to attract and retain consumers in the more established markets. Consumers continue to demand safe, high quality milk and meat products at competitive prices compared to other high protein food alternatives. To ensure the sustainability of both dairy and beef industries, producers must endeavour to seek new technologies to improve production efficiency whilst lowering the cost of production to produce a quality product. This edited collection of papers is taken from a seminar that brought together some of the world's leading authorities in the field of ruminant nutrition and production. The fundamental theme is to re-examine the current trends in productivity within the dairy and beef industries, and to identify nutritional and managerial means to improve competitiveness. The papers also consider the importance of animal health together with novel strategies for disease control. 'Gaining the edge in ruminant production: Nutritional strategies for optimal productivity and efficiency' is aimed at nutritionists, veterinarians and animal producers as well as students and researchers studying animal and applied biological sciences"

"Increasing bio-fuel production in the future will have a major impact on the feed industry. Not only will the competition for food, fuel and feed decrease the availability of feedstuffs for animal production but, also new feedstuffs will become available for which the nutritional quality needs to be reviewed. The nutritional value and usability of the by-products as feedstuffs will be the main focus of the book. In particular, rapeseed meal and glycerine from biodiesel production and DDGS from bioethanol production are discussed. For each product comprehensive research data summarising the variation in quality and production systems, the energy and protein value for each animal category and the effects on animal production are presented. Additionally, this book gives an overview of the current and future developments of the emerging bioenergy production. Broad topics which are addressed are: the global potential for bioenergy production, the enormous increase in bioethanol production in the U.S. against the backdrop of a developing bioethanol production in the EU and the future effects on supply and demand of the grain and feedstuff market. This book will update nutritionists, researchers, traders and those working in the allied industry on the current 'state of knowledge' of the usability of the different by products from biofuel production in specific animal feeds."

"This comprehensive book is the result of the Potato Russia international conference that took place in August 2007 in Moscow. It begins with a series of papers that give an excellent overview of consumer behaviour and marketing with examples from various countries in the world. The quality of processing and ware potato and methods of quantifying it, is addressed by papers that highlight its need and reveal new approaches and techniques. The newest developments in technology, mechanization and storage are highlighted in papers from eastern and western Europe. The importance and benefits of having adequately functioning seed potato systems with up to date rapid multiplication systems is shown in chapters from various countries with a special contribution on the commercial quality standards of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). Developments of recent agronomic and crop management practices are illustrated with examples of countries in technological and market transition. Innovations in crop protection put special emphasis on diagnostics and detection of resistance levels, among others, against wart. The extensive Russian breeding programmes - with value for the global potato community are highlighted in the breeding section with additional papers from Japan and the Netherlands. The book ends with a series of papers on molecular aspects of innovative breeding. This book is of wide and ongoing interest to stakeholders around the world who are interested in all aspects of the rapidly evolving potato supply chains such as potato producers, breeding, chemical and machinery companies and potato specialists of all disciplines."

"Using social, organisational and economic theories, this book develops an integrated research framework to demonstrate the effects of Chinese traditional guanxi networks on modern business relationships and market performance. It also compares the effects of guanxi networks between upstream and downstream partnerships and between traditional and high-value market outlets. It is recognised that quality and safety issues are the major constraints for Chinese vegetables entering into international markets. Primary producers face several bottlenecks such as small production scales, lack of market information and low negotiation power which leads to their exclusion by high-value market outlets such as supermarkets and international markets. Processing and exporting companies, on the other hand, experience instable delivery and inconsistent quality supply. As a result, they remain low-cost exporters in a low-quality segment of international markets. Different solutions for small-scale vegetable farmers, processing companies, exporting companies, and supermarkets in optimising their business performance are also covered. This book is of interest to professionals and practitioners involved in the design, management and assessment of national and international supply chains for perishable products in particular in transition economies."

"The content of this book arises from the Equine NUtrition COnference - Practice (ENUCO) 2007. The purpose of the conference is to supply scientifically validated practical hints and state of the art knowledge on equine nutrition and training. The topics dealt with in this publication are: - News on equine nutrition, training and medicine (2005-06). - Noteworthy changes to the Horse Nutrition Requirements by the National Research Council of USA. - Relevance and standardization of the terms Glycaemic Index and Glycaemic Response. - The role of nutrition in colic. - The use of herbs in the management of hyperadrenocorticism and other hormonal diseases of horses. - Diagnosis and management of insulin resistance and equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) in horses. - Food-allergy in horses."

