A worker sorts carrots at a wholesale vegetable market in Mumbai, India. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

Japan Has a Bunch of New Tech Ideas—including Nine Breeds of Carrots
Taro Takagi has helped develop nine breeds of carrots intended to feed millions in Asia—a prime example of how Japan now aims to use new technology to become an agricultural powerhouse. Prime Minister Abe wants to turn the food business, where Japan has a $70 billion annual trade deficit, into an export-growth sector along the lines of other science-heavy Japanese businesses such as high-speed rail and carbon-fiber materials.

How One NGO Could Reverse Latin America’s Urban Migration by Boosting Rural Life
Geographer Marcela Benitez spent the early 1990s conducting research in decaying rural villages in Argentina. Now, she entices young entrepreneurs to move to those same small villages to help reverse their decline and turn them into affordable, vibrant enclaves. There is big potential, she said, to live well in rural towns.

A New Agriculture App Could Usher in a 'Golden' Era for Myanmar Farmers
Impact Terra launched with the aim of providing digital solutions to rural farmers’ most common issues. With their Golden Paddy app, farmers can input information about where they’re located and what types of crops they grow. The service then customizes app content based on their circumstances, offering information on weather forecasts, crop market prices, best practices, financing opportunities, and other valuable data.

Making Farming More Profitable—and Thwarting Boko Haram
An organization in Nigeria, Babban Gona, is building agricultural franchises to create economic alternatives to joining extremist groups by creating and supporting grass-roots farmers’ cooperatives with training, services, and credit. It provides loans to the farmers, supports them through the planting and harvest seasons, and offers them equity ownership in the cooperatives, which range in size from three to 10 people.