Mediterranean and West European pre-modern agriculture (agriculture before 1600) was by necessity ‘organic agriculture’. Crop protection is part and parcel of this agriculture, with weed control in the forefront. Crop protection is embedded in the medieval agronomy text books but specialised sections do occur. Weeds, insects and diseases are described but identification in modern terms is not easy. The pre-modern ‘Crop Portfolio’ is well filled, certainly in the Mediterranean area. The medieval ‘Pest Portfolio’ differs from the modern one because agriculture then was a Low External Input Agriculture, and because the proportion of cultivated to non-cultivated land was drastically lower than today. The pre-modern ‘Control Portfolio’ is surprisingly rich, both in preventive and interventive measures. Prevention was by risk management, intensive tillage, and careful storage. Intervention was mechanical and chemical. Chemical intervention used natural substances such as sulphur, pitch, and ‘botanicals’. Some fifty plant species are mentioned in a crop protection context. Though application methods look rather modern they are typically low-tech. Among them are seed disinfection, spraying, dusting, fumigation, grease banding, wound care, and hand-picking but also scarification, now outdated. The reality of pest outbreaks and other damages is explored as to frequency, intensity, and extent. Information on the practical use of the recommended treatments is scanty. If applied, their effectiveness remains enigmatic. Three medieval agronomists are at the heart of this book, but historical developments in crop protection from early Punic, Greek, and Roman authors to the first modern author are outlined. The readership of these writers was the privileged class of landowners but hints pointing to the exchange of ideas between them and the common peasant were found. Consideration is given to the pre-modern reasoning in matters of crop protection. Comparison of pre-modern crop protection and its counterpart in modern organic agriculture is difficult because of drastic changes in the relation between crop areas and non-crop areas, and because of the great difference in yield levels then and now, with several associated differences.

The increase in the world population and changes in welfare have led to an enormously expanding demand for food. In the industrialized world, food surpluses rather than shortages are a problem together with adverse environmental impacts from the overuse of chemicals and excessive exploitation of agricultural land. In the developing world, food production cannot keep up with population growth and the gap between demand and supply is growing. This book explores the theme of sustainable agricultural development in the developing world, with a particular focus on crop protection. Includes chapters on the ecology of food production, on sustainable agriculture and crop protection methods, on the economics of food production and more.

Herbicides: Chemistry, Efficacy, Toxicology, and Environmental Impacts addresses contemporary debates on herbicide toxicology. The reader is offered a comprehensive overview of this complex topic, presented by internationally recognized experts. Information presented will inform discussions on the use of herbicides in modern agricultural and other systems, and their potential non-target effects on human populations and various ecosystems. The book covers these matters in concise language appropriate to engage both specialists in the research community and informed persons responsible for legislative, funding, and public health matters in the community at large. The use of herbicides is an essential pillar of modern agricultural production systems. Weeds, if uncontrolled, would reduce crop yield and result in massive economic damage. Recently, the heavy reliance on single herbicides has been linked to the development of weed resistance. To combat resistant weeds, farmers are advised to use a mix of several herbicides and to increase herbicide application rates. As a result, the toxicity of herbicides on human health and the environment has become a controversial topic. - Offers a comprehensive overview of herbicide science in modern agricultural systems - Addresses the complex problems that can arise from herbicide use and misuse, including weed resistance, pollution, and human health issues - Uses recent examples to demonstrate the topical nature of this issue

This textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to all aspects of plant diseases, including pathogens, plant-pathogen interactions, their management, and future perspectives. Plant diseases limit potential crop production and are responsible for considerable losses in agriculture, horticulture and forestry. Our global food production systems are under increasing pressure from global trade, climate change and urbanization. If we could alleviate the losses due to plant diseases, we would be able to produce roughly 20% more food - enough to feed the predicted world population in 2050. Co-authored by a group of international teachers of plant pathology who have collaborated for many years, the book gives expert and seamless coverage. Plant Pathology and Plant Diseases: Addresses major advances in plant-pathogen interactions, classification of plant pathogens, and the methods of managing or controlling disease Is relevant for a global audience; it covers many examples of diseases with an impact worldwide but with an emphasis on disease of particular importance in a temperate context Features over 400 striking figures and colour photographs It is suitable for graduate students and advanced undergraduates studying plant pathology, biology, agriculture and horticulture.

In early medieval Europe, unwanted plants that persistently appeared among crops created extra work, reduced productivity, and challenged theologians who believed God had made all vegetation good. This book presents a dynamic picture of early medieval people struggling to control their ecosystems, and their relationship with their environments.

