Growing concerns about potential negative impacts of agrochemicals on the environment and human health have generated an increasing need for alternative, non-chemical crop production methods. This book provides a review of the research advancements on non-chemical weed management from agronomic, economic and environmental perspectives.

Subject chapters target prevention, weed–crop interactions, cultural, mechanical and thermal weed management, cover crops, allelopathy, biocontrol, bioherbicides, non-living mulches, and solarization. In the closing synopsis the editors conclude that a sound weed management strategy should not simply target elimination of weeds but rather be aimed at keeping them at acceptable infestation levels. This should be done through prevention, enhancement of crop competitive ability and the use of multiple control practices to prevent the adaptation of weed species to single control technologies.

Despite the aforementioned conclusion, the book marginally discusses weed competitive and suppressive crop varieties and ways to exploit genetic variation in these traits to the benefit of weed management. There was equally little information about subsistence cropping systems in the tropics where non-chemical weed management is often a necessity rather than a choice.

However, the book excels by illustrating just how difficult it is to optimize economic and environmental benefits while effectively targeting weeds. This book is an asset to the existing weed science literature as it presents an accurate and up-to-date overview of non-chemical solutions, discussed in a balanced and well-thought-out manner, making it an enjoyable and useful read.