This publication explores how the international Nile perch fish chain should or can be organised to improve both welfare of local communities, sustainability of the fisheries and quality of the fish. Primary producers face a number of bottlenecks such as poor access to production facilities, ineffective enforcement of sustainable practices, lack of market (price) information, competition with international markets and degradation of the fisheries that lead to increasing food insecurity problems. In order to improve sustainability and quality, primary producers are open to contracts that enable them better access to production facilities and price information, and also to better integrate them into international channels. Sustainable practices can or should be part of these contracts. Although the downstream channel members and other stakeholders were not fully aware of the complexity and gravity of the upstream problems, they appeared to be willing to help to improve the situation at Lake Victoria. It is therefore a corporate social responsibility for the downstream channel members, as well as nature conservation organizations and the donor community, to empower the primary producers and local communities in developing countries to implement welfare, sustainability and quality-enhancing practices. This publication outlines several mechanisms to achieves these goals.

"Religion is high on the agenda of international politics today. Though there has been a retreat from religion in Europe, the international debate on the meaning and relevance of religion has intensified after the Iranian revolution and has gained new strength with the recent terror attacks, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the proliferation of intrastate conflict, and the process of European integration. The issues of secularism and its relationship to democracy, globalization and foreign policy are explored in this book. It is most relevant for politicians, policymakers, academic researchers, non-governmental organisations, peace and development practitioners, as well as the media. The book deals with the practical and policy-related consequences of the debate for development organisations and their views on poverty, religion and conflict. The Society for International Development (SID) has brought together eminent international writers and leading authorities in the field of religion, coming from different backgrounds and regions. Among the contributors are Peter Berger, Leonardo Boff, Abdullahi An-Na'im, Riffat Hassan, Thomas Pogge, Scott M. Thomas and Jonathan Fox."

"The genetic diversity comprised in farm animal species and breeds is an important resource in livestock systems. For several reasons, within the different species used for food production, only a few breeds are developed towards high-output breeds fitting in high-input systems. In this process many breeds are set aside from the food producing livestock systems. These breeds will be faced with extinction unless new functions for these breeds are found. This is a real threat for the genetic diversity within species. This book is intended to give insight into the issues of the utilisation and conservation of farm animal genetic resources towards a broad group of readers interested in these subjects. The insight is presented as applications of population, molecular and quantitative genetics that can be used to take appropriate decisions in utilisation and conservation programmes. A previous edition of this book is a key resource in courses worldwide and cited in many scientific publications. The first two chapters discuss the decisions to be made in utilisation and conservation. Chapter 3 surveys the different ways in which the diversity we observe within a species can be characterised. Chapter 4 illustrates recent results using this theory for utilisation and conservation purposes. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 give theoretical backgrounds necessary to make decisions and chapters 8 and 9 present the operation and practical implications of selection and conservation schemes."

"This comprehensive volume - containing 27 chapters and contributions from six continents - presents and discusses key principles, perspectives, and practices of social learning in the context of sustainability. Social learning is explored from a range of fields challenged by sustainability including: organizational learning, environmental management and corporate social responsibility; multi-stakeholder governance; education, learning and educational psychology; multiple land-use and integrated rural development; and consumerism and critical consumer education. An entire section of the book is devoted to a number of reflective case studies of people, organizations and communities using forms of social learning in moving towards sustainability. 'This book brings together a range of ideas, stories, and discussions about purposeful learning in communities aimed at creating a world that is more sustainable than the one currently in prospect. ...The book is designed to expand the network of conversations through which our society can confront various perspectives, discover emerging patterns, and apply learning to a variety of emotional and social contexts.' From the Foreword by Fritjof Capra, co-founder of the Center of Ecoliteracy. 'Joining what is so clear and refreshing in this book with the larger movements toward a critically democratic and activist education that is worthy of its name, is but one step in the struggle for sustainability. But it is an essential step if we are to use the insights that are included in this book.' From the Afterword by Michael Apple, author of 'Educating the ""Right"" Way: Markets, Standards, God, and Inequality'."

