Information on the Internet, the FAO Grassland Group Homepage and the
Country Pasture/Forage Resource Profile Initiative.
S. G. Reynolds, FAO Rome
Introduction
With the development of the Internet (World Wide Web) information which was
previously only available in libraries or books or pamphlets and brochures or in Ministries or
Departments is now freely available in electronic form. While in many countries access todate to
the Internet is limited for technical or financial reasons and hard copy will continue to be the
norm there is an increasing amount of information which can be viewed and downloaded. In the
future it is expected that electronic information through the Internet will become the most
common form of information available to all of us. This short note provides you with
information about a few of the sites which are available and also introduces the FAO Grassland
Group Homepage as well as a new initiative on Country Pasture/Forage Resource Profiles.
Forage, Feed and Rangeland Information on the Internet (web)
Some sites which can be visited for information on forages and rangelands (many of these
websites also contain links to other relevant sites):
< http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/Indices/index_ab > [Crop Index of Purdue University crops are listed alphabetically by genus and common name, including a large number of forage
and fodder tree species].
< http://www.forages.css.orst.edu/ >
< http://www.forages.css.orst.edu/Topics/Species/index.html>
[Forage Information System of Oregon State University - Information on forage species,
pastures, hay, silage, crops etc. and world wide links (other wwws)].
< http://www.winrock.org/forestry/factnet.htm#Research > [Winrock International - includes
information about forage tree species seed sources etc.].
< http://www.powerup.com.au/~tgsoaust/index.htm > { Homepage of the Tropical Grassland
Society of Australia].
< http://www.bib.wau.nl/prosea/home.html > [Homepage of PROSEA which stands for Plant
Resources of South-East Asia - Includes information about the PROSEA databank, and
handbooks such as Prosea handbook No.4: 'Forages' which deals with forage plants for South
East Asia].
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< http://irc.web.unsw.edu.au > [Homepage of the VIth International Rangeland Congress
"People and Rangelands: Building the Future" to be held in Townsville Australia 19-23 July,
1999. Information about the Congress and also Homepage of the Australian Rangeland Society].
< http://agronomy.ucdavis.edu/calrng/rgldcom.htm > [Newsletter called "Rangeland
Communities which is a newsletter about rangeland eco-systems, people and management put
out by the University of California Cooperative Extension. Also see <
http://agronomy.ucdavis.edu/calrng/Range1.htm > which is the California Rangelands website
containing information about California's 60 million acres of rangelands. University of
California at Davis. Also see < http://agronomy.ucdavis.edu/agronomy/HOMEPG.HTM >
information about the Agronomy and range science Dept., University of California at Davis].
< http://plants.usda.gov/plants > [United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National
Resources Conservation Service Plants National Database and links to other USDA web sites].
< http://www.nhq.nrcs.usda.gov/land/strat/graz.html > [Information about US Grazing lands].
< http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/pr > [Website for the Agriculture Research Service of the USDA
including publications, press releases and features; on one of the sites <
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/np/range.html > a USDA Agricultural Research Service publication
entitled "A Vision for Rangeland Research" is mentioned].
< http://cnrit.tamu.edu/SRM > [Website for the US Society for Range Management].
< http://cnrit.tamu.edu/rsg/ > [The Ranching Systems Group Homepage].
< http://agcomwww.tamu.edu/agcom/publish/extpubs/range.htm > [Details of Publications of the
Texas Agricultural Extension Service on grazing management, ranch management etc.].
< http://www.agnic.org > [Website for the Agricultural Network Information Centre (AgNic)]
< http://ag.arizona.edu/OALS/agnic/management.html > [University of Arizona AgNic
Rangeland Management - Management Practices (Information to assist the day to day
management of rangelands); Range Science; Databases - see following site
< http://ag.arizona.edu/OALS/agnic/general.html >]
< http://ag.arizona.edu/OALS/ALN/ALNHome.html > [Office of Arid Lands Studies at the
University of Arizona; information about the Arid Lands newsletter which is published twice per
year].
< http://ag.arizona.edu/OALS/IALC/Home.html > [Homepage of the International Arid Lands
Consortium (IALC) information about activities, meetings, fellowships, projects etc.].
< http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov > [ Website for the Space Shuttle Observation Project Database of
photographic information, NASA USA. Photographs of the earth from space]
< http://www.cabi.org/index.htm > [CAB International - organization
information/publishing and scientific services on agriculture, forestry etc.]
providing
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< http://ianrwww.unl.edu/ianr/cgs/newsletr.htm > [University of Nebraska Centre for Grasslands
newsletters]
< http://www.abdn.ac.uk/~agr726/aslam.htm > [ A site called Rangelands, developed to provide
links with different rangeland, organic farming and environmental organisations by a group of
students at University of Aberdeen UK. This site has four main sections first section will be an
electronic journal (at the moment this is under a trial period up to six
months), second section is about international organisations in rangeland, grassland or the
organic farming field, the third section is about environmental organisations and the fourth has
all major search engines.
< http://res.agr.ca/PUB/CDRN/engmain.html > [The Canadian Dairy Research Network]
< http://www.i-way.co.uk/~bgs/ > [The British Grassland Society Website]
< http://dizzy.library.arizona.edu:8000/jrm/ > [Journal of Range Management website including
the latest issue and archives].
< http://agweb.tamu.edu/uvalde/jrm/jrmrecen.htm > [Electronic Journal. of Range Management]
< http://agweb.tamu.edu/uvalde/rangel/home.htm > [Electronic version of Rangelands, A
Publication of the Society for Range Management].
