From aquaculture in Asia to soil salinization, plant breeding to animal health, and toxicology to zoonoses, the newly released Encyclopedia of Agriculture and Food Systems contains everything that’s important about agriculture and food science.

This massive 5 volume 3,000 page encyclopedia includes no less than 8 chapters specifically dedicated to agroforestry, a number of which are co-authored by scientists from the World Agroforestry Centre. There are related chapters too on eco-agriculture, environmental services, land use and management, water use, soils and domestication. Several chapters address food security and climate change and agriculture, including adaptation, mitigation and vulnerability.

The high prominence of agroforestry in the encyclopedia is testament to how the discipline has evolved to become an important component of agricultural science. Agroforestry is now taught at senior undergraduate and postgraduate levels institutions around the world, either as a separate subject or as a part of the regular curricula of agriculture, forestry, ecology, and other related programs

Although agroforestry has been practiced by farmers across the globe for thousands of years, it emerged as a science in its own right in the 1970s. Since then, evidence has mounted for agroforestry’s potential as a sustainable land use that can address many of the world’s most pressing problems. The integration of trees into farming systems can sustain crop yields, diversify farm production, realize ecosystem services and ensure environmental integrity leads to improved livelihoods.

The new encyclopedia includes an overview of agroforestry practices and systems with one chapter looking specifically at complex multi-strata agroforestry systems and another covering tree crops. Chapters are dedicated to agroforestry for fertilizer and for fodder, the process of participatory tree domestication and the role of public private partnerships in agroforestry. Further chapters analyze the hydrological impacts of agroforestry and conservation trees for erosion prevention.

The first edition of the encyclopedia was published in 1994 as the 4-volume Encyclopedia of Agricultural Science. It included just 4 chapters related to agroforestry and only 2 that were specific to the impact of climate on agriculture.

The approach taken by the second edition of the encyclopedia is to examine topics in global agriculture and food systems that are key to understanding major challenges faced by the planet. Of these challenges, the greatest and most pressing is how to produce enough food to meet the needs of a growing population, on less land and using less water, while also reducing the impact of agriculture on the environment.

By covering several broad themes - food systems and people, agriculture and the environment, the science of agriculture, agricultural products, and agricultural production systems – it is hoped the encyclopedia will make a valuable contribution to discussions about the food and environment challenges before us. Each of the 200 chapters provides background on the topic, references and links to further information. The entire encyclopedia has been authored by Neal K. Van Alfen from the University of California, Davis, USA.

The encyclopedia is largely aimed at academic institutions teaching agricultural science, plant science, ecology, environmental science, genetics, molecular biology and soil science. However the publishers believe it will also be of interest to government officials and think tanks in the areas of agricultural and environmental policy, ecology and sustainability.

For more information, visit the Elsevier store

See also: Bringing business savvy to agroforestry

Image: ‘Encyclopedia’ by book sculptor, Nicholas Jones.