The GRA’s Integrative Research Group (IRG) met in Cali, Colombia, on the 4th and 5th February 2019. This was the group’s third annual meeting, which included 36 participants from 14 GRA member countries. Experts from the International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Coordination of International Research Cooperation on Soil Carbon Sequestration in Agriculture (CIRCASA), Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), 4per1000, French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), International Soil Reference Information Centre (ISRIC), and the EU also attended.
One of the major outcomes of the meeting was a network organisation and restructuring with existing work prioritized now across three networks; The Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) Support Network, The Soil Carbon Sequestration Network and The Farm to Regional Integration Modelling Network. The group also agreed to the development of a series of webinars to increase science communication amongst scientists and related parties.
The meeting was attended by Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Ghana, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, United Kingdom, United States of America and Uruguay. The purpose of the IRG is to foster collaboration in the science community across Alliance research groups and between Alliance member countries, international partnerships, research organisations and research institutions to ultimately develop international knowledge and capabilities for estimation, monitoring, and projecting greenhouse gas emissions within and across agricultural systems.
Group photo at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture
Country report presentation-Spain
The eighth annual Council Meeting for the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (GRA) was held 10-11 September in Berlin, Germany. This meeting provided an exciting yet unique opportunity to cooperate and merge various initiatives in the context of sustainable agriculture, climate change, and food security. This meeting saw the handover of Council Chair from Japan to Germany and the acceptance of Indonesia as vice-Chair.
Key outcomes of this meeting included:
- acceptance of two new GRA Flagships, one on Circular Food Systems and the other on Nitrogen;
- agreement for the GRA to support the UNFCCC Koronivia joint work on agriculture; and
- the announcement of several upcoming capability building opportunities supported by the GRA and our partners
This year’s meeting was held alongside the International Conference on Agricultural GHG Emissions and Food Security – Connecting Research to Policy and Practice, jointly organized by the Global Research Alliance (GRA) and the Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (FACCE-JPI) of the European Commission, in partnership with CGIAR-CCAFS. The conference was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture and supported by its Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries (Thünen Institute).
Representatives from 31 member countries that attended the meeting include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Indonesia, Ireland, Japan, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Senegal, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, United Kingdom, United States of America, Uruguay, Vietnam, and Zimbabwe. Kenya also attended the meeting as an Observer country.
Partner organisations who attended this meeting include the Centre for Research and Education in Tropical Agriculture (CATIE), Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC), Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR), Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS), International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Food Security, Agriculture and Climate Change – Joint Programming Initiative (FACCE-JPI), Regional Fund for Agricultural Technology (FONTAGRO), Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO), International Soil Reference and Information Centre (ISRIC), World Agricultural Forum (WAF), World Farmers Organisation (WFO). The Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Action (NAMA-Facility) was also invited to present their work at the meeting.
The presentations from this meeting can be downloaded here.
The tenth meeting of the annual Croplands Research Group (CRG) of the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases (“the Alliance”) was held at the Embrapa Soils Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This meeting was held on 11th of August 2018, preceding the 21st World Congress of Soil Science. The Alliance meeting was chaired by USA (Dr Jane Johnson, USDA-ARS) and Brazil (Dr Ladislau Martin, Embrapa) as Co-Chairs of the Group.
This meeting was attended by 20 participants, representing 12 Alliance member countries and other invited experts. These alliance member attendees include: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Korea, Poland, Sweden, and USA.
Outcomes included reviewing and sharing member-country capacity building and research network activities, discussing research funding and meeting opportunities, and the identification of activities to support the Group’s Networks, and the Group’s alignment with, and understanding of the Alliance Flagships.
Presentations from the Croplands Research group (CRG) meeting can be found here.
The GRA’s Integrative Research Group (IRG) had a very fruitful meeting hosted by France in Paris on January 17-18. This was the group’s second annual meeting since being formed as a merger between the Inventories & Monitoring and the Soil Carbon Sequestration Cross-Cutting Groups. The meeting was attended by 34 participants, representing 14 Alliance member countries, and invited experts.
