Essentially, some 24 crops protect people from starvation; to know how they function and how productivity may be improved is crucial to solving world food problems. All aspects of the major food crops from field to table are reviewed here with emphasis on the physiology of grain yields, biological nitrogen fixation and its importance in lowering dependence on fossil-dependent fertilizers, breeding for drought and salinity resistance, processing of perishable foods to prevent postharvest losses, and nutrition information and processing technology that is increasing understanding of basic food crops in human nutrition. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.