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• Published: 23 December 2021

On-Farm Experimentation to transform global agriculture

• Myrtille Lacoste   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6557-1865 1 , 2 ,
• Simon Cook   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0902-1476 1 , 3 ,
• Matthew McNee 4 ,
• Danielle Gale   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-3733-025X 1 ,
• Julie Ingram   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0712-4789 5 ,
• Véronique Bellon-Maurel 6 , 7 ,
• Tom MacMillan   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2893-6981 8 ,
• Roger Sylvester-Bradley 9 ,
• Daniel Kindred   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7910-7676 9 ,
• Rob Bramley   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0643-7409 10 ,
• Nicolas Tremblay   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1409-4442 11 ,
• Louis Longchamps   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4761-6094 12 ,
• Laura Thompson   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5751-7869 13 ,
• Julie Ruiz   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5672-2705 14 ,
• Fernando Oscar García   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6681-0135 15 , 16 ,
• Bruce Maxwell 17 ,
• Terry Griffin   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5664-484X 18 ,
• Thomas Oberthür   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6050-9832 19 , 20 ,
• Christian Huyghe 21 ,
• Weifeng Zhang 22 ,
• John McNamara 23 &
• Andrew Hall   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8580-6569 24  

Nature Food volume  3 ,  pages 11–18 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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Restructuring farmer–researcher relationships and addressing complexity and uncertainty through joint exploration are at the heart of On-Farm Experimentation (OFE). OFE describes new approaches to agricultural research and innovation that are embedded in real-world farm management, and reflects new demands for decentralized and inclusive research that bridges sources of knowledge and fosters open innovation. Here we propose that OFE research could help to transform agriculture globally. We highlight the role of digitalization, which motivates and enables OFE by dramatically increasing scales and complexity when investigating agricultural challenges.

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The authors declare that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information (sources of Figs. 1 – 3 ).

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the Premier’s Agriculture and Food Fellowship Program of Western Australia. This Fellowship is a collaboration between Curtin and Murdoch Universities and the State Government. The Fellowship is the centrepiece of the Science and Agribusiness Connect initiative, made possible by the State Government’s Royalties for Regions program. Additional support was provided by the MAK’IT-FIAS Fellowship programme (Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions – French Institutes for Advanced Study) co-funded by the University of Montpellier and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (co-fund grant agreement no. 945408), the Digital Agriculture Convergence Lab #DigitAg (grant no. ANR-16-CONV-0004) supported by ANR/PIA, and the Elizabeth Creak Charitable Trust. Contributions toward enabling workshops were made by the USDA (USDA AFRI FACT Los Angeles 2017), the International Society for Precision Agriculture (ICPA Montreal 2018 OFE-C, On-Farm Experimentation Community), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFD0201303) and ADAS (Cambridge 2018), the European Conference for Precision Agriculture (ECPA Montpellier 2019) and the OECD Co-operative Research Program for ‘Biological resource management for sustainable agricultural systems – Transformational technologies and innovation’ towards ‘#OFE2021, the first Conference on farmer-centric On-Farm Experimentation – Digital Tools for a Scalable Transformative Pathway’. L. Tresh assisted with the design and preparation of Figs. 2 and 3. Members of the #OFE2021 Working Groups also contributed their experiences and insights.

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Centre for Digital Agriculture, Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Myrtille Lacoste, Simon Cook & Danielle Gale

Montpellier Advanced Knowledge Institute on Transitions (MAK’IT), University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

Myrtille Lacoste

Centre for Digital Agriculture, Murdoch University, Perth, Western Australia, Australia

Department of Agriculture, Falkland Islands Government, Stanley, Falkland Islands

Matthew McNee

Countryside and Community Research Institute, University of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham, UK

Julie Ingram

Technologies and methods for the agricultures of tomorrow (ITAP), University of Montpellier–National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE)–L’Institut Agro, Montpellier, France

Véronique Bellon-Maurel

Digital Agriculture Convergence Lab (#DigitAg), National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Montpellier, France

Centre for Effective Innovation in Agriculture, Royal Agricultural University, Cirencester, UK

Tom MacMillan

ADAS, Cambridge, UK

Roger Sylvester-Bradley & Daniel Kindred

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

Rob Bramley

Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, Canada

Nicolas Tremblay

School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

Louis Longchamps

Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Falls City, NE, USA

Laura Thompson

Watershed and Aquatic Ecosystem Interactions Research Centre (RIVE), Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada

Latin America Southern Cone Group, International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), Buenos Aires, Argentina

Fernando Oscar García

Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, National University of Mar del Plata, Balcarce, Argentina

Montana Institute on Ecosystems, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, USA

Bruce Maxwell

Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA

Terry Griffin

Southeast Asia Group, International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI), Penang, Malaysia

Thomas Oberthür

Business and Partnership Development, African Plant Nutrition Institute (APNI), Benguérir, Morocco

Scientific Direction of Agriculture, National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE), Paris, France

Christian Huyghe

College of Resources and Environmental Sciences and National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, China Agricultural University, Beijing, China

Weifeng Zhang

National Animal Nutrition Program (NANP), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Pullman, WA, USA

John McNamara

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

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Contributions

M.L. and S.C. developed the study concept. M.M., D.G., J.I., V.B.-M., T.M., R.S.-B. and A.H. contributed additional concept development. M.L. and D.G. obtained the data and prepared the results. M.L., M.M., L.T., D.K., F.O.G., B.M., V.B.-M., J.R., C.H. and W.Z. contributed data. M.L. wrote the manuscript with input from all other authors.

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Correspondence to Myrtille Lacoste .

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Peer review information Nature Food thanks Carol Shennan, Petro Kyveryga, Nicolas Martin and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Lacoste, M., Cook, S., McNee, M. et al. On-Farm Experimentation to transform global agriculture. Nat Food 3 , 11–18 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00424-4

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Received : 13 August 2020

Accepted : 05 November 2021

Published : 23 December 2021

Issue Date : January 2022

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00424-4

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• Avishek Chatterjee
• Poulomi Sen

Co-application of Green Manure and Trichoderma spp. Induced Plant Growth Promotion by Nutrient Improvement and Increased Fungal Biomass in Soil

• Waleed Asghar
• Ryota Kataoka

Carbon Footprint and Emission Reduction Strategies During Potato Cultivation

• Jatish Chandra Biswas
• Md Mozammel Haque
• Pil Joo Kim

Impact of Conservation Agriculture on Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration and Enzyme Activity Under Rice–Wheat Cropping System in a Vertisol

• Ranjan Bhattacharyya
• Chaitanya Prasad Nath

The Use of Indigenous Knowledge Systems Practices to Enhance Food Security in Vhembe District, South Africa

• Melanie D. Nicolau
• Shandukani C. Nenwiini

A Study on Licensing-Based Determinants of Seed Variety Commercialization from the Perspective of Licensees

• Neeru Bhooshan
• Akriti Sharma
• Satinder Singh

Phenological Stages Analysis in Grapevines Using an Electronic Nose

• Alan Fernando Coelho Garcia
• Ricardo Antonio Ayub
• Sergio Luiz Stevan

Welcome to AGORA

The AGORA programme, set up by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) together with major publishers, enables developing countries to gain access to an outstanding digital library collection in the fields of food, agriculture, environmental science and related social sciences. AGORA provides a collection of up to 15,500 key journals and up to 48,000 books in more than 115 countries. AGORA is designed to enhance the scholarship of the many thousands of students, faculty and researchers in agriculture and life sciences in the developing world. AGORA is one of the five programmes that make up Research4Life: AGORA, HINARI, OARE, ARDI and GOALI.  

