From agaccess@pa.mother.comFri Oct 6 20:04:17 1995 Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 14:36:02 -0700 From: agaccess@pa.mother.com To: sanet-mg@amani.ces.ncsu.edu Subject: NEW BOOK-"Return to Resistance: Breeding Crops to Reduce Pesticide Dependence" ******************************************************** NEW BOOK PROPOSES SOLUTIONS TO WORLD PESTICIDE PROBLEMS ******************************************************** "Return to Resistance: Breeding Crops to Reduce Pesticide Dependence", a new book by Raoul A. Robinson, explains how groups of farmers can work together to breed crops with effective, durable resistance to all locally important pests and diseases. Writing with engaging candor, Dr. Robinson analyzes crop breeding's successes and shortcomings, and explains the new techniques of breeding food crops with this inherited immunity-technically termed "horizontal resistance." Breeding crops with horizontal resistance promises to solve the problem of crop parasites, which currently destroy about one-fifth of all crop production worldwide, despite extravagant use of crop protection chemicals. Properly utilized, horizontal resistance could provide us with a largely pest-free agriculture, one which is largely pesticide-free as well. "We are approaching the biologic limits of what this planet can support," cautions the 1990 recipient of the World Food Prize, John S. Niederhauser, Ph.D. "Only by implementing some of the basic concepts that have been advanced and publicized by Dr. Robinson, can an increasing world population be fed, while preserving our natural resources and the quality of our environment." Horizontal resistance breeding has been largely ignored in this century due to the popularity and apparent successes of the Mendelian geneticists. However the colossal, unrecognized failure of modern crops is their extreme susceptiblity to pests and diseases, and the consequent necessity to spray them repeatedly with pesticides. We have come to accept exposure to pesticides in our food as a necessary evil. This ground-breaking work provides stimulating discussion of the pitfalls of classical plant breeding and the green revolution, case histories of crops which have been successfully bred to overcome blights and insects, and how to organize plant breeding clubs. The book also features a detailed encyclopedia of plant breeding techniques. "This well written book presents in a simplified form the highly complex subject of breeding plants for resistance to their parasites," comments Dr. Luigi Chiarappa, Former Chief of Plant Protection Services for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Raoul A. Robinson is a Canadian/British plant scientist with more than forty years of wide-ranging global experience in crop improvement for both commercial and subsistence agriculture. Over the course of his adventurous and productive career, Dr. Robinson has concentrated most intensively on maize, potatoes, beans, and coffee. In addition, he has worked with cotton, tomatoes, dates, wheat, alfalfa, cocoa, cassava, coconut, tobacco, taro, sweet potato, vanilla, black pepper, and other crops. He is the author of hundreds of publications, including the books Plant Pathosystems, Host Management in Plant Pathosystems, and two others in preparation. The International Development Research Centre, a Canadian government agency, is co-publishing a Canadian edition of the title. "Return to Resistance" includes many tables, a glossary, lists of resource groups & organizations, and a bibliography. The 500-page book sells for $29.95, softcover. To order, send a check for the cover price plus $4.00 shipping & handling (Californians please add 7.25% sales tax) or order by MasterCard or Visa via Email or telephone: * Please send email to receive international shipping rates * agAccess 603 Fourth Street Davis, CA 95616 USA Tel: 916-756-7177 Fax: 916-756-7188 Email: agaccess@davis.com MasterCard and Visa orders are welcome by telephone Monday through Friday 9 am to 5:30 pm PST and Saturdays 10 am to 4 pm PST or by Email anytime. ___________________________________________________________________ Free review copies are available to editors or journalists wishing to review the book for publication. Please send mail (snail or E) to agAccess for review information and a copy of the book if you are interested. ___________________________________________________________________