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325. Launching of the OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook Report on July 14 (Wed)
The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook, which is released in early July every year, is a report compiled by a group of experts engaged in statistical analysis of the world's agriculture, forestry and fisheries industries, based on information provided by member countries and other sources, to provide an up-to-date perspective on trends in agricultural markets over the next decade. Under the auspices of the FAO Liaison Office in Japan and in collaboration with JIRCAS, an event to explain the report to the Japanese audience interested in international agricultural market trends with simultaneous interpretation in English will be held on July 14, 2021. Details of the program and how to apply for participation will be announced at a later date via the websites of JIRCAS and the FAO Liaison Office in Japan.
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324. "International Day of the Tropics" and the JIRCAS Tropical Agriculture Research Front
Tomorrow, June 29, is "International Day of the Tropics". To celebrate this day, we would like to introduce the JIRCAS Tropical Agriculture Research Front (TARF) in Ishigaki Island. The people of Ishigaki Island refer to TARF as “Nekken”, its acronym in the Japanese language. As the only agricultural research institute under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) in Japan located in a subtropical environment, TARF will continue to make full use of its unique features and play a role in contributing to agriculture both in Japan and overseas, while promoting research with all its staff.
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323. How much does the food we eat truly cost for human, environment and economies?
In preparation for the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS), a diverse group of researchers and scientists has been established to discuss the role of science, technology and innovation in achieving the goal of building a sustainable, inclusive and resilient food system. The Scientific Group released a report titled “The True Cost and True Price of Food”, pointing out that the current price of food is much lower than what it should be if we take health and the environment into consideration, and proposing a mechanism to correct the price to reflect the cost of maintaining health and protecting the environment. The report proposes the creation of a mechanism to adjust prices to reflect the costs of maintaining health and protecting the environment.
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322. Global Warming Stripes
On June 21, 2021, meteorologists and climatologists from around the world have launched the "Show Your Stripes" campaign to show the average temperature trends over the past 100 years in each country, with the aim of highlighting the need for urgent action on climate change. In many countries and regions, the stripes show a transition from blue to red as they approach recent years, reflecting rising temperatures. The year 2021 will determine the success or failure of climate change action to avoid the worst impacts represented by frequent extreme weather events such as droughts, floods and storms.
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321. UN Food Systems Summit: Two Briefs for Food System Transformation
A Scientific Group has been established in preparation for the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) to be held in September this year. The Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition has produced two briefs, namely, “COVID-19 and the Food Systems: Rebuilding for Resilience” and “The Transition Steps Needed to Transform Our Food System”, for the Scientific Group, recommending actions for food system transformation to be taken by various stakeholders in the international community.
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320. The Food System as Source of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Agriculture is both a contributor to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions and an economic sector that is heavily impacted. At the UN Food Systems Summit and COP26 scheduled for 2021, countries will need data to inform specific strategies for mitigating climate change in the food system. The paper, published in Environmental Research Letters, estimates greenhouse gas emissions from the food system at the pre-shipment, land use, pre- and post-production stages, and shows that they are equivalent to about one-third of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, and that fossil fuel emissions from food transportation and supply chains have increased in particular from 1990 to 2018.
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319. The World's Rainy Season and Agriculture
This year, the rainy season in the Kanto-Koshin region started a week ago, on June 14, one week later than normal and the latest start in the last 10 years. In tropical countries close to the equator, where there is little change in temperature throughout the year, seasons are defined as rainy and dry seasons. There are concerns that climate change will exacerbate the various uncertainties and risks faced by farmers in developing countries who depend on rainfed agriculture. JIRCAS is developing technologies to contribute to the establishment of agricultural systems that are resilient to climate change by mobilizing appropriate water management, breeding, and cultivation technologies, assuming changes in rainy and dry season patterns in each region of developing countries.
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318. World Food Price Index for May 2021
According to the Food Price Index released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) on June 3, 2021, world food prices rose sharply in May 2021 for the first time in more than a decade, since October 2010, despite the prospect of global cereal production reaching an all-time high. This is due to the rising international prices of vegetable oil, sugar and grains.
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317. "World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought" and Sustainable Land Management
June 17 is the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, which was established in 1995 following the adoption of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) on June 17, 1994, with the main objective of preventing desertification and saving people from drought. Desertification is, in most cases, not the expansion of existing deserts but decrease of productivity in cropland, forest, or grassland caused by land degradation in drylands. JIRCAS is working to develop and disseminate sustainable land management technologies related to the new strategic objectives of the UNCCD.
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316. Merits of Controlling the Size and Shape of Soybeans
Soybean is one of the most economically important crops in the world, used as a source of edible oil as well as livestock feed due to its high protein content. Soybeans come in a variety of colors and sizes, and each has a different use. The seed size of soybean is an important factor in determining yield, and its shape is very important for processing in terms of the food industry.
