2010 Activities

AUGUST

Philip Pardey and Stanley Wood present results of HarvestChoice Phase I and discuss options and prospects for HarvestChoice, Phase II, at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation  in Seattle.

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JULY

Stanley Wood, Jawoo Koo, Zhe Guo, and Ma. Theresa Tenorio discuss with George Norton, Professor, Virginia Tech , Liz Philips, Michelle Klassen, and Karen Glass, Research Assistants, HarvestChoice involvement to the GCP -funded study on "Potential Benefits of Marker-Assisted Selection Technologies on Wheat, Sorghum, Cassava, and Rice, and of the Molecular Breeding Platform Supported by the Generation Challenge Program".

Philip Pardey attends AAEA annual meeting in Denver. He discusses prospects for DIVA-HarvestChoice collaboration with Bekele Shiferaw, CIMMYT .

Jason Beddow, Jawoo Koo and Philip Pardey (via Skype) discuss areas of collaboration and potential synergy between HarvestChoice, Revolution Analytics (Chris Walton, David Smith and Joseph Rickert) and  LITYX  (Paul Maiste).

Jason Beddow visits IFPRI to discuss crop-pest modeling work with Jawoo Koo.

Bekele Shiferaw visits IFPRI to work with Stanley Wood on CGIAR MegaProgram2 on "Policies, Institutions, and Markets to Strengthen Assets and Agricultural Incomes for the Poor," and to further discuss with Stanley Wood, Jawoo Koo and Ma. Theresa Tenorio on the CIMMYT-funded project on assessing the potential for expanding wheat production in Africa. 

Zhe Guo presents at the ESRI International User Conference 2010 in San Diego, California.

Stanley Wood visits Toowomba, Australia to work with Daniel Rodriguez (Team Leader, Crop Physiology), Pete DeVoil (APSIM Software Engineering), Yash Chauhan (Legumes, APSIM application), Andries Potgieter (Regional Yield Forecasting), and Said (maize N model) on optimizing APSIM model runs for maize-legume cropping system in East Africa as part of joint efforts in SIMLESA , review the application of FarmSIM whole farm model for potential use in HarvestChoice Phase II, and review options for improving the simulation performance of APSIM for regional crop model applications.

In Canberra, Australia, Stanley Wood meets with John Dixon, ACIAR , to review crop simulation and DREAM modeling results for the 5 country study of the SIMLESA project. Stanley also meets with Deborah Templeton, ACIAR,  to work on the design of DREAM training materials and modules for HarvestChoice Phase II. Debbie gives DREAM training in Asia and Australia.

Stanley Wood delivers a mini-symposium address at the 12^th IUPAC Congress on Pesticide Chemistry, Melbourne, Australia.

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JUNE

Jawoo Koo and Stanley Wood meet with Philip Thornton, Senior Scientist, ILRI , to discuss interpretation of crop and livestock systems and productivity modeling for HarvestChoice Phase II and potential collaborative activities on crop modeling, data and scenario development of common interest to HarvestChoice, MegaProgram2, and Challenge Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) .

John McDermott, Deputy Director General, ILRI , visits University of Minnesota (UMN) , to discuss linkages between HarvestChoice, InSTePP  and ILRI regarding research and technology evaluation work.  Special attention was given to prospective livestock pest modeling work.

McDermott also meets with UMN personel; Brian Buhr, Linda Valeri, COO, Global Initiative for Food Systems Leadership , Dominic Travis, East Africa coordinator, RESPOND, Jan Gerstenberger, UMN Foundation  and Bob Morrison, College of Veterinary Medicine .

Stanley Wood participates as an external reviewer in a (videoconferenced) FAO , Rome, meeting to review the upcoming release of the Global Agroecological Zones 2009 results and databases.

University of Minnesota faculty  (Paul Glewwe, Terry Hurley and Philip Pardey) and ILRI  personel (John McDermott and Nancy Johnson) meet with Land O' Lakes International Development  personel (Rebecca Savoie, Tom Verdoorn, Michael Gerba and Edna Ojwang) to discuss prospective InSTePP  and HarvestChoice collaboration  at Land O' Lakes' Arden Hills facility.

Robert Sutherst and Jason Beddow meet with Alan Roelfs at the USDA's Cereals Disease Lab  to discuss and refine HarvestChoice potential distribution maps of cereal rusts.

