Field Information - Pick Up
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Pick Up600. Fifty Years Since ‘Limits to Growth’
This year, 2022, marks the 50th anniversary of the Club of Rome's publication of ‘Limits to Growth’ in 1972. Today, as we face a climate emergency with more frequent extreme weather events, the zoonosis COVID-19, widening inequality, and the threat of war, the 50th anniversary is an important time to reflect on what has happened and to consider what the future holds. -
Pick Up599. Heat Waves Exceeding Climate Change Model Prediction
This past July was apparently the hottest July on record, despite the La Niña event. The Copernicus Climate Change Service in Europe reported the third hottest surface temperatures on record, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported the sixth hottest on record. In an article published in Nature, the authors state that recent extreme heat waves have actually been observed earlier than climate change models predict.
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Pick Up598. International Trends in Fertilizer Prices and Innovations in Effective Use of Fertilizers
With the recent spike in chemical fertilizer prices due to rising fuel prices, which could strain global food supply and demand in the medium term, a World Bank blog in late July called for investment in innovation to develop best practices and technologies that will enable increased productivity per fertilizer use, addressing the need to guarantee access and reasonable prices for fertilizers by producers. JIRCAS will host an official TICAD 8 side event on August 30, 2022, to showcase the innovations in fertilizer use that JIRCAS has been developing in Madagascar and Burkina Faso.
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Pick Up597. The Importance of Mountain Ecosystem
Tomorrow, August 11, is Mountain Day. Mountains play a central role in biological and cultural diversity and traditional knowledge, yet they are more exposed than ever to the effects of climate change and environmental degradation. These changes could affect water supply, energy production, ecosystem integrity, and agricultural and forestry production. Initiatives are needed to mitigate the effects of climate change and conserve mountain ecosystems at local and global scales. -
Pick Up596. Impact of Rising Food Costs on Livelihoods
According to an analysis of a report by the United Nations, a 10% increase in food prices would lower the incomes of the poorest by 5%, with an impact so great that these households would lose income equivalent to what they would normally spend on health care. While the current crisis is a problem faced by all people, it is necessary for the international community to identify the needs of those segments of society most affected by the crisis and work to solve the problem from what it can do. -
Pick Up595. World Food Price Index for July 2022
On August 6, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released its World Food Price Trends, reporting that prices fell for the fourth consecutive month since March, when they reached an all-time high, but remained 13% above their level a year ago. The decline reflects, among other things, significant declines in vegetable oil and grain price indexes.
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Pick Up594. Online Registration for TICAD8 Official Side Event “Managing African Soil for Food Security and Environmental Sustainability: Opportunities and Challenges of Agronomy to Solve Low Fertility/Nutrient Bottlenecks” Starts Today
Today, the official TICAD 8 side-event "Healthy Soils and Food Security in Africa - Potential of Regenerative Agriculture," organized by the Sasakawa Africa Association and JIRCAS goes online at 19:30 ~ 22:15 (JST). Online registration for the other official TICAD8 side-event, “Managing African Soil for Food Security and Environmental Sustainability: Opportunities and Challenges of Agronomy to Solve Low Fertility/Nutrient Bottlenecks” organized by JIRCAS and to be held on August 30, is also open from today. We hope you will consider registering to attend. -
Pick Up593. Special Page on Agricultural Research in Africa Now Open
The 8th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD8) will be held on August 27 (Sat) and 28 (Sun), 2022. In conjunction with this event, we created the Information Page on Agricultural Research in Africa which is now available on the JIRCAS website.
