Product Description

Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the poorest regions of the world. Because most Africans work in agriculture, escaping such dire poverty depends on increased agricultural productivity to raise rural incomes, lower food prices, and stimulate growth in other economic sectors. Per capita agricultural production in sub-Saharan Africa has fallen, however, for much of the past half-century.

Successes in African Agriculture investigates how to reverse this decline. Instead of cataloging failures, as many past studies have done, this book identifies episodes of successful agricultural growth in Africa and identifies processes, practices, and policies for accelerated growth in the future. The individual studies follow developments in, among other areas, the farming of maize in East and Southern Africa, cassava across the middle belt of Africa, cotton in West Africa, horticulture in Kenya, and dairying in East Africa.

Drawing on these case studies and on consultations with agricultural specialists and politicians from across sub-Saharan Africa -- undertaken in collaboration with the African Union's New Partnership for Africa's Development -- the contributors identify two key determinants of positive agricultural performance: agricultural research to provide more productive and sustainable technologies to farmers and a policy framework that fosters market incentives for increasing production. The contributors discuss how the public and private sectors can best coordinate the convergence of both factors.

Given current concerns about global food security, this book provides timely and important resources to policymakers and development specialists concerned with reversing the negative trends in food insecurity and poverty in Africa.

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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In the tradition of Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs, and Steel, this gives the very early history of how human ingenuity overcame the risk of famine through productive agriculture.Starting with a layman's guide to the chemistry of nitrogen fixation, the book goes on to show how humans emerged from nomadic lifestyles and began developing towns and settlements.When they for the first time began planting the same fields year after year, they noticed quickly the need to ensure soil fertility.But how?The method they came up with is stillin use to this day. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An important subject
This is an iconoclastic telling of the story of what we knew about nitrogen and when we knew it. The author tells the story of the development of the undrestanding of plant nutrition in farming, starting as far back as possible and traveling up to the modern industry of making fertilizer and explosives.
The information is entertainingly presented, but the authors quirks of presentation sometime overcome the information. Important for anyone who wants to understand the development of agriculture in history. ... Read more

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Fatal Harvest takes an unprecedented look at our current ecologically destructive agricultural system and offers a compelling vision for an organic and environmentally safer way of producing the food we eat. It includes more than 250 profound and startling photographs and gathers together more than 40 essays by leading ecological thinkers including Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson, David Ehrenfeld, Helena Norberg-Hodge, Vandana Shiva, and Gary Nabhan. Its scope and photo-driven approach provide a unique and invaluable antidote to the efforts by agribusiness to obscure and disconnect us from the truth about industrialized foods.

The book's many photographs and essays offer graphic testimony to the tragic consequences of how our food is produced. Readers will come to see that industrial food production is indeed a "fatal harvest" - fatal to consumers, as pesticide residues and new disease vectors such as E. coli and "mad cow disease" find their way into our food supply; fatal to our landscapes, as chemical runoff from factory farms poison our rivers and groundwater; fatal to genetic diversity, as farmers rely increasingly on high-yield monocultures and genetically engineered crops; and fatal to our farm communities, which are wiped out by huge corporate farms.

As it exposes the ecological and social impacts of industrial agriculture's fatal harvest, the book also details a new ecological and humane vision for agriculture. It shows how millions of people are engaged in the new politics of food as they work to develop a better alternative to the current chemically fed and biotechnology-driven system. Designed to aid the movement to reform industrial agriculture, Fatal Harvest will inform and influence the activists, farmers, policymakers, and consumers who are seeking a safer and more sustainable food future. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Don't Confuse This Book with "The Fatal Harvest Reader"
This review is for "Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture" a huge book which is NOT "The Fatal Harvest Reader."

Square trade paperback, released with matte dustjacket with French flaps, 384 pp, 5.25 pounds. Color illustrations throughout.

Fatal Harvest
This is a very interesting book with excellent illustrations.However there is a very similiar book titled "Fatal Harvest Reader", which is not the same.Both have the same picture on the cover, the suttle difference is in the word "Reader".When ordering or considering either book, make sure which one you are actually ordering.The Fatal Harvest Reader does not have any photographs.