"In The Netherlands an intense growth in animal husbandry has taken place during the past decades. This growth induced major shifts in the national nitrogen and ammonia balance, with feedstuff being imported from abroad and animal waste being used in excess in Dutch agricultural areas. Growing environmental responsibility, which was triggered by scientific observations on field-scale early-on, resulted in putting animal waste and ammonia on the political agenda. Governmental regulations were put in effect and research programs were set-up to develop techniques to measure and reduce ammonia emissions based on a scientific approach. Meanwhile, an inventory was made of the size of the animal waste problem. Additionally, the impacts on the environment were studied, as well as technical solutions to minimize the animal waste production were developed. This book aims to provide a full overview of all ammonia emission related aspects of animal husbandry in the Netherlands. Besides the background information as described above, it includes a technical and practical inventory of emission sources from cattle, pig, and poultry housings, followed by a listing of government approved housing systems and manure application techniques that have been measured according to standard protocols to quantify the on-farm decrease of ammonia emissions. For both traditional and low emission systems a list of emission factors is included. By presenting common practices in the Netherlands, this book also informs other EU countries about our ongoing insights regarding Dutch regulations, measurement protocols, abatement techniques and interpretation of measured farm-scale data to national emission values. In this way it will contribute to directing the development of livestock production throughout the EU member states towards a healthy and more sustainable future."

"Precision livestock farming '07 contains the latest scientific results from worldwide research, field studies and practical applications. The peer-reviewed papers were presented at the 3rd European Conference on Precision Livestock Farming. The major topics in this book are: - Feed quality management - Sensor technology in animal husbandry - Environmental effects of precision livestock farming - Automation in livestock farming - Implementation, education and training The wide range of research topics reported will be a valuable resource for researchers, advisors, teachers and professionals in agriculture long after the conference has finished. Peer-reviewed papers from the 6th European Conference on Precision Agriculture are presented in a companion publication, Precision agriculture '07."

"The Farmer Field School (FFS) originated in the 1980s in the context of integrated pest management in Indonesian rice farming. With the hope that it is the remedy for agricultural extension system, FFS has been promoted as a tool for participatory learning and experimentation all over the world. This work results from a critical analysis of the introduction of the FFS concept into the agricultural innovation system in Uganda. Ideally, an FFS produces new technical knowledge in the context of application through the input of local human resources. The analysis, framed as a technography, shows that implementation and operation of an FFS is hugely complex. This detailed study of institutional factors, from the level of international donor organizations down to the level of local leadership and gender relations, and analysis of technical factors in different rural areas of Uganda makes clear that and FFS is more than a local tool for farmer participation in agricultural improvement. Implementation of a FFS requires adjustment of the agricultural innovation system at all levels and an integrated tackling of agricultural problems in order to meet its objectives. Isubikalu shows that it is imperative to 'demolish' existing organizational structures and create new ones, which align scientific with local structures to produce an appropriate people-centered system that is more responsive to agricultural and rural development. She provides stepping stones in redesigning FFS to fit the specific conditions in Uganda."

"Livestock production systems will only be sustained in the long term if their products continue to meet the demand of consumers. The quality of ruminant carcasses, meat and meat products is of predominant importance in a competitive market where consumers tend to have a preconceived idea about the criteria that define meat quality such as flavour, tenderness, juiciness, smell, colour and texture. The carcass evaluation could be interesting as a precocious classification of the final quality of meat coming from each carcass. Today the quality characteristics of the meat must be different according to its utilisation (supermarket, butcher, catering, refectory, etc.) and so it is very important to choose very early the final destination of the carcass. Obviously, the carcass classification must correlate with meat quality characteristics required by final consumer. Other important factors that have to be taken into account in order to maintain a demand for ruminant meat are safety and traceability. This book reviews the historical and recent developments for carcass evaluation and grading for meat quality assessment in beef and sheep. It places special emphasis on new concepts and approaches to define carcass and meat quality and on the use of modern technologies for composition and quality evaluation. A range of technologies are presented such as ultrasounds and colour reflectance, X-ray computerised tomography, spectral and thermal imaging, image analysis and NIRS. The use of phenotypic markers such as the plasma hormones and genetic markers to predict carcass composition and meat quality are also presented."

"Dietary fibre is of interest to both science and industry, and yet despite growing awareness of its benefits to health and nutrition, intakes remain below the recommended level. Industry has responded by developing new applications, products and processes to help consumers increase their fibre intake in a convenient way. While regulations on health claims are being developed for example in the EU, some countries have allowed the use of health claims to help promote consumer awareness of the benefits of a higher fibre intake, and to inform consumers of good sources of fibre. At the same time science is developing the concept of dietary fibre. The mechanisms and actual components behind the physiological effects are of particular interest, and so are the analytical tools to measure these. The fate of dietary fibre in the gut, where certain fibre components are fermented and converted by microbes gains a great deal of attention. The role of molecular weight and viscosity of dietary fibre components in determining the health benefits are also discussed. This book is essential reading for all researchers and those who concern themselves with bioprocesses and food technology. 'Dietary fibre components and functions' covers the most up-to-date research available on dietary fibre and will be an indispensable tool for all scientists involved in research and development in this field."

