DECEMBER

Stanley Wood attends AFCAS meeting in Algiers.

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NOVEMBER

Stanley Wood attends the Agricultural Water Management Strategy Meeting held at the Seattle offices of the Gates Foundation. This convening brings together a range of research and development partners to examine opportunities for smallholder-scale water management interventions as one means of improving cropping system productivity and smallholder incomes.

Stanley Wood and Jawoo Koo visit University of Minnesota to review HarvestChoice web hardware and software needs and visit with project manager Rob King. Meetings held with Jason Beddow, Philip Pardey and Amy Praught from the HarvestChoice team, Jubal Harpster and Todd Slind from CH2M Hill, and John Butler, Chad Fennell and  Wendy Pradt Lougee. Meetings held with Timothy Mulcahy, Vice President of Research, and Steve Cawley, Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Information Technology, University of Minnesota. Philip Pardey and Stanley Wood also met with Steve Polasky, Applied Economics, University of Minnesota, to discuss possible links with HarvestChoice and The Natural Capital Project, a collaborative venture of Stanford University, The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund.

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OCTOBER

Stanley Wood presents a paper co-authored with Peter Hazell at the 4th International Conference on Agricultural Statistics held in Beijing. Stanley is the organizer of the session on Data Challenges: Data Requirements for Quantitative Agricultural Models, a major area of concern for HarvestChoice.

HarvestChoice and ICRISAT co-convene Technical Workshop on Strategic Applications of Crop Growth and Biotic Constraint Modeling in Sub-Saharan Africa at the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), Nairobi, to assess the feasibility and process of undertaking landscape- and national-scale evaluation of the spatial and temporal variation in crop yields. A small group of natural resource, crop growth simulation, agronomists, and crop pest and disease specialists examined available data and model resources and proposed scenarios and strategies for conducting prototype, cross-commodity and cross-region assessments of crop yields under prevailing and potential biophysical, technology and input/management conditions.

Participants: Sonya Ahamed, John Dimes, Hugo de Groote, Robert Hijmans, Gerrit Hoogenboom, Patrick Kariuki, Jawoo Koo, Gentian Kostandini, Philip Pardey, KPC Rao, Robert Sutherst, Henri Tonnang, Stanley Wood and Nalan Yuksel.

HarvestChoice and the Gates Foundation co-sponsor a technical meeting to review the scope for improved harmonization and integration of the spatial data underpinning international efforts at improving the effectiveness of agricultural development investments and interventions. The meeting, held in Rome, includes representatives of the CGIAR's Consortium on Spatial Information (CSI), the World Food Program's Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (WFP/VAM) initiative, and FAO's Statistics and Natural Resource divisions. The meeting is be supported by specialized technical inputs from CH2M Hill.

Agricultural Data Strategy Meeting held at Castel Vecchio, Rome, to discuss strategies and priorities for existing and potential agricultural data tools. Sessions included longitudinal household surveys, national statistical systems, specialized data systems and spatial data systems as well as real time feedback on project performance and data platforms and data access.

Program

Participants: Mary Ahearn, Jackie Alder, Nienke Beintema, Richard Caldwell, Kafkas Caprazli, Gero Carletto, David Dawe, Gunther Fischer, Jubal Harpster, Melissa Ho, Haluk Kasnakoglu, Naman Keita, Joyce Luma, Jerry Nelson, Philip Pardey, Prabhu Pingali, Todd Slind, Melinda Smale, Jeff Tschirley and Stanley Wood.

Stanley Wood makes a presentation at a three day Global Roads Workshop: Developing Useable Data for Tomorrow's Needs, Earth Institute, Columbia University, New York. The development and use of improved measures of remoteness, market access and integration are a key element of the HarvestChoice analytical approach to gauging the potential feasibility and attractiveness of interventions for enhanced productivity of the cropping systems of the poor.

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SEPTEMBER

Philip Pardey attends the annual meeting of the South African Agricultural Economics Association in Johannesburg and presents a keynote address.

Philip Pardey and Stanley Wood review progress on the HarvestChoice sub-contract with Haluk Kasnakoglu (Director of Statistics Division, FAO) and colleagues at FAO Headquarters, Rome.

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AUGUST

Philip Pardey presents highlights of the World Development Report Background Paper titled "Science, Technology and Skills" and briefs CGIAR Science Council on HarvestChoice project at FAO Headquarters, Rome.

Stanley Wood meets with Richard Jones, HarvestChoice Advisory Panel member, to discuss progress on the project, outcomes of the meeting with members of the Agricultural Development team in Seattle (3rd August), and to review the objectives and logistics of the upcoming HarvestChoice Nairobi workshop.

