A worker sorts tomatoes at a warehouse of Yuzhny agricultural complex in the town of Ust-Dzheguta, in the republic of Karachaevo-Cherkessia, Russia. REUTERS/Eduard Korniyenko
Food and Security Symposium 2018: Mark Your Calendars and Engage the Next Generation
Mark your calendars for the 2018 Global Food Security Symposium March 21 and 22, 2018 in Washington, DC! Do you know of a student who is interested in shaping new ideas for food security and agricultural development? Encourage them to apply now to join the 2018 Next Generation Student Delegation. Applications are due on or before Sunday, November 5.
This New Tool is the Latest Effort by the Gates Foundation to Bring Innovation to Payment Infrastructure
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will release free and open source software to address the lack of interoperability between financial service providers and payments platforms. The code is called Mojaloop, building on the Swahili word moja, which means one. The Gates Foundation expects the code will serve as a reference model for payment operability across Africa and Asia.
Featured Commentary—Recipe for Creating Zero Hunger
Ertharin Cousin says that ending hunger and chronic malnutrition remains within our grasp. The ingredients required for ending hunger also include-sustainable and durable food systems (from fork to farm), elimination of malnutrition (particularly stunting), elimination of food waste, and universal access to nutritious food all year long-all quite feasible.
A MacArthur ‘Genius’ on Overcoming Modern Farm Slavery
Greg Asbed was just awarded a fellowship from the MacArthur Foundation to support his work in agricultural slavery. He recently got companies like McDonald’s and Walmart to agree to pay a small premium for each unit of crop they purchase. In return, growers agree to abide by a code of conduct on issues like worker safety and pay. Asbed plans to put the entirety of his grant back into the Coalition of Immokalee Workers.
How Data Science and Gene Editing Will Transform Farming
Now there are new technologies on the rise that promise to reshape the world of agriculture. Gene editing lets scientists remove negative traits from an organism or add positive ones without introducing any foreign DNA. Proponents say the method is simply what farmers have been doing for centuries—breeding for certain traits—only done much faster and more efficiently.