Book Recommendation

[farmernobi]

Hello,

Ive been roaming around the forum for a while, reading here and there,

its been a great help in understanding the ways of farming and agriculture in general.

My father has started to grow his own crop field in Paksong, Laos and Id like to help him out in some way...

He is currently growing field corn and is going to start on many diverse tropical fruits and most importantly, coffee.

Ive only started to look into agriculture in detail with the help of this forum and some other readings on the

internet.

I know there are many experienced contributors in this forum, so Id like to ask if there are any useful books out there I ought to know about? To understand this field in general, maybe a focus on tropical conditions?, growing corn (field,sweet) and also growing coffee and coffee business again being my primary interest.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions/recommendations.

[drtreelove]

I know there are many experienced contributors in this forum, so Id like to ask if there are any useful books out there I ought to know about? To understand this field in general, maybe a focus on tropical conditions?, growing corn (field,sweet) and also growing coffee and coffee business again being my primary interest.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions/recommendations.

Since soil and soil fertility is fundamental to any crop, I would suggest that you include some reading on this subject; One of my favorites is a small book loaded with well explained basic information: The Soul of Soil, A Guide to Ecological Soil Management, by Grace Gershuny and Joseph Smillie 1986 Canada. Availability may be an issue, I read it 20 years ago and it is still on my shelf.

A friend just gave me a copy of Tropical Food Gardens, a guide to growing fruit, herbs and vegetables in tropcal and sub-tropical climates, by Leonie Norrington, 2001, Australia. I haven't read it all yet but she gives a lot of practical specifics from her experience in Darwin, Australia. Nothing on corn or coffee, but a good primer on gardening.

Another one of my favorites is Permaculture Home Garden by Linda Woodrow, 1996, Australia. If you don't know about Permaculture, this is a good introduction. "Permaculture...means the the conscious design and maintenance of agriculturally productive ecosystems that have the diversity, stability and resilience of natural ecosystems." "The philosophy behind permaculture is one of working with nature, rather than against nature..." Bill Mollison

There are many more possibilies for good reading on farming subjects, I hope other members will step in and give you more suggestions.

Check out the Organic Farming sub-forum at the top of the page; Jandtaa has organized the topics so it's easy to find discussions on many of the major subjects that you will want to learn about, whether you are farming with strictly organic methods or not. Best wishes for your endeavor, keep us posted. don

[Pond Life]

I would recommend "Introduction to Permaculture", Bill Mollison.

But it depends on what style of farming you are aiming at.

You would be hard pushed to talk a Thai farmer into anything "new".

[jandtaa]

Hi Farmernobi

there's a good collection of farming books to be found here link

organic coffee cultivation guide

j