< http://www.mluri.sari.ac.uk/~mi361/lsird.htm > [LSIRD Online. European Network for
Livestock Systems and Integrated Rural Development. LSIRDnetwork is a Concerted Action
funded by the European Commission to coordinate European research activities in the
field of domestic livestock in disadvantaged regions.]
< http://www.info.usaid.gov/ > [USAID homepage].
< http://www.cgiar.org/ILRI/ > [Homepage of ILRI The International Livestock Research
Institute].
< http://www-esd.worldbank.org/html/esd/env/envmain.htm > [The Environment Department at
the World Bank].
< http://www.tag.csiro.au/ > {Tropical Agriculture CSIRO Australia; site developed to include
the activities of the merged Division of Tropical Animal Production and the Division of
Tropical Crops and Pastures].
< http://www.dpi.qld.gov.au/ > [Homesite of the Department of Primary Industries, Queensland
Australia].
< http://www.agric.gov.ab.ca/crops/forage/index.html > [Alberta Canada Forages and Range
site].
< http://wwwscas.cit.cornell.edu/forage/ > [Cornell University forage site]
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< http://www.ru.ac.za/rgi/gssa/ > [Homepage of the Grassland Society of Southern Africa
includes information on Policy-making for sustainable use of communal rangelands,
Publications, The Schools Project, Arid Zone Ecology Forum, Grazing Capacity Information
System, Publications and SA Communal Rangelands Network].
< http://www.isc.tamu.edu/FLORA/gallery.html > [ Texas A & M Vascular Plant Image
Gallery].
< http://www.nerdworld.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?cat=508 > [Agriculture related links; listing of
sites A-Z.]
< http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/library/related.html > [Oklahoma State University USA:
Livestock, range and pasture information].
< http://www.okstate.edu/OSU_Ag/agedcm4h/pearl/rangemgt/rangemgt.htm > [Publications on
range management from Cooperative Extension Service of the Oklahoma State University].
< http://www.ianr.unl.edu/pubs/Range > [Forage and range resource publications from
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Institute for Agriculture and Natural Resources].
< http://www.erinet.com/carl/feed.html > {Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas
(A*L*O*T) Angus Association; feeds and feeding linka arranged in alphabetical order].
< http://www.ul.cs.cmu.edu/books/domestic_animals/ani001.htm > [NRC (National Research
Council USA) Livestock Feed Requirement Standards - Effect of environment on nutrient
requirement of domestic animals].
< http://www.pastoralsystems.co.nz > [ Tools for Pastoral Resource Assessment and
Management - RAPS, Computer - base Resource Assessment for Pastoral Farming Systems.
RAPS is designed to aid managerial, policy and development decisions, primarily by analysing
land and forage resources for their productivity and livestock support capacity.It does this by
taking system complexity and resource component inter-relationships into
account. While RAPS is mainly used for assessing livestock support capacities and evaluating
development options, its use extends far beyond that. RAPS offers a new approach to pastoral
resource assessment].
<
http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FaoInfo/Agricult/AGA/AGAP/FRG/Default.htm
>
[TROPICAL FEEDS(FAO database on 700 feeds); First FAO Electronic Conference (1995)
Tropical Feeds and Feeding Systems; Second FAO Electronic Conference (September 1996 February 1997) Livestock Feed Resources within Integrated Farming Systems]
< http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/subst/home/home.html/8908-3295744-803802 >
< http://www.powerup.com.au/~tgsoaust/books.htm >
< http://www.cabi.org/catalog/catalog.htm >
[Bookshops on the Internet]
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FAO Grassland and Pasture Crops Group Homepage
< http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FaoInfo/Agricult/AGP/AGPC/GP/Default.htm >
This homepage was developed in late 1996 just prior to the World Food Summit. Visitors to the
site will be provided with information on the work of the Grassland and Forage Crops Group of
the Plant Production and Protection Division, Crop and Grassland Service. Included is
information on the various Working Groups including the Temperate Asia Working Group and
details of activities, coordinators etc.
The site is presently being revised so that much more information will be available including a
Grass/ Legume database, publications, Proceedings of Workshops and Meetings etc. as well as
links to other sites.
Probable future design of the Homepage:
Grassland and Pasture Crops Group [About the Group]
-----------------------------------------Tropical Grasses and Legumes (database) [later to be expanded to include temperate species]
Country Pasture/Forage Resource Profiles
Electronic Conferences
Electronic Library [Proceedings, Workshops, Bibliographies etc.]
Publications
Events
Pictures
New Items
Links
------------------------------------------Country Pasture/Forage Resource Profile Initiative
One of the new initiatives of the Grassland and Pasture Crops Group is the Country
Pasture/Forage Resource Profile. This is being developed to make available on the Internet basic
information about the pasture and forage resources in countries (starting with countries where
there are pasture and fodder scientists who are members of one of the FAO sponsored Working
Groups or where FAO has ongoing activities or projects). Presently it is difficult to obtain
information about individual countries. In collaboration with the University of Queensland a
Proforma has been developed and presently profiles are under preparation for
South Pacific: (Vanuatu), Samoa and Tonga.
S.E. Asia: (Thailand), Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines.
Temperate Asia: India and Pakistan.
Africa: Kenya
[Discussions are underway for additional profiles for Tanzania, Argentina, Brazil and Chile].
Each profile will provide a broad overview of relevant general, topographical, climatic and
agroecological information with focus on livestock production systems and the pasture /forage
resource and information concerning key institutions and personnel and their current research
interests and selected references. Each profile will have a custodian responsible for updating.
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