REUTERS/Siegfried Modola
Livestock Insurance Could Protect Cattle-Herders in Africa from Drought
Index-Based Livestock Insurance, being piloted in Kenya, uses data from satellite imagery to assess the impact of drought on the vegetation that livestock need to survive, allowing insured pastoralists to receive a pay-out in times of drought based on predicted rather than actual livestock deaths. It is a promising option for addressing poverty traps that arise from catastrophic drought risk.
What Do African Farmers Want? More Manure
The Guardian Project Foundation’s initiative works as a pay-it-forward scheme, with farmers given a female sheep or goat as an interest free loan. Access to manure from the animal can increase crop yields by up to 300%. The increased income and greater stability in the communities involved in the project has led to significant improvements outside farming and food, including in healthcare and education.
Arctic Greenhouse Provides Locals Fresh Produce Year-Round
A greenhouse based in a northern Canadian community is providing fresh local produce for residents of the Arctic region for the first time. The greenhouse will help improve local food security by extending the growing season past the summer months.
Solar Energy: A Sunflower Solution to Electricity Shortage
IBM revealed the prototype of its advanced solar electricity generators: the machines can convert 80% of the sun’s radiation into electricity and hot water. At present, about 1.3 billion people have no access to electricity. However, that figure is dwarfed by the number—2.5 billion—who have no access to proper sanitation; a number that is currently increasing at a rate of 9% a year.
Big Ideas and Emerging Innovations
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
Expert Commentary – Eliminating the Scourge of Stunting
Much of the malnutrition in the world today is invisible to policy makers, politicians, and families.
Advancing Global Food Security in the Face of a Changing Climate
The Chicago Council on Global Affairs released a report urging the US government to take action to curb the risks climate change poses to global food security.
Commentary - Climate Smart Agriculture: An Opportunity to Secure the Future
The Chicago Council’s 2014 flagship agriculture publication, points to two large and interrelated challenges. I term them a ‘double whammy’: the prospects of increasing food insecurity in the wake of climate change and consequent volatile weather.
Live Blog Post - Every Farmer Wants What I Have
A recap of the "Managing Risks Associated with Volatile Weather, Changing Climates, and Resource Scarcity" panel at our fifth Global Food Security Symposium 2014 in Washington, DC.
Food Security From the Ground Up
Taking on food security amidst the threat of increased climate instability is a formidable task.
Expert Commentary by Trey Hill
As a large grain producer, living in the mid Atlantic, I am able to see agriculture and food production from a unique perspective.
Commentary - Models Agree: Climate Change Will Put Pressure on Crop Yields in Large Areas of the Developing World
The Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP)’s global gridded crop model results, cited in the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, show that crop yields without adaptation will decline in large areas of the developing world by the end of the century.
Live Blog Post - Climate-Smart Food Security
At the Chicago Council’s Global Food Security Symposium today in Washington, DC, a panel on “Climate-Smart Food Security” addressed the role of family farmers in mitigating the effects of climate change including: climate-smart approaches already being used by smallholder farmers, opportunities to preserve natural resources, and the need for a “brown revolution.”
Expert Commentary by James Cameron
There remains a stubborn lack of understanding about the systemic connection between water, food, energy and the climate – and what this means for the future feeding of the world.
Commentary - Optimism about Agriculture’s Adaptive Capacity
The impacts of a changing climate on food security projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the National Climate Assessment and now the Chicago Council on Global Affairs raise legitimate concerns about the global food system’s ability to meet increasing challenges.
Expert Commentary by Chris Policinski
Discussions this week about the impact weather volatility and climate change have on global food production provide additional, powerful evidence of the fragile state of our world’s food security.
Live Blog Post - The Climate-Food Nexus and What It Means for Conflict, Economic Growth, and Sustainability
The first session of the 2014 Symposium brought together a renowned panel with a wide range of backgrounds including a journalist, two private sector representatives , an NGO executive, a farmer, and a scientist.
Commentary - Combating Hunger is Common Ground for Mothers Worldwide
As a mother, nothing is more important to me than the health and safety of my children.
Commentary - Resilient Smallholder Farming Systems Are Vital for Global Food Security and Nutrition
The growing incidence and intensity of extreme weather events and rising price volatility are cases in point of shocks that increasingly threaten the global food system.
Commentary - Advancing Sustainable Solutions for Global Access to Nutrition
Given the unprecedented scale and scope of changes taking place around the world today—societal, climatic, technological—we need to be more strategic, active and cooperative than ever before to achieve the solutions we need for a healthy planet and thriving global society.