Archive

International Migrants Day

According to the UN Population Division (DESA) estimates, the number of international migrants — persons living in a country other than where they were born — reached 244 million in 2015 for the world as a whole, an increase of 71 million, or 41 per cent, compared to 2000. The year 2015 will be remembered […]

CCAFS at COP21: Climate Change, Agriculture, and Food Security

With the CGIAR system facing ridiculous cutbacks, and climate change looming large, there couldn’t be a more important time to focus on the great work of the Climate Change Agriculture and Food Security Research Program led by Bruce Campbell. What will the Paris climate talks deliver for food and farming? It’s a critical question, as the […]

COP21: It’s Time to Eat for the Planet

With the world’s leaders gathering in Paris to discuss how collective efforts can ensure that global warming does not rise above two degrees, farmers face the double challenge of how to feed a booming global population set to reach 9bn, while delivering a more sustainable agricultural system. Though it may not always be prominent in […]

FAO Dialogue with the Private Sector Mechanism on Inclusive Finance and Investment Models in Agriculture

Jaine Chisholm Caunt, Chair of the Private Sector Mechanism and Director General of the Grain and Feed Trade Association, and I were featured in an FAO dialogue on inclusive finance and investment models in agriculture at the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) in Rome. Watch the video below. For information regarding the FAO Director-General’s […]

Stats Show Women Still have a Way to Go

For years, the Emerging team has been working to highlight the particularly gaps that face women farmers and the high degree of poverty experienced by rural women. Women and children make up the majority of the population living in poverty and are most affected by transecting, systemic barriers and societal attitudes which preclude them from […]

The Pope and the SDGs at the UN today!

17 Heads of State, 1 Pope, 17 goals for a new global partnership makes for a lot of security and a lot of media. Thrill for one farm girl.

Canada’s Gun Deaths Creeping Up

Growing up in Canada, I’ve always known there to be a relatively high rate of gun ownership.  Living in a vast country with a lot of wilderness, a weapon is necessary in Northern communities or on most farms.  Even as close as our farm is to civilisation, it is known to have a bear or […]

World Bank Should Support Ag Now More Than Ever

It was just as we in agriculture feared – after seeing agriculture rise on the agenda in 2008-09, there are signs that momentum is waning.  An important symbol is the planned exit of the World Bank from funding for the Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research commonly known as the CG. The CG is the […]

And the next UN Secretary General may be…

My friend Felix Dodds wrote an excellent blog on the race for the next UN Secretary General.  To be selected in 2016, it is a scattered field but I certainly think it is high time there is a female SG.  Undoubtedly regional considerations will be an important factor, but so should be the representation of […]

Nine Innovative Companies Revolutionizing the Food Industry

Fortune has created a list of 50 companies that are changing the agricultural world. These include companies working with innovative technologies like irrigation systems, or researching ways to mitigate and adapt to climate change using sustainable farming. Here are nine companies who are leaders in their field and are revolutionizing the food industry. Whole Foods […]