Robert Sutherst, Jason Beddow and Philip Pardey teleconference with Xainming Chen (USDA, ARS)  to discuss and refine HarvestChoice's potential distribution map for stripe (yellow) rust on wheat.

Robert Sutherst and Philip Pardey meet with Marty Carson and Yue Jin at the USDA's Cereals Disease Lab  to discuss and refine HarvestChoice potential distribution maps of cereal rusts.

Etienne Duveiller (June 13-16), CIMMYT , and Robert Sutherst visit the University of Minnesota, St. Paul , to work with Jason Beddow, Philip Pardey and Leslie Delserone to finalize wheat pest maps and draft various crop pest reports for HarvestChoice.

Deborah Templeton, Program Manager for Impact Assessment, ACIAR , works with Liangzhi You, Ulrike Wood-Sichra and Stanley Wood on development of the DREAM software package and development of training materials for HarvestChoice Phase II.

Phil Abrahams, CABI , visits Philip Pardey, Brian Buhr and Jason Beddow at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul . They meet with USDA-Cereal Disease Laboratoy personnel and Carol Ishimaru, Professor and Head, Department of Plant Pathology , and stopped in at the Plant Pathology Library .

Philip Pardey gives a HarvestChoice briefing to members of Mosaic’s Senior Leadership Team (James Prokopanko, CEO, and Michael Rahm) as well as other leaders in the company at the Plymouth, Minnesota headquarters.

Stanley Wood, Jawoo Koo, Zhe Guo, and Ma. Theresa Tenorio organize and participate in the Africa Agriculture Geospatial Week (AAGW) in ILRI campus, Nairobi, Kenya. This meeting is jointly organized by CGIAR-Consortium for Spatial Information (CSI) , HarvestChoice, AGCommons , and other partners. In this meeting, Stanley Wood is unanimously re-elected to serve as Global Coordinator of the CSI for another 2 years.

Jawoo Koo, Silvia Ren, Glenn Hyman, Emily Schmidt and Wolfgang Goebel launched the revamped CSI website (hosted by HarvestChoice). CSI provides exchange and harmonization of spatial data and methods to support agricultural development.

In Nairobi, Stanley Wood and Jawoo Koo meet with Bekele Shiferaw, Head of the Economics Program, and Kai Sonder, Head of GIS Unit, CIMMYT , to plan for a CIMMYT funded study to assess the potential for expanding wheat production in Africa including agro-ecological zone analysis, crop production and performance patterns, crop modeling and economic analysis.

Wood and Koo also meet with Peter Okoth and Jeroen Huising, theme leaders for the Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS) initiative, to review collaboration with HarvestChoice on crop modeling for testing regional fertilizer recommendations, and assessing regional productivity and economic impacts of Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) strategies.

Wood meets with Joseph Karugia, Coordinator of the ReSAKKS node in Eastern and Central Africa to discuss plans for capacity development achievement, model and analysis built around outputs addressing local decision makers.

Philip Pardey presents an invited keynote talk at the 8th International Wheat Conference in St. Petersburg, Russia. He also visits with staff from CIMMYT , FAO (Dave Hodson), BGRI and University of Sydney  about HarvestChoice research for both Phase I and II.

The IFPRI HarvestChoice team (Stanley Wood, Jawoo Koo, Liangzhi You, Zhe Guo, Susana Crespo, Maria Theresa Tenorio, Ulrike Wood-Sichra, Kate Sebastian), Jubal Harpster, Gerald Nelson, Timothy Sulser and Benjamin Wielgosz participate in a 'data modeling' meeting to evaluate technical options for management, querying, and delivery of large-scale spatial datasets, geo-referenced model results, and analysis tools to a wide range of technical and non-technical users. This meeting is facilitated by Shara Hollis, a specialist consultant from ESRI funded by HarvestChoice.

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MAY

Stanley Wood meets with post-docs Swamikannu Nedumaran, Bayou Demeke, and Shraavya Bhagavatula to describe the DREAM model and discuss its potential use in their work for the BMGF -funded Global Futures project.

Jawoo Koo presents "Climate Change in Sub-Saharan Africa and Impacts on Smallholder Farmers in Tanzania" at the stakeholder workshop Strategies for Adapting to Climate Change in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa: Targeting the Most Vulnerable.