Meeting outcomes
The country representatives highlighted some of their important research activities and needs relevant to the IRG. There was optimism about how the emerging projects from the Inventory flagship and Carbon Sequestration flagship will contribute to the on-going work of the Inventories and Carbon Sequestration Networks. The Group decided that the current focus of the Grassland Network on carbon sequestration would be better included as one of priorities for the new Carbon Sequestration Network. The integration of different greenhouse gas emissions for livestock production systems that involve grassland fits well within the new Farm to Region Modelling Network. Consequently, the Grassland Network will dissolve and GRA members and partners engaged in grasslands need to participate actively in the new Carbon Sequestration and the Farm to Regional Networks to realise the great opportunities for grassland management to reduce greenhouse gas emission intensity. The meeting ended with a stimulating discussion of how the IRG could help fill some important knowledge gaps.
From 19-20 January last month the Global Research Alliance’s Integrative Research Group held their first independent meeting in Rome, Italy. At this meeting they reviewed their progress to date and held some discussions on Flagship projects and steps to develop their five Networks.
The meeting was attended by 34 participants from 16 Alliance member countries (Australia, Canada, China, France, Ghana, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom, USA, Uruguay), and invited experts.
The Integrative Research Group was formed after the 2015 Council Meeting after the decision was made to merge two previous cross-cutting groups: Soil Carbon & Nitrogen Cycling and Inventories & Monitoring.
The Meeting Report is now available in the Members’ Area of this website, or read the short Meeting Summary here
Participants in the Integrative Research Group Meeting in Rome, 2017
We are very pleased to welcome our The Global Open Data for Agriculture & Nutrition (GODAN) as our newest Partner of the GRA.
GODAN presented at our 2015 Council Meeting in Des Moines, USA. GODAN supports the proactive sharing of open data to make information about agriculture and nutrition available, accessible and usable to deal with the urgent challenge of ensuring world food securityjk – demonstrating the same principles as the GRA.
Updates:
- Presentations from the meeting are now available in the Members’ Area of this website.
- See SAGARPA’s write-up of the field trip
- Read the Meeting Report Summary
On 10-13 October 2016 the Global Research Alliance held its annual Council Meeting in Mexico City. Mexico became the new Chair in place of the USA, with Japan as the new ViceChair. 26 Member Countries attended the meeting, which included a field trip on the last day. Information on the outcomes of the meeting will be given shortly.
Summary Reports from the fifth meetings of the Croplands Research Group and the Paddy Rice Research Group are now available for you to download and read.
The Croplands Research Group met for the fifth time on 7 November in Tampa, Florida, USA alongside the ASA-CSSA-SSSA “Tri Societies” annual meeting. The meeting was attended by 21 Alliance member countries, Alliance Partners and other invited speakers. The short summary version of the 2013 meeting report is now available from the Croplands Research Group page.
The Paddy Rice Research Group held their fifth meeting in Bogor, Indonesia on 25 October alongside the ESAFS11 and was attended by representatives from 6 Alliance member countries, other invited experts and Alliance Partners. To read the summary report for this meeting visit the Paddy Rice Research Group page.
Both these Research Groups have agreed to meet again in the second half of 2014 for their sixth Group meetings.
A short summary report from the Alliance Council meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay is now available for you to download and read.
The meeting was attended by 41 participants from 19 member countries, as well as representatives from invited partner organisations.
The meeting saw Canada hand over chairing responsibilities to Uruguay and the Netherlands confirmed as vice-Chair. The Alliance Communication Policy was also reviewed and adopted by the Council. Other outcomes included an update from the Research and cross-cutting Groups of the Alliance, and presentations from international organisations invited as Partners of the Alliance.
Read the Alliance Council meeting summary.
The Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) is hosting a plenary, cross-divisional symposium at its annual meeting of the Tri-Societies (American Society of Agronomy-Crop Science Society of America-Soil Science Society of America) on Monday 4 November 2013 in Tampa, Florida. The symposium will address one of the most important questions facing science and society “How Can Global Food/Fiber Security and Environmental Quality be Simultaneously Achieved?”
Download the SSSA symposium flyer for more information.
The Soil science symposium is to be held alongside the annual “Tri-Societies” conference in Tampa, Florida, USA. The Alliance’s Croplands Research Group will hold its 2013 meeting on Thursday 7 November in Tampa, Florida alongside the Conference events.