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Pick Up592. TICAD8 Official Side-Event "Healthy Soils and Food Security in Africa: Potential of Regenerative Agriculture" Registration Deadline Tomorrow at 5pm
The day after tomorrow, Friday, the event "Healthy Soils and Food Security in Africa - Potential of Regenerative Agriculture" will finally be held online. This seminar has now been registered as an official TICAD8 side-event. In addition to keynote speeches by world-renowned soil science and agronomy researchers, stakeholders working on soil research technology development, extension, and policy in Africa will discuss healthy soils in the African context, and the nature of cooperation to achieve food security and environmental sustainability through healthy soils. -
Pick Up591. JIRCAS Affiliated Researcher SAITO Kazuki Receives 7th Niigata International Food Award 21st Century Hope Prize
On July 28, the winners of the 7th Niigata International Food Award, which is given to individuals who have devoted themselves to solving problems in the fields of food and agriculture, were announced. Among the five awardees this year, Dr. SAITO Kazuki, an affiliated researcher at JIRCAS, received the 21st Century Hope Prize. -
Pick Up590. Access to Sustainable Environment is a Universal Human Right
The effects of climate change are becoming increasingly evident, as evidenced by the first ever heat wave over 40°C reported in the UK on July 18/19 and the UN General Assembly's resolution on July 28 declaring access to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment a universal human right. The UN resolution stated that the triple threats to the environment that humanity faces - climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss - have different causes and effects, but are interrelated and must be addressed simultaneously for the future of our planet. -
Pick Up589. Earth Overshoot Day 2022
Yesterday, July 28, was Earth Overshoot Day 2022. Last year it was August 2, five days earlier. We are now facing climate change and biological resource constraints, and we need to take all possible steps to build a more resilient society. Among these measures are eliminating resource inefficiency in food production, and preventing food loss and waste. -
Pick Up588. Soil-binding Capacity of Plant Root Systems to Prevent Collapse of Earth Canals and Levee Slopes
JIRCAS is working on a technology to reinforce paddy field irrigation facilities in Ghana by covering the ground surface of levees and irrigation canals with native plants. The above-ground part of the cover plants has a covering effect to prevent raindrop erosion, while the underground part is largely related to the soil-binding effect to prevent cracks and collapse. We tested three species of native plants and obtained information on the time it takes to develop soil-binding, differences in soil-binding capacity depending on the presence or absence of vegetation, and the mechanism of soil-binding. -
Pick Up587. Global Wheat Supply and Food Security Stabilization
The Ukraine-Russia war is expected to have an enormous impact on global food security in the coming months. Researchers at CIMMYT, a leading international wheat and corn research institute, have proposed short and long-term measures to stabilize global wheat supplies and food security in the journal Nature Food. -
Pick Up586. Role of Healthy Soils
The important role of healthy soils in crop production to support human and livestock nutrition has been the focus of much attention in recent years. There is a growing need to assess soil fertility status and the challenges it faces from both a scientific and policy perspective, and the international community has been working to educate the public through various events. JIRCAS is also planning a series of events on science, technology, and development topics to improve soil health and fertility on the occasion of TICAD 8. We hope you will join us. -
Pick Up585. The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets
On July 22, the United Nations and Turkey brokered an agreement to resume grain shipments from the Black Sea to Ukraine, but within 24 hours an attack on the port of Odessa was reported, casting a pall over the situation. The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets 2022 (SOCO 2022), released by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) at the end of June 2022, addresses the geography of food and agricultural trade and demonstrates that efforts to promote multilateral and regional trade are essential to increase food system resilience to shocks such as conflict, pandemics, and extreme weather events, and to achieve sustainable development. -
Pick Up584. The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022
The United Nations released The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022 on July 7, providing a global overview of progress on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, using the latest available data and estimates.
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Pick Up583. TICAD8 Side-Event Poster: “Healthy Soils for Food Security in Africa - Potential of Regenerative Agriculture”
As recently announced in Pick Up, the Sasakawa Africa Association (SAA) and JIRCAS will co-host a TICAD 8 side-event “Healthy Soils for Food Security in Africa - Potential of Regenerative Agriculture” online via Zoom on August 5 (Fri), 2022. The poster of the event is now available. Please take a look. -
Pick Up582. The Need for a Multifaceted Assessment of the Value of Nature
Biodiversity is being lost at an unprecedented rate due to human economic activities. On July 11, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) released a comprehensive review of methodologies for assessing biodiversity values (The Value Assessment), which raised the issue that the value of nature is undervalued in policy and economic decision-making.
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Pick Up581. Drought Risk for Almost Half of EU and UK
For the first time, the UK Met Office has issued the Red alert warning of health risks due to an extreme heatwave predicted for the week of July 18/19. This is the first time that temperatures above 40°C have been predicted in the U.K., a tenfold increase in probability under anthropogenic climate change. The EU also issued a warning that nearly half of the EU and the U.K. are at risk of drought, citing concerns over the impact on crop production.