A brief history of the evolution of the oil palm crop is provided, from domestication and small-scale production in Africa (its centre of origin/diversity) to crop expansion, especially in South-east Asia, in becoming the world's top oil crop. Knowledge of the biology and genetics of oil palm are...

This chapter considers how animals can (and historically have been) protected with limited or even no public resource, and indeed with limited or no animal protection laws. Given emphasis are cruelty (a positive act to deliberately cause unnecessary suffering of an animal) and negligence (an action ...

This chapter presents guidelines that large scale animal producers and big companies of meat and egg producing animals should follow in order to assure the public that the welfare of animals are being considered such as proper space allowance, ability to move, cage-free hens, and stress free...

This chapter briefly discussed the relationship between animal welfare and society (retailers, consumers, and farmers). From this relationships, five broad groups or categories of information demand were distinguished: to inform society about the welfare status of farm animals; to give food...

This chapter describes changing attitudes on the welfare of crustaceans and cephalopods used as food.

This chapter explores the ethical implications of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food that originate from plants genetically altered through bioengineering. The chapter analyses the new federal statute recently passed in the USA purportedly to label these foods and evaluates whether in...

This chapter identifies and examines the ethical tension between the need to communicate the risks and benefits of science and technology to the public and the science and ethics of such communication. It begins with a historical background of the commercialization of genetically engineered (GE)...

After harvest, grapes may be consumed fresh, crushed or dehydrated. Fresh table grapes are handled, stored and marketed much like other fruits consumed fresh. Crushed grapes may be directly fermented into wine, pressed into juice that may be fermented into wine, consumed fresh or concentrated for...

Once a vineyard has been established there is ongoing management to keep it in top producing form. In many ways this process starts at pruning and matching the vine to the trellising system, as this sets the vine up for producing fruit in the following year. There are then many other management...

In this chapter, the process of putting in a vineyard is followed from first thoughts to making sure that the vines get off to a healthy start, ready to produce as much high-quality crop as possible for the life of the vineyard. The site selection (considering climatic factors, soil types, slope...