Fighting the yellow-legged Asian hornet in Switzerland
The yellow-legged Asian hornet, Vespa velutina nigrithorax, was first detected in central Europe in 2004 and has since established in many countries on the continent. This hornet is a predator of honey bees and other insects, threatening honey production, pollination services and biodiversity. With Switzerland facing the imminent invasion by…
The UK Crop Microbiome CryoBank
Plant microbiomes are the microbial communities essential to the whole ecological area of a plant’s ‘phytobiome’ – a term used to describe a plant’s specific ecological area. Having a healthy phytobiome is critical to crop health, improved crop yields and quality food. However, crop microbiomes are relatively under-researched. The UK…
Drones for desert locust control in East Africa
The desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria (Forskal), is arguably the most destructive agricultural pest, globally. During 2019 and 2020, the changing weather created conditions that are favoured by the desert locust for rapid reproduction and migration and led to the pest spreading through the Horn of Africa, East Africa, Arabian Peninsula,…
Reviewing and revising CGIAR’s Open Access and Data Management Policy and Implementation Guidelines
Timely and accurate decisions are critical to the success of food systems around the world. Accessible and well-managed data promotes more efficient research and greater visibility and transparency for organizations that conduct it. With this in mind, CGIAR promised to publish their research data openly and free from restriction through…
Enabling data access to support innovation in decision agriculture: soil health, agronomy and fertilizer
Healthy soil is critical to the growth of nutritious food and to farmers’ livelihoods. However, declining soil health is causing low productivity which leads to unstable food security and incomes. National systems can help farmers by sharing data and information on soil health which can then be used to make…
Improving soybean production in Kenya using digital and extension approaches
In Kenya, soybean is a key crop in helping to improve livelihoods and nutrition. However, production only meets 10% of the market needs due to the effects of poor agricultural practices and pests and diseases. To address these issues, this project will provide a frontier system that integrates Earth Observation…