This book has been prepared for students taking Agribusiness Management 101 in The Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology and Education at The Pennsylvania State University.

Table of Contents:

Lesson 1: Economics as Limits, Alternatives, and Choices
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 1.1 - What Is Economics, and Why Is It Important?
Chapter 1.2 - Confronting Objections to the Economic Approach
Chapter 1.3 - How Individuals Make Choices Based on Their Budget Constraint

Lesson 2: The Market System
Chapter 2: Introduction
Chapter 2.1 - How To Organize Economies: An Overview of Economic Systems
Chapter 2.2 - Introducing the Market System
Chapter 2.3 - The Use of Mathematics in Principles of Economics

Lesson 3: Demand, Supply, and Market Equilibrium Chapter 3
Chapter 3: Introduction
Chapter 3.1 - Demand, Supply, and Equilibrium in Markets for Goods and Services
Chapter 3.2 - Shifts in Demand and Supply for Goods and Services
Chapter 3.3 - Changes in Equilibrium Price and Quantity: The Four-Step Process
Chapter 3.4 - Price Ceilings and Price Floors
Chapter 3.5 - Demand, Supply, and Efficiency

Lesson 4: Market Failures: Public Goods and Externalities
Chapter 4: Introduction
Chapter 4.1 - Why the Private Sector Underinvests in Innovation
Chapter 4.2 - How Governments Can Encourage Innovation
Chapter 4.3 - Public Goods

Lesson 5: Elasticity
Chapter 5: Introduction
Chapter 5.1 - Price Elasticity of Demand and Price Elasticity of Supply
Chapter 5.2 - Polar Cases of Elasticity and Constant Elasticity
Chapter 5.3 - Elasticity and Pricing
Chapter 5.4 - Elasticity in Areas Other Than Price

Lesson 6: Utility Maximization
Chapter 6: Introduction
Chapter 6.1 - Consumption Choices
Chapter 6.2 - How Changes in Income and Prices Affect Consumption Choices
Chapter 6.3 - Indifference Curves
Chapter 6.4 - Behavioral Economics: An Alternative Framework for Consumer Choice

Lesson 7: Production, Costs, and Industry Structure
Chapter 7 : Introduction
Chapter 7.1 - Explicit and Implicit Costs, and Accounting and Economic Profit
Chapter 7.2 - Production in the Short Run
Chapter 7.3 - Costs in the Short Run
Chapter 7.4 - Production in the Long Run
Chapter 7.5 - Costs in the Long Run

Lesson 8 : Pure Competition in the Short Run
Chapter 8 : Introduction
Chapter 8.1 - Perfect Competition and Why It Matters
Chapter 8.2 - How Perfectly Competitive Firms Make Output Decisions

Lesson 9 - Pure Competition in the Long Run
Chapter 9 - Introduction
Chapter 9.1 - Entry and Exit Decisions in the Long Run
Chapter 9.2 - Efficiency in Perfectly Competitive Markets

Lesson 10 - Pure Monopoly
Chapter 10 - Introduction
Chapter 10.1 - How Monopolies Form: Barriers to Entry
Chapter 10.2 - How a Profit-Maximizing Monopoly Chooses Output and Price

Lesson 11: The Demand for Resources
Chapter 11 - Introduction
Chapter 11.1 - Demand for Labor

Lesson 12 - Rent, Interest and Profit
Chapter 12 - Introduction
Chapter 12.1 - Time Value of Money

Lesson 13: Agriculture: Economics and Policy
Chapter 13 - Introduction
Chapter 13.1 - Introduction to the Agriculture Economics

Lesson 14 - International Trade
Chapter 14 - Introduction
Chapter 14.1 - Absolute and Comparative Advantage
Chapter 14.2 - What Happens When a Country Has an Absolute Advantage in All Goods
Chapter 14.3 - Intra-industry Trade between Similar Economies
Chapter 14.4 - The Benefits of Reducing Barriers to International Trade
Chapter 14.5 - Protectionism: An Indirect Subsidy from Consumers to Producers
Chapter 14.6 - International Trade and Its Effects on Jobs, Wages, and Working Conditions
Chapter 14.7 - Arguments in Support of Restricting Imports
Chapter 14.8 - How Governments Enact Trade Policy: Globally, Regionally, and Nationally
Chapter 14.9 - The Tradeoffs of Trade Policy

Originally developed as part of a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Crop Improvement is the third book in our series originally published under the title "Plant Breeding E-learning in Africa."
This book covers basic principles in the genetic improvement of crop plants. Emphasis is placed on methods of cultivar development in self-pollinating, cross-pollinating and asexually propagating crops. Relevant examples of crop improvement research in Africa are utilized to cover factors affecting cultivar release, multiplication, and distribution of high-quality seed.
At the back of the book, you can find Applied Learning Activities, downloadable worksheets which can be adapted for classroom use.

