This report shows some initial results about the research project entitled GlobalOrg, on a Brazilian case study, investigating the sustainability of tropical fruit organic farming in a global food chains perspective. It was performed an analysis about the production strategies of certified units of a familiar smalholders cooperative from Itápolis-SP-Brazil.

In 2010 the Brazilian Government established a goal to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by agriculture from 36.1 up to 38.9% in ten years (2010 -2020). To contribute for reaching part of this purpose in Tocantins State, Embrapa and other research and extension services partners have been conducting a project of technology transference on sustainable agricultural practices, including integrated crop-livestock-forestry (ICLF), since 2012.

In Pium, Tocantins state, Brazil, in 2012 Embrapa developed a technology transference project in partnership with the state?s rural extension service for the consolidation of low carbon emissions agriculture. The goal was to recover the degraded grasslands of the Trigueira farm (49°1'37.44"W and 10°24'58.84"S) with low cost using a crop-livestock system.

Brazilian agriculture is facing another expansion cycle to the Cerrado region, more specific in the Northeast. The first agriculture expansion cycle to the Midwest was in seventies encouraged and developed by Brazilian Government with farmers from southern and southeast Brazil, which were traditional small farmers with some experience, low budget and a remarkable determination. All of these efforts after 20 years resulted in an outstanding development of a part of the country with economy based on agribusiness (soybean, corn, cotton, livestock, poultry, swine, etc.).

In the Amazon, slash and burn is the most common technique used by American-Indians, small farmers and even big ranches to transform forests into rural landscapes. The basis of food subsistence for diverse populations (rice, corn and bean), slash and burn is also a must for the plantation of cocoa, coffee, palms and pastures. The Amazonian rural landscape is currently dominated by pastures, occupying around 80 % of the deforested surface.

The Foresight project Global Food and Farming Futures final report  provides an overview of the evidence and discusses the challenges and choices for policy makers and others whose interests relate to all areas that interact with the food system.

Over the past decades public investment in major, medium and minor irrigation systems has not yielded the expected results. The solution to the growing water crisis lies in the institutional reform of existing social systems so as to manage the demand for water. In recent times, there has been an emphasis on capacity-building of farmer organizations (FO) in irrigation projects. This study focuses on investigating the institutional capacities of FOs in irrigation systems in the Anuradhapura and Kurunegala districts.

Analysis of the role of Global Value Chains (GVC) in accessing knowledge and enhancing learning and innovation. Global Value Chains, Innovation Systems, Governance, Foreign Direct Investment, Learning, Upgrading, Productivity. Three main conclusions emerge from the analytical framework and evidence presented in this paper.

This Economic and Sector Work paper, “Enhancing Agricultural Innovation: How to Go Beyond the Strengthening of Research Systems,” was initiated as a result of the international workshop, “Development of Research Systems to Support the Changing Agricultural Sector,” organized by the Agriculture and Rural Development Department of the World Bank in June 2004 in Washington, DC.

Given the diversity and context-specificity of innovation systems approaches, in March 2007 the World Bank organized a workshop in which about 80 experts (representing donor agencies, development and related agencies, academia, and the World Bank) took stock of recent experiences with innovation systems in agriculture and reconsidered strategies for their future development. This paper summarizes the workshop findings and uses them to develop and discuss key issues in applying the innovation systems concept. The workshop’s recommendations, including next steps for the wider