Intensive Sugar Cane Production - Meeting the Challenges Beyond 2000

Increasing competition in the world sugar industry, combined with the need to maintain the resource base and minimise negative impacts on the environment, mean that sugar industries around the world face many complex problems. These challenges are shared by many other intensive cropping industries. However, advances in crop physiology, biotechnology, management systems, systems analysis and modeling and economics and policy initiatives offer great opportunities for these industries to meet these challenges. This book appraises the current situation and set the agenda for sustainable sugarcane production into the future. The book has been developed from papers presented at the Sugar 2000 symposium held in Brisbane, Australia, in August 1996.

All the elements of successful intensive crop production are discussed. These include the biological, climatic, economic and social aspects which must be taken into account and judiciously managed. Topics addressed include new gene technologies and their potential value for sugarcane, along with using knowledge of crop physiology to bring about high levels of yield. Other issues considered include the economics of resource use, such as irrigation, and the impact of sugarcane production on the environment. The book is essential reading for all research scientists working with sugarcane, including plant breeders, physiologists, agronomists and food technologists. It also provides general agronomists with a model system for intensive crop production that will be relevant to other sustainable cropping systems. It is also relevant to economists, regulatory authorities, and commodity traders.

John R. Wilson has published over 80 papers in peer-reviewed journals on a wide range of ecological and evolutionary topics, with a particular focus on invasion science. Based in South Africa, he is a member of the IUCN Invasive Species Specialist Group, and works across science, management, and policy.