Hand Book of Practical and Clinical Immunology, 2e Vol. II

Seed supply is the vital first step in ensuring that world food resources and industrial crops are maintained and developed. Scientific research on seed production and plant breeding receives wide coverage and large expenditure but relatively little consideration is given to the way that seeds are distributed traded and how growers can be educated in the use of new varieties to improve their production. The author with more than forty years experience as a leading seed researcher addresses these basic questions and considers the way in which effective and economic seed supply systems can be set up and operated. Issues discussed include the importance of seed for food and industrial crop production in both temperate and tropical agriculture: methods to ensure continuity of supply and quality control; the roles of publlc administration and private enterprise; seed legislation and plant breeders rights and the economic factors that influence seed production. The role of the seed grower and how seeds are (and should be) distributed is developed and the book includes an analysis of seed trade organization in Europe and North America and in the Third World. To assess how efficient seed supply systems can be established and maintained.