Kimbrell has done an amazing job
This book is beyond a book. It is like a movie on pages. The visuals are that powerful.
What is revealed in these pages is a secret that must be exposed. Andrew Kimbrell has done a wonderful job here. His work is pioneering a new awareness for the entire world.

Every person in America should read this book.
Like other reviewers, I was unable to put this book down once I opened it.Although I understood in sort of a theoretical way that corporate agriculture was not a good thing, the pictures in this book connected all the dots for me.There is something about the photography that is simply transfixing - which seems odd given that the photos are of agriculture - but true nevertheless.

After reading this book I could not bring myself to buy any more non-organic produce, so be forewarned - this is not a "coffee table book" in any ordinary sense.It should come with a warning label.

Buy one for yourself and one to share...
After reading this book, your views about agriculture will be forever altered.Presented in a high quality, high impact format, the photography offers the reader the chance to see the stark contrast between the products generated by 'power farmers' and that of the 'small farmer' - the true agrarian.Upon opening the book for the very first time, you will be completely engaged; you will be unable to put the book down until you have rummaged through all of the pages.The images will be etched on your brain with a subtle permanence and the accompanying text is just as powerful.

... Read more

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World Agriculture and the Environment presents a unique assessment of agricultural commodity production and the environmental problems it causes, along with prescriptions for increasing efficiency and reducing damage to natural systems. Drawing on his extensive travel and research in agricultural regions around the world, and employing statistics from a range of authoritative sources including the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization,the author examines twenty of the world?s major crops, including beef, coffee, corn, rice, rubber, shrimp, sorghum, tea, and tobacco. For each crop, he offers comparative information including:

? a ?fast facts? overview section that summarizes key data for the crop
? main producing and consuming countries
? main types of production
? market trend information and market chain analyses
? major environmental impacts
? management strategies and best practices
? key contacts and references

Customer Reviews (3)

Qualification
How is someone who works for the World Wildlife Fund qualified to write a book and explain the global agriculture industry?

Quick review
World Agriculture and Environment in my opinion is a very interestig book, in which you can find, besides the basic information of agricultural production, techniques that help to reduce damage to natural systems, and also this book gives important evaluations of modern agriculture and its failure.

Superb reference
This is a superb and unique reference.It provides an incredible amount of detail on crops that enter world trade, and their impact on the environment.
The very best thing about this book is that it is not strident and does not blatantly advocate a particular political agenda.It is written in a scientific, objective tone that makes it far more convincing than the rhetorical works.Only when he comes to tobacco (a crop that ruins the environment AND then ruins the consumers) does he use a few value-laden words!
The reader is struck by what a mess the world is in, and how easily we could fix a lot of that.The book provides enormous detail on soil erosion, chemical use, biodiversity reduction, and the rest of our woes, but it presents equal detail on how to prevent those problems.Only a few crops (notably cotton, salmon, chocolate) would be hard to manage well.
Two social themes stand out:first, the very rapid concentration of commodity trade in the hands of a very few firms; second, the degree to which governments subsidize production-at-any-cost as opposed to production-with-environmental-protection.(Subsidizing includes nonlegal subsidies, such as letting the rich get away with breaking environmental laws and dumping huge costs on poorer neighbors.)One cannot escape the conclusion that changing this subsidy structure would fix most of the damage, worldwide.
Environmentalists should think more about subsidies!
Meanwhile, what can a concerned reader do?The book tells how to seek out shade-grown coffee, responsibly raised beef and paper, and so on.It is much harder, at least in the US, to find decently-produced soybeans or corn or wheat, but you can do it.Cotton is a special problem, and the alternatives to it are mostly worse.The hemp advocates will be vocal!
We are in such a mess, and it would be so easy to do so much....This is not a time to lose hope or give up.By providing the big picture, this book should make every concerned citizen stop and think. The few errors I could spot in the book are trivial ones.
This is an absolute must-read and must-have for anyone who works on problems of production and environment or on problems of world food supply and health. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Ag policy would be funny if it were not so tragic
This book defines the terms "perverse incentives" and "unintended consequences."At virtually every turn, from subsidies and set-asides to tariffs and quotas, the authors show that U.S. agricultural policy is not only expensive and unproductive, but also economically damaging to farmers everywhere - domestic and foreign.

