The Center on Food Security and the Environment is a joint effort of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.
Science and Technology
Scholarly Publications
Impact of a rural solar electrification project on the level and structure of women's empowerment
September 2017
Although development organizations agree that reliable access to energy and energy services—one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals—is likely to have profound and perhaps disproportionate...
Mapping Smallholder Yield Heterogeneity at Multiple Scales in Eastern Africa
September 2017
Accurate measurements of crop production in smallholder farming systems are critical to the understanding of yield constraints and, thus, setting the appropriate agronomic investments and policies...
The shared and unique values of optical, fluorescence, thermal and microwave satellite data for estimating large-scale crop yields
August 2017
Large-scale crop monitoring and yield estimation are important for both scientific research and practical applications.
Other Publications
Data Science for Food Security
August 2017
Using agricultural and economic characteristics in African nations as test cases, new research by David Lobell and Marshall Burke demonstrates the use of satellite data to address the long-standing...
Climate Change and China's Agricultural Sector: Impacts, Adaptation, and Mitigation
May 2010
Although China and the United States are the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases, China’s emissions on a per capita basis are significantly lower than those of the U.S.: in 2005, per capita...
News
Notes From the Farm: Blue Skies and Dark Clouds
September 2017
September means that it is time again for my annual Iowa farm report, the sixth edition in this series.
Stanford scientists combine satellite data, machine learning to map poverty
August 2016
One of the biggest challenges in providing relief to people living in poverty is locating them.
Monitoring crops from space
November 2015
As Earth's population grows toward a projected 9 billion by 2050 and climate change puts growing pressure on the world's agriculture, researchers are turning to technology to help safeguard the...
Events
Film Screening: "Seeds of Time" with Dr. Cary Fowler
April 20, 2016
Join us for a free screening of "Seeds of Time: One man's journey to save the future of our food" from Academy Award nominated director Sandy McLeod.Synposis:A perfect storm is brewing as...
Connecting the Dots 2015: The Food, Energy, Water and Climate Nexus
April 17, 2015
For more information and to register, visit tomkat.stanford.edu/ctd.Each year Stanford experts from a range of disciplines meet to discuss the interconnections and interactions among humanity's...
Water and agriculture in a changing Africa: What might be done?
May 23, 2013
Effective water management is one key element of agricultural innovation and growth.
Projects
Remote sensing approaches to improving aid targeting and understanding aid effectiveness
This project aims to develop and test remote-sensing based approaches to gathering two typesof aid-relevant data: data on agricultural productivity and data on household assets, with a focus on Sub...
English
Solar Market Gardens as a Tool for Rural Development
In the northern region of Benin, in the Sudano-Sahel region of West Africa, the dry season between rains can last six to nine months at a time.
English
An Alternative Development Model: Assessing solar electrification for income generation in rural Benin
Within one year of the project, pilot households saw a $0.69 per capita daily increase in standard of living.
English
Multimedia
Doomsday Vaults, Genebanks and Plant Breeding in the Age of Climate Change
May 2015
On May 6, 2015 Dr. Cary Fowler visited Stanford to speak about his life's work preserving crop genetic diversity to protect the global food supply from the future impacts of climate change.
Improving Food Security in the 21st Century: What are the Roles for Firms and Foundations
February 2011
Inaugural Global Food Policy and Food Security Symposium.
People
David Lobell Senior Fellow Professor, Earth System Science, William Wrigley Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment 
George Azzari Research Scholar Research scholar, Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford Department of Earth System Science, and Stanford Sustainability and Artificial Intelligence Lab 
Zhenong Jin Postdoctoral scholar, Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford Department of Earth System Science 
Anthony Louis D'Agostino Postdoctoral scholar,Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford Department of Earth System Science 