Although climate change remains top of the environmental and political agenda, one of the other items which remains hot on its heels, is the development of sustainable agricultural and food production systems. Implicit in this debate is the provision of nutritious food to an ever-growing human population. Micronutrient deficiency in both crop plants and the human diet remains a critical issues in many areas of the world, including the developed nations. This book takes a global view of the situation, presenting the latest information. The chapters are authored by world experts in the subject area (e.g., Robin Graham, Ismail Cakmak, Patrick Brown, Ross Welch, etc.). The book starts with a general introduction of the topic and then presents a series of geographical focused studies at the national (e.g. Turkey, USA, China) and continental scale (e.g. Africa, Europe, South America). The book ends with a chapter describing the role of micronutrients in human nutrition and ways in which crop plants can be managed to alleviate malnutrition.

Overall, the book is well written and contains lots of valuable information suitable for a range of audiences. The figures are sometimes of poor quality and the chapters all have a different emphasis owing to the dominant issues in that region.

Whilst this does give the book a disjointed feel at times, it still contains a wealth of information and, in my view, represents a worthy purchase. It will make good reading for many agronomy, plant nutrition and agricultural extension professionals.