"Plowshares and Porkbarrels" is a must read for all who are concerned with the continued competitiveness of American industry, services, AND FARMING.

... Read more

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The Art of Agriculture is the first English edition of Obra de Agricultura by Gabriel Alonso de Herrera, an agriculture instruction manual originally written in Granada, Spain, in 1513 and published there in 1539. Herrera, widely considered the Father of Modern Spanish Agriculture, wrote this treatise nearly five centuries ago, thoughtfully recounting traditional farming techniques of the Moors before their expulsion from Spain, the Spanish colonizers in the early 1600s, and the rural Indo-Hispano bioregion spanning northern New Mexico and southern Colorado.

Customer Reviews (1)

Insights into traditional farming techniques of the Moors
It'd be tempting to place this survey under 'Home and Garden' for this review - but really, ANCIENT AGRICULTURE: ROOTS AND APPLICATION OF SUSTAINABLE FARMING deserves so much more. It'll reach an audience of farmers, gardeners, and history buffs with the first English translation of Obra de Agricultura, offering an early agricultural instruction manual originally written in Spain in 1513 - and holding importance for modern times. Here are insights into traditional farming techniques of the Moors before their expulsion from Spain: techniques which hold surprising relevance to modern farmers facing global warming and water shortages.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch ... Read more

Product Description
The development and business communities recently have experienced a tremendous resurgence of interest in promoting value chains development as a way to add value, lower transaction costs, diversify rural economies, and contribute to increasing rural household incomes. This Guide is designed for those who want to know more about value chain-based approaches and how to use them in ways that can contribute to sound operational decisions, improved market linkages, and results for enterprise and industry development.Using real examples, mostly from African countries, this book reviews and iillustrates a range of concepts, analytical tools, and methodologies centered on the value chain that can be used to design, implement, and evaluate agricultural and agribusiness development initiatives that strive to enhance productivity and competitiveness. ... Read more

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Roughly a billion people around the world continue to live in state of chronic hunger and food insecurity. Unfortunately, efforts to improve their livelihoods must now unfold in the context of a rapidly changing climate, in which warming temperatures and changing rainfall regimes could threaten the basic productivity of the agricultural systems on which most of the world’s poor directly depend. But whether climate change represents a minor impediment or an existential threat to development is an area of substantial controversy, with different conclusions wrought from different methodologies and based on different data.

This book aims to resolve some of the controversy by exploring and comparing the different methodologies and data that scientists use to understand climate’s effects on food security. In explains the nature of the climate threat, the ways in which crops and farmers might respond, and the potential role for public and private investment to help agriculture adapt to a warmer world. This broader understanding should prove useful to both scientists charged with quantifying climate threats, and policy-makers responsible for crucial decisions about how to respond. The book is especially suitable as a companion to an interdisciplinary undergraduate or graduate level class.

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American agriculture in the twentieth century has given the world one of its great success stories, a paradigm of productivity and plenty. Yet the story has its dark side, from the plight of the Okies in the 1930s to the farm crisis of the 1980s to today's concerns about low crop prices and the impact of biotechnology. Looking at U.S. farming over the past century, Bruce Gardner searches out explanations for both the remarkable progress and the persistent social problems that have marked the history of American agriculture.

Gardner documents both the economic difficulties that have confronted farmers and the technological and economic transformations that have lifted them from relative poverty to economic parity with the nonfarm population. He provides a detailed analysis of the causes of these trends, with emphasis on the role of government action. He reviews how commodity support programs, driven by interest-group politics, have spent hundreds of billions of dollars to little purpose. Nonetheless, Gardner concludes that by reconciling competing economic interests while fostering productivity growth and economic integration of the farm and nonfarm economies, the overall twentieth-century role of government in American agriculture is fairly viewed as a triumph of democracy.