This open access book approaches the anxieties inherent in food consumption and production in Vietnam. The country’s rapid and recent economic integration into global agro-food systems and consumer markets spurred a new quality of food safety concerns, health issues and distrust in food distribution networks that have become increasingly obscured. This edited volume further puts the eating body centre stage by following how gendered body norms, food taboos, power structures and social differentiation shape people’s ambivalent relations with food. It uncovers Vietnam’s trajectories of agricultural modernisation against which consumers and producers manoeuvre amongst food self-sufficiency, security and abundance.

Food Anxiety in Globalising Vietnam is explicitly about ‘dangerous’ food – regarding its materiality and meaning. It provides social science perspectives on anxieties related to food and surrounding discourses that travel between the local and the global, the individual and society and into the body. Therefore, the book’s lens of food anxiety matters for social theory and for understanding the embeddedness and discontinuities of food globalizations in Vietnam and beyond. Due to its rich empirical base, methodological approaches and thematic foci, it will appeal to scholars, practitioners and students alike.

This textbook provides an introduction to plant genetics and biotechnology for the advancement of agriculture. A clear and structured introduction to the topic for learners new to the field of genetics, the book includes: an introduction to the life cycle of the cell, DNA and how it relates to genes and chromosomes, DNA analysis, recombinant DNA, biotechnology, and transmission genetics.

Table of Contents
1. Mitosis and Meiosis
2. DNA: The Genetic Material
3. DNA Mutations
4. PCR and Gel Electrophoresis
5. Gene Expression: Transcription
6. Gene Expression: Translation
7. Gene Expression: Applied Example (Part 1)
8. Gene Expression: Applied Example (Part 2)
9. Regulation of Gene Expression
10. Genetic Pathways
11. Recombinant DNA Technology
12. Genetic Engineering
13. Introduction to Mendelian Genetics
14. Deviations from Mendelian Genetics: Linkage (Part 1)
15. Deviations from Mendelian Genetics: Linkage (Part 2)

History and Science of Cultivated Plants narrates how humans transitioned from foragers to farmers and have arrived at present-day industrial agriculture-based civilization. It entails myths, historical accounts, and scientific concepts to describe how human efforts have shaped and produced easier to grow, larger, tastier, and more nutritious fruits, vegetables, and grains from wild plants. Using examples of various economically and socially important crops central to human civilization, the book describes the origin of crop plants, the evolution of agricultural practices, fundamental concepts of natural selection vs. domestication, experimental and methodical plant breeding, and plant biotechnology.

Table of Contents
The Origins of Agriculture
The Origins of Crop Plants
Colonial Agriculture
Cataloging, Classification, and Deliberate Hybridizations
The Early History of Genetics
Genetic Improvement in Cereal Crops and the Green Revolution
Genetically Engineered Crops

The discipline of Biosystems Engineering emerged in the 1990s from the traditional strongholds of agricultural engineering and food engineering. Biosystems engineering integrates engineering science and design with applied biological, environmental, and agricultural sciences. Introduction to Biosystems Engineering is targeted at 1st and 2nd year university-level students with an interest in biosystems engineering but who are not yet familiar with the breadth and depth of the subject. It is designed as a coherent educational resource, also available for download as individual digital chapters. The book can be used as a localized, customizable text for introductory courses in Biosystems Engineering globally. It is written as a series of stand-alone chapters organized under six major topics: Food and Bioprocessing; Environment; Buildings and Infrastructure; Information and Communications Technology and Data; Machinery Systems; and Energy. Each chapter is organized around stated learning outcomes and describes key concepts, applications of the concepts, and worked examples.

Permaculture Design is a method of land planning that can be applied at scales from the home garden to city block to village to farm. It is an ethically based whole-systems design approach that uses concepts, principles, and methods derived from ecosystems, indigenous technologies, and other time-tested practices to create sustainable human settlements and institutions. Although rooted in horticulture and agriculture, Permaculture design is interdisciplinary, touching on a wide range of subjects including regional planning, ecology, animal husbandry, appropriate technology, architecture, social justice, and international development.

This open text book is derived from the content of the Massive Open Online Course “Intro to Permaculture”. The original course also included interactive mapping and design tools that accompanied this content. The course and book provide a general overview of the Permaculture design system. The book can be downloaded as a print version. However, there are many accompanying videos and content pages that are linked to throughout the text, so it is best viewed online where the links can be accessed.

This book focuses on genomics and plant biotechnology approaches used in plant breeding, the analysis of genomic data, and their application in quality control measures. The application of alternative genomic technologies to enhance conventional breeding strategies is also presented.

Climate is also where we begin the design process in another tool referenced in the Permaculture design system. This is the Scale of Landscape Permanence, originated by P.A.Yeomans, the founder of Keyline™ Design. Yeomans asserts that the order of design is:

Climate
Landshape
Water Supply
Roads/Access
Trees
Structures
Subdivision Fences
Soil
This book is predominantly about climate, and the macro influences of climate and climate change on design. As we get through the topics of climate analogues and climate change forecasting, we will end up moving down this list to see the climate’s influence on specific design choices.

