Agriculture is one of the most important and possibly the oldest economic activity developed by humans and it is becoming increasingly dependent on development of technologies (Alexandre, 2009). Agriculture in Africa is a subsistent, low technology and low-performing one which requires reduced drudgery and increased commercialization. For crop production, farmlands are cleared using cutlass and...

Throughout the centuries, farmers have developed crop seeds from the rich genetic diversity of naturally occurring crop species. It is only since the early twentieth century that a commercial production of crop seeds has started to replace the hand labor of crop selection. The modern breeding activities as well as farmers’ participation will continue to change the production systems of all farm...

This appendix provides the detailed analysis of size economies and comparative advantage by area for crop production. A summary of this analysis was presented in chapter 8. The analysis was conducted at the University of Minnesota by Steve Cooke under the guidance of Burt Sundquist. Cooke’s manuscript “Size Economies and Comparative Advantage in the Production of Corn, Soybean, Wheat, Rice, and...

Drought is a major limiting factor in crop production. Rewatering is a process opposite to drought, allowing plants to recover to their normal physiological state. To understand more thoroughly the set of genes involved in plant response to drought, we comparatively and jointly analyzed the microarray data of drought and rewatering experiments in Arabidopsis. A total of 3833 differentially expr...

After a decade of transgenic crop production, the dynamics of gene introgression into wild relatives remain unclear. Taking an ecological genetics approach to investigating fitness in crop-wild hybrid zones, we uncovered both conditions and characteristics that may promote introgression. We compared diverse crop-wild hybrid genotypes relative to wild Helianthus annuus under one benign and three...

The use of modern crop varieties is a dominant method of obtaining high yields in crop production. Efforts to identify suitable varieties, with characteristics that would increase crop yield under future climate conditions, remain essential to developing sustainable agriculture and food security. This work aims to evaluate potential genotypic adaptations (i.e., using varieties with increased ab...

Substantial research has been done in Idaho and elsewhere on the chemistry and movement of agricultural P. Southern Idaho’s situation is unique, however, both because of the region’s calcareous soils and because the region’s dairy industry produces a large supply of manure that is used as a fertilizer in crop production. This publication summarizes the research relevant to southern Idaho and gi...

Precision farming, precision agriculture or site-specific management (SSM) is a management system where crop production practices and inputs such as seed, fertilizers and pesticides are variably applied within a field. Input rates are based on the needs for optimum production at each within-field location. Since over-application and under-application of agrochemicals are both minimized, this st...

BACKGROUND As the global human population grows and its consumption patterns change, additional land will be needed for living space and agricultural production. A critical question facing global society is how to meet growing human demands for living space, food, fuel, and other materials while sustaining ecosystem services and biodiversity [1]. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We spatially al...

Subsurface drainage is a beneficial water management practice in poorly drained soils but may also contribute substantial nitrate N loads to surface waters. This paper summarizes results from a 15-yr drainage study in Indiana that includes three drain spacings (5, 10, and 20 m) managed for 10 yr with chisel tillage in monoculture corn (Zea mays L.) and currently managed under a no-till corn-soy...