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* Only reader of its kind in this field, edited by the world’s leading expert on sustainable agriculture
* Maps out the complex subject area of sustainable agriculture; introduces and explains key hard-to-find literature
* Highly accessible--the essential student reference text

Our agricultural and food systems are not meeting everyone’s needs, and despite great progress in increasing productivity over the past century, hundreds of millions of people remain hungry and malnourished. This book describes a different form of agriculture: one founded more on ecological principles and which is also more harmonious with people, their societies, and cultures. The latest in the Earthscan Reader Series, this volume brings together the most influential scholarship in the field, containing both theoretical developments and critical appraisals of evidence addressing what is not sustainable about current or past agricultural and food systems, as well as studies of transitions towards agricultural and rural sustainability at farm, community, regional, national, and international levels, and through food supply chains.
Related titles: Agri-Culture * The Living Land * Regenerating Agriculture (all by Jules Pretty) * The Pesticide Detox (edited by Jules Pretty) ... Read more

Product Description
This is a story of resistance against all odds, of Cuba's remarkable recovery from a food crisis brought on by the collapse of trade relations with the former socialist bloc and the tightening of the U.S. embargo. Unable to import either food or the farm chemicals and machines needed to grow it via conventional agriculture, Cuba turned inward toward self-reliance. Sustainable agriculture, organic farming, urban gardens, smaller farms, animal traction and biological pest control are part of the successful paradigm shift underway in the Cuban countryside. In this book Cuban authors offer details-for the first time in English-of these remarkable achievements, which may serve as guideposts toward healthier, more environmentally friendly and self-reliant farming in countries both North and South. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

An amazing story that inpsires hope for the world
As a practitioner of sustainable agriculture and organic farming (I am a farmer, teacher and researcher) I found this story of how Cuba used organic farming to beat all odds and overcome a food crisis to be awe inspiring.Every professor, teacher, researcher, analyst, student, thinking farmer and advocate of sustainable agriculture MUST read this book.It will restore your hope.So should everyone interested in Cuba, Latin America, and Third World development.I loved to read it in the cuban's own, well-translated words.

You can skip this one
Cuba has done an amazing job of switching over to organic, local food production. They did so to survive the assinine embargo of thier island, but in doing so they have shown the way for all of us to move to a sane mode of food production.You would want this book to be a delightful description of that process.You would be wrong.It is a leaden, tedious exercise in socialist writing with all the wit and charm of a phone book.Skip the book and just go to Cuba and see the results for yourself.Then come home and plant a garden. ... Read more

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“Sir John’s ability to comprehend complex concepts and distill these into money-making ideas for his investors was legendary. With this book, Scott Phillips extends Sir John Templeton’s crystal clear vision to some of tomorrow’s most interesting and powerful money-making opportunities. All readers should be prepared to learn–and profit!”

–Jeffrey Everett, Founding Partner, Everkey Global Partners

“The brilliant global investing strategy of Sir John Templeton finds new life in Scott Phillips’ Buying at the Point of Maximum Pessimism. With the U.S. in trouble, savvy international investing is a must, and this book shows you the best places to put your money for serious profits ahead.”

–Christopher Ruddy, CEO, Newsmax Media, Inc.

“In Buying at the Point of Maximum Pessimism, Scott Phillips delivers a road map to investment success traveled by the very few but guaranteed to lead you to enormous profits. The book offers a delightful, common sense approach to investing that unfortunately is not so common.”

–Robert P. Miles, author, The Warren Buffett CEO

"If you want to mitigate your risks while leveraging your long-term sources for growth, read every page of this book and invest accordingly. In ten or twenty years you will look back and be thankful you did.”  

–Theodore Roosevelt Malloch, Ph.D., Research Professor, Yale University and CEO, The Roosevelt Group

Value Investing for the 2010s! Earn Consistent Long-Term Profits in a Radically New Market Environment

Legendary value investor Sir John Templeton knew the secret of earning consistent profits: In times of maximum pessimism, recognize what your long-term opportunities are–and be ready to pounce. This book shows you where today’s long-term opportunities are, so you can earn outsized profits when the “herd” is running away in terror.

