In 2006 President Morales made a radical break with the US-backed antidrug strategy, which focused on the forced eradication of coca leaf and the criminalization of coca growers. The new policy, often referred to as ‘coca yes cocaine no,’ draws on the coca growers’ own distinction between coca leaf (which has been consumed by Indigenous Andeans for millennia) and cocaine, the illicit drug. The ...

Spatial properties of field soils vary in a complex manner. Especially in arid and semiarid areas, this variability affects plant quality and crop production. An experimental field plot was extensively sampled regarding soil water (378 gravimetrical samples), soil chemical content (314 samples), and crop yield and chemical content (26 samples) at the Cherfech agricultural field research station...

With greater acreages being planted to transgenic crops, the exposure of non-target species to bioengineered material is increasing. Although the slug, Deroceras reticulatum (Müller), is a major agricultural pest throughout the world, Bacillus thuringiensis crops were not intended to target these species. Molluscs are readily consumed by many generalist predators; if these Cry1Ab-endotoxins are...

Abstract AC303,630 (chlorfenapyr), a member of a new class of compound known as the pyrroles, is a broad spectrum insecticide/acaricide on many economically importance crops. AC303,630 is highly active by ingestion, posesses contact activity and provides moderate residual activity on plants. Extensive field study in many Asian countries has shown AC303,630 to be highly effective on many economi...

The negative health effects of repeated dust exposure have been well documented. In California's San Joaquin Valley, agricultural operations may contribute substantially to airborne particulates. We evaluated four management systems to assess impacts on dust production and soil properties for a cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)-tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) rotation: standard tillage with...

Direct grazing of winter forage crops to feed non-lactating, pregnant dairy cows prior to calving is a common management practice in the New Zealand South Island. However, the high crop yields per hectare grazed, combined with a high stocking density of cows, means this potentially leads to large amounts of urinary nitrogen (N) deposited on bare, wet soil, that in turn, could lead to high nitra...

Crop yield is influenced over time and space, namely, by a wide range of variables linked with crop genetics, agronomic management practices and the environment under which the crop dynamically responds to maximize growth potential and survival. Such variability can pose substantial uncertainty and risks in the use of agricultural sustainability decision-making frameworks that include crop yiel...

This paper provides an overview of existing literature on the ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation effects on field crops. Earlier reviews on field crop responses to UV-B considered few physiological processes or crops. For this review, we easily located about 129 studies on 35 crop species published since 1975. Here, we report the effects of UV-B radiation on visual symptoms, leaf ultrastructure and...

PREMISE OF THE STUDY Archaeological and genetic analyses of seed-propagated annual crops have greatly advanced our understanding of plant domestication and evolution. Comparatively little is known about perennial plant domestication, a relevant topic for understanding how genes and genomes evolve in long-lived species, and how perennials respond to selection pressures operating on a relatively ...