Yet each in itself – this was the uncanny, the antiorganic, the life-denying character of them all – each of them was absolutely symmetrical, icily regular in form. They were too regular, as substance adapted to life never was to this degree – the living principle shuddered at this perfect precision, found it deathly, the very marrow of death – Hans Castorp felt he understood now the reason why...

The paper includes: (i) a descriptive account of what has actually happened in the Baltic States in regard to agricultural sector reforms; (ii) an analysis of the institutions, policies, laws and regulations underlying the process of privatizing farming and land ownership; (iii) the interaction of these factors and their agricultural policy implications; and (iv) the influence of interest group...

Many farmers are interested in finding ways of controlling odour on their farms. Reducing odour associated with hog farming will be instrumental to the success of our industry. Ontario Pork and other organizations worldwide are searching for ways to reduce odour. Sorting through the enormous amount of information is quite daunting. Ontario Pork and others in the red meat sector in collaboration...

Water management is a major concern across the world. From northern China to the Middle East to Africa to the United States, growing populations can stress local water resources as they demand more water for both direct consumption and agriculture. Irrigation based agriculture draws especially heavily on these resources and usually cannot survive without them; however, irrigation systems must b...

Pulses are major sources of proteins among the vegetarians in India, and complement the staple cereals in the diets with proteins, essential amino acids, vitamins and minerals. They contain 22-24% protein, which is almost twice the protein in wheat and thrice that of rice. Pulses provide significant nutritional and health benefits, and are known to reduce several non-communicable diseases such ...

Cropping systems like organic farming, selling products at a higher price and promoting environmental sustainability by reducing fertilizer and pesticides, can be more profitable than conventional systems. An economic evaluation of three cropping systems in a seven year period experiment was performed, using a common rotation (fallow-barley-vetch-durum wheat) in a semi-arid rainfed field of Spa...

Based on a survey of 897 farming households in Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, our results show that while farming households had high demands for capital, 47.7% have experienced having their application for a Rural Credit Cooperative (RCC) loan denied because of their low income. Agricultural production and income are significantly influenced by weather risks, and agricultural income accounts for...

One issue of great concern to many researchers is the rapidly vanishing biodiversity in the face of intensive agricultural methods. Organic techniques offer an alternative, but evidence of their effects has often been based on studies that were poorly designed, limited in scope in terms of the species examined, or local in scale. Meta-analysis of published studies differing in methodology and s...