Sustainability in Agriculture: Issues in Environmental Science and Technology

World trade in agriculture, with its massive subsidies, restrictive barriers, international collaboration and competition, and the livelihoods of millions of farmers worldwide at stake, is an emotive subject that often provokes heated debate. So how can sustainability in agriculture be addressed whilst taking these issues into account? Sustainability in Agriculture presents an authoritative and balanced overview of many of the key factors that impact upon world agricultural practices. The aim is to throw light on the subject and so generate informed and rational discussion of the topics which so often generate powerful emotions. The contributions from experts from around the globe cover: Free trade, Fair and unfair trade, GM crops, The use of pesticides, Change in land use and sustainable development and the Economic consequences of recent changes in the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union The timeliness of this book, discussing as it does many hotly debated issues, make it essential reading for all those having an interest in the future of agriculture worldwide, but especially farmers and students of farming, environmental scientists, government agencies and policy makers.

About the Editors

Ronald E. Hester, BSc, DSc(London), PhD(Cornell), FRSC, CChem Ronald E. Hester is now Emeritus Professor of Chemistry in the University of York. He was for short periods a research fellow in Cambridge and an assistant professor at Cornell before being appointed to a lectureship in chemistry in York in 1965. He was a full professor in York from 1983 to 2001. His more than 300 publications are mainly in the area of vibrational spectroscopy, latterly focusing on time-resolved studies of photoreaction intermediates and on bio-molecular systems in solution. He is active in environmental chemistry and is a founder member and former chairman of the Environment Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry and editor of Industry and the Environment in Perspective (RSC, 1983) and Understanding Our Environment(RSC, 1986). As a member of the Council of the UK Science and Engineering Research Council and several of its subcommittees, panels and boards, he has been heavily involved in national science policy and administration. He was, from 1991 to 1993, a member of the UK Department of the Environment Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances and from 1995 to 2000 was a member of the Publications and Information Board of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Roy M. Harrison, BSc, PhD, DSc(Birmingham), FRSC, CChem, FRMetS, Hon MFPH, Hon FFOM Roy M. Harrison is Queen Elizabeth II Birmingham Centenary Professor of Environmental Health in the University of Birmingham. He was previously Lecturer in Environmental Sciences at the University of Lancaster and Reader and Director of the Institute of Aerosol Science at the University of Essex. His more than 300 publications are mainly in the field of environmental chemistry, although his current work includes studies of human health impacts of atmospheric pollutants as well as research into the chemistry of pollution phenomena. He is a past Chairman of the Environment Group of the Royal Society of Chemistry for whom he has edited Pollution: Causes, Effects and Control (RSC, 1983; Fourth Edition, 2001) and Understanding our Environment: An Introduction to Environmental Chemistry and Pollution (RSC, Third Edition, 1999). He has a close interest in scientific and policy aspects of air pollution, having been Chairman of the Department of Environment Quality of Urban Air Review Group and the DETR Atmospheric Particles Expert Group as well as a member of the Department of Health Committee on the Medical Effects of Air Pollutants. He is currently a member of the DEFRA Air Quality Expert Group, the DEFRA Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances and the DEFRA Expert Panel on Air Quality Standards.