A stethoscope for diagnosing stress conditions in plants that do not have voices is a promising tool for use in cultivation improvement and breeding selection. The author, Dr. Takaragawa, a researcher at the Tropical Agriculture Research Front, is investigating the gas exchange characteristics and morphology of leaves to explore the possibility of using them as a stethoscope. The “trait development” concept involves searching for physiological traits related to yield improvement from genetic resource populations and developing evaluation techniques to genetically add these traits, while the “trait (diversity) utilization” concept focuses on the diversity of traits in existing cultivars and hybrid populations and makes effective use of cultivars and genotypes that have both advantages and disadvantages by planting a mixture of them. The author is now trying to establish the “Trait Development and Utilization" research field, which combines the two concepts of “trait” and is promoting experiments and exchanging information among researchers.

On December 9, the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service announced that November 2024 was the second-highest monthly temperature ever recorded, confirming the forecast that 2024 will be the warmest year.

Drought is one of the most pressing threats to the socio-economy on all continents around the world, especially in arid regions. The report, Economics of Droughts, released on the sidelines of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) COP15, examines financial needs and opportunities for reducing drought crises and building resilience.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released its World Food Price Trends on December 6. The value in November 2024 averaged 127.5 points, up 0.5% from October and the highest level since April 2023. This was due to the fact that the rise in dairy and cooking oil prices slightly outpaced the decline in meat, grain, and sugar prices. This figure was 5.7% higher than last year, but 20.4% lower than the all-time high in March 2022.

It is estimated that about one-quarter of the world's food is traded in international markets, with the majority of it supplied by 10 countries. A recent op-ed published in the journal Science, titled "Eating the Earth," warned that the world's food trade, a lifeline for billions of the world's population, is burgeoning but fraught with vulnerabilities.

From the perspective of the concept of virtual water, the water used in production, importing food is equivalent to importing water.

Biodiversity loss, climate change, and land degradation are intertwined planetary-level challenges. Following the Biodiversity COP in Colombia in October and the Azerbaijan COP on climate change in November, the 16th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from December 2 to 13, 2024.

A team of international scientists analyzed the 2023 carbon budget based on global vegetation models and satellite data, suggesting that extreme heat waves could be caused by massive wildfires and severe droughts, which may be due to a decline in the carbon storage capacity of terrestrial ecosystems.

An archived video of the "Symposium with Dr. Cary Fowler, 2024 World Food Prize Laureate – Dr. Fowler’s Journey to Preserve Genetic Diversity and New Mission for Africa’s Adapted Crops and Soils," held on Friday, October 11, has been released.