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Pick Up724. One Year Since Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
One year has passed since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and the uncertainty surrounding global food security has increased dramatically. Global food security requires coordinated international efforts to avoid supply chain disruptions caused by geopolitical factors, and technical assistance in regions where food crop productivity is stagnant is of critical importance.
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Pick Up723. Climate Change Risk to the Built Environment
Over the past 50 years, the number of extreme weather events - droughts, storms, floods, and extreme temperatures - has increased, and the scale of economic losses has grown each year, affecting the food and nutrition security of vulnerable segments of society. Climate change also causes significant economic damage by destroying assets and infrastructure, and supply chain disruptions affect the investment trends that drive the global economy. The assessment, which was made public on February 20, was the talk of the world's media. -
Pick Up722. Wilder PL Bags 2023 Japan Prize of Agricultural Science / Yomiuri Prize of Agricultural Science
Dr. Marcy N. WILDER, Project Leader of the Fisheries Division, has been selected by the Association of Japanese Agricultural Scientific Societies to receive the 2023 Japan Prize of Agricultural Science / Yomiuri Prize of Agricultural Science. The award is recognized as the highest honor given to agricultural science researchers in Japan.
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Pick Up721. Quinoa Day ～JIRCAS Contribution in Quinoa Research～
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization launched the International Year of Quinoa at an opening ceremony held on February 20, 2013, and on the same day in 2016, the Japan Quinoa Association was established. In 2017, February 20 was recognized and registered by the Japan Anniversary Association as “Quinoa Day”. Today's Pick Up features quinoa.
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Pick Up720. Recent Trends in World Food Price and Food Security
According to reports from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and a World Bank blog, international food prices have calmed down from last year's peak, but domestic prices for food remain high around the world and inflation is being recorded in many countries.
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Pick Up719. Global Sea Ice Extent at All-time Low in January 2023
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has announced that the global sea ice extent for the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans combined reached an all-time low in January 2023. Experts say that while this value is not necessarily a trend, and the possibility of weather-related fluctuations cannot be ruled out, 44 years of satellite observations have also confirmed that sea ice is retreating rapidly.
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Pick Up718. Addressing Food Systems Loss and Damage
Until now, negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have focused on two strategies: mitigation and adaptation to climate change. However, "too little, too slow" in responding to climate change has necessitated a third negotiation: loss and damage (L&D). The article, "Responding to loss and damage in food systems," recently published in Nature Food, emphasized the need for a long-term perspective that is more in line with the needs on the ground, rather than a crisis-by-crisis humanitarian response. -
Pick Up717. Implementation of Climate Action on Agriculture in the United States
A week ago, President Biden delivered his State of the Union address in which he described climate change as an existential threat and stressed the need for the current generation to share responsibility for climate change action for the sake of future generations. Here, we take a brief look at the implementation framework for agricultural conservation in the Inflation Reduction Act announced last August, which was also cited by Pres. Biden. -
Pick Up716. Action on Global Food and Nutrition Security Crisis
On February 8, the heads of five international organizations issued a joint statement expressing support for the victims of the recent earthquake that struck Turkey and Syria, while sounding the alarm about the deteriorating environment surrounding poverty and food security worldwide. The statement called for a balanced response that takes into account both emergency relief and long-term resilience-building efforts, such as "hunger hotspot" relief and trade promotion. -
Pick Up715. February 10 is “World Pulses Day” ～Recent Cowpea Research～
The United Nations established February 10 as “World Pulses Day” at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in December 2018 to commemorate the International Year of the Pulses in 2016. In this “World Pulses Day” Pick Up, we will explore cowpea research conducted in recent years using the method of text mining.
