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 / 453
Armed conflict and child mortality in Africa: a geospatial analysis
August 2018
The extent to which armed conflicts—events such as civil wars, rebellions, and interstate conflicts—are an important driver of child mortality is unclear.
The paradox of irrigation efficiency
August 2018
Reconciling higher freshwater demands with finite freshwater resources remains one of the great policy dilemmas.
Estimating global agricultural effects of geoengineering using volcanic eruptions
August 2018
Solar radiation management is increasingly considered to be an option for managing global temperatures1,2, yet the economic effects of ameliorating climatic changes by scattering sunlight back to...
Higher temperatures increase suicide rates in the United States and Mexico
July 2018
Linkages between climate and mental health are often theorized, but remain poorly quantified.
Anticipated burden and mitigation of carbon-dioxide-induced nutritional deficiencies and related diseases: A simulation modeling study
July 2018
Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations are anticipated to decrease the zinc and iron concentrations of crops.
Robust relationship between air quality and infant mortality in Africa
June 2018
Poor air quality is thought to be an important mortality risk factor globally1,2,3, but there is little direct evidence from the developing world on how mortality risk varies with changing exposure...
Hierarchical Modeling of Seed Variety Yields and Decision Making for Future Planting Plans
June 2018
Eradicating hunger and malnutrition is a key development goal of the twenty first century.
Deep Transfer Learning for Crop Yield Prediction with Remote Sensing Data
June 2018
Accurate prediction of crop yields in developing countries in advance of harvest time is central to preventing famine, improving food security, and sustainable development of agriculture.
The important but weakening maize yield benefit of grain filling prolongation in the US Midwest
June 2018
A better understanding of recent crop yield trends is necessary for improving the yield and maintaining food security.
Satellite detection of cover crops and their effects on crop yield in the Midwestern United States
June 2018
The practice of planting winter cover crops has seen renewed interest as a solution to environmental issues with the modern maize- and soybean-dominated row crop production system of the US Midwest...
Future warming increases probability of globally synchronized maize production shocks
June 2018
Climate-induced shocks in grain production are a major contributor to global market volatility, which creates uncertainty for cereal farmers and agribusiness and reduces food access for poor...
Large potential reduction in economic damages under UN mitigation targets
May 2018
International climate change agreements typically specify global warming thresholds as policy targets, but the relative economic benefits of achieving these temperature targets remain poorly...
The effects of intensive aquaculture on nutrient residence time and transport in a coastal embayment
May 2018
Aquaculture in many countries around the world has become the biggest source of seafood for human consumption.
Unprecedented rates of land-use transformation in modelled climate change mitigation pathways
May 2018
Integrated assessment models generate climate change mitigation scenarios consistent with global temperature targets.
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...
Differences, or lack thereof, in wheat and maize yields under three low-warming scenarios
March 2018
The availability of climate model experiments under three alternative scenarios stabilizing at warming targets inspired by the COP21 agreements (a 1.5 ºC not exceed, a 1.5 ºC with overshoot and a 2...
Eyes in the sky, boots on the ground : assessing satellite- and ground-based approaches to crop yield measurement and analysis in Uganda
March 2018
Crop yields in smallholder systems are traditionally assessed using farmer-reported information in surveys, occasionally by crop cuts for a sub-section of a farmer's plot, and rarely using full...
Assessing Hazard Vulnerability, Habitat Conservation and Restoration for the Enhancement of China’s Coastal Resilience
February 2018
Worldwide, humans are facing high risks from natural hazards, especially in coastal regions with high population densities.
The Elusive Goal of Global Food Security
February 2018
Ending world hunger is a universal goal, yet progress and social awareness of the issue waxes and wanes in the course of broader political and economic developments.
Feed conversion efficiency in aquaculture: do we measure it correctly?
February 2018
Globally, demand for food animal products is rising.
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.
Improving the accuracy of satellite-based high-resolution yield estimation: A test of multiple scalable approaches
December 2017
Fast, accurate and inexpensive estimates of crop yields at the field scale are useful for many applications.
The rise in global biodiesel production: Implications for food security
December 2017
Policies that promote biofuels in major agricultural economies raise important questions for food prices and food security at local to global scales.
