World Food Day: How can data science and modelling help smallholders adapt to climate change?
Data science and modelling are relatively new concepts when it comes to farming. For centuries, smallholders have carefully passed down agricultural skills from generation to generation. They depended on this knowledge. And stable seasons and weather meant this information remained relevant for years.
Microbial communities and their effects on corn and soybean growth
Microbes are essential for the health of living organisms, whether they be in humans, animals or in the soil. In recent years, soil microbial communities have emerged as a hot topic of research, because of the role they play in healthy, productive soil – essential for growing food and feeding a predicted population of nine…
World Food Day: How can we work together to help smallholders meet the challenge of agricultural diversification?
In a warming climate, we must rely on a wider range of crops to feed the world. While agricultural diversification has been put forward as a solution, can smallholder farmers afford to diversify? And, if not, how can we work together so that they do not face the challenges alone? By: Dr Morris Akiri, Regional…
How crop diversity could help secure our future food supply
Diversity within maize. Image source: Sam Fentress, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1293212 16 October is World Food Day (#WFD2016); this year’s theme is ‘Climate is changing. Food and agriculture must too.’ Jennifer Cunniff, plant scientist in CABI’s editorial team looks at how harnessing crop diversity is vital for us to meet the challenge. Of the wide…
World Food Day – What’s the Point?
Today, October the 16th, is World Food Day. As it was last year. As it will be next year. But, does having a day dedicated to the world’s food security problems do any good? I ask myself.