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Introduction
The non-food sector has always been an important part of agriculture providing fuel, fiber, building materials, and medicine among other resources. Agricultural sciences have focused on the non-food sector in recent years as a means for societies to replace fossil fuels with more sustainable alternatives. This entry will give a brief history of agricultural sciences and non-food production, highlighting the recent increased production of biofuels and the “bio-based economy.” It will focus on the use of agricultural biomass (any organic matter that is living or was once living) as a transport fuel, what is commonly referred to as biofuels. These will be considered under the headings of energy crops and crop residues. The term “agricultural sciences” is used to refer to the application of natural, social, and economic sciences to the further development and understanding of agriculture. Thus,...
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Shortall, O. (2019). Agricultural Sciences and Ethical Controversies of Biofuels. In: Kaplan, D.M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Food and Agricultural Ethics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-1179-9_141
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