Jawoo Koo and Stanley Wood meet with Megan Quitkin (Senior Vice President, Howard Buffet Foundation ), Tim Lasalle (Analyst, Howard Buffet Foundation), and Kevin Kamp (Director, Agriculture, CARE USA), to discuss Regenerative Conservation Agriculture and HarvestChoice household characterization work.

Chris Gingerich (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ) and Philip Pardey visit Nick Austin and staff (ACIAR ) and  Brian Keating, Peter Carberry and Bronwyn Harch (CSIRO Sustainable Agriculture Flagship ) in Canberra, Australia, to further explore prospects of Australian engagement in HarvestChoice, Phase II.

Stanley Wood and Kate Sebastian meet with Peter Hazell to dicuss methods and data to support analysis of agricultural development strategies for "lagging regions" under a subcontract to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation .

Stanley Wood, Jawoo Koo, and Ma. Theresa Tenorio meet with Frikkie Liebenberg and Aart-Jan Verschoor from Agricultural Research Council (ARC)  to discuss and liaise with the Economic and Biometrical Services unit, and help develop capacity in that unit.

Jason Beddow attends the 2010 Training Program on DSSAT Version 4.5: Assessing Crop Production, Nutrient Management, Climatic Risk and Environmental Sustainability with Simulation Models in Griffin, Georgia. The training is hosted by the University of Georgia and  the International Consortium for Agricultural Systems Applications (ICASA) .

Training program brochure

Stanley Wood, together with other IFPRI staff, brief Sam Dryden, Director, Agricultural Development, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation , on HarvestChoice project activities.

Philip Pardey presents at the USAIN Conference, Agriculture Without Borders at Purdue University , Indiana.

Nancy Johnson, Philip Pardey and Brian Buhr visit University of Minnesota, College of Veterinary Medicine  faculty Bob Morrison and Katey Pelican (also a key member of the USAID RESPOND project ) to explore HarvestChoice Phase II livestock technology assessment prospects.

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APRIL

Jawoo Koo, Michelle Hallaway and Philip Pardey meet with Ian Cairns, Project Manager, and Robert Soden, Lead GIS Developer, Development Seed to discuss HarvestChoice web site redesign.

Philip Pardey participates in an expert panel discussion for the launch of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Task Force report co-chaired by Representative McCollum, Senator Lugar and Senator Casey.

Michelle Hallaway and Philip Pardey travel to Washington, DC, to work with HarvestChoice colleagues at IFPRI on Phase I activities and drafting the Phase II proposal.

Philip Pardey and Stanley Wood meet with Prabhu Pingali and Chris Gingerich, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation .

Stanley Wood and Zhe Guo visit Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to work with Jo Bertram and Nicholas Flanders, McKinsey & Company , on integrating the findings from ongoing diagnostic studies into a coherent agricultural development strategy for presentation to the Ethiopian government.

Guo and  Wood meet with IFPRI country team members (Emily Schmidt, Paul Dorosh, and others) to develop and test data and methods for enhancing spatial price modeling for maize and fertilizers in Ethiopia. This work is part of a study to improve the modeling of seasonal (highest and lowest) market prices for predicting seasonal crop movement and input profitability.

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MARCH

Ellen McCullough, Associate Program Officer, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation , discusses with Stanley Wood the BMGF Agricultural Development's strategy review and how HarvestChoice work could be featured in the strategy process.

Philip Pardey presents a paper to the Global Conference on Agricultural Research for Development (GCARD) in Montpellier, France.

Jennifer James and Eduardo Magalhaes discuss databases and analytical results supporting the household-scale analysis activities of HarvestChoice with Stanley Wood.

Jason Beddow and Philip Pardey brief David Smith and Chris Walton of Revolution Analytics (formerly Revolution Computing) about HarvestChoice via conference call.

Stanley Wood, together with IFPRI colleagues (Mark Rosegrant, Gerard Nelson, Alejandro Nin Pratt, and Simla Tokgoz), present "Briefing: IFPRI Tools & Applications to Support Food Security Strategy and Investment Analysis" at the meeting with Meredith Soule, USAID .

Philip Thornton, Senior Scientist/Systems Analyst, ILRI , meets with Jawoo Koo and Stanley Wood to discuss collaborative activities on crop modeling (including global climate and soil databases).

Mesbahh Motamed, Research Agricultural Economist, USDA-ERS , discusses HarvestChoice data to model technology spillovers globally with Stanley Wood.

