Simplemente agotado … how tired!! Sunburned, running low on water and my trousers caked with mud—that’s how my first day of field research in the Yeguare River valley, Honduras, ended back in 2002. From that day on, for two years, I imagined myself aboard Darwin’s Beagle or the Victoria, the carrack on which Magellan had circumnavigated the globe. On my daily journey of ecological discovery
By Michael Keenan, Jawoo Koo, Christine Mwangi, Naureen Karachiwalla, Clemens Breisinger, and MinAh Kim December 31, 2024 A key objective of research is to ensure that audiences—including scientists, policymakers, and lay readers—find it valuable and apply it effectively. Yet, communicating research to these audiences is rarely straightforward. Readers are inundated with information, making accessible, understandable communication critical. Trust in the credibility of the content
By Zhe Guo, Upeksha Hettiarachchi, and Wei Zhang December 31, 2024 Crop mapping—identifying what farmers are growing on their fields—is essential to agricultural and land use planning and management. It is used to generate yield estimates and crop acreage statistics, predict food prices and assess damages from disasters and also to evaluate ecosystem health—all functions essential for agricultural export nations such as
By Emily Kilonzi, Berber Kramer, and Carly Trachtman January 15, 2025 Despite breakthroughs in genetic innovation such as drought-tolerant, pest-resistant, and biofortified crop varieties, many farmers continue to grow older, familiar varieties, even as the new alternatives promise higher yields, improved nutrition, and greater climate resilience. This is one reason why research efforts to quantify the impact of genetic innovation often
By Joseph Glauber and Juan Pablo Gianatiempo January 17, 2025 Donald Trump’s return to the White House likely also signals the return of the unilateral trade policies that characterized his first term and precipitated trade wars between the United States and many of its trading partners, most notably China. As a candidate, the president-elect threatened a number of adverse trade actions including raising tariffs
By Michael Keenan, Erwin Bulte, Luc Christiaensen, Thomas Reardon, and Hannah Reed January 22, 2025 Agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa continues to underperform despite its vast potential, as production struggles to keep up with population growth, primarily driven by unsustainable land expansion rather than productivity gains. For example, in Kenya, maize yields have stagnated at around 1.5 metric tons (MT) per hectare since
By Steven Were Omamo January 24, 2025 Much has been said and written of late about the linkages between conflict and hunger. There is good reason for this: 65% of the world’s acutely food-insecure people live in conflict-affected countries. Typically, two claims are made about the conflict-hunger linkage. First, that conflict breeds hunger. This claim is supported by so much evidence that in 2018 the United
By Danielle Resnick January 28, 2025 On January 28, the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) will lose three of its founding members—Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger—comprising 16% of its population of 424 million and 7% of its GDP. Labeled “Sahelexit” by some commentators, the decision to leave ECOWAS was first announced a year ago by the three countries’ trio of military leaders and is now poised