 Collections

Research4Life content is grouped into the following collections:  

• Hinari is one of the world's largest collections of biomedical and health literature.
• AGORA   is an outstanding digital library collection in the fields of food and agriculture .
• ARDI   gives access to   scientific and technical  information.
• GOALI   focuses on  law and social sciences , including politics, economics, philosophy, history and more.
• OARE   collects information resources on environment , including ecology, geography, energy and more.

 Resources for your research

Peer-reviewed international scientific and academic journals, books, and databases from up to 200 publishers

Browse  recent resources  to find content added in the last 30 days.

Agriculture and Food

Agriculture can help reduce poverty, raise incomes and improve food security for 80% of the world's poor, who live in rural areas and work mainly in farming. The World Bank Group is a leading financier of agriculture.

Healthy, sustainable and inclusive food systems are critical to achieve the world’s development goals. Agricultural development is one of the most powerful tools to end extreme poverty, boost shared prosperity, and feed a projected  10 billion people by 2050 . Growth in the agriculture sector is  two to four times more effective  in raising incomes among the poorest compared to other sectors.

Agriculture is also crucial to economic growth: accounting for 4% of global gross domestic product (GDP) and in some least developing countries,  it can account for more than 25% of GDP .

But agriculture-driven growth, poverty reduction, and food security are at risk: Multiple shocks – from COVID-19 related disruptions to extreme weather, pests, and conflicts – are impacting food systems. The goal of ending global hunger by 2030 is currently off track. Conflicts, climate change, and high food prices are driving food and nutrition insecurity, pushing millions into extreme poverty, and reversing hard-won development gains. Around a quarter of a billion people now face acute food insecurity .

The growing impact of climate change could further cut crop yields, especially in the world’s most food-insecure regions. At the same time, our food systems are responsible for about 30% of greenhouse gas emissions.

Current food systems also threaten the health of people and the planet and generate unsustainable levels of pollution and waste. One third of food produced globally is either lost or wasted. Addressing food loss and waste is critical to improving food and nutrition security, as well as helping to meet climate goals and reduce stress on the environment.

Risks associated with poor diets are also the leading cause of death worldwide. Millions of people are either not eating enough or eating the wrong types of food, resulting in a  double burden of malnutrition  that can lead to illnesses and health crises. Food insecurity can worsen diet quality and increase the risk of various forms of malnutrition, potentially leading to undernutrition as well as people being overweight and obese. An estimated 3 billion people in the world cannot afford a healthy diet.

Last Updated: Mar 15, 2024

The World Bank Group provides knowledge, advice, and financial resources in low- and middle-income countries to transform food systems to reduce poverty and achieve green, resilient, and inclusive development.

Our work in food and agriculture focuses on: 

• Food and nutrition security , where we work with efforts to share information, and to rapidly provide resources where they are needed, while helping countries design the long-term reforms needed to build resilient food and nutrition systems.
• Climate-smart agriculture by working with client governments to provide solutions that address global climate priorities, while recognizing national contexts and development objectives.
• Data-driven digital agriculture by expand the frontier of financing and expertise for digital agriculture.
• Mobilizing capital for development in agriculture & food . We identify and leverage growth areas for productive investments, focusing on innovation and impact. And we design projects to ensure that financing boosts sustainable productivity gains, reaches smallholders and SMEs, and creates jobs to end poverty and hunger.
• Public policy and expenditure by working with governments to facilitate the adoption of more sustainable approaches, technologies, and practices, alongside policies that promote public and private sector investment.
• Sustainable and healthy diets to ensure that food can support a healthy population.

In fiscal year 2024, the World Bank committed US$3 billion in new financing in 2024 – with over 41% of all commitments for Sub-Saharan Africa.

Increasingly, the Bank supports country efforts to transform their food systems by taking a holistic look at public policies and spending for agriculture and food. A Multi-Donor Trust Fund,  Food Systems 2030 , provides a platform for change in this area.

Last Updated: Aug 20, 2024

In Angola, a project  co-financed by the World Bank and the French Agency for Development, contributed to the government economic diversification agenda by supporting the transition from subsistence to a more market-oriented, competitive agriculture sector. The project is helping producers or small and medium enterprises prepare and finance agriculture investments. As of December 2023, 268 projects have been approved, equivalent to about $37 million in agriculture investment. The project funded the first partial credit guarantees scheme ever dedicated to the agriculture sector in Angola – an innovation for the country’s agribusiness sector – mobilizing so far $4.1 million in private bank financing. 

In  Argentina , the Bank supported 14,630 families who benefited from better socioeconomic inclusion. Under the project, 2,409 families accessed water for human and animal consumption, also irrigation; 7,499 rural families improved their productive capacity; and over 900 families accessed infrastructure, equipment and training that improved their marketing. Based on the model of productive alliances, 2,801 families from different regions became beneficiaries by linking their production with the markets. Among the funded activities, the production of honey, orchards, forage, livestock, nuts, spices, yerba mate and tea, among others, stand out.

In Benin, between 2011-2021, the Agricultural Productivity and Diversification Project facilitated the adoption of productivity-enhancing technologies for 327,503 crop producers, leading to 135,549 hectares of land cultivated with improved technologies. The project interventions resulted in increased yields from 0.45 ton to 0.81 ton for cashew; from 1.2 tons to 2.97 tons for maize, from 4 tons to 6.2 tons for rice, and from 50 tons to 70 tons for pineapple. The project led to significant increases of milled rice and fish output. Combined with support for crop production and processing, support to exports has led to increases in the export of cashew and pineapple.

For the past 18 years, Bolivia has been developing a strategy to improve agricultural production and marketing through the productive alliances model. This model links small rural producers with markets, and facilitates their participation in value chains, and access to technical assistance and technology for better market access. Currently, over 2,600 productive alliances have been implemented, benefiting 107,308 producer families. In 2023, the third phase of productive alliances model was launched, expecting to have a significant impact on nearly 130, 000 rural producer’s communities, with a focus on food security, adoption of innovative practices for resilient agriculture and the increased participation of women producers.

A Bank-supported project implemented in partnership with the Government of Rio Grande do Norte, one of Brazil's poorest and most violent states, has aimed to improve agricultural productivity, the quality of and access to health, public security, education and public sector management across the state. The project has implemented 131 subprojects in family farming, renovated 274km of roads, renovated and strengthened the safety of an important dam, and built 22 modern, multi-service Citizen Centers.

In Bhutan,  a project  is supporting the government's efforts to reduce rural poverty and malnutrition through climate-smart agriculture. Irrigation technology and greenhouses introduced through the project have helped farmers to increase their access to local and export markets. More than 6,500 people have increased the quality and quantity of produce like rice, maize, potato, vegetables, quinoa, citrus, apples, and potatoes, as well as high-value spices such as cardamom and ginger. 

In Burkina Faso, the Bank supported the Burkina Faso Livestock Sector Development Project which ran from 2017 to 2022. By project completion, beneficiaries among selected value chains increased their yield by 8.4%. Yield increase for cattle, sheep, and egg production reached 6.76%, 11.93%, and 6.50%, respectively. Sales increased by 45% exceeding the target of a 30% increase. The volume of loans granted by partner financial institutions reached $5.02 million, exceeding the original target of $4.38 million. The project reached a total of 329,000 beneficiaries, out of which 138,314 were women and 112,573 were youth.

In the Central African Republic, through the Emergency Food Security Response project, 330,000 smallholder farmers received seeds, farming tools, and training in agricultural and post-harvest techniques. The project helped farmers boost their crop production and become more resilient to climate and conflict risks. Local food production increased by 250%, from 28,000 tons in September 2022 to 73,000 tons in June 2023. Moreover, 21,006 agricultural households received training on post-harvest loss management and provided equipment, such as mobile storage units, to enhance packaging of agricultural products, leading to higher selling prices.