Philip Pardey participates in a discussion panel for the launch of the book "The Viking in the Wheat Field" by Susan Dworkin at the University of Minnesota, St. Paul. The book is a biography of Univerity Of Minnesota Alum and CIMMYT staff member, the late Bent Skovmand.

Stanley Wood presents "DREAM and Global Futures" at the Global Futures meeting in IFPRI . Jawoo Koo presents "Mesoscale Crop Modeling of Biophysical Responses to Crop Productivity Changes For Improved Economic Evaluation" at the same meeting.

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FEBRUARY

Zhe Guo presents, together with Jennifer Long (Visiting Assistant Research Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago), "Picking Research Priorities: Tools and Approaches for Targeting Funds" at the Food Security R&D Priorities Workshop, USAID, Washington, DC.

Stanley Wood presents (via teleconference) "Global Environmental Change and Food Production Ecosystem Services: IMPACT" at the Royal Society of London's Environmental Change and Agriculture meeting in London, United Kingdom.

Chris Gingerich (Senior Program Officer - Global Development, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation ) and Eduardo Magalhaes work with Stanley Wood, Amanda Palazzo, Tim Sulser, Maria Theresa Tenorio, Ulrike Wood-Sichra and Mark Rosegrant on the Foundation's Agricultural Development Strategy review.

Philip Pardey, Stanley Wood and Jawoo Koo meet with Nick Austin, Simon Hearn, John Dixon, Deborah Templeton and other ACIAR staff to present progress to date on HarvestChoice and explore prospects for ACIAR and AusAID support for Phase II of the project, in Canberra, Australia.

Pardey,  Wood and Koo visit with Andrzej Kilian, DaRT , to review progress on HarvestChoice.

Pardey, Wood and Koo brief Peter Reading, Managing Director, and other GRDC staff on the HarvestChoice Initiative.

Beddow meets with Darren Kriticos, CSIRO Black Mountain facility, to review crop pest and disease modeling details.

Philip Pardey, Stanley Wood, Jason Beddow and Jawoo Koo meet with Brian Keating, Peter Carberry, Bronwyn Harch and other CSIRO Australia staff at CSIRO Crace facility, to explore potential collaboration between HarvestChoice, Phase II, and the Sustainable Agriculture Flagship of CSIRO .

Philip Pardey, Jason Beddow, Jawoo Koo and other HarvestChoice collaborators participate in the 54th Annual meeting of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society. Wood and Koo organize a mini-symposium Technology Evaluation at Scale: What News from the Frontline?. Pardey elected president of AARES for 2010.

In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Stanley Wood participates with Greg Traxler and Derek Byerlee in the project implementation meeting Tracking Varietal Change and Assessing the Impact of Crop Genetic Improvement Research in Sub-Saharan Africa. Stanley presents options for HarvestChoice to support regional evalutaion of potential varietal adoption in Africa.

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JANUARY

Jawoo Koo and Richard Robertson present "Use of Crop Systems Model at IFPRI" in IFPRI headquarters in Washington, DC.

In IFPRI, USAID's Meredith Soule (Agricultural and Natural Resources Economist), Cynthia Baldwin (Jefferson Science Fellow and Senior Advisor for International Research Cooperation), and Jennifer Long (Visiting Assistant Research Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago) meet with Stanley Wood, Jawoo Koo, Zhe Guo and Maria Theresa Tenorio to discuss USAID's collaboration with HarvestChoice on mapping priorities for food security R&D.

Stanley Wood, Jawoo Koo, Mark Rosegrant, Siwa Msangi, and Ricky Robertson meet with Juan Carlos Castilla-Rubio, CISCO Systems Inc., to discuss potential collaboration between IFPRI and the Planetary Skin Institute.

In IFPRI, Stanley Wood meets with John Ingram, Global Environmental Change and Food Systems (GECAFS) Executive Officer,  to review Stanley's chapter ("Major International Environmental and Food Assessments: Questions Asked and Lessons Learned") for an upcoming GECAFS volume.

Philip Pardey participates in the second meeting of the Humboldt Forum for Food, Agriculture and Nutrition in Berlin, Germany.

Stanley Wood meets with Josette Lewis, Director of Agriculture, USAID , to discuss possible IFPRI-USAID collaboration (through the HarvestChoice project) on mapping priorities for food security R&D.

Liangzhi You works with Chinese collaborators on Spatial Allocation Model (SPAM) data in Beijing, China.