Philip Pardey and Stanley Wood review progress on project with Gates Foundation personnel in Seattle. Develop plans for implementation of commercialization aspects of project with Carol Nottenburg.

Philip Pardey and Stanley Wood joined by Carol Nottenburg and Terry Hurley visit Gates Foundation, Seattle, to review project progress and discuss plans and on-going data and information compilation, development and sharing and analytical efforts to ensure evolving requirements of Gates Foundation personnel are appropriately addressed.

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JULY

Philip Pardey speaks at WAEA Organized Symposium, "The 2007 Farm Bill: Implications for Agriculture and Conservation in the West," at the Oregon Convention Center.

Philip Pardey moderates the AAEA Organized Symposium, "Incentive Mechanisms for Orphan R&D Products," at the Oregon Convention Center.

Genti Kostadini presents a paper co-authored with Brad Mills (Virginia Tech), Were Omamo (WFP), and Stanley Wood (IFPRI), as a selected paper at the annual meetings of the American Agricultural Economics Association. Genti's work is now being expanded and deepened within East Africa supported by HarvestChoice.

Jawoo Koo visits University of Minnesota to work with Jason Beddow on CLIMEX modeling approaches for wheat diseases.

Stanley Wood hosts a two day meeting at IFPRI in Washington, DC, of the principal coordinating authors of a number of recent and on-going international assessments of the impact of change on food systems and the welfare of the poor. The meeting initiates a process of synthesizing key learnings as well as research and action-oriented findings of these assessments which will be tapped by HarvestChoice.

Note: The meeting is convened as part of the international science program "Global Environmental Change and Food Systems," GECAFS.

Jawoo Koo visits CIMMYT to attend a meeting to review analytical approaches and data usage by the Asian Rice/Wheat consortium to support regional-scale crop systems modeling.

HarvestChoice implements a "Team Space," a joint workspace for project and partner team members to share working documents, hold internal discussions and plan project logistics through shared calendars. A password is required.

Jason Beddow, Terry Hurley and Philip Pardey meet with staff at the USDA, Cereals Disease Laboratory (including Marty Carson, Mark Hughes, David Long, Les Szabo and Yue Jin) to explore collaborative arrangements for HarvestChoice pest and disease evaluation analyses.

Eduardo Magahlaes (HarvestChoice consultant) at IFPRI headquarters working on background data and statistical analyses for Poverty-Crop Linkages paper.

Stanley Wood visits University of Minnesota to discuss project management aspects with Rob King and collaborate with Jason Beddow, Philip Pardey and Amy Praught on web site details and development of on-line data capture algorithms for biotic constraint analysis.

Zhe (Joe) Guo (previously University of Maryland) joins the HarvestChoice team as a GIS and remote sensing specialist.

Elizabeth Leonardi (graduate, California Polytechnic State University) joins the HarvestChoice team as an intern (until December 7, 2007) to work on data compilation on farming system characteristics, input use and farm management practices.

Gerrit Hoogenboom (University of Georgia) visits Stanley Wood, Jawoo Koo and Siwa Msangi at IFPRI to finalize terms of reference for a consultancy to improve regional soil maps and soil properties database to support HarvestChoice crop simulations.

Jawoo Koo (previously University of Florida) joins the HarvestChoice team as a Post-doctoral Fellow based at IFPRI headquarters. Jawoo working in partnership with others is responsible for the cropping system characterization and crop simulation activities of HarvestChoice.

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JUNE

Proof of Concept Workshop on the Regional Modeling of Biotic Constraints for Integration in a Strategic Crop Simulation and Economic Evaluation Framework convened by CIMMYT, IFPRI and University of Minnesota at CIMMYT Headquarters, El Batan, Mexico.

Participants: Jason Beddow, David Bergvinson, John Dixon, Etienne Duvallier, Dave Hodson, William Hutchison, Glenn Hyman, Henri Maraite (by Skype), Maria Mateos, Julie Nicole (by Skype), Jawoo Koo, Philip Pardey, Robert Sutherst, Robert Venette and Stanley Wood.

William Hutchison, Robert Venette and Jason Beddow attend the APHIS CPHST Science Panel Workshop on Pest Risk Mapping held in Fort Collins, Colorado. Robert Venette makes a presentation. NAPPFAST

Intensive development phase of on-line bibliographic archival and search engine using Drupal and Solr led by a team from the University of Minnesota Library.

African Crops & Seed Systems News Service publishes article "HarvestChoice: Better Choices, Better Lives." Article available in Press Room.

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MAY

Jason Beddow and Philip Pardey attend “Developing New Sources of Durable Wheat Rust Resistance” at the University of Minnesota. The meeting is sponsored by Cornell University’s Department of Plant Breeding and Genetics.