In  Colombia, since 2010, the adoption of environmentally friendly silvopastoral production systems  (SPS) for over 4,100 cattle ranches has converted 100,522 hectares of degraded pastures into more productive landscapes and captured 1,565,026 tons of CO2 equivalent. In addition, almost 40,000 hectares of pastureland were transformed to SPS and 4,640 hectares into intensive Silvopastoral Production Systems (iSPS). Moreover, 4,100 direct farmers beneficiaries, of which 17% were women, were trained in SPS and iSPS, and over 21,000 farmers, technicians and producers were also trained, visited demonstration farms, and participated in workshops and events and technology brigades. A network of 116 plant nurseries were also established, which produced around 3.1 million fodder trees that were delivered to beneficiary farmers. 

In Cote d’Ivoire, between 2013 and 2017, the Agriculture Sector Project  boosted the productivity of 200,000 farmers and rehabilitated 6,500 kilometers of rural roads allowing farmers to better transport their products  and reduce post-harvest losses. To aid the cashew industry, the Bank also supported a research program that helped disseminate 209 genotypes of high-performing trees and establish 18 nurseries. The Bank-financed project also helped leverage $27.5 million in private investment to boost productivity on at least 26,500 hectares.

In Ethiopia, since 2015 a project has helped 2.5 million smallholder farmers increase agricultural productivity and commercialization by establishing market linkages, increasing access to agricultural public services, building smallholder farmer capacity in efficient water and crop management to implement climate change mitigation and adaptation, and improving diet diversification. The project has also been promoting the use of nutrition sensitive agriculture and gender and climate-smart agriculture including dietary diversity through nutrient-dense crops, livestock products, post-harvest processing/handling and social behavioral change communication, along with food safety and child and maternal health. The project has supported farmers increase yield in crops and livestock by 19% and 52% respectively and their revenue by 96.2%. To date the project has also provided 58,823 hectares of land with irrigation and water related services, and over 1.6 million farmers have adopted improved agriculture technologies promoted by the project. Nearly one million jobs for rural people, including for women and youth in fragile and conflict affected areas have been created as a result of the project interventions.

In Grenada , the World Bank supported local farmers and fisherfolk, along with aggregators and agro-processors to enhance their access to markets and sales from 2017 to 2023 through the OECS Regional Agriculture Competitiveness Project. The project provided vouchers to 206 farmers and fisherfolk and offered co-financing opportunities for 10 agro-processors, leading to significant improvements in their production facilities and market access. Additionally, 260 employees and 53 extension workers received training, improving their skills in agricultural production and market reach. Through the project, 150 producers adopted various climate-smart technologies, such as solar panels and rainwater harvesting systems, underscoring the project's dedication to sustainability and efficiency.

In Guinea, from 2018 to 2023, through the  Guinea Integrated Agricultural Development Project , local farmers increased agriculture's productivity, and sustainability. To help local communities, the project disseminated high-yielding seeds, improve irrigation, and trained women and youth to access funds to create jobs. The project also promoted the use of climate-smart, gender-sensitive digital technologies with local producers. The project has reached 149,000 farmers (of whom 38% are women and 30% are youth). The project’s results include a 30% increase in yield of rice and maize; a 42% increase in commodity sales; a 47,470-hectare area covered by improved technologies; over 97,000 users of improved technologies, and more than 2,000 jobs created for women and youth.

In Haiti , a World Bank project strengthened the institutional capacity of Haiti’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development by accessing technologies to increase not only agricultural productivity and production but also improved livelihoods and resilience. The project developed irrigation and drainage on 2,244 hectares; established 115 farmer field schools, and trained facilitators in agricultural extension techniques. A total of 78,242 small producers increased their market access, half of whom were women; more than 3,368 private and public sector staff (including staff from the Ministry of Agriculture, municipal staff, among others) and 600 farmers were trained on surveillance and vaccination, the use of fruit fly traps, mealybugs control, and protection of animals against rabies and anthrax and more than 3.6 million animals were vaccinated.

In Honduras, since 2010 , 12,878 small farmers, of which 27% are women, have used productive alliances to improve productivity and access to markets, which has leveraged $33.5 million in finance from commercial banks and microfinance institutions. Under the project, gross sales of producer organizations rose by 25.3%. Also, support to Honduras’ Dry Corridor Alliance, has helped 12,202 households implement food security and agricultural business plans, and improved agricultural yields, nutrition, and food diversity of project beneficiaries.

In India, the  Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project  supported over 400,000 farm families and 1,270 businesses and over 100 of industry associations and producer organizations in improving their productivity and incomes and helping develop new marketing channels since 2017.

In  Kenya, since 2016,   1.5 million farmers , where over 60% are women, have increased their productivity , climate resilience and access to markets. The digital registry (including geo tagging) of these 1.5 million farmers enables them to access agro-weather and market advisories. In addition, the Bank is facilitating partnerships between the government and 26 ag-tech support agencies which enables almost 500,000 farmers to access a range of services (inputs, financial services and markets) by leveraging digital technologies.  

In Kosovo , the Bank provided 775 grants to farmers and 103 grants to agri-processors to increase production capacities and enhance market competitiveness in the livestock and horticulture sector. This was done through upgrading facilities, adopting new technologies, and introducing food safety and environmental standards. Further, support was provided for the rehabilitation of irrigation schemes covering an area of 7,750 hectares which had an impact on the production, yield, quality, and variety of products cultivated in the area.

In the Kyrgyz Republic, the Additional Financing to the Integrated Dairy Productivity Improvement Project is improving productivity through better technologies and breeds of dairy animals rather than increasing their numbers. The project provides training, artificial insemination services, and monitoring milk yields per cow and the quality of milk to processing companies. To date, 10,000 small farmers including 5,000 women farmers, have received training to enhance productivity and climate-smart agriculture. Over 13,000 cows received artificial insemination for breed improvement with positive pregnancy rate of 67.3% which is above the global average. With improved breeds of dairy animals, the market value of the crossbred calves is higher than local calves and the average milk yield per cow has increased by nearly 15%. The project has also established a digital tool to monitor milk quality which is being used by eight dairy processing companies. The project established 30 milk collection points through famers’ Jamaats that are equipped with refrigerated tanks and advanced testing equipment, strategically located to ensure consistent milk quality and timely delivery, especially during hot summers.

In Madagascar, since 2016 , the Bank has boosted the productivity of over 130,000 farmers. Sixty-thousand hectares of irrigated rice fields have been rehabilitated. The Bank also supported the cocoa sector through research, the development of certified seeds, and promotion of improved production and processing techniques. This allowed 4,000 cocoa producers to increase their incomes and increase production and export volumes by 50%. The Bank also financed the country’s largest land rights registration, facilitating the delivery of over 200,000 land certificates to farmers. 

In Mauritania, between 2016 and 2021, the intervention of the Sahel regional support project offered agricultural assets and services to more than 400,000 farmers/pastoralists, where nearly 30% are women. More than 1.9 million hectares of land under sustainable management practices, in addition to the construction of 133 vaccination parks and the realization of 118 water points (wells and boreholes) as well as other infrastructure of valorization and trade of animals were provided to agro-pastoralist communities. Additionally, from April 2023- June 2028, the Bank offered to support the  Agriculture Development and Innovation Support Project (PADISAM)  to improve land resources management and foster inclusive and sustainable commercial agriculture in selected areas of Mauritania. It is anticipated that by the end of the project, there will be 72,000 direct beneficiaries and about 5,000 Ha of land under sustainable landscape management practices.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting spikes in wheat prices in 2022, the World Bank provided emergency support to several countries in the Middle East and North Africa to mitigate the negative socio-economic consequences on the poor and vulnerable. These emergency projects secured access to affordable bread for over 89 million people across the region. In Lebanon, a project ($150 million) has been financing wheat imports that supports universal access to affordable Arabic bread for over a year to 5.36 million people living in Lebanon, of which 1 million are Syrian, Palestinian, and other refugees. In Egypt, a project helped procure around 1.15 million metric tons of wheat – equivalent to at least a 2-month supply to cover the needs of 72 million vulnerable people. A project in In Tunisia procured 160,099 metric tons of soft wheat, equivalent to seven weeks of bread supply for a population of 12 million.