South American camelids (Llamas, Alpacas, Vicuñas and Guanacos) are receiving increased interest not only in South America but also on a worldwide scale. They possess some unique features such as their fine fibre and healthy meat, and their high adaptivity to many climatic regions across the world. Apart from the important productive aspects, their physical attractiveness and friendly temperament also makes them popular as pet animals. There are still many gaps in the scientific literature with regard to South American camelids. In part, this gap can be diminished by this collection of papers which brings the experience of both European and South American researchers working together. The main themes considered in this book are the following: nutrition and feeding, meat production and the meat market, ecology, fibre production and the fibre market, animal breeding, animal health and pathology and socio-economical aspects. The particular advantages of South American camelids for the sustainable use of fragile ecosystems with native pastures are also outlined. 'South American camelids research' is aimed at scientists and animal breeders as well as students studying veterinary, animal and applied biological sciences. It can be of further reference to farmers and traders of fibre and meat products. Please note that most articles are written in Spanish.

Universities represent the highest level of education, yet they are notoriously slow in responding to a rapidly changing world. Deeply entrenched elitism and routines, a continued emphasis on reproductive learning, and the continued dominance of disciplinary thinking, have, in many instances, created bastions of educational conservatism, unable to contribute meaningfully to the development of people, businesses and communities within a finite global ecosystem. This book focuses on an African university's efforts to become more innovative and responsive to community needs and the challenges posed by sustainability. A central concept is innovation competence as a pre-requisite for transforming learning, research and consultancy. Making change in society requires innovation competences over and above disciplinary expertise and these competences have to be learnt by both staff and students. Kibwika not only shows that it is imperative that African universities re-orient their programmes to produce graduates capable of enhancing innovation and social change in the community, he also provides a number of solid stepping stones for capacity building and curriculum development that, in time, will result in an innovative university able to contribute to a world that is more sustainable than the one currently in prospect.

"This book discusses developments in the potato industry in a rapidly changing Europe. The European Union expanded recently with ten additional countries of which many are major potato producing countries. The papers in this book reflect societal and commercial changes such as consumer behaviour and marketing aspects in relation to fresh and processed potatoes in western, central and eastern Europe. Seed trade between western and central Europe is entering a new stage with altered inspection requirements, quarantine regulations and variety needs and acceptance. Resistance to diseases present in varieties in central and eastern Europe needs to be coupled to consumer and processor acceptance. Retailers and processors, Europe wide, lead the way at the global level to establish labels and certificates to assure food safety and sustainability. The technical part of the books treats improving the use of chemical fertilisers and crop protection agents increasingly aided by precision farming techniques. Modern molecular breeding techniques for improved resistance and quality are highlighted and their perspectives are shown for breeding programs Europe wide. The book concludes with developments in the potato supply chain, marketing and research and developments in a representative number of central European countries. It shows how each potato industry in transition deals with the socio-economic and environmental situation in varying degrees of development to adapt to a changing Europe."

"Throughout the last century, specialisation and intensification were buzz words for farmers in the Western world. However, this approach has not resulted in sustainable development as evidenced by the fact that scientists now need to create technologies to reduce negative impacts. In this book we demonstrate that an alternative exists. Case studies from Bangladesh, Thailand, and Vietnam show that integration and diversification increase both farm productivity and farmers' incomes. By adopting a participatory approach, farmers and scientists identified a range of technologies that strengthen the positive impacts of integrated aquaculture-agriculture systems for the environment. This book is a collection of refereed papers on a controversial subject in agricultural development. Arguing that sustainability of fish culture in ponds needs a new paradigm - feed the pond to grow fish - two chapters focus on nutrient cycling in such systems. Another chapter makes the case for breeding Nile tilapia for resource poor farmers and presents practical options to avoid the pitfalls that arise from natural tilapia mating in low-input ponds. The book contains chapters on livelihood and development aspects and ends with a general discussion completing the picture of the integrated aquaculture-agriculture systems. Overall it composes a review which addresses one of the key issues of the new century: how to sustainably produce food without compromising environmental integrity."

