News Overview

By Delphine Leconte-Demarsy and Brendan Rice March 20, 2025 Fertilizer prices experienced a significant surge in 2021, driven by the post-COVID 19 global economic recovery. Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine propelled prices even higher. Broad economic sanctions on key fertilizer exporters Russia and Belarus exempted agricultural products but triggered further economic disruptions. Overall, the conflict heightened market uncertainties regarding

By Manuel Hernandez, Valeria Piñeiro, and Maria Lucia Berrospi March 10, 2025 There are over 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. More than half of this population is from Mexico (37%) and Central America (19%) (Figure 1). Over the past four years, annual apprehensions of foreign nationals at U.S. borders—most along the border with Mexico—have fluctuated between 1.6 million and 2.2 million.

By Tamsin Zandstra, Roos Verstraeten, Ampa Dogui Diatta, Loty Diop, and Mariama Touré March 7, 2025

By Jef L. Leroy, Rebecca Brander, Edward A. Frongillo, Leila M. Larson, Marie Ruel, and Rasmi Avula March 5, 2025 It’s a familiar scene: parents patiently waiting for their young child to be measured by a nurse or community health worker. The measurements are then plotted on a growth chart, guiding conversations with parents about their child’s nutrition, health, and development.

By Joseph Glauber, Valeria Piñeiro, and Juan Pablo Gianatiempo March 4, 2025 With new U.S. tariffs on Canada and Mexico now in effect, what are the potential impacts on trade among those countries and across the Western Hemisphere? In a previous post, we examined how the tariffs could potentially impact countries in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) based on current agricultural trade

By Abdullah Mamun and Joseph Glauber February 26, 2025 Global agricultural markets have been in a constant state of uproar over the past five years. Trade wars between major trading nations such as China, the United States, and Australia, supply chain disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s war in Ukraine, crisis in the Middle East, and export restrictions in many countries have

By Carlo Azzarri, Beliyou Haile, and Sedi-Anne Boukaka February 24, 2025 Sustainable agricultural development has long been heralded as a vital pathway to alleviating poverty and hunger in Africa, where smallholder farming predominates across diverse landscapes and local conditions changing due to climate impacts and other factors. Sustainable intensification (SI) approaches—tailored to local conditions—offer a range of farming techniques designed

Press Release: February 20, 2025 A new study published in Advances in Nutrition critically examines the effectiveness of Growth Monitoring and Promotion (GMP) in diagnosing or screening for inadequate growth in children. GMP tracks children’s growth through regular measurements (usually weight) plotted on a growth chart. This information is used to support promotional activities, including personalized counseling sessions for parents. Conducted by researchers from