In Moldova, since 2012 , the Bank has helped more than 7,500 farmers gain access to local and regional high-value markets for fresh fruit and vegetables and boosted land productivity through the promotion of sustainable land management practices on 120,000 hectares of farmland.

In  Montenegro , the bank, through the Second Institutional Development and Agriculture Strengthening (MIDAS2), helped the government launch the very first Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance for Agriculture and Rural Development (IPARD)-like agro-environmental measure in a manner compliant with EU requirements, increasing the amount of meadows and pasture lands recorded in the Land Parcel Identification System (LPIS) from 13,600 hectares (ha) to 92,000 ha. The Bank has also supported almost 4,000 farmers working on orchards, vineyards, livestock and aromatic plants, 224 agro-processors, and 59 farmers working on processing on-farm complying with the European Union requirements for food safety and 278 agricultural households adopting agro-environmental measures, improving their competitiveness and sustainability.

In Morocco , the Strengthening Agri-food Value Chains Program for Results has financed the construction of the first modern regional wholesale market in Rabat, which will improve the distribution of agricultural products throughout the region, benefiting more than 4.6 million inhabitants. The program also financed the establishment of the male sterile Ceratite production center, which will enable citrus producers in the Souss-Massa and Berkane regions, which represent 52% of national citrus production and generate about 6 million working days per year, to protect their production from damage caused by the Mediterranean fruit fly. The program also enabled more than 1,000 agri-food SMEs to obtain sanitary approval after upgrading, leading to an increase in employment by almost 61%. The program co-financed more than 70 units of packaging, cold storage and processing, which leveraged about US$86 million as private investment and led to an overall increase in production value of around 34%.

In Niger , through  the Climate Smart Agriculture Support Project , the World Bank supported over 370,000 farmers, where 145,000 of whom are women. The farmers benefited from the project’s investments in small and large-scale irrigation, improved climate-smart agriculture, and sustainable land management practices. Over 154,000 hectares of land were developed with sustainable land management practices, and 4,400 hectares of cropland were brought under irrigation. In collaboration with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics and FAO, the project promoted good agriculture practices through farmer led e-extension services and technical assistance. The project investments led to significant increases in agriculture productivity: yields of cowpea, millet, and sorghum increased by 169, 164, and 142 percent, respectively. The project also strengthened the national climate information system by building the capacity of the National Meteorology Department (the project installed 30 meteorological stations and 600 rain gauges). Through its support to the Sahel Regional Center for Hydro and Agrometeorology, the project strengthened the early warning systems of national institutes such as National Meteorology and the National Hydrology Directorate.

In Nigeria,  APPEALS Project   was designed to enhance agricultural productivity of small and medium scale farmers and improve value addition along priority value chains. Since 2017, the project has demonstrated 204 improved technologies to 93,000 farmers. Food crop production has surged, with 304,516 metric tons produced, representing 3.1% of the national output. Furthermore, the project has reached 61,171 farmers with processing assets to improve the quality of their produce. The project also trained 10,346 women and youth, including persons with disability, providing them with business, technical and life skills training, support to business planning and facilitation of business name registration, start-up grant to establish a commercially viable business, and mentorship to provide the beneficiaries with continued support from established agribusiness entrepreneurs. The project linked farmers to market through the facilitation of commercial partnerships resulting in a total of 327 business alliances with 147 off-takers already buying farmers’ produce across the 11 value chains, with a transaction worth of US$ 59.7 million. Similarly, the project has linked 200 agribusiness clusters to infrastructures which includes 55km rural farm access road, 75 aggregation and cottage processing centers, 102 solar-powered water intervention and energy supplies.

In Paraguay, since 2008, 20,863 farmers  increased their agricultural income by at least 30% and 18,951 adopted improved agricultural practices, boosting the productivity of their land.

In the  Philippines, since 2015 , the Bank helped raise rural incomes, enhance farm and fishery productivity, improve market access and mainstream institutional and operational reforms, as well as science-based planning for agricultural commodities in 81 provinces. The project has benefitted a total of 323,501 people–46% of them women–with farm roads, irrigation, and agricultural enterprise projects, boosting incomes by up to 36%. 

In  Rwanda, since  2010, the Bank helped support over 410,000 farmers – half are women – in improving their agricultural production by developing over 7,400 hectares for marshland irrigation, providing hillside irrigation on over 2,500 hectares, and several hundreds of farmers benefitted matching grants to support their investments in Farmer-Led Irrigation Development (FLID) technologies on over 1,200 hectares of their land. Interventions also included improving soil conservation and erosion on more than 39,000 hectares of hillside. Maize, rice, beans, and potato yields have all more than doubled and around 2.5 tons of vegetables are exported to Europe and the Middle-East every week from intervention areas, or locally, where more horticulture produce is sold to premium markets including 5-star hotels or the national airline, RwandAir. Less than two years after  one of the Bank supported projects  introduced greenhouse farming in its intervention areas to minimize the impacts of unfavorable weather conditions and better manage crop pests and diseases, by 2023, the demand for these technologies has seen a rapid increase in these areas and 132 units have been acquired and installed through the matching grants program under the project. Evidence shows relatively high revenues for farmers investing in greenhouse technology, with revenues increasing up to 15 times for vegetable growers.

Since 2019, the ongoing Serbia Competitive Agriculture Project has been supporting the government economic diversification and competitiveness agenda for small and medium scale farmers and their participation in a more market-oriented agriculture sector. The productive alliance model supported by the project has contributed to the improvement of the agri-food market linkages of 823 farmers, of which 330 are women farmers. Through the project, 4,356 farmers have received technical assistance to prepare their business ideas and plans (1,307 are women), while 1,319 business plans have received support in various forms, such as matching grants, technical assistance, and business development support. The farmers have signed their loans with commercial banks to invest in farm innovations, including equipment, on-farm irrigation, digital agriculture, climate-smart agriculture technologies. By providing co-financing with EUR 24.17 million in matching grants, the project-supported business plans have leveraged an additional EUR 24.17 million in private capital so far, including commercial loans to farmers at market interest rate from 11 local banks, and cash contributions from the beneficiary farmers. Amongst them, 1,117 beneficiary farmers are first-time users of credit.

In  Tajikistan , the Bank supported the establishment of 545 farmer groups in horticulture value chains, specifically apricot, apple, pear, lemon, cucumber, and tomato, and dairy value chain benefiting a total of 13,516 farmers out of which 48% were women. The Bank also supported the establishment of 342 productive partnerships benefitting 4,340 smallholder farmers. A total of 21,882 beneficiaries achieved an increase in commercial activity. The project supported training for 13, 516 farmers, on value chain development.

In  Tunisia, the Bank helped 113 remote rural villages improve  land management practices on 37,000 hectares of land to increase productivity and improve 930 kilometers of rural roads serving some 160 villages. 

In  Uruguay, since 2014, climate-smart agriculture techniques  have been adopted on 2.7 million hectares and adopted by 5,541 farmers, providing for a carbon sequestration potential of up to 9 million tons of CO2 annually.

In Uganda, since 2015 , the  Agriculture Cluster Development Project’s e-voucher scheme has leveraged over $12 million of farmer investments enabling over 450,000 farm households access and use improved agro-inputs resulting in higher farm yields. Provision of matching grants has enhanced storage capacity by 55,000MT, acquiring value addition equipment and machinery thereby facilitating Producer Organizations to add value and undertake collective marketing. Additional infrastructure support addressing road chokes has also led to improved market access.

