September 19, 2016

Big Ideas and Emerging Innovations


A fisherman rides on a banca to inspect fish pens that needs to be dismantled to make way for an expressway at Laguna de Bay in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila October 7, 2015. REUTERS/Erik De Castro​

This New Digital Tool Can Help Fight Overfishing around the World
Oceana’s Global Fishing Watch uses satellite tracking data to reveal the movements of at least 35,000 commercial fishing vessels around the world. Now anyone can see the activity of a specific vessel and whether that activity appears to be suspicious or suggestive of illegal fishing. Global Fishing Watch will aid enforcement of fishing policy and increase transparency to reduce seafood fraud.

TV Dinners
Microsoft has been developing a suite of technologies to slash the cost of precision agriculture by employing unoccupied slices of radio frequencies used for TV broadcasts to make crop data available to farmers. In cities, tiny slices of these white-space frequencies sell for millions, but in the sparsely populated countryside there is unlicensed space galore. These new technologies allow farmers to save money and boost outputs.

Going for Gold: Introducing the WINnERs Project
You’ve probably been consumed recently by the summer Olympics, but athletics are not the only arena to look for the mastering of exceptional feats. There’s a future gold medalist winner of a different ilk that you might want to keep your eye on: a project called WINnERS (Weather Index-Based Risk Services) that is working to build climate-resilient food supply chains.

Irrigation Turns Drought to Cash for Cameroon's Vegetable Farmers
A new channel irrigation system is allowing farmers to access water for their fields despite Cameroon’s steep, rocky terrain, helping them grow vegetables throughout the year and better manage worsening drought associated with climate change. With access to irrigation, farmers—many of them women—can produce five vegetable harvests a year.

Hidden Data: The New Weapon that Could Beat Hunger
A major agricultural data consortium aims to spur innovation by making information already being gathered from satellites, fields, and villages available to the public. Villages often have mountains of data on issues from land ownership to harvest records, but until now, no processes for sharing it at regional or national levels, or putting it online.

Smarter Farming Could Cut Hunger in Drought-Hit Southern Africa: Researchers
Southern African farmers facing hunger as a result of worsening drought know a lot about climate change, but lack the resources to put solutions that work into place, agriculture and development researchers say. But a new regional push, focused on promoting actions to adapt agriculture and curb growing hunger, could help.

 

About

The Global Food and Agriculture Program aims to inform the development of US policy on global agricultural development and food security by raising awareness and providing resources, information, and policy analysis to the US Administration, Congress, and interested experts and organizations.

The Global Food and Agriculture Program is housed within the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, an independent, nonpartisan organization that provides insight – and influences the public discourse – on critical global issues. The Council on Global Affairs convenes leading global voices and conducts independent research to bring clarity and offer solutions to challenges and opportunities across the globe. The Council is committed to engaging the public and raising global awareness of issues that transcend borders and transform how people, business, and governments engage the world.

Support for the Global Food and Agriculture Program is generously provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Blogroll

1,000 Days Blog, 1,000 Days

Africa Can End Poverty, World Bank

Agrilinks Blog

Bread Blog, Bread for the World

Can We Feed the World Blog, Agriculture for Impact

Concern Blogs, Concern Worldwide

Institute Insights, Bread for the World Institute

End Poverty in South Asia, World Bank

Global Development Blog, Center for Global Development

The Global Food Banking Network

Harvest 2050, Global Harvest Initiative

The Hunger and Undernutrition Blog, Humanitas Global Development

International Food Policy Research Institute News, IFPRI

International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center Blog, CIMMYT

ONE Blog, ONE Campaign

One Acre Fund Blog, One Acre Fund

Overseas Development Institute Blog, Overseas Development Institute

Oxfam America Blog, Oxfam America

Preventing Postharvest Loss, ADM Institute

Sense & Sustainability Blog, Sense & Sustainability

WFP USA Blog, World Food Program USA

Archive

Big Ideas and Emerging Innovations

Highlighting technologies, approaches, and ideas that have the potential to radically advance global food security. 



Big Ideas and Emerging Innovations

Highlighting technologies, approaches, and ideas that have the potential to radically advance global food security. 





Big Ideas and Emerging Innovations

Highlighting technologies, approaches, and ideas that have the potential to radically advance global food security. 





Gene Editing: Moving Beyond GMO

A recent breakthrough in gene editing has opened the floodgates of genetics, plant breeding, and agricultural science. But where does this new technology take us? 

Big Ideas and Emerging Innovations

Highlighting technologies, approaches, and ideas that have the potential to radically advance global food security.