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.
Agricultural trade
Scholarly Publications
A move beyond sustainability certification: The evolution of the chocolate industry's sustainable sourcing practices
September 2018
Companies' sustainable sourcing practices play an increasing role in addressing the social and environmental challenges in agricultural supply chains.
Sell Low and Buy High: Arbitrage and Local Price Effects in Kenyan Markets
April 2018
Large and regular seasonal price fluctuations in local grain markets appear to offer African farmers substantial inter-temporal arbitrage opportunities, but these opportunities remain largely...
Improving environmental practices in agricultural supply chains: The role of company-led standards
December 2017
Food retailers and manufacturers are increasingly committing to address agricultural sustainability issues in their supply chains.
Other Publications
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
The Double-Edged Sword of Palm Oil
January 2019
Nearly ubiquitous in products ranging from cookies to cosmetics, palm oil represents a bedeviling double-edged sword.
Notes from an Iowa Farm: Prices, Politics, and Precipitation
September 2018
These field notes constitute my seventh summer report from our Iowa farm. As readers of prior postings may remember, my wife and I own a medium-sized farm in east-central Iowa that produces corn,...
Feeding Africa and the World in the 21st Century
December 2017
Food security experts from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) gathered to discuss transforming food production in Africa at Stanford on Nov. 29.
Events
How can trade improve food security in sub-Saharan Africa?
January 23, 2013
For decades, earnings from farming in many developing countries, including in sub-Saharan Africa, have been depressed by a pro-urban bias in own-country policies, as well as by governments of...
Biofuels: The changing nature of agricultural demand
April 11, 2012
Policies promoting ethanol and biodiesel production and use in the U.S., Europe, and other parts of the world since the mid-2000s have had profound—and largely unintended—consequences on global...
Projects
Poverty Alleviation through Sustainable Palm Oil Production
This project focuses on private and public sector strategies for promoting sustainable palm oil, with sustainability defined by environmental, social, and economic objectives.
English
The Yaqui Valley Revisited: A case study on agricultural sustainability in Mexico
The Yaqui Valley is the birthplace of the Green Revolution and one of the most intensive agricultural regions of the world, using irrigation, fertilizers, and other technologies to produce some of...
English
Aquaculture in China and its Role in Global Markets and Resources
Seafood plays a critical role in global food security and protein intake.
English
Multimedia
Can Africa rise to the challenge of feeding itself in the 21st century?
November 2017
Food security experts from the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) gathered for the symposium "Can Africa rise to the challenge of feeding itself in the 21st century?" This is the first of our new Global Food Security Symposium...
Can Sustainable Intensification Feed the World?
February 2015
Professor Sir Gordon Conway visited Stanford University on February 10, 2015 to discuss the importance of sustainable intensification of agriculture to feed the world in the face of obstacles such as population growth, shifting diets, land and...
People
Rosamond L. Naylor Senior Fellow William Wrigley Professor of Earth System Science, Senior Fellow, Stanford Woods Institute and Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Professor, by courtesy, Economics, Senior Fellow and Founding Director, Center on Food Security and the Environment 