The importance of collective behavior in early medieval Europe By the fifth and sixth centuries, the bread and circuses and triumphal processions of the Roman Empire had given way to a quieter world. And yet, as Shane Bobrycki argues, the influence and importance of the crowd did not disappear in early medieval Europe. In The Crowd in the Early Middle Ages, Bobrycki shows that although demographic change may have dispersed the urban multitudes of Greco-Roman civilization, collective behavior retained its social importance even when crowds were scarce. Most historians have seen early medieval Europe as a world without crowds. In fact, Bobrycki argues, early medieval European sources are full of crowds—although perhaps not the sort historians have trained themselves to look for. Harvests, markets, festivals, religious rites, and political assemblies were among the gatherings used to regulate resources and demonstrate legitimacy. Indeed, the refusal to assemble and other forms of “slantwise” assembly became a weapon of the powerless. Bobrycki investigates what happened when demographic realities shifted, but culture, religion, and politics remained bound by the past. The history of crowds during the five hundred years between the age of circuses and the age of crusades, Bobrycki shows, tells an important story—one of systemic and scalar change in economic and social life and of reorganization in the world of ideas and norms.

The Digital atlas [www.plantatlas.eu] of traditional agricultural practices and food processing documents the various processes involved in the production of food--from working the fields through to processing the crops for food, fodder, and other purposes. The atlas aims to define and describe these various processes unambiguously by using a standardized vocabulary and by explicitly taking into account the intention behind each process. Illustrated with more than 3,000 photographs and numerous films documenting 20 years of field observation in the Mediterranean area, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent, the atlas also includes detailed case studies of the practices and processes involving grapes, olives, date palms, barley, and wheat. Many of these processes are part of the intangible cultural heritage of agriculture that is now rapidly disappearing.

This book presents a broad range of technologies for sustainable agrochemistry, e.g. semiochemicals for pest management, nanotechnology for release of eco-friendly agrochemicals, and green chemistry principles for agriculture. It provides a concise introduction to sustainable agrochemistry for a professional audience, and highlights the main scientific and technological approaches that can be applied to modern agrochemistry. It also discusses various available technologies for reducing the negative impacts of agrochemicals on the environment and human health.

With their dramatic descriptions of black masses and cannibalistic feasts, the records generated by the Basque witch-craze of 160914 provide us with arguably the most demonologically-stereotypical accounts of the witches sabbath or akelarre to have emerged from early modern Europe. While the trials have attracted scholarly attention, the most substantial monograph on the subject was written nearly forty years ago and most works have focused on the ways in which interrogators shaped the pattern of prosecutions and the testimonies of defendants. Invoking the Akelarre diverts from this norm by employing more recent historiographical paradigms to analyze the contributions of the accused. Through interdisciplinary analyses of both French- and Spanish-Basque records, it argues that suspects were not passive recipients of elite demonological stereotypes but animated these received templates with their own belief and experience, from the dark exoticism of magical conjuration, liturgical cursing and theatrical misrule to the sharp pragmatism of domestic medical practice and everyday religious observance. In highlighting the range of raw materials available to the suspects, the book helps us to understand how the fiction of the witches sabbath emerged to such prominence in contemporary mentalities, whilst also restoring some agency to the defendants and nuancing the historical thesis that stereotypical content points to interrogatorial opinion and folkloric content to the voices of the accused. In its local context, this study provides an intimate portrait of peasant communities as they flourished in the Basque region in this period and leaves us with the irony that Europes most sensationally-demonological accounts of the witches sabbath may have evolved out of a particularly ardent commitment, on the part of ordinary Basques, to the social and devotional structures of popular Catholicism.

Green toxicology is an integral part of green chemistry. One of the key goals of green chemistry is to design less toxic chemicals. Therefore, an understanding of toxicology and hazard assessment is important for any chemist working in green chemistry, but toxicology is rarely part of most chemists' education. As a consequence, chemists lack the toxicological lens necessary to view chemicals in order to design safer substitutions. This book seeks to fill that gap and demonstrate how a basic understanding of toxicology, as well as the tools of in silico and in vitro toxicology, can be an integral part of green chemistry. R&D chemists, product stewards, and toxicologists who work in the field of sustainability, can all benefit from integrating green toxicology principles into their work. Topics include in silico tools for hazard assessment, toxicity testing, and lifecycle considerations, this book aims to act as a bridge between green toxicologists and green chemists.