"This book contains over 300 offered papers in addition to 4 papers from invited speakers presented at the 52nd International Congress of Meat Science and Technology, held in Dublin, Ireland, from 13-18 August 2006. Under the theme of harnessing and exploiting global opportunities, areas covered in the congress included meat quality encompassing genomics and biotechnology, animal production and production systems, muscle biology and biochemistry; meat safety, meat processing and packaging technology, consumer topics and meat and health. A new approach this year was to address specific hot topics important to the industry and meat scientists, in particular, electrical stimulation and new instrumental methods for evaluation of meat quality characteristics. These proceedings reflect the truly global nature of meat research and give an insight into the current research issues for the industry."

This book contains selected peer-reviewed papers of the IUPAC (International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry) symposium 'Mycotoxins and phycotoxins'. These symposia are the principal international interdisciplinary conventions focusing on occurrence, advances in determination, toxicology and exposure management of these bio-contaminants. The chapters are organized in sections that include up to date overviews of current mycotoxin and phycotoxin issues. Advances in analytical techniques using rapid screening tools, high-sensitivity instrumental methods and their combinations, applied for single and multi-toxin determinations, are highlighted in a specific section of the book. Identification of requisite agronomic factors and pre-harvest forecasting for strategic intervention are part of a treatise on exposure management. Since the inception more than 30 years ago, this IUPAC symposia series has grown in scope, scientific novelty and value.

"Food has emerged as a political topic par excellence. It is increasingly involved in controversies at a transnational level, in relation to issues of access, dominance, trade and control in a shared global environment. At the same time, innovations in biotechnology and animal domestication have brought ethics to the forefront of food debates. Thus, we live in an era when the ethics and the politics of food must come together. This book addresses the ethics and the politics of food from a broad range of academic disciplines, including sociology, philosophy, nutrition, anthropology, ethics, political science and history. The chapters expose novel problem areas, and suggest guidelines for approaching them. Topics range from fundamental issues in philosophy to sustainability, from consumer trust in food to ethical toolkits. Transparency, power and responsibility are key concerns, and special attention is given to animal welfare, emerging technologies in food production and marine domestication. Together, the chapters represent a wide range of academic responses to the fundamental dilemmas posed by food production and food consumption in the contemporary world."

"Mycotoxins are poisonous chemical compounds produced by certain fungi. There are many such compounds, but only a few of them are regularly found in food and animal feedstuffs. Nevertheless, those that do occur in food and feed have great significance in the health of humans and livestock. The effects of some mycotoxins are acute, with symptoms of severe illness appearing very quickly. Other mycotoxins have longer term chronic or cumulative effects on health, including the induction of cancers and immune deficiency. Information about mycotoxins is far from complete, but enough is known to identify them as a serious problem in many parts of the world, causing significant economic losses in addition to their negative health effects. 'The mycotoxin factbook' is aimed at the latest developments to combat the mycotoxin problem. The book contains the peer-reviewed papers of the third conference of the World Mycotoxin Forum. The various chapters focus on mycotoxin food and feed risks in the context of human nutrition and animal feeding. Topics dealt with in 'The mycotoxin factbook' are: - Regulatory issues, international developments and the impact on worldtrade - The latest information on major mycotoxins and emerging problems in the food chain - The impact of mycotoxins in the feed chain - New developments in mycotoxin prevention - Trends in mycotoxin analysis 'The mycotoxin factbook' is a valuable resource for researchers and professionals from the food and feed industry as well as from the scientific community. This book is an ideal supplement to 'Meeting the mycotoxin menace' as published in 2004."

Changes in market organisation, climatic conditions and societal demands on food quality, animal welfare and environmental quality have created new conditions for farming families as well as for researchers and policy makers. New social, technical and economic solutions are needed for farming and rural areas. This book presents new perspectives for farms, farm products and rural areas, many of which were collectively developed by coalitions of farmers, farmer representatives, researchers, civilians and/or policy makers. Contributions are made from those involved in crop and animal production worldwide offering sections on natural resources management, development of sustainable rural systems, future perspectives for farming families, knowledge systems in transition and learning processes in multi-stakeholder processes. This unique collection of contributions, presenting insights from bio-physical as well as social sciences, shows where practice meets analysis and reflection and offers new perspectives for rural areas throughout the world.