Modern agriculture has a significant environmental impact, and as climate change worsens, the environmental impact of agriculture is expected to worsen. The review published in the journal Science analyzed the effects of climate change on the various aspects of agriculture's environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions, water use and scarcity, soil degradation, nitrogen and phosphorus pollution, pollution from pests and pesticide use, and biodiversity loss.

Sugarcane, a sugar and energy crop, has a narrow genetic base due to hybridizations among modern varieties, and there are high expectations for expanding its genetic base and improving its tolerance to environmental stresses through intergeneric hybridizations using the closely related genetic resource Erianthus arundinaceus. The paper, published in Planta, found that the high drought tolerance of Erianthus, previously vaguely understood, may be attributed to its high water use efficiency due to its low stomatal density and accumulations of specific metabolites.

JIRCAS will host ‘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’  in Tokyo on October 11, 2024.

Methane (CH4) is a potent greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Under the Global Methane Pledge, more than 150 countries have pledged to reduce methane emissions by 30% over a decade, but a study published on September 10 found that methane emissions have increased at an unprecedented rate over the past five years, with most emissions coming from agriculture and waste.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) released its global food price trends on September 6. The average value in August 2024 was 120.7 points, a slight decline from the previous month as the decline in the sugar, meat and grain price index outpaced the increase in vegetable oil and dairy prices. This was 1.1% lower than the previous year and 24.7% lower than the historic high of 160.3 points in March 2022.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released its 2024-34 International Food Security Assessment. Food security is expected to improve significantly by 2034 due to the prospect of an improvement in GDP per capita in the former Soviet Union countries and in South and Southeast Asia. Meanwhile, grain demand is expected to grow on average by 2.4% annually over the next decade, mainly driven by income growth in Asia and population growth in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Extreme weather events around the world are disproportionately hitting vulnerable developing countries. In response to this, there is an urgent call for loss and damage funds. The paper, published in PNAS Nexus, proposed a vision for integrating multiple methods for attribution science that analyze the causal relationship between extreme events and anthropogenic climate change for investment decision-making.

The State of the Climate in 2023 was published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS), confirming that the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the global average temperature on land and in the sea, sea level, and ocean heat content have reached record highs.

In recent years, there has been a growing expectation for artificial intelligence (AI) in the agri-food sector as well. The paper, published in the journal Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture, highlights the potential of AI to fundamentally change the way food is produced, distributed, and managed, ensuring food security and a sustainable future.