Accelerating population growth, ecological hazards and changes in market supply and demand make it necessary that scientists maintain a constant search for improved varieties of the major crops and also endeavour to diversify production by the development of locally grown but under-utilized crop plants. This book contains forty papers from prominent scientists on a wide variety of temperate and tropical crops, such as linseed, evening primrose oil and palms, and illustrates how their potential exploitation may lessen the world's precarious dependence on just seven major crops.