June 15, 2015

Big Ideas and Emerging Innovations

REUTERS/Amit Dave

How Little Red Dots Could Help Women and Babies Stay Healthy
In India, the bindi has also become popular among women of all ages, as a beauty mark. And it comes in all colors, shapes and sizes. Now an initiative called Life Saving Dot is trying use bindis to deliver an essential micronutrient to women who might not be getting enough. The organization has come up with a way to coat the back of bindis with iodine. 
 
How Cell Phones Can Help End World Hunger
Forget satellites, drones or other high-tech innovations. For small-scale farmers across the globe, a simple cell phone has become one of the most powerful tools for boosting one’s harvest and, along with it, his or her family’s and community’s food supply. Farmers are using cellular technology to share crucial information about weather, rainfall, and market demand, along with seed prices, empowering millions of them to grow more food at a time when the world needs it most.
 
Cracking the Coconut: 4 Ways to Improve Financial Security for Smallholder Farmers
In less than 10 years, demand for coconut products has skyrocketed. The coconut water industry, for example, is now worth more than $1 billion. Yet very little of the rewards have trickled down to smallholder farmers in coconut producing countries. Grameen Foundation believes focusing on four key areas will help coconut farmers achieve household resiliency and greater economic security.
 
How One Small Loudoun Nonprofit Hopes to Help Save the Honeybee
The plight of the threatened honeybee was made a national priority last month when President Obama announced the first National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators. In Washington, a small nonprofit has been working steadily toward the same goal as it tries to cultivate a genetic line of honeybees that is specifically suited for survival in the metropolitan region and beyond.
 
7 Challenges the Agriculture Sector Must Address to Unleash Its Data Revolution
From filling data gaps —such as identifying the causes of food loss — to helping farmers with weather or market updates, to providing government agencies with key information regarding crop diseases, open data holds the promise of providing many solutions to problems related to food systems. Here are seven main ways enthusiasts and specialists can help unleash the data revolution in the agriculture sector.
 
Global Horticultural Knowledge Bank Emphasizes Farmer-Led Innovations
Valuable specialty crops are key to both the economic progress of developing countries and the nutrition of local populations. However, specialty crops are also knowledge-intensive. The newly created Global Horticulture Knowledge Bank is collaborating with extension and development workers in low-income nations to transfer relevant research and technology to farmers.

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


| By Roger Thurow

Turning Nutrition Knowledge Into Action

As part of the "Growing Food for Growing Cities" series, Council senior fellow Roger Thurow speaks about mothers around the word in their struggle to purchase nutritious foods for their families, and his new book, The First 1,000 Days. 









Ann Veneman Honored at Women Making History

The Honorable Ann Veneman, former Executive Director of UNICEF and former Secretary of Agriculture, has been honored by the National Women’s History Museum at their Women Making History Event.