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.
Environment
Environment
FSI scholars approach their research on the environment from regulatory, economic and societal angles. The Center on Food Security and the Environment weighs the connection between climate change and agriculture; the impact of biofuel expansion on land and food supply; how to increase crop yields without expanding agricultural lands; and the trends in aquaculture. FSE’s research spans the globe – from the potential of smallholder irrigation to reduce hunger and improve development in sub-Saharan Africa to the devastation of drought on Iowa farms. David Lobell, a senior fellow at FSI and a recipient of a MacArthur “genius” grant, has looked at the impacts of increasing wheat and corn crops in Africa, South Asia, Mexico and the United States; and has studied the effects of extreme heat on the world’s staple crops.
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...
The Global Economic Impacts of Climate Change
November 2015
This research brief is based on a paper from the journal Nature, published on-line on October 21, 2015, entitled “Global non-linear effect of temperature on economic production.” The paper, led by...
Climate Change Impact on Agriculture: Implications for Food Security and Hunger
June 2015
David Lobell’s recent research indicates that negative impacts to the global agriculture system are much more likely, more severe and wider-ranging in the face of human-caused climate change....
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.
India’s groundwater future is at stake
May 2017
Since the 1960s, India’s groundwater irrigation has increased dramatically, playing an important role in its economy and people’s lives — supporting livelihoods of over 26 crore farmers and...
USAID Releases 2016 Global Food Security Act Strategy
October 2016
"Right now, the world is closer than ever before to ending global hunger, undernutrition, and extreme poverty, but significant challenges and opportunities remain, including urbanization, gender...
Events
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...
Earth Matters: Feeding the World in the 21st Century
October 2, 2014
Meeting the world’s need for food in the 21st century presents unprecedented challenges and opportunities.
Projects
Interdisciplinary Research on Introducing Heat-Tolerant Wheat to Bolster Food Security
The project is supported under the NSF Science, Engineering and Education for Sustainability Fellows (SEES Fellows) program, with the goal of helping to enable discoveries needed to inform actions...
English
Analyzing the role of subsidies in growing the Kenyan aquaculture sector
Food insecurity remains a critical issue across much of sub-Saharan Africa. In certain parts of the region, fish is sometimes the most accessible or affordable source of animal protein.
English
Multimedia
Interview: Pamela Ronald
January 2017
Pamela Ronald is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology and the Genome Center at the University of California, Davis.
Food, Energy & Water Security: Implications for U.S. National Security
October 2016
FSE Director Roz Naylor spoke at the panel session in Washington D.C. with Stanford scholars and other experts discussed pressing environmental and energy challenges and risks that the next Administration will need to confront.
Technology Adoption in African Agriculture
December 2015
Yields of cereal crops have more than doubled globally since 1960, yet agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa has remained stagnant. Why has the Green Revolution passed Africa by?
People
George Azzari Research scholar, Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford Department of Earth System Science, and Stanford Sustainability and Artificial Intelligence Lab 
Esha Zaveri Postdoctoral scholar, Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford Department of Earth System Science 