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315. Biofortification for Healthier, Inclusive and Resilient Food Systems
Biofortification is one of the solutions to micronutrient deficiencies, such as vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and is an effort to promote micronutrient intake by increasing the nutritional value of the crop itself, rather than adding it to the food. The latest policy brief from HarvestPlus, which has been promoting biofortification, summarizes the benefits and impacts of biofortified crops and foods, and urges action by governments, companies, and international organizations to scale up.
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314. Balancing Soil Conservation and Livelihoods in the Ethiopian Highlands
The SDGs, which tackle global food and environmental problems, eradication of hunger and poverty, and these activities are supported by the land at our feet. In the world, 2 billion hectares of land, including agricultural land, are devastated, and 12 million hectares are becoming a desert each year due to desertification, land deterioration and drought.
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313. Improving Rice Productivity in Burkina Faso through “Local Production for Consumption of Local Fertilizer” Using Phosphate Rock
In West Africa, crop productivity is low due to low inputs of chemical fertilizers in harsh weather conditions and low fertility soils, resulting in the expansion of cultivated land to feed the growing population, leading to deforestation and land degradation. JIRCAS has been working on the development of domestic fertilizers in Burkina Faso under the SATREPS project, and two papers published in international journals recently showed the effectiveness of domestic phosphorus fertilizers in actual rice farmers' fields. These results will contribute to the stable self-sufficiency of food throughout Africa by showing the way to promote the shift to local production for local consumption in African countries that have relied on imported fertilizers.
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312. Lessons for Building a Sustainable Food System
In May 2021, Dr. Agnes Kalibata, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for the 2021 Food Systems Summit, wrote an article in Nature Food on the importance of maximizing the use of science, technology and knowledge to build a sustainable food system.
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311. Unlocking the Key to Predicting the Behavior of the World's Most Destructive Locust Pest
At the end of 2019 and the first half of 2020, the media around the world, including Japan, reported that the desert locust, which had caused an outbreak in the Arabian Peninsula, had invaded South Asia and East Africa, shocking people. To establish a drastic and effective control method in the event of an outbreak, it is important to elucidate the ecology of the desert locust. The results of the JIRCAS research have been published in Ecological Applications, and a photo of a desert locust exhibiting a "stilting behavior" has been featured on the cover.
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310. June is “Environment Month”
June 5 is "World Environment Day", commemorating the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm as proposed by Japan and designated by the United Nations. Today, June 8, is also "World Oceans Day", which was proposed by Canada in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and approved in 2009. In Japan, June is designated as "Environment Month" and events are held to raise awareness and recognize the importance of environmental conservation.
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309. World Food Safety Day and Traditional Asian Foods
In 2018, the United Nations General Assembly adopted June 7 as World Food Safety Day, a day to celebrate the benefits of safe food. This year's theme, “Safe food now for a healthy tomorrow”, aims to remind us that recognizing the systemic connections between the health of people, animals, plants, the environment and the economy will help meet the needs of future generations.
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308. Use of Heat Insulation Film Covering for Tomato Cultivation in Tropical and Subtropical Regions
Tomatoes are said to have originated in the Andes region of South America, but are now an important vegetable eaten all over the world, and in recent years, demand for tomatoes has been increasing in tropical and subtropical regions such as Southeast Asia. The use of a heat insulation film covering for tomato cultivation in tropical and subtropical regions can mitigate the damage caused by high air temperatures and strong sunlight.
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307. Approval of First Insect as Novel Food in the EU
An insect has been approved as a novel food in the EU for the first time on May 3 this year. Insect diets, plant-based meat alternatives, and cultured meats are replacing meat diets as the trend in the global food industry, and the process of official approval seems to be underway in many places.
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306. Biological Nitrification Inhibition (BNI): Breakthrough in the Use of Nitrogen Fertilizer to Ensure Stable Food Supply and Reduce Environmental Impact
Modern agriculture is faced with the major dilemma of minimizing the environmental damage caused by agriculture while ensuring an adequate food supply. Nitrogen fertilizer is essential for crop growth, and farmers have traditionally increased nitrogen fertilizer inputs to increase food production per unit of land and reduce deforestation caused by the expansion of farmland. At the same time, however, nitrogen fertilizer has become the major cause of greenhouse gas emissions lately and groundwater pollution. Retaining nitrogen in the soil in ammonium form could be the decisive factor in solving the dilemma of increased food production without environmental pollution. The “Opinion” of JIRCAS and Princeton University scientists on these debates was published on June 1 issue (vol. 118 no. 22) of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), one of the prestigious journals. JIRCAS and Princeton University had held a press release about this article.