We analyse the impact of intensity of tillage on wheat productivity and risk exposure using panel household-plot level data from Ethiopia. In order to control for selection bias, we estimate a flexible moment-based production function using an endogenous switching regression treatment effects model. We find that tillage has a complementary impact on productivity and risk exposure. As the intensity of tillage increases, productivity increases and farmers’ exposure to risk declines. Our results suggest that smallholder farmers use tillage as an ex-ante risk management strategy.

This research examines the transformation of the agro-climatic conditions of the Altai region as a result of climate change. The climate of the Altai region in Russia is sharply continental and characterized by dry air and significant weather variability, both in individual seasons and years. The current study is determined by the lack of detailed area-related analytical generalizations for the territory of the Altai region over the past 30 years.

Sorghum crop is grown under tropical and temperate latitudes for several purposes including production of health promoting food from the kernel and forage and biofuels from aboveground biomass. One of the concerns of policy-makers and sorghum growers is to cost-effectively predict biomass yields early during the cropping season to improve biomass and biofuel management. The objective of this study was to investigate if Sentinel-2 satellite images could be used to predict within-season biomass sorghum yields in the Mediterranean region.

This publication presents a coherent Collaborative Framework for Food Systems Transformation (the FS Framework) that recommends key activities across the food system for accelerating the transition to sustainable food systems. The FS Framework is primarily intended for national or local government departments that are responsible for establishing institutions and designing and implementing policies at the local or national level to develop food systems in line with national objectives and goals.

The UNDP Strategic Plan 2018-2021 recognizes the global importance of sustainable commodities to achieve the SDGs. This Guidance Note is designed to assist UNDP Country Offices in programming and policy support for national sustainable agricultural commodity projects. The Note is based on UNDP’s environmental, poverty, governance, finance and private sector work on sustainable commodities and their supply chains.

In Asia and the Pacific, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is working with member countries to leverage breakthroughs in information and communication technologies (ICT) to fight hunger, improve nutrition and counter the effects of climate change and extreme weather events that can devastate farmers and their crops. In the Philippines, a country prone to typhoons, aerial drones are taking to the sky to map out at-risk areas of agricultural land to mitigate risk. This innovative practice is also able to quickly assess damages when a disaster strikes.

Scientific advances, technical innovations and application of digital technology have the potential to contribute to a wide-scale structural transformation of food systems. In food safety and process control, as in other areas, technical advances outpace the understanding of how to use these tools to their greatest advantage and how they should be regulated. This thematic brief for the First FAO/WHO/AU International Food Safety Conference outlines key issues - strategic direction of science and innovation in food systems.

Land-use changes have dramatically transformed tropical landscapes. We describe an ecological-economic land-use change model as an integrated, exploratory tool used to analyze how tropical land-use change affects ecological and socio-economic functions. The model analysis seeks to determine what kind of landscape mosaic can improve the ensemble of ecosystem functioning, biodiversity, and economic benefit based on the synergies and trade-offs that we have to account for.

Establishing food security remains a global challenge; it is thus a specific objective of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. Successfully delivering productive and sustainable agricultural systems worldwide will form the foundations for overcoming this challenge. Smart agriculture is often perceived as one key enabler when considering the twin objectives of eliminating world hunger and undernourishment. The practical realization, deployment, and adoption of smart agricultural systems remain distant due to a confluence of technological, social, and economic factors.