Blog entries filtered by: Productivity, Farming

The June 2012 issue of Insights, IFPRI’s quarterly magazine, talks up HarvestChoice’s increasingly popular online tool: MAPPR. So friendly to use that a writer and a graphics designer combined wits to create the MAPPR-generated visuals for the article.

The definition of risk used by the HarvestChoice project does not frame risk as inherently bad. After all, farmers and other individuals often voluntarily subject themselves to risks that can be avoided. That is, some individuals may view risk as undesirable, others may not care, while still others may view it as desirable. Individuals who find risk undesirable are commonly referred to as risk averse. Individuals who do not care are commonly referred to as risk neutral. Individuals who find risk desirable are often referred to as risk preferring, loving, or attracted.

Crop systems models can help researchers estimate the future of food security under climate scenarios. Many crop models are known to exist around the world - for different crops with varying complexities, yet it is not easy to find the right model for the right problem. To better understand the global extent of crop model development and to identify gaps in capabilities, HarvestChoice participated in an initiative to conduct a rapid meta-analysis of crop models using on-line survey to the crop modeling community in the world. Here are the key findings.

Conceptually, in its simplest form, one may liken the cultivation of a crop in the field to a mathematical function.