The Bank has also made investments into strengthening regulatory and administrative functions of the Ministry of Agriculture through the development of IT Platforms and tools facilitating timely planning and decision making.

In the Uganda Multi-Sectoral Food and Nutrition Security Project, the Bank has supported enhanced knowledge on nutrition resulting in improved household nutrition and incomes for 1.55 million direct project beneficiaries.

In Uzbekistan, the Horticulture Development Project has helped create, 34,520 jobs, including 13,124 for women; increase beneficiary productivity by 24% and profitability by 124%, including through entry into new export markets. The  Livestock Sector Development Project  supported a sub-loans benefitting 560 large scale commercial livestock farmers, and a total of 135 value chain development projects benefiting 1,456 smallholder farmers (Dekhans). As a result, the share of improved and high yielding livestock breeds increased by 98.7%; increasing milk and meat productivity by 33% and 38% respectively. The Ferghana Valley Rural Enterprise Project has supported the establishment and operation of nine business incubation hubs in Andijan, Namangan, and Ferghana regions, to support local entrepreneurs in business plan preparation, and facilitated access to finance, technology infusion, also organized training among 5,000 project initiators in 36 districts of Ferghana Valley. The project, under its credit line activities, financed a total of 501 investment sub-projects with $119.6 million of the project fund, of which 77.8% were for small business entrepreneurs This created substantial number of new jobs, and increased the incomes of rural enterprises,

In Vietnam, since 2010, the Bank has promoted sustainable livelihoods by helping develop 9,000 “common interest groups” comprising over 15,500 households and partnering them with agricultural enterprises. The Bank also helped  over 20,000 farmers  improve their livestock production and benefited an additional 130,000 people through capacity building in food safety. 

Under the  West African Agricultural Productivity Program , the Bank supported a research and development effort that promoted technology generation, dissemination, and support to local farming systems in 13  ECOWAS  countries. The project reached over 2.7 million beneficiaries, 41% of whom were women. It also generated 112 technologies that reached over 1,850,000 hectares.

The Yemen Food Security Response and Resilience Project has directly benefited over 1 million beneficiaries to date. The project is focusing on resilience building amidst protracted crisis – including conflict, insecurity, and climate-related shocks. The project has created around 20,000 short-term jobs and benefited over 50,000 smallholder farm households through various agricultural infrastructure improvements. The project invested in the vaccination of 11 million small ruminants and treated a similar number for parasites. In addition to building resilience, as a short-term response, the project supported 20,000 vulnerable households with kitchen gardens and livestock kits, business development training and start-up grants to vulnerable women. Furthermore, the project facilitated a supplemental feeding program for over 740,000 most vulnerable beneficiaries.

Last Updated: Apr 09, 2024

The World Bank works with a range of partners to achieve ambitious development goals: transforming food systems, boosting food security and empowering smallholder farmers, to realize zero hunger and poverty by 2030. 

The World Bank Group is a joint convener, with the G7 Presidency, of the Global Alliance for Food Security (GAFS) . A key outcome of the Global Alliance is the  Global Food and Nutrition Security Dashboard , a key tool to fast-track a rapid response to the unfolding global food security crisis, designed to consolidate and present up-to-date data on food crisis severity, track global food security financing, and make available global and country-level research and analysis to improve coordination of the policy and financial response to the crisis.

The Bank hosts a  Multi-Donor Trust Fund,  Food Systems 2030 , that helps countries build better food systems, fostering healthy people, a healthy planet and healthy economies. The Trust Fund aims to deliver improved livelihoods and affordable, and nutritious diets for all, and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals of zero poverty and hunger by 2030 and the climate goals of the Paris Agreement. Food Systems 2030 provides advice and analytical products to underpin policy options, funds to pilot innovative approaches, and information to build support for change in different country contexts. It engages with the private sector by supporting the design, piloting and de-risking of innovative public-private partnerships that advance development and climate goals.   

The  Global Agriculture and Food Security Program , a multilateral financing platform, is dedicated to improving food and nutrition security worldwide. Launched by the  G20 in the wake of the global response to the 2007–08 food price crisis, GAFSP works to build sustainable and resilient agriculture and food systems in the world’s poorest and most vulnerable countries. Since its inception in 2010, the Program has mobilized more than US$2 billion in donor funds to reach more than 16.6 million people. GAFSP provides financial and technical resources – investment grants, technical assistance, concessional finance, and advisory services – to demand-driven projects along the food chain to accelerate the transformation of food systems at scale.

The World Bank leads the  Food Systems, Land use and Restoration Global Platform (FOLUR) , financed by the Global Environment Facility, in partnership with UNDP, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Global Landscapes Forum and the Food and Land-use Coalition. FOLUR is a $345 million, seven-year program that aims to improve the health and sustainability of landscapes that produce the world’s food. FOLUR targets sustainable production landscapes in 27 country projects for eight major commodities (livestock, cocoa, coffee, maize, palm oil, rice, soy, and wheat).

The World Bank chairs the System Council of  CGIAR , a global partnership that advances cutting-edge science to reduce rural poverty, increase food security, improve human health and nutrition, and ensure sustainable management of natural resources.

For more information, contact Clare Murphy-McGreevey on [email protected].

Last Updated: Sep 19, 2023

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CGIAR Global Agricultural Research

CGIAR advances cutting-edge science to reduce rural poverty, increase food security, improve human health and nutrition, and ensure the sustainable management of natural resources.

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Food Systems 2030 is an Umbrella Multi-Donor Trust Fund that helps countries build better food systems by 2030. Food Systems 2030 helps countries rethink and transform their food systems from farm to fork, progressing ...

Global Agriculture and Food Security Program

The Global Agriculture and Food Security Program (GAFSP) finances investments that increase incomes and improve food and nutrition security in developing countries.

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Sweeping global study charts a path forward for climate-resilient agriculture

by Christopher Kelly, University of Minnesota

Around the world, research on climate change and agriculture has revealed a complex two-way relationship. Global agriculture is a major driver of climate change, extinctions and pollution, and its influence on the environment is growing. At the same time, the flooding, droughts, and extreme temperatures resulting from climate change are beginning to threaten global food production.

Greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture are now 18 times higher than they were in the 1960s, accounting for about 30% of global warming. Excess fertilizer left on farm soil is broken down by bacteria to form nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide . Strategic efforts to reduce the warming impact of agriculture while maintaining high yields are essential to both mitigating climate change and protecting our food supply from its impacts.

A sweeping global research review published in Science , co-written by professors at the University of Minnesota with more than 20 experts around the world, has examined the links between climate and agriculture.

The study revealed the likelihood of an emergent feedback loop in which, as climate change puts more pressure on the global food supply, agriculture adopts practices that further accelerate climate change. The authors also identified new agricultural practices that have the potential to greatly reduce climate impacts, increase efficiency and stabilize our food supply in the decades to come.

The research found:

• Climate change has broad-ranging impacts on agricultural practices, increasing water use and scarcity, nitrous oxide and methane emissions, soil degradation, nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, pest pressure, pesticide pollution and biodiversity loss.
• Climate-agriculture feedback pathways could dramatically increase agricultural greenhouse gas emissions . Without changes in agriculture, this feedback loop could make it impossible to achieve the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius to 2 degrees Celsius.
• Existing sustainable agricultural practices and technologies, if they are implemented on a wide scale, can greatly reduce agricultural emissions and prevent a feedback loop from developing. To achieve this, governments must work to remove socioeconomic barriers and make climate-resilient solutions accessible to farmers and food producers.

"We need agriculture, but the future of humanity also requires that we reduce agriculture's environmental harms," said co-author David Tilman, a professor at the College of Biological Sciences. "Fifty years ago the impacts of agriculture were trivial, but today they are not. By evaluating new practices being tried around the world—here in the U.S., in Mexico, the European Union and China—we have identified practices that appear to increase harvests while decreasing environmental harm.

