About Us

CropsReview.Com is a personal website. It is registered with dmoz.org as an educational site specifically on science and agriculture.

This site provides information on the basics, advances, and practices in plant agriculture or crop science, the branch of agriculture which deals with crop production. It also deals with subjects in related and component fields such as botany, genetics, plant physiology, plant propagation, and farming systems. This site was conceptualized in 2010. The domain was registered on July 13, 2010, and was officially launched soon thereafter with the online publication of “Classifications of Agricultural Crops” in PDF.

Cropsreview is a word that the owner-founder of this site himself coined and should mean “to review, to rediscuss, or to go back to some topic related to crops”. It is a combination of the two words crops, for agricultural crops, and review, as in “to re-view or to go back to a past lesson”. It also means Crop Science Review.

This site banners the tagline Towards a Sculpted Contour in Agriculture which reflects the ultimate vision of its owner-founder. Visitors are hereby enjoined to dissect it and discover what it really means. The site likewise encourages critical thinking.

Many pages are based on a review of related literature. The listed references are chosen with care and will hopefully become useful to those who are searching for primary sources of information. There are pages also which provide verified application of technology hinged upon user experience. Some pages provide critical analysis as well as post questions fitting for the site’s slogan.

The following reasons and experiences of the owner-founder-webmaster contributed to the making and continuing existence of cropsreview.com:  

1. The owner-founder-webmaster has been in proximity to plants since childhood. He has lived and farmed where the only means of transportation was by foot and by carabao and horse “power” along narrow, steeply sloping trails and, during rains, muddy and slippery.

2. In his teaching career, he found it necessary to conduct periodic reviews on certain topics in crop science. He also realized that it was necessary to verify the correctness of what he has learned and to make regular updating. Agriculture is dynamic and new discoveries are generated at a fast rate.

Unfortunately, information materials and access thereto are not always availing, and thus conclusions are made subject to limitations set forth in the information that comes at hand. This especially applies to the poor in locations where public libraries are not so well equipped.

He himself is a living witness to the inequality in the exercise of the right to information. That students repeatedly avail of his meager collection of literature for their assignments and research only shows how miserable one can be when availability and access to literature are limited. This library itself needs plenty of outside help so it can be stocked more.

3. Everyone has his own unique experiences and practical methods of farming. Farmers themselves conduct researches, usually by trial and error over a long period of time. If only made known, these can become a valuable basis for formal research or simulated application. It’s a waste if all these are lost.

The owner-founder himself has had access to some valuable information but, failing to document the same, they have long been reduced to nothing. The memory just cannot be accorded total reliance; it degenerates with the passage of time. Similarly, even printed sources in one’s possession do not live forever. Hopefully, you can help preserve these unique practices.

4. The Internet has become a powerful venue that can be tapped by one who wants to share and by those who are in need of relevant, credible, and comprehensive information.

5. The owner-founder holds that expertise in agriculture is only true up to certain points. In particular, he has realized through his past experiences as a mango production contractor and farm consultant that there is no such thing as an absolute expert on mango farming. If there be any, he is one who has both the theoretical knowledge and hard experience, enough to be confident that he has the best chance of obtaining a successful harvest and yet wary too that crop failure is always possible.

The owner-founder continues to educate himself just about anything related to crop farming, by reading and by actual application. What he learns, both the good and the lessons, he wishes to preserve and to share with others who are searching for the same.

To be clear, cropsreview.com operates as an information provider and is financed out of personal funds including income generated from click-ads and affiliate marketing. Its continuous operation, therefore, hinges on financial availability.


Words of Caution

Visitors to this site are hereby advised to exercise caution in copying and using the scientific names of plants and other organisms provided herein. Recent access to online taxonomic help (www.theplantlist.org and https://itis.gov/) revealed that significant changes have happened.

For example, Coleus blumei for the plant having the vernacular name “mayana” appears to have become a mere synonym of the accepted Plectranthus scutellarioides (L.) R.Br.

While author took earnest effort to verify and believed in the accuracy of the scientific name at the time that it was published, he is not an expert in taxonomy.

Photo of author

Ben Bareja

Ben Bareja, the owner-founder-webmaster of CropsReview.com. This website was conceptualized primarily to serve as an e-library for reference purposes on the principles and practices in crop science, including basic botany. Read more here