The April edition of the FACCE-SURPLUS Newsletter is now available. This edition includes information on a research project to develop new barley crops with increased straw material and biomass production, without decreased grain yield.
The May edition of the our Partner FACCE-JPI’s newsletter is now available. This edition includes details of their new projects brochure, as well as updates on research, calls for proposals, and meetings and events.
The Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (FACCE-JPI) tackles the grand societal challenges related to sustainable agricultural development and food security in the face of climate change.
The Global Research Alliance and its Croplands Research Group is pleased to announce that a third Co-Chair has joined the leadership of the Croplands Research Group.
Dr Rosa Mosquera Losada is from the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. She joins the current Croplands Research Group Chairs, USA’s Jane Johnson, from the United States’ Agricultural Research Service; and Brazil’s Renato Rodrigues and Ladislau Martin-Leto, both from the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation.
During the meeting, topics of common interest were identified in the countries to establish a coordinated research agenda. Prioritized the design of a three-year action plan and the communication strategy and knowledge management that will accumulate the platform. The platform will also work to mobilize resources for research and innovation, as well as identify initiatives and ongoing projects of participating institutions with promising results that can be replicated. The platform will be open to the incorporation of new actors from the private sector and NGOs working on the issue.
The main objective of the platform is to establish alliances with key audiences to intensify livestock production systems in a sustainable manner, such as a regional research strategy to adapt and mitigate the effects of climate change in LAC. The platform will coordinate a regional agenda on the subject and share knowledge and strengthen the capacities of farmers and key audiences in the public and private sector on the issue.
Fundamentally, the platform will collaborate with the formulation and dissemination of policies and the mobilization of resources. The beneficiaries of this project are more than 150 researchers, 400 extensionists and professionals, more than 1000 graduate students, and in the course of university degrees in animal production, veterinary and soil, among others, and more than 10 producer organizations, as well as Decision-makers at national and regional public policy levels.
The platform is initially funded by funds from the agreement between FONTAGRO and MPI to build capacity in the area of GHG measurement in Latin America’s agricultural systems and a project on “Technology Transfer Mechanisms and Climate Networks In LAC, “executed by FONTAGRO and financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The call from our Partner, FONTAGRO, will fund up to US $ 1.2 million in projects to support innovations that meet the growing demand for food without affecting natural resources.
“Innovations for the sustainable intensification of family agriculture in the face of climate change . “
CONTEXT
In the coming decades, one of the greatest challenges facing mankind is how to meet the growing needs of the population in terms of food demand, by increasing the productivity of farming systems in the face of climate change, without affecting natural resources. In that sense, FONTAGRO has decided to promote the development of innovations that promote the sustainable intensification of agriculture and thus contribute to the sustainable production of food with less impact on the environment, especially on soil and water.
FINANCING
The call is made with FONTAGRO’s own resources and will finance up to 4 projects for a total amount of US $ 1.2 million, to support innovation platforms constituted by public and private agents from two or more member countries that work from Coordinated way, also contributing counterpart funds.
The 2017 Call is one of the operating mechanisms of FONTAGRO to support the research and innovation of family agriculture. In this case, the call is aimed at encouraging the development of projects to intensify agricultural production systems in a sustainable way, not only ensuring the natural resource base but also improving them for future generations.
EXAMPLES
Some successful projects co-financed and / or recognized by FONTAGRO in previous calls and contests on intensification are:
i. Harvesting water: The grail of eco-efficient agriculture .
Ii. Adapta Sertão: Adaptation to climate change in the hands of the community .
Iii. Towards a productive and friendly environment .
Iv. Feeding people and the planet: Maize cultivation in partnership with Inga edulis in Ixcán, Guatemala. (Page 195)
The closure for profiling is June 30, 2017 at 1 PM Eastern Time.
For more information on the 2017 Call please visit here
For frequently asked questions on calls access here
For inquiries: [email protected]
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ABOUT FONTAGRO
FONTAGRO is a unique mechanism of regional cooperation that promotes the innovation of family agriculture, competitiveness and food security. It was created in 1998 and is made up of fifteen member countries that have contributed with capital close to US $ 100 million. It is sponsored by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA). Its Technical Administrative Secretariat is located at the IDB’s offices in Washington, DC FONTAGRO has cofinanced more than 100 projects and initiatives to its member countries for an approximate amount of US $ 88.7 million, including contributions from other funders and executing institutions. The countries that compose it are Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Spain, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and Venezuela.
We are delighted to announce that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Panel has accredited the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases as one of their official observer organisations.
The IPCC is the international body for assessing the science related to climate change. It was set up in 1988 by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to provide policymakers with regular assessments of the scientific basis of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and options for adaptation and mitigation.
The Association of African Universities (AAU) has intensified its support for students from its member institutions to acquire employable skills before graduating from their universities. Through its development partners the African Capacity Development Foundation (ACBF) and the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), the AAU has secured funds for its member universities in good standing (whose annual subscription payment to AAU is up to date) to offer small grants of up to US$600 per student for graduate internships.
Students may apply online at https://www.aau.org/subs/grin/
The deadline for application is Friday 19th May, 2017.
Conditions for the Award of the Grant
• Grant applicants should be students pursuing post-graduate degree programmes. Applicants should note that the grants are for training purposes only and not meant for the completion of theses or dissertations.
• Applicants shall commit to undertake an internship programme for a period between twelve (12) and twenty-four (24 weeks).
• Applications should be supported with an authorisation note from the Head of Department of the applicant’s university as well as an official acceptance letter from the establishment wishing to host the intern.
• All applicants should submit a detailed curriculum vitae.
• A detailed but confidential supervisory report would be required from the host institution on the progression of the applicant during the period of internship, and from the university of the applicant on academic progress after the period of internship.
• Past beneficiaries of the AAU Internship Scheme are not eligible to apply.
• Consideration would be given to applicants who have no practical work experience.
Selection of successful applications would be based on a quota system revolving around gender (at least 40% of beneficiaries should be females); country (not more than 10 applicants per country) and language (at least 30% from Francophone institutions).
Australia’s Nitrous Oxide (N2o) Network’s website has updated their website.
The network comprises a growing compendium of resources from Australian and international collaborators regarding N2O and associated non-CO2 emissions from agricultural soils. Following a funding proposal in with the Australian government to expand the network, datasets from their international projects and collaborations are being updated to the site.
New Zealand’s Livestock Emissions & Abatement Research Network (LEARN) is pleased to announce their new-look website. The Network, which co-funds annual PhD scholarships and Postdoctoral fellowships and funds quarterly Technical Training and GRASS awards, is sponsored by the New Zealand Government with the aim of building international capability in livestock emissions research.
Read about the current award recipients
The Global Research Alliance’s Livestock Research Group has published a new case study on beef production in Canada. The study discovered that Canada produced 32% more beef in 2011 than in 1981, mostly due to higher carcass weights. This was done with 29% less breeding stock, 27% fewer slaughter cattle and 24% less land, and with a 14% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions intensity.
The Livestock Research Group is documenting countries’ successes in reducing on-farm emissions intensity and increasing productivity and resource use efficiency (or reducing other externalities) of livestock systems. The case studies showcase the diversity of approaches being employed across different livestock systems and scales (local, state and national).
Read the other case studies (scroll down to ‘Success stories in reducing emissions intensity’)
A team of researchers at the University of Sheffield have used a specific UK mill and bakery as a model for the environmental cost of producing a loaf of bread.
They collected and analysed data for emissions involved at every step of the process, including growing the wheat, fertilising it, harvesting the crop, transporting the grains to the mill, grinding the grains into flour, transporting the flour to a bakery and then baking and packaging a loaf of bread. Many stages were energy intensive and involved with emissions — for example, the machinery involved with tilling the soil, harvesting, and irrigation, or the electricity required to operate the mill and the bakery. But the vast majority of emissions — nearly 66 percent — came from growing wheat, with 40 percent attributable just to the use of ammonium nitrate fertilisers.
Read the article here
Abstracts on “Soil Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Emissions” are now invited for the The American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America, and Soil Science Society of America’s international annual meeting to be held October 22-25, 2017 in Tampa, Florida. The event hopes to host more than 4,000 scientists, professionals, educators, and students with its “Managing Global Resources for a Secure Future” theme.
To submit your abstract, open the link below and navigate to the ASA Section “Environmental Quality” and community “Soil Carbon and Greenhouse Gas Emissions”.
https://www.acsmeetings.org/
