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.
Sustainable development
Recent Publications
Records 72 / 424
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...
Monitoring Ethiopian Wheat Fungus with Satellite Imagery and Deep Feature Learning
August 2017
Wheat is the most important Ethiopian crop, and rust one of its greatest antagonists.
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.
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...
Landsat-based classification in the cloud: An opportunity for a paradigm shift in land cover monitoring
June 2017
Satellite-derived land cover maps play an important role in many applications, including monitoring of smallholder-dominated agricultural landscapes.
Towards fine resolution global maps of crop yields: Testing multiple methods and satellites in three countries
May 2017
One of the greatest challenges in monitoring food security is to provide reliable crop yield information that is temporally consistent and spatially scalable.
The political economy of biodiesel in an era of low oil prices
May 2017
Global biodiesel production grew by 23% per annum between 2005 and 2015, leading to a seven-fold expansion of the sector in a single decade.
Association Between Women’s Empowerment and Maternal and Child Nutrition in Kalale District of Northern Benin
April 2017
Women empowerment (WE) is increasingly viewed as an important strategy to reduce maternal and child undernutrition,1–3 which continues to be a major health burden in low- and middle-income...
Assessing the heterogeneity and persistence of farmers’ maize yield performance across the North China Plain
March 2017
The gap between yield potential and average farmers’ yield measures the capacity for yield improvement with current technology.
Satellite-based assessment of yield variation and its determinants in smallholder African systems
February 2017
The emergence of satellite sensors that can routinely observe millions of individual smallholder farms raises possibilities for monitoring and understanding agricultural productivity in many...
Prevalence of anemia, deficiencies of iron and vitamin A and their determinants in rural women and young children: a cross-sectional study in Kalale district of northern Benin
January 2017
Recent reviews of dietary intake data from Benin showed that recommended daily intakes of key micronutrients, such as vitamin A and Fe, were not met( 1 – 4 ).
Prevalence of anaemia, deficiencies of iron and vitamin A and their determinants in rural women and young children: a cross-sectional study in Kalalé district of northern Benin
January 2017
Objective: To identify the magnitude of anaemia and deficiencies of Fe (ID) and vitamin A (VAD) and their associated factors among rural women and children.Design: Cross-sectional, comprising a...
Opportunity for marine fisheries reform in China
January 2017
China’s 13th Five-Year Plan, launched in March 2016, provides a sound policy platform for the protection of marine ecosystems and the restoration of capture fisheries within China’s exclusive...
Using remotely sensed temperature to estimate climate response functions
January 2017
Temperature data are commonly used to estimate the sensitivity of many societally relevant outcomes, including crop yields, mortality, and economic output, to ongoing climate changes.
Satellite detection of rising maize yield heterogeneity in the U.S. Midwest
January 2017
The future trajectory of crop yields in the United States will influence food supply and land use worldwide. We examine maize and soybean yields for 2000–2015 in the Midwestern U.S.
Comparing estimates of climate change impacts from process-based and statistical crop models
January 2017
The potential impacts of climate change on crop productivity are of widespread interest to those concerned with addressing climate change and improving global food security.
The Tropical Oil Crop Revolution: Food, Feed, Fuel, and Forests
November 2016
Over the last two decades global production of soybean and palm oil seeds have increased enormously.
Sources of variation in under-5 mortality across sub-Saharan Africa: a spatial analysis
October 2016
The ongoing decline in under-5 mortality ranks among the most significant public and population health successes of the past 30 years.
Factors explaining the low and variable profitability of fertilizer application to maize in Zambia
October 2016
It is widely recognized that an “African green revolution” will require greater use of inorganic fertilizers.
Assessing climate adaptation options and uncertainties for cereal systems in West Africa
September 2016
In the coming decades, the already fragile agricultural system in West Africa will face further challenges in meeting food security, both from increasing population and from the impacts of climate...
Combining satellite imagery and machine learning to predict poverty
August 2016
Policy-makers in the world's poorest countries are often forced to make decisions based on limited data. Consider Angola, which recently conducted its first postcolonial census.
Invisible water, visible impact: groundwater use and Indian agriculture under climate change
August 2016
India is one of the world's largest food producers, making the sustainability of its agricultural system of global significance.
Opportunities for advances in climate change economics
April 2016
There have been dramatic advances in understanding the physical science of climate change, facilitated by substantial and reliable research support.
Solar-powered drip irrigation Impacts on crops production diversity and dietary diversity in northern Benin
March 2016
In 2007, "solar market gardens" were installed in 2 villages for women’s agricultural groups as a strategy for enhancing food and nutrition security.