"Once these new practices are tested and verified, we need a farm bill that pays farmers both for producing food and for improving the environment. Farmers are the stewards of 40% of the land on Earth. Enabling better stewardship has tremendous benefits for all of us."

"Legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act has provided resources to help our farms become more efficient," said co-author Zhenong Jin, an associate professor in the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences.

"We looked at all aspects of this relationship between agriculture and climate to determine where new practices are the most effective. While carbon sequestration is currently a priority, an integrated approach that factors in farming efficiency and pollutants like nitrous oxide could deliver much larger climate benefits and a more stable future for agriculture. Practices such as precision fertilizer use and crop rotation can prevent a feedback loop from developing."

The team identified a number of next steps. First and foremost, stakeholders should accelerate the adaptation and cost-reduction of efficient and climate-friendly agriculture. Precision farming, perennial crop integration, agrivoltaics, nitrogen fixation, and novel genome editing are among the emerging techniques that could increase production and efficiency in agriculture while reducing climate change impacts.

The researchers recommend further research on climate–agriculture feedback pathways and new technologies like on-farm robots.

Journal information: Science

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Research progress on autonomous operation technology for agricultural equipment in large fields.

1. Introduction

2. onboard environmental sensing technology, 3. complete-coverage path-planning technology, 3.1. classical path-planning algorithm, 3.2. bionics-based path-planning algorithms, 4. autonomous operation control technology, 5. conclusions and prospection, 5.1. conclusions, 5.2. prospection, author contributions, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

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Share and Cite

Wei, W.; Xiao, M.; Duan, W.; Wang, H.; Zhu, Y.; Zhai, C.; Geng, G. Research Progress on Autonomous Operation Technology for Agricultural Equipment in Large Fields. Agriculture 2024 , 14 , 1473. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14091473

Wei W, Xiao M, Duan W, Wang H, Zhu Y, Zhai C, Geng G. Research Progress on Autonomous Operation Technology for Agricultural Equipment in Large Fields. Agriculture . 2024; 14(9):1473. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14091473

Wei, Wenbo, Maohua Xiao, Weiwei Duan, Hui Wang, Yejun Zhu, Cheng Zhai, and Guosheng Geng. 2024. "Research Progress on Autonomous Operation Technology for Agricultural Equipment in Large Fields" Agriculture 14, no. 9: 1473. https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture14091473

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Farmers today face a complicated host of environmental, social and economic pressures: protecting water and air resources, mitigating greenhouse gases, conserving biodiversity and limiting soil erosion , all while trying to make a living. These challenges are linked, yet most agricultural research of the last 80 years has approached them from a reductionist standpoint. To build truly sustainable farming systems, agricultural research must embrace a multidimensional approach known as agricultural systems research.

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Addressing Unanticipated Threats

The Rapid Outcomes from Agricultural Research (ROAR) program deploys urgent funding to support research and outreach in response to emerging or unanticipated threats to the nation’s food supply or agricultural systems.

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For applications concerning both plant and animal pests and pathogens, submit your concept note via FFAR’s Grants Management portal here . For any questions related to the ROAR program, contact Dr. LaKisha Odom, scientific program director for the Soil Health Challenge Area at [email protected] .

Awarded Grants

Ffar grant addresses emerging pine needle diseases.

Year Awarded  2023

FFAR award amount   $74,111

Total award amount   $148,237

Location   Athens, GA

Program   Rapid Outcomes from Agricultural Research

Matching Funders   Southern Pine Health Research Cooperative, University of Florida Board of Trustees, University of Georgia Research Foundation

Grantee Institution   University of Georgia

FFAR Grant Develops Mitigation Tactics for Cocoa Frosty Pod Rot

FFAR award amount   $100,000

Total award amount   $248,167

Location   Turrialba, Costa Rica

Matching Funders   CATIE, Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique Pour le Dévelopement (French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development), Departamento de Cacao de la República Dominicana (Dominican Republic Department of Cacao), VMR Consulting and in-kind donors

Grantee Institution   Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE)- grantee name is in english on bbgm

FFAR Grant Protects Wheat Yields from Wheat Stem Sawfly

FFAR award amount   $150,000

Total award amount   $300,000

Location   Ft. Collins, CO

Matching Funders   Colorado State University, Colorado Wheat Administrative Committee, University of Nebraska

Grantee Institution   Colarado State University

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FFAR Awards Emergency Funds to Combat Invasive Weevil Threatening California’s Palm Trees and Date Industry

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FFAR Awards Funds to Researchers at University of Wyoming to Develop Test for Brucellosis in Swine and Cattle

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FFAR Awards Emergency Funds to Researchers at Colorado State University to Combat Bacterial Leaf Streak of Corn

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Michigan State University Researchers Awarded Grant to Combat Invasive Pest in Tart Cherry Trees

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Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research Offers Matching Funds to Accelerate First Response to Future Agricultural Emergencies

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Regenerative agriculture is sold as a climate solution. Can it do all it says?

Julia Simon

Climate Wk: Regenerative Agriculture

Farmer Will Tipton holds a radish, one of the cover crops he's using. Some scientists worry that the climate benefits of cover crops and other regenerative agriculture practices are oversold. Julia Simon/NPR hide caption

Climate change is affecting our food, and our food is affecting the climate. NPR is dedicating a week to stories and conversations about the search for solutions .

FRENCHMANS BAYOU, Ark. — Will Tipton’s farm, not far from the Mississippi River, has been in his family since 1836. For the past eight generations, his family mostly planted one crop per field per year — and that was it. “Straight soybean, soybean, soybean,” Tipton says.

In recent years, Tipton’s been trying something new. He leans over the field and picks up a mass of green leaves. “This is definitely a turnip,” he says, and then picks up a white flowering vegetable. “Daikon radish out here as well.”

These are cover crops. Tipton now plants them instead of letting his fields lie fallow after the harvest. Tipton lets some soil come apart in his hands. Inside is a pink earthworm.

“It's a sign of life,” he says. “They're growing around, happy, got plenty to eat.”

Worms can be a sign of healthy soil — and a sign of carbon in soil. When carbon dioxide is in the atmosphere, it heats the planet. When plants and their roots pull in that carbon dioxide, or CO2, they help turn soil into a big carbon reservoir. “That CO2 is no longer in the atmosphere where we don't want it,” says Matthew Hayek , professor in environmental studies at New York University.

Can better bread be a climate change solution? These bakers think so

Tipton’s farm is part of something bigger. A push by businesses and governments into something called “regenerative agriculture.” That’s a term used for farming practices, like cover crops, that proponents say are good for the environment and the climate.

Modern agriculture is a big driver of climate change . Powerful warming gases are released from cows and fertilized soils, and deforestation that’s driven by rising food demand.

Many food businesses now promote regenerative farming practices as a climate solution. Whether it’s the corn in PepsiCo’s Doritos or the potatoes in its Frito-Lay chips, Margaret Henry , PepsiCo’s vice president of sustainable and regenerative agriculture, says her company is encouraging its farmers to integrate these practices on 7 million acres worldwide by 2030.

The U.S. government is also encouraging many of these practices with farmers. The Biden administration’s 2022 climate legislation provided $19.5 billion to the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service to largely support “ climate-smart agriculture .” “Climate-smart agriculture” as interpreted by the USDA includes many common regenerative agriculture practices like cover crops.

But many farming practices supported by companies and the U.S. government may not reduce as much climate pollution as they claim, says Timothy Searchinger , a senior research scholar at Princeton University and technical director of agriculture and forestry at the World Resources Institute. He worries that the focus on certain regenerative farming practices can distract from solutions that can make faster, deeper cuts in climate pollution . “It becomes an excuse for claiming you're dealing with the climate when you're really not,” he says.

