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Highlights

Research to improve farming practices is only effective if it acknowledges farmers’ realities on the ground. That’s why organizations such as the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and AVRDC – The World Vegetable Center work closely with farmers to test and create new crops and systems that address their everyday needs. Still, when it comes to training the agricultural researchers of the future, most universities focus on abstract technical skills, not actual application. EARTH University in Costa Rica is different. Its undergraduate program in Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resource Management equally emphasizes technical knowledge and hands-on experience, and