While being a research institute, Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) also strives to foster human resources both in Japan and overseas who are expected to play an active role in international agricultural research in the future, including JIRCAS fellows, trainees, and visiting lecturers. This time, Dr. Hiroo Takaragawa of the Tropical Agriculture Research Front explained the significance of plant observation and its methods to high school students at Okinawa Prefectural Hokubu Norin High School, who would be the future leaders of agriculture, and introduced the fun of making their own devices by learning programming languages and electronic construction techniques using knowledge from Internet searches, even for novices.

The average temperature in the fall of 2024 (September-November) is quite high nationwide, making it the hottest autumn in the past 126 years since statistics began in 1898. On the other hand, according to the forecast, the next month will be susceptible to cold air, and there is a high probability of lower-than-normal temperatures. In mid-latitudes, winter weather is affected by the meandering of the polar jet stream.

World Soil Day is held every year on December 5 as an opportunity to advocate for the sustainable management of soil resources, with the aim of highlighting the importance of healthy soil. This year's theme is "Caring for soils: measure, monitor, manage".

This week, Dr. Seth Mayer, Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Dr. Keith Weave of the International Food Policy Institute (IFPRI) will visit Japan to give lectures on the outlook for global food supply and demand at the Seminar on Thursday, December 4 and at the Symposium on December 5. 

According to the United Nations, devastating conflicts, frequent climate disasters, and economic crises have increased the global need for humanitarian aid. There is an urgent need to build resilient food systems.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations' (FAO) 2024 Statistical Yearbook provides a detailed overview of the most important trends shaping the global agri-food system, highlighting key challenges surrounding global agriculture and food systems, such as rising temperatures, rising obesity rates along with persistent food insecurity, and environmental pressures facing agricultural production.

The archived video of the "Special Seminar by FAO Chief Economist Massimo Torero: Priority Policy and Investment Options for Global Food Security and Nutrition and Resilient Food Systems," held on Tuesday, October 8, has been released.

Tomorrow, November 22nd, at the JIRCAS International Symposium 2024, we will discuss the role of resilient genetic resources in the age of global boiling. In conjunction with the International Symposium, we have published the latest issue of the JIRCAS Newsletter featuring our efforts to develop crop genetic resources.

Based on an in-depth study of 156 countries, SOFA 2024 found that the hidden environmental, health, and social costs of agri-food systems totaled approximately $12 trillion per year. The report estimates the hidden costs of each stage of development of agri-food systems and proposes customized policies and interventions, focusing on the unique challenges and opportunities of each system.