Lauren Templeton Capital Management’s Scott Phillips identifies six powerful value investing themes for the 2010s: areas of long-term growth that become even more compelling in volatile or bear markets. This is value investing for the 2010s: a set of emerging opportunities you can profit from, while other investors are selling in fear!

Customer Reviews (12)

Fantastic Read
Wow, what a great book!The detailed yet concise explanation and summation of the subprime crisis and how we have gotten to where we are now is exceptional.Very educational and witty leading up to the sound and prudent investing ideas in the second half of the book.Forget the latest "stock of the week" TV craze and read this book to guide you toward the solid value investments of the future.

Well written and contains trends and ideas that investors can profit from now.
In his latest work, Scott Phillips offers the reader opportunities by bringing up unique ideas that any investor can utilize.The new value investing trends he brings up are very relevant to the current financial layout and should be consumed to add to the investors' arsenal of ideas.In addition to being forward looking, Phillips also explains thoroughly the cause and effect of the current financial crisis that started in the last quarter of 2008.One of the best aspects of the book is that it is easy to digest and a pleasure to read.While presenting the investing themes, Phillips incorporates his experience, the wisdom of Sir John Templeton, and the idea of buying at "Maximum Pessimism". As an avid value investor, it has contributed to my philosophy and especially in generating ideas that I can use immediately in this environment.I definitely recommend adding this book to your collection.

International Ideas
Expecting a book on valuation based market timing, I was pleasantly surprised to find current, specific, international investment ideas.I have worked with Scott for years and enjoyed seeing his current ideas.I plan to put some of them to work.

Perspectives on International Investing
Buying at the Point of Maximum Pessimism is a perceptive book capturing Sir John Templeton's disciplined investment process. For a long term investor this book makes sense, buy high value stocks for cheap prices. Phillips emphasizes the importance of discipline and timing with this strategy.

I was particularly interested in the growth opportunities presented in countries such as China and other emerging markets as well as numerous industries including alternative energy sources and aquaculture. I have spent most of my life reading books on value investing and working with US equities;therefore, the book spiked my curiosity for the emerging markets.

Pessimist about markets?Great advice on how to find opportunities
Who invests at the point of maximum pessimism?Only someone with some degree of optimism and some knowledge of overreaction and longer term positive trends.For the knowledge needed to exercise optimism at the point of maximum pessimism, I recommend you read Phillips analysis of six long-term investment themes.
At the most recent point of maximum pessimism in March of 2009, I was attending a meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society (MPS), a society which gathers the largest amount of renowned market-oriented economists in the world, including several Nobel Laureates. Except a few economists trained in the school of Mises and F.A. Hayek, founder of the MPS, most recognized that they failed to predict the crisis.The evening when the stock market hit the bottom, an ally who had been up to that point THE star investor and had gone short, gathered a group of peers, other savvy investors, and led an off-program session. Prediction: the market was going to fall further, getting close to a Dow 2,000. Eight years before, at the height of the technology bubble I heard James Glassman present a paper at the same society.He wrote a book arguing that "fundamentals had changed" and the Dow would hit 36,000.For the sake of our investments I did not pay attention to either forecast, but I am paying attention to the balanced analysis presented by Scott Phillips.He does not fall into any radical forecast, uses sound research, understands economics, and implements the successful methods of John Templeton for investing.
I greatly enjoyed this work. It not only helps expand the knowledge and horizons of most investors, but it also has an underlying and subtle educational message about how an economy really works.Even if it is not its main purpose, those who read it end up with a much better grasp of the essential aspects of a free enterprise system, and the necessary fiscal and juridical framework needed for its success.
Division of Labor over a wide area with some respect for property rights has been the driver of the wealth of nations.Phillips' optimistic analysis of Brazil and China is based on these countries move to bigger respect of market principles.Neither is scrutinized with the same thoroughness as the US economy but the author is correct in describing these two markets as full of opportunities.There is much more transparency in the media and in dissemination of economic data in the US than in China.Nevertheless, only a very small minority of economists predicted the US banking crisis: understanding the real situation of the banking sector in China, and all the areas which might be affected in case of a collapse, is a much more daunting task. Opportunities abound, but buyers beware (caveat emptor).
The growth of the for profit educational market, as well as the growth in the demand for energy and food, follows from the opportunities brought up by development in China, and other economies.Phillips analyzes agriculture and focuses on aquaculture, describing the challenges and opportunities of a market where for many decades supply suffered from the problem of the commons, due to the lack of property rights in most oceanic waters.
As I have good access to the best economic, business and political analysis in Chile, I tried to corroborate Phillips analysis of the crisis in their salmon industry. While many (or should I say most) free enterprise advocates try to hide the sins of private businesses, the author does not follow into the trap.It is true that the crisis needed the collaboration of lax regulatory and control bodies, and that anti-business NGO's like those financed by Doug Tompkins, help exacerbate the problem.Reluctance to adjudicate additional fishing areas created incentives for overproducing. But this does not absolve the blind greed of many producers which ended up turning a growth industry into an example of social irresponsibility.It will take many years for this Chilean business to recover its dynamism.Phillips is correct in pointing out that this crisis should not blind us to the many profitable opportunities in aquaculture.
The huge role of the state sector in the energy business, aptly described by Phillips, creates extra homework for those who wish to apply Sir John Templeton's investment principles in this area.The educational market is also one that suffers from government intervention, but Phillips focuses on companies providing less regulated services, such as those which prepare students for college entrance examinations in China.
It required discipline and courage to enter the US market during the point of maximum pessimism. Similar traits are required to pick the right stocks and profit from the six investment trends described by Phillips.By providing an extended analysis of the weakness of the US economy and the policies implemented today and a less thorough but extensive analysis of investment opportunities around the globe, this book opens horizons for those who wish to pursue profitable investments with an open mind an adequate risk threshold. Hope the author is preparing a sequel, "selling at the point of highest optimism."
... Read more

