Global consumption of grains is projected to double by 2050 due to projected growth in population and per capita consumption of grains directly and also in livestock production as incomes rise. Global food security depends on expanding current farming activities in a sustainable way to meet this...

The Sir John Crawford Memorial Address has been presented since 1985, in honour of the distinguished Australian civil servant, educator and agriculturalist in whose name the Crawford Fund was established. Sir John Crawford was a remarkable Australian who contributed at the highest levels, and...

The world-wide intensification of livestock industries poses major challenges for waste disposal. For example, the total solids wastes discharged from livestock farms in China exceeded 1.7 billion tons in 1997, with a further 20 billion tons of waste water being discharged to the environment —...

Deforestation continues at a significant rate, especially in developing tropical countries. The process is a consequence of pressures to realise the commercial value of the timber and/or the land, the latter typically for either agriculture or settlement. Forests are integral to a variety of...

As much as seventy times more water is needed to grow food than for domestic use. Severely waterscarce countries such as Egypt do not have enough water to grow their own food and need to import food from elsewhere. Countries like the USA, Australia, China, India, Mexico and Turkey have made...

Increasing population and consumption are placing unprecedented demands on agriculture and natural resources across the planet. Today, approximately a billion people are chronically malnourished while our agricultural systems are concurrently degrading land, water, biodiversity and climate on a...

The main drivers of tropical forest biodiversity loss are land clearing for agriculture, pasture and timber plantation development, followed by logging activities that degrade forests. Deforestation and forest degradation also significantly contribute to climate change, given that they...

Global agriculture is struggling to keep pace with increasing demands for food as human population increases and food preferences alter. Changes in temperature, greenhouse gas concentrations, precipitation patterns and radiation further challenge farmers. Insect and nematode pests, plant...

A couple of months ago a journalist from a magazine asked me to name the five most important or influential books in my life. I had to start off with a little book called Zeek the Rabbit which hooked me on reading when I was about seven or eight years old, and that left me four more slots. One...