Horton, Alderman and Rivera (in press) address the challenge of hunger and malnutrition, as done earlier by Behrman, Alderman and Hoddinott (2004) for the 2004 Copenhagen consensus. Horton, Alderman and Rivera (in press) state their work “builds on and updates” the earlier work. There are differences in approach between these two analyses. Four opportunities are proposed by Behrman, Alderman an...

The article analyses the Spanish experience of EU compensatory rural policy in order to contribute to broader debates on the effectiveness of this kind of policy and the role of agriculture in the definition of European rural policies. In the case of Spain, compensatory allowances to mainly mountain farmers had little effect on economic trajectories or social cohesion because of the small sums ...

Despite weeds are a serious threat to promotion of organic farming, relatively less attention is given to research on weed management. This article explores a scope of integration of conservation agriculture for weed control and soil protection under organic farming. Limitation in the use of agro-chemicals under OF promotes intensive tillage for weed control. Mostly, tillage leads to depletion ...

Antimicrobial drugs are frequently fed to hogs at sub-therapeutic levels to promote feed efficiency and growth. However, in response to concerns that sub-therapeutic antibiotics (STAs) are promoting the development of antimicrobial drug-resistant bacteria, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently adopted a strategy to phase out antibiotics for such “production uses.” This study uses a sto...

Alternatives to antibiotics are urgently needed in animal agriculture. The form these alternatives should take presents a complex problem due to the various uses of antibiotics in animal agriculture, including disease treatment, disease prevention, and growth promotion, and to the relative contribution of these uses to the antibiotic resistance problem. Numerous antibiotic alternatives, such as...

Dominance of chemical agriculture from last few decades has deteriorated the soil health and created problem of disposal of agricultural waste in rural areas. It is important to maintain environmental and agricultural sustainability without reducing productivity. Vermiculture technology has been considered as a sound and viable option to regenerate the soil health through recycling the agricult...

An increasing number of health-conscious consumers are seeking natural, unprocessed foods, including fresh, locally grown produce, eggs, poultry, and meats. Concomitant with this consumer interest, the US Department of Agriculture created Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food and the Farmers Market Promotion Program [1, 2]. These governmental programs seek to improve nutritional choices made by Amer...

Use of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) for the benefits of agriculture is gaining worldwide importance and acceptance and appears to be the trend for the future. PGPR are bioresources which may be viewed as a novel and potential tool for providing substantial benefits to the agriculture. These beneficial, free-living bacteria enhance emergence, colonize roots, stimulate growth and e...