With corporations and governments making big climate promises about what regenerative agriculture can achieve, researchers say it’s important to know what’s supported by science and what can be misleading. Here are answers to questions about the regenerative agriculture claims food companies and governments make.

A cover crop mix of clover, radishes, turnips, Austrian peas and hairy vetch on the Tennessee-Arkansas border. Julia Simon/NPR hide caption

Can any regenerative agriculture practices actually reduce climate pollution?

Some practices that are sometimes called “regenerative agriculture” can directly reduce pollution that causes climate change, says Ken Giller , agriculture professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands.

Take fertilizer. A lot of fossil fuels go into making fertilizer, and fertilizer releases nitrous oxide, a gas that heats the planet nearly 300 times more than carbon dioxide over 100 years. If farms can reduce fossil fuel-based fertilizer use, that can be a climate solution. “It's an absolute reduction in the release of gases which contribute to global warming,” Giller says.

Another practice, “no-till” farming, eliminates the plowing of soil before planting, often done with diesel-fueled tractors. Giller says if no-till farming can reduce the use of diesel fuel, that can be a climate solution.

But a lot of the enthusiasm in regenerative agriculture involves the idea of storing more carbon in soil to slow global warming. That makes many soil scientists wary. “That’s when one’s Spidey senses ought to tingle, because those claims are challenging to back up,” says Eric Slessarev , professor of ecology at Yale University.

Tipton walks through his field of winter wheat and black oats. Julia Simon/NPR hide caption

When can climate claims about regenerative agriculture get overstated?

Some food and agriculture companies say that certain regenerative farming practices, like cover crops and no-till agriculture, can make the soil store more carbon. This is called soil carbon sequestration.

The USDA is paying farmers to adopt regenerative practices with the idea that adding more carbon to soils can, in part, help the U.S. achieve its climate goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 50-52% under 2005 levels by 2030.

But researchers tell NPR there are three big problems with claims that regenerative practices add more carbon to soil. The first involves measurements. Grayson Badgley , research scientist at Carbon Plan, a climate nonprofit, says there isn’t a lot of consistency when measuring soil carbon on farms. Measurements are often taken at different depths, which can lead to overestimates of how much extra carbon is in the soil because of these practices, he says.

Can the most popular red wine in the U.S. endure climate change?

“If you measure just the first few centimeters of the soil versus measuring a meter,” Badgley says, “you can get really, really different answers about how much carbon has actually been gained.”

Another problem has to do with something called “permanence.” Even if farming practices can increase carbon in the soil, droughts, heat waves and things like having to switch crops can cause that soil to leak carbon back into the atmosphere, where it heats the planet again.

“In my mind, that is the biggest uncertainty. How long is that carbon going to stay out of the atmosphere if it ends up in the soil?” Slessarev says.

And there’s still uncertainty over whether some regenerative farming practices like no-till actually lead to more carbon getting stored in the soil in the first place, says Shelby McClelland , soil scientist at NYU.

While there is evidence that some regenerative farming practices can preserve carbon that’s already in soil, Searchinger says that with practices like no-till there’s still “a fundamental question of [whether] this is doable physically” to add more carbon to soil .

“Is it even possible to build soil carbon in large quantities and significant quantities on working agricultural land? That’s the question,” he says.

In an emailed statement, a USDA spokesperson writes that federal climate legislation “provided needed funding to help us drive measuring, monitoring, reporting and verification efforts … to quantify the impact of [farming] practices on greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration, and ensure that future resources are directed to the most effective practices.”

An example of regenerative grazing on a ranch in Nebraska. Matthew Hayek at NYU says often the climate benefits of this practice are oversold. Elizabeth Rembert/ Nebraska Public Radio hide caption

There’s also “regenerative grazing” — what’s that and does it reduce climate pollution?

Cows are one of the biggest sources of climate pollution in food , largely because their burps and manure release the potent planet heating gas, methane. In the search for solutions for cows’ climate pollution, some companies and governments have embraced “ regenerative grazing, ” or “rotational grazing.” Instead of cows grazing in one place, with rotational grazing farmers deliberately move cows from one place to another.

Some food companies claim that rotational grazing can make the soil store enough extra carbon that it can negate cows’ methane pollution and make beef “ climate-smart ” or “ carbon neutral .”

But Hayek says this is another example of the climate benefits of soil carbon being oversold. “Folks have claimed that [regenerative grazing] pulls so much carbon out of the atmosphere and into the soils through healthier soil that it completely offsets or negates cattle's methane emissions,” Hayek says. “That's not correct.”

Also, research finds that cows doing regenerative grazing on grasslands can use up to 2.5 times more land, which could lead to the loss of ecosystems that store carbon.

Last month the USDA issued new guidance for environmental claims made on food company labels. The new guidance says it “strongly encourages” food companies to use third-party certification to back up environment-related claims, including claims that beef is “raised using regenerative agriculture practices.”

Giller worries that some poorly implemented regenerative farming practices could end up increasing climate pollution. “I think proponents of regen ag are really overselling the positive without necessarily really grappling with what the negatives could be,” Giller says.

Tipton's farm has been in his family for eight generations. He says one of his biggest priorities is soil resilience for droughts. Julia Simon/NPR hide caption

Why is it important that regenerative agriculture might not have as big a climate impact as it claims?

A lot of money is at stake, Hayek says, both for companies and governments. Billions of dollars from the 2022 climate legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, are going to U.S. farmers to — in theory — reduce planet-heating pollution on their farms. If the USDA promotes regenerative farming practices like regenerative grazing and cover crops where some climate benefits are unclear, Hayek says that money may not have its intended climate impact. “We need to think pretty smartly about how we distribute literally billions in taxpayer money,” Hayek says.

Some companies, like Indigo Ag , are selling millions of carbon offsets based on the idea that some of these regenerative farming practices can reduce climate emissions. Tipton's farm is part of Indigo Ag's carbon offset program. If these farming practices aren’t reducing as much emissions as claimed, then companies buying those offsets might not have the climate impact they thought.

In an email, A.J. Kumar, vice president of sustainability sciences at Indigo Ag, writes, “While there are many [soil carbon offset] programs today with different design and approaches, we have gone to great lengths to engage the scientific community and address issues that others may have had in the past.”

Kumar also notes: “We continuously update our programs as science advances.”

On Tipton's neighbor's farm, muddy soil washes off into a ditch after a rainstorm. Regenerative agriculture practices like cover crops can reduce water pollution and soil loss. Julia Simon/NPR hide caption

Is it still worth it to do regenerative agriculture if it might not have as big a climate impact?

Emily Oldfield, a soil scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, says for many of these practices, the answer is still yes. She says regenerative farming practices like cover crops and no-till can increase soil health and reduce erosion, water runoff and water pollution.

When NPR visited Tipton in Arkansas, there was a huge storm. Tipton drove by a neighbor’s farm, which wasn’t using cover crops and no-till agriculture. Wet soil was washing off his neighbor’s field into a muddy ditch. Tipton’s fields were absorbing the moisture.

For Tipton, keeping his soils healthy and storing water is the main reason he’s doing regenerative agriculture. “Drought tolerance is a key issue for us ’cause our farm is 100% dry land, nonirrigated crops,” Tipton says. “Any time, the rain can quit. You're not guaranteed the rain when you need it.”

Searchinger says he “enthusiastically” supports many of these regenerative farming practices to address water pollution and help farms adapt to a changing climate. As droughts and heat waves become more common with global warming, scientists say regenerative agriculture practices that improve soil health will be key for resilience.

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• climate change
• climate solutions
• Climate Solutions Week 2024 originals

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USDA Invests Nearly $121M in Specialty Crops Research and Organic Agriculture Production

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10, 2024 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced an investment of nearly $121 million to advance research and Extension activities that aim to solve key challenges facing specialty crop and organic agriculture producers. The investment includes $70.4 million to support specialty crop production research across the United States and $50.5 million to support farmers and ranchers who grow and market high-quality organic food, fiber and organic products.

Specialty crops are defined in the Farm Bill as fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, and horticulture and nursery crops, including floriculture. This investment is part of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture’s (NIFA) Specialty Crop Research Initiative .

“We know specialty and organic crops add nutrition to our diets and value to sustainable agriculture systems,” said Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young, USDA Chief Scientist and Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics. “These crops also play a vital role preserving cultural heritage and enhancing economic opportunities across local, regional and global food systems, making them great competitive funding investments that target some of the most difficult challenges facing specialty crop and organic producers nationwide.”

NIFA's specialty crops production investment today builds on USDA’s recently announced $82.3 million in grant funding through the Agricultural Marketing Service to enhance the competitiveness of specialty crops and support the industry’s producers. The funding was awarded through USDA’s Specialty Crop Block Grant Program (SCBGP) and the Specialty Crop Multi-State Grant (SCMP) Program . From market development to consumer education to research, these programs expand markets and increase competitiveness of the specialty crop industry and increase access to specialty crops for consumers.

Examples of the 17 projects funded by NIFA’s Specialty Crop Research Initiative include:

• North Carolina State University: Manual labor costs are significant in horticulture, including nursery crop production. A team of researchers will develop sustainable solutions for labor, efficiency, automation and production in the nursery industry. ($9.8 million)
• Washington State University: Apple and pear crops are increasingly susceptible to devastating losses due to extreme temperatures driven by climate change. To address this challenge, researchers will develop mitigation strategies for current cultivars and knowledge to quickly assess new cultivars’ suitability for future climate conditions. ($6.7 million)

NIFA’s $50.5 million investment in 30 organic agriculture projects is part of NIFA’s Organic Agriculture Program , which includes the Organic Agriculture Research and Extension Initiative (OREI) and the Organic Transitions Program. OREI projects fund research, education and Extension projects to improve yields, quality and profitability for producers and processors who have adopted organic standards. NIFA-funded Organic Transitions Program projects focus on research, education and Extension efforts to help existing and transitioning organic livestock and crop producers adopt organic practices and improve their market competitiveness.

“Organic agriculture plays a crucial role in promoting sustainable and healthy food systems that benefit people and the planet,” said USDA NIFA Director Dr. Manjit Misra. “NIFA’s investments in organic research and Extension programs help ensure farmers can meet growing demand for organic products, which provide valuable economic opportunities for growers and more choices for consumers.”

Examples of the 23 projects funded by NIFA’s OREI grants include:

• Pennsylvania State University: Understanding the links between integrated crop management practices and certain food- and feed-quality endpoints is necessary for identifying market constraints and opportunities for small grain sequences within reduced-tillage organic grain systems. This integrated research and Extension project aims to improve the productivity and market potential of spring- and fall-sown organic small grains to increase ecological and economic resilience of organic grain production systems within Pennsylvania and the Northeast United States. ($1.9 million)
• The Organic Center for Education and Promotion: There is a critical lack of racial diversity across the agricultural sector and the organic industry, especially apparent in the population of organic certifiers, organic inspectors, and in organizations and universities staffs who provide much of the nation's technical assistance and educational programming in agriculture. This workforce development project focuses on jumpstarting participation and motivation for a diverse representation in future organic leadership that helps make the organic sector more inclusive, equitable and just. ($705,000)

Examples of the 7 projects funded under NIFA’s Organic Transitions Program include:

• University of Wisconsin: Transitioning to organic farming in Wisconsin requires developing tailored soil health management practices guidelines to help organic farmers improve nutrient-use efficiency, increase crop-yield potential and mitigate climate-change impacts like drought. This research project seeks to leverage a statewide soil health dataset, enhanced by new field observations, remote sensing data and advanced machine learning models, to create a web tool offering region- and field-specific guidelines to assist organic grain farmers manage soil health and support climate-resilient farming. ($997,000)
• Michigan State University: Organic tree fruit production east of the Mississippi river will not be sustainable without effective management of bacterial diseases including fire blight, bacterial canker and bacterial spot. Bacteriophages (phages) represent a promising tool for managing bacterial plant diseases; however, phages have not been commercially developed mainly due to reduced and inconsistent efficacy. Scientists will investigate the phage-disease dynamics on apple and cherry flowers for fire blight on apple trees and bacterial canker on cherry trees. ($1 million)

USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. In the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy, and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit www.usda.gov .

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

Michigan Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program

Grants for farm research and outreach as well as building partnerships.

Sarah Fronczak <[email protected]> , Michigan State University Extension - September 10, 2024

SARE grants available to foster cooperation between agriculture professionals and small groups of farmers and ranchers.

Sustainable agriculture researchers and educators as well as farmers and cooperatives researching sustainable farming are encouraged to apply for two grant programs through the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR-SARE).  

The SARE  Research and Education Grant funds up to $250,000 for “projects that explore and promote environmentally sound, economically viable, and socially responsible food and/or fiber systems.” Proposals are due by Oct. 10, 2024.   

The SARE Partnership Grant Program is intended to foster cooperation between agriculture professionals and small groups of farmers and ranchers to catalyze on-farm research, demonstration and education activities related to sustainable agriculture. Applications are due Oct. 17, 2024, for grants up to $50,000.  

Sarah Fronczak, Michigan SARE coordinator, and Katie Brandt, Michigan State University Organic Farmer Training Program , are glad to advise applicants, review proposals and support farmers, educators and students applying for NCR-SARE grants. Grant writing support is available free of charge for all six North Central SARE grants and for Michigan SARE mini grants. Email [email protected] or [email protected] with questions, to have a proposal reviewed or to set up a time to discuss your proposal idea.   

Here is a full list of SARE grants available in Michigan:   

• Farmer Rancher Grants  – Up to $15,000 for one farm or $30,000 for two or more farms to design and lead research, demonstration and education projects in sustainable farm practices. (Due December)   
• Research and Education Grants  – $10,000 to $250,000 for on-farm research, farmer education and other projects that “explore and promote environmentally sound, profitable and socially responsible food and/or fiber systems.” (Pre-proposals due October)   
• Partnership Grants  – Up to $50,000 for farm educators and agriculture professionals who partner with three or more farmers to research, demonstrate, educate or collaborate on issues important to sustainable farming. (Due October)   
• Youth Educator Grants  – Up to $6,000 for projects that teach youth about sustainable agriculture and careers in sustainable agriculture. (Due November)   
• Professional Development Grants  – Up to $120,000 for training agricultural educators, using farmers as educators and addressing emerging issues in the farm community. (Due April 3, 2024)   
• Graduate Student Grants – Up to $15,000 for masters’ and PhD students at accredited colleges and universities to address sustainable agriculture issues in the North Central Region. (Due April 18, 2024)   

SARE funding supports three common goals:   

• Profit over the long term   
• Stewardship of our nation’s land, air and water   
• Quality of life for farmers, ranchers, farm employees and our communities    

Farmers, ranchers, educators, farm advocacy organizations, staff, researchers and agriculture professionals are welcome to apply. North Central Region SARE has distributed more than $11.5 million to fund projects in Michigan since 1988. SARE also distributes numerous  resources  focused on innovative farming techniques for environmental sustainability, economic viability and farmer/community well-being. For more information about SARE grants and resources, visit the Michigan SARE  or  SARE websites.  

The program aims to support an inclusive mix of farmers and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, family/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program or political beliefs.   

This article was published by Michigan State University Extension . For more information, visit https://extension.msu.edu . To have a digest of information delivered straight to your email inbox, visit https://extension.msu.edu/newsletters . To contact an expert in your area, visit https://extension.msu.edu/experts , or call 888-MSUE4MI (888-678-3464).

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