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This book on urban design extends and develops the widely accepted 'compact city' solution. It provides a design proposal for a new kind of sustainable urban landscape: Urban Agriculture. By growing food within an urban rather than exclusively rural environment, urban agriculture would reduce the need for industrialized production, packaging and transportation of foodstuffs to the city dwelling consumers. The revolutionary and innovative concepts put forth in this book have potential to shape the future of our cities quality of life within them.

Urban design is shown in practice through international case studies and the arguments presented are supported by quantified economic, environmental and social justifications.

* Is THE first book on urban agriculture for architects, landscape architects and urban designers
* Presents concepts with the potential to have an immense impact on the future shape of cities
* Includes over 200 images providing readers a clear visual idea of this pioneering subject ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Somewhat specific to geography but filled with good information
I bought this to help understand and choose a site for my thesis in NYC, it came in handy. The price hurt a bit, esp for a grad student ... Read more

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Written to meet the needs of both students and applied researchers, Design of Experiments for Agriculture and the Natural Sciences, Second Edition serves as an introductory guide to experimental design and analysis. Like the popular original, this thorough text provides an understanding of the logical underpinnings of design and analysis by selecting and discussing only those carefully chosen designs that offer the greatest utility. However, it improves on the first edition by adhering to a step-by-step process that greatly improves accessibility and understanding. Real problems from different areas of agriculture and science are presented throughout to show how practical issues of design and analysis are best handled.

Completely revised to greatly enhance readability, this new edition includes:

• A new chapter on covariance analysis to help readers reduce errors, while enhancing their ability to examine covariances among selected variables
• Expanded material on multiple regression and variance analysis
• Additional examples, problems, and case studies
• A step-by-step Minitab® guide to help with data analysis

Intended for those in the agriculture, environmental, and natural science fields as well as statisticians, this text requires no previous exposure to analysis of variance, although some familiarity with basic statistical fundamentals is assumed. In keeping with the book's practical orientation, numerous workable problems are presented throughout to reinforce the reader's ability to creatively apply the principles and concepts in any given situation.

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Farmers of Forty Centuries; Or, Permanent Agriculture in China, Korea, and Japan. please visit www.valdebooks.com for a full list of titles ... Read more