Program

OECD Observer publishes article "Food for Innovative Thought." Article available in Press Room.

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APRIL

Robert Hijmans (IRRI) meets Stanley Wood at IFPRI Headquarters and Philip Pardey (by phone) to review options for improving spatial and temporal resolution of climate data and finalize terms of reference for crop simulation activities to be undertaken at IRRI.

Philip Pardey interviewed by host Kerri Miller for a one hour session on Minnesota Public Radio's Midmorning Program on the theme "Is a 'Green Revolution' in Africa Possible?" Link to details available in Press Room.

Expert consultation at University of Minnesota, St Paul, on Modeling Crop Biotic Constraints in an Economic Evaluation Framework."

Participants: Jason Beddow, John Dixon, Terry Hurley, William Hutchison, Brian Keating, George Norton, Erich-Christian Oerke, David Pannell, Philip Pardey, Serge Savary and Stanley Wood.

Genes, Seeds, Plots, Models & The Poor Roundtable convened by the International Food Policy Research Institute and the University of Minnesota on behalf of the Gates Foundation at the Campus Club, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. Roundtable details available online.

Participants list.

HarvestChoice Advisory Panel meeting at Cargill Building for Microbial and Plant Genomics, University of Minnesota, St Paul.

Participants: Tsedeke Abate, Richard Jones, Andrzej Kilian, Robert King, John Lynam, Philip Pardey, Edie Paul, Ron Phillips, Mark Rosegrant, Emmy Simmons, Roy Steiner (by phone) and Stanley Wood.

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MARCH

Philip Pardey and Stanley Wood meet with Frikkie Liebenberg, Agricultural Research Council, Pretoria, to review proposal for collaborative technology assessments and policy analyses.

Philip Pardey and Stanley Wood attend the Third General Meeting of Biotechnology, Breeding and Seed Systems for African Crops, held in Maputo, Mozambique. Jointly presented a keynote address titled "Informing Strategic Investment Choices to Improve Cropping Systems for the Poor."

Philip Pardey briefs Lindiwe Sibanda and Doug Merrey (Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network, FANRPAN, Pretoria) on HarvestChoice project at FANRPAN headquarters, Agricultural Research Council (ARC), Institute for Agricultural Engineering, Pretoria.

Philip Pardey visits Johann Kirsten, Department of Agricultural Economics, Extension and Rural Development, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, and Frikkie Liebenberg, Agricultural Research Council, Pretoria, to further develop a proposal and discuss operational details regarding collaborative technology assessments and policy analyses with HarvestChoice. An emerging idea is to place collaborative efforts between HarvestChoice and the University of Pretoria in the context of (i) developing a center based at the University to undertake national and regional (including Southern Africa and, for some applications, sub-Saharan Africa) policy analyses and monitoring and economic evaluation activities centered on (agricultural) science and technology concerns, (ii) become a regional center for graduate training in the economics of (agricultural) science and technology policy built around existing capacity at the University of Pretoria and the Agricultural Research Council, and (iii) develop links between this research and training and the regional policy dialogues fostered by FANRPAN.

Minnesota Daily publishes article titled "Gates Gives to U Crop Studies." Article available in Press Room.

Haluk Kasnakoglu (Director of Statistics Division, FAO) visits Stanley Wood to review progress on the HarvestChoice sub-contract with FAO.

Development and release of HarvestChoice two page flyer and project press announcement. Flyer available in At A Glance.

HarvestChoice web site launches, initially to host April 4-5 Roundtable details, and then to be populated with data, maps, bibliographic and other material developed by HarvestChoice project team and partners for broader dissemination.

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FEBRUARY

Project Advisory Panel is formed.

Philip Pardey visits IRRI, Los Banos, to explore collaboration with HarvestChoice project. Meets with Ren Wang, Michael Jackson, Sushil Pandey, Debbie Templeton, Graham McLaren, Mahabub Hossain, Philippe Herve, Melissa A. Fitzgerald and David J. Mackill. Stanley Wood joins in via Skype for discussions with Robert Hijmans. Gives IRRI-wide seminar titled "Global Agricultural Research—Technological Distance, Location Effects and R&D Spillovers."

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JANUARY

CORAF Action newsletter publishes article titled "HarvestChoice: le bon choix fait la belle vie." Article available in Press Room.

Philip Pardey presents "Agricultural Research—A Growing Global Divide?" to World Bank sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia region staff. Visit is hosted by David Nielson (World Bank Task Manager for the MAPP) and Karen Brookes.

Project team meeting in IFPRI Washington, DC, to review strategies for addressing biotic constraints.

Participants: Jason Beddow, Jennifer James, Philip Pardey and Stanley Wood.