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Pick Up714. Balancing Food Production and Improving Soil Fertility with the Power of Soil Microorganisms
In sub-Saharan Africa, crop productivity is low, and food shortages are chronic. JIRCAS has established a technology to produce phosphate-added soil compost using materials available to small-scale farmers in the region. We have also demonstrated that using phosphate rock-rhizosphere soil-added compost not only increases yields on a par with chemical fertilizers but also improves the biological and chemical properties of the soil. This achievement is expected to be an effective technology against the sharp rise in global fertilizer prices. -
Pick Up713. Impact of Increased Productivity of Staple Crops on Improving Nutrition of Farmers
In rural Madagascar, increased paddy rice productivity has been shown to be effective in improving farmers' nutrition in terms of both quality and quantity, as it leads to increased self-consumption and the purchase of nutritious foods at the market. -
Pick Up712. The Need for Transboundary Policies to Conserve Soil Biodiversity
The European Union (EU), known for its passionate commitment to environmental issues, has stated its goal of restoring soil health in Europe and beyond. Maintaining soil health is important for a sustainable society, but how to achieve it is the challenge. In this issue, we would like to introduce the challenges facing soil diversity conservation from the article “Soil biodiversity needs policy without borders” published in Science.
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Pick Up711. January 2023 World Food Price Index
On February 3, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released its latest World Food Price Index, which averaged 131.2 points in January 2023, the tenth consecutive monthly decline and 28.6 points (17.9%) lower than the high reached in March 2022. and sugar, while grain and meat prices remained stable. -
Pick Up710. February 3 is "Soybean Day"
February 3 is "Soybean Day”. It is set on February 3, which is often the day of the Setsubun festival. As part of the celebration, soybeans are scattered to drive away evil spirits and people eat as many soybeans as their age to pray for good health and good fortune. Today, we introduce the situation of soybeans in Japan and abroad, as well as soybean research at JIRCAS.
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Pick Up709. Urgent Transformation of the Food System
The war in Ukraine helped turn public attention toward the food crisis, but the number of hungry people was on the rise even before the war. Ironically, from 1961 to 2020, world food production quadrupled, and from 2000 to 2020 alone, the number of hungry people increased despite a 50% increase in food production. The World Bank blog noted that the problem is not temporary, but deeper-rooted, and argued for the urgency of transforming food systems according to each country's circumstances. -
Pick Up708. The Water Crisis
Among the world's polycrisis, the water crisis is the most urgent, and an article in Nature called for research to help solve the water crisis. In the context of the SDGs, the water-centered goal is SDG 6 “Clean water and sanitation” but water is also critical to achieving the food security goal - SDG 2 "Zero hunger”. -
Pick Up707. The Wonder of Superfood "Quinoa" Native to South America
Quinoa, which has been gaining attention in recent years as a "superfood," is a miracle crop that can grow even in the harsh environment of the vicinity of salt lakes such as Lake Uyuni in Bolivia. The SATREPS Symposium: The Wonder of Superfood "Quinoa" Native to South America, will be held on Tuesday, February 7, 2023. Researchers from Bolivia and producers who have started quinoa cultivation in Hokkaido are invited as lecturers to introduce to the general public the fascinating crops of the Andes Mountains, such as quinoa and potato, and communicate the potential of quinoa as a food for the future.
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Pick Up706. Lessons from Weather and Climate Science for Future Pandemics
Three years have passed since late January 2020, when a new type of coronavirus broke out and reports began to come in about infected people in Japan. Recently, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published an article titled "Learning from weather and climate science to prepare for a future pandemic”. The article suggested that infectious disease modeling research can also learn a great deal from the half century of experience that weather and climate research has had with uncertainty, forecasting, global data sharing, and multi-billion dollar policy discussions. -
Pick Up705. Connections of Tipping Elements in the Earth System
In the Earth system, tipping elements that are likely to exceed tipping points with large-scale changes that will gradually become irreversible due to human activities include the melting of the Greenland ice sheet, deforestation of the Amazon, and others. These are remotely correlated in the Earth system. These are remotely correlated in the Earth system and could have unforeseen domino effects on the climate system. A paper recently published in Nature Climate Change pointed to a mechanism by which the Amazon rainforest could reach a tipping point and spill over to the seemingly distant Tibetan Plateau.