State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Agriculture47

  • Strengthening U.S.-India Agricultural Research

    Strengthening U.S.-India Agricultural Research

    Earlier this month, U.S. President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a new era of collaboration on agricultural research in the face of climate change.

  • Direct Seeding of Rice – A Simple Solution to India’s Water Crisis?

    Direct Seeding of Rice – A Simple Solution to India’s Water Crisis?

    In traditional rice cultivation, rice is sprouted in a nursery; sprouted seedlings are then transplanted into standing water. With direct seeding, rice seed is sown and sprouted directly into the field, eliminating the laborious process of planting seedlings by hand and greatly reducing the crop’s water requirements.

  • ‘Small is Also Beautiful’ – Appropriate Technology Cuts Rice Farmers’ Water Use by 30 Percent in Punjab, India

    ‘Small is Also Beautiful’ – Appropriate Technology Cuts Rice Farmers’ Water Use by 30 Percent in Punjab, India

    Since the 1960s, farmers in Punjab, India have practiced some of the most intensive broad scale grain production in the world. As a result, the state has earned the nickname “the food bowl of India” for its out sized role in adopting and implementing Green Revolution technologies that in the last decades of the 20th…

  • Is Groundwater Depletion Causing Sea-level Rise?

    Is Groundwater Depletion Causing Sea-level Rise?

    A recent study from Yoshihide Wada and other researchers from Utrecht University attempted to assess the status of global groundwater depletion—that is, the amount of water that is being drawn out from underground reservoirs that is not being replaced by precipitation—and came up with some startling conclusions. Chief among them that depletion of groundwater may…

  • Can We Have Our Water and Drink It, Too? Exploring the Water Quality-Quantity Nexus

    Can We Have Our Water and Drink It, Too? Exploring the Water Quality-Quantity Nexus

    Water quantity and quality have generally been considered as separate problems and have usually been treated as such in policy-making and environmental restoration efforts. Increasingly, however, research and experience is beginning to show a strong link between water quantity and quality.

  • An African Green Revolution: Can the Continent Become Agriculturally Self-Sufficient?

    An African Green Revolution: Can the Continent Become Agriculturally Self-Sufficient?

    What will it take for Africa to feed itself? Can the continent double its current crop yields and provide food not only for itself, but for export to outside markets? How can African farmers become as productive as their global peers? These and other questions were presented on October 11 by former UN Secretary-General Kofi…

  • A Year of Progress Toward a Sustainable Earth

    A Year of Progress Toward a Sustainable Earth

    The Earth Institute’s annual donor report is now available in an interactive digital format. We remain committed to finding extraordinary solutions to unprecedented world challenges, and this report highlights some of our innovative projects in research, policy and education, and the partnerships that are helping to support them.

  • ‘Troubled Waters’ Wreaking Havoc, from Minnesota to Mexico

    ‘Troubled Waters’ Wreaking Havoc, from Minnesota to Mexico

    On October 5th, ‘Troubled Waters’, a documentary produced by the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum, was screened for the first time on the U’s main campus in St. Paul.

  • How Hamburgers Pollute Our Water

    How Hamburgers Pollute Our Water

    Most Americans have no idea where the hamburgers and fried chicken we love come from, or what their environmental impacts are. But the way most meat in the U.S. is produced today has serious repercussions for our soil, air, and especially water.

  • Strengthening U.S.-India Agricultural Research

    Strengthening U.S.-India Agricultural Research

    Earlier this month, U.S. President Barack Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced a new era of collaboration on agricultural research in the face of climate change.

  • Direct Seeding of Rice – A Simple Solution to India’s Water Crisis?

    Direct Seeding of Rice – A Simple Solution to India’s Water Crisis?

    In traditional rice cultivation, rice is sprouted in a nursery; sprouted seedlings are then transplanted into standing water. With direct seeding, rice seed is sown and sprouted directly into the field, eliminating the laborious process of planting seedlings by hand and greatly reducing the crop’s water requirements.

  • ‘Small is Also Beautiful’ – Appropriate Technology Cuts Rice Farmers’ Water Use by 30 Percent in Punjab, India

    ‘Small is Also Beautiful’ – Appropriate Technology Cuts Rice Farmers’ Water Use by 30 Percent in Punjab, India

    Since the 1960s, farmers in Punjab, India have practiced some of the most intensive broad scale grain production in the world. As a result, the state has earned the nickname “the food bowl of India” for its out sized role in adopting and implementing Green Revolution technologies that in the last decades of the 20th…

  • Is Groundwater Depletion Causing Sea-level Rise?

    Is Groundwater Depletion Causing Sea-level Rise?

    A recent study from Yoshihide Wada and other researchers from Utrecht University attempted to assess the status of global groundwater depletion—that is, the amount of water that is being drawn out from underground reservoirs that is not being replaced by precipitation—and came up with some startling conclusions. Chief among them that depletion of groundwater may…

  • Can We Have Our Water and Drink It, Too? Exploring the Water Quality-Quantity Nexus

    Can We Have Our Water and Drink It, Too? Exploring the Water Quality-Quantity Nexus

    Water quantity and quality have generally been considered as separate problems and have usually been treated as such in policy-making and environmental restoration efforts. Increasingly, however, research and experience is beginning to show a strong link between water quantity and quality.

  • An African Green Revolution: Can the Continent Become Agriculturally Self-Sufficient?

    An African Green Revolution: Can the Continent Become Agriculturally Self-Sufficient?

    What will it take for Africa to feed itself? Can the continent double its current crop yields and provide food not only for itself, but for export to outside markets? How can African farmers become as productive as their global peers? These and other questions were presented on October 11 by former UN Secretary-General Kofi…

  • A Year of Progress Toward a Sustainable Earth

    A Year of Progress Toward a Sustainable Earth

    The Earth Institute’s annual donor report is now available in an interactive digital format. We remain committed to finding extraordinary solutions to unprecedented world challenges, and this report highlights some of our innovative projects in research, policy and education, and the partnerships that are helping to support them.

  • ‘Troubled Waters’ Wreaking Havoc, from Minnesota to Mexico

    ‘Troubled Waters’ Wreaking Havoc, from Minnesota to Mexico

    On October 5th, ‘Troubled Waters’, a documentary produced by the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum, was screened for the first time on the U’s main campus in St. Paul.

  • How Hamburgers Pollute Our Water

    How Hamburgers Pollute Our Water

    Most Americans have no idea where the hamburgers and fried chicken we love come from, or what their environmental impacts are. But the way most meat in the U.S. is produced today has serious repercussions for our soil, air, and especially water.