Climate is also where we begin the design process in another tool referenced in the Permaculture design system. This is the Scale of Landscape Permanence, originated by P.A.Yeomans, the founder of Keyline™ Design. Yeomans asserts that the order of design is:

Climate
Landshape
Water Supply
Roads/Access
Trees
Structures
Subdivision Fences
Soil

This book is predominantly about climate, and the macro influences of climate and climate change on design. As we get through the topics of climate analogues and climate change forecasting, we will end up moving down this list to see the climate’s influence on specific design choices.

Table of Contents

Part 1: Climate Assessment
1. Climate
2. Climate Classification Systems
3. The Climate Analogue Tool
4. Climate Analogue Examples
5. Climate Change Projections
6. Climate Change Analogue
7. Climate Change Analogue Examples

Part 2: Design Strategies for Climate Resilience
8. Drought, Heat, and Erratic Rainfall
9. Wildfire
10. Tropical Cyclone Effects
11. Sea Level Rise and Flooding

El libro "Principios Básicos de Bioquímica para Agroecología" es una obra que busca proporcionar a los estudiantes de esta disciplina una base sólida en los fundamentos de la bioquímica, escrita por un equipo de docentes investigadores, se presenta como un recurso didáctico para aquellos estudiantes que buscan comprender la relación entre la química, la bioquímica y la agricultura, iniciando con la definición conceptual de bioquímica. A medida que avanza el texto, se profundiza en los conceptos de estructuras de la célula vegetal, sus características y funciones, así como también se describen las proteínas, lípidos, carbohidratos y ácidos nucleicos. Además, aborda temas importantes para la agroecología, como la fotosíntesis y la función de los nutrientes en las plantas. El enfoque en estos temas permite a los estudiantes de agroecología entender cómo los principios de la bioquímica son relevantes para el estudio de la agricultura y la producción de alimentos. Así también incluye una variedad de recursos de apoyo para el aprendizaje, como cuadros, tablas, diagramas y ejemplos. Estos recursos ayudan a los estudiantes a visualizar y comprender los conceptos difíciles de la bioquímica, y a aplicarlos a situaciones del mundo real. Una de las características más destacadas de este documento es su lenguaje accesible y fácil de entender. Los autores han evitado el uso excesivo de terminología técnica y han explicado los conceptos de manera clara y concisa. Esto hace que sea adecuado para estudiantes de diversos niveles y antecedentes académicos. En conclusión, es material bibliográfico valioso y esencial para cualquier estudiante que desee comprender los principios básicos de la bioquímica y su aplicación en el campo de la agroecología. Con una escritura clara, recursos de apoyo útiles y un enfoque en temas relevantes para la agricultura, representa una excelente herramienta para el aprendizaje y la comprensión de la bioquímica y su relación con la producción de alimentos.

The Soils Laboratory Manual, K-State Edition is designed for students in undergraduate, introductory soil science courses, and highlights the many aspects of soil science, including: soil genesis and classification, soil physical properties, soil-water interaction, soil biology, soil chemistry, and soil fertility. The lab manual includes 15 different laboratories, each one starting with an introduction and pre-lab assignment, followed by in-lab activities, and complimented by post-lab assignment. In-lab activities involve field trips, experiments, observation stations, or problem sets. Post-lab assignments include online quizzes, problem sets, or laboratory summary reports.

Table of Contents
1 Safety Training and Orientation
2 Chemistry and Math Review
3 Soil Formation
4 Soil Classification and Mapping Continued
5 Soil Texture and Structure
6 Soil Density
7 Soil Pit Field Trips
8 Soil and Water Relationships
9 Soil Water Measurement and Movement
10 Compost Facility Field Trip
11 Soil Carbon and Respiration
12 Soil Colloids
13 Soil Acidity and Adjusting Soil pH
14 Soil Nutrient Management
15 Soil and Water Conservation

The Soils Laboratory Manual, K-State Edition is designed for students in undergraduate, introductory soil science courses, and highlights the many aspects of soil science, including: soil genesis and classification, soil physical properties, soil-water interaction, soil biology, soil chemistry, and soil fertility. The lab manual includes 15 different laboratories, each one starting with an introduction and pre-lab assignment, followed by in-lab activities, and complimented by post-lab assignment. In-lab activities involve field trips, experiments, observation stations, or problem sets. Post-lab assignments include online quizzes, problem sets, or laboratory summary reports.

This manual was developed by Virginia Cooperative Extension for Master Gardeners who are training to be certified advanced Master Gardener tree stewards. Written by a dedicated team of volunteers who themselves completed advanced Master Gardener tree steward training, the manual covers a wide range of topics, specific to each region of Virginia, including identifying trees, selecting and planting appropriate trees for local landscapes, caring for trees, and troubleshooting tree problems.