Blog for People, Food and Nature

Whether it’s a smallholder farm or industrial scale operation, the food industry and supply chain play a critical role in dictating the trajectory of agricultural development. Companies are recognizing the business case for sustainability – how land degradation, climate change, and poor use of natural resources poses a threat to the long-term viability of their [&he ...

Photo Credit: Neil Palmer/CIAT This week the Landscapes Blog has explored some of the recent work regarding agriculture and climate change, a critically important issue for both food security and the environment. Bearing in mind the integration of people’s livelihoods, food production, and environmental conservation stressed by the Landscapes Initiative, it is important ...

Yesterday’s blog post covered the topic of climate change adaptation. But agriculture also represents an important mitigation potential. A new report produced by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and EcoAgriculture Partners explores how climate funds to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can benefit smallholder farmers and ...

Like many other countries around the globe, the United States has experienced record-setting weather events this summer, with heat waves, severe storms, and the worst drought in decades. These weather extremes exemplify what climate scientists expect from climate change, and have already begun to observe in many parts of the world. Agriculture feels the impacts acutely [&helli ...

Climate change has been an underlying theme of many of the Landscapes Blog posts, as it is becoming an integral piece of agriculture discussions. But this week, the Blog is focusing specifically on some of the recent publications with particular significance for climate change, agriculture, and food security. The High Level Panel of Experts on […] ...

From the trees of the tropics, the Landscapes Blog has headed to higher latitudes of the United States. The U.S. Department of Agriculture National Agroforestry Center (USDA NAC) recently issued a practical guide on agroforestry for landowners, farmers, and ranchers. Its primary goal is to “assist farmers and woodland owners establish, manage and market agroforestry proj ...

Yesterday the Landscapes Blog explored how cocoa production in Ghana is shifting toward a more sustainable system. Expanding to other tropical tree crops, today marks the launch of a new book – Tropical Tree Fruit Species and Climate Change. Trees are an important component in integrated agricultural landscapes, contributing to wildlife habitat, shade provision, soil fer ...

Continuing to look at certifications and more sustainable production of commodity crops in agricultural landscapes, the Landscapes Blog explores cocoa in West Africa today. Kassy Holmes, from the Climate Change Program of Rainforest Alliance, provides insight into an alternative production model that benefits both people and nature. Ghana’s cocoa farmers have a long, intertwi ...

Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) drew attention to the exciting new discovery that researchers from the International Institution for Tropical Agriculture (IITA) made regarding intercropping.  The recently posted article, In Uganda, Coffee and Banana Go Better Together, focuses on Uganda’s two most important agricultural commodities: coffee and bananas.  ...

By Sophia Gnych (sophia.gnych@zsl.org) Biodiversity and Palm Oil Project Developer The Zoological Society of London Bogor, Indonesia The growth of large multinational retailers, manufacturers and commercial agriculture firms has dramatically changed the production and distribution of agricultural commodities internat ...