Strategic foresight for agriculture: Past ghosts, present challenges, and future opportunities

Previous Next

Latest Posts

Modeling impacts of faster productivity growth to inform the CGIAR initiative on Crops to End Hunger

Posted by on 2021-09-28

In 2017–2018, a group of international development funding agencies launched the Crops to End Hunger initiative to modernize public plant breeding in lower-income countries. To inform that initiative, USAID asked the International Food Policy Research Institute and the United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service to estimate the impacts…

Future carbon emissions from global mangrove forest loss

Posted by on 2021-09-28

Mangroves have among the highest carbon densities of any tropical forest. These ‘blue carbon’ ecosystems can store large amounts of carbon for long periods, and their protection reduces greenhouse gas emissions and supports climate change mitigation. Incorporating mangroves into Nationally Determined Contributions to the Paris Agreement and their valuation on…

51017685120_6c83eec0b8_c

Foresight Synthesis Briefs (1)

Posted by Gideon Kruseman on 2023-09-11
a27a8f09-412d-3754-a4fd-bd3aedb25903

Making foresight material interoperable

Posted by Gideon Kruseman on 2024-03-01

Strategic foresight is systematic means to explore plausible futures. In the agricultural context, strategic foresight allows decision-makers to explore how alternative investments in agriculture research may function given anticipated futures associated with a variety of drivers ranging from climate change to increasing wealth to a changing policy environment. This paper presents an overview and context for six recently published articles in Global Food Security that comprise a virtual special issue on agricultural futures. Each of the papers takes a distinct perspective and addresses key issues from how past trends drive future outcomes to specific commodity systems to issues around employment and rural transformation. While each of the included papers stands on its own merits, the collection presents a unique opportunity to unpack the role of investment in agriculture research from a variety of perspectives. Collectively, the special issue offers insights to support current and future investment planning to better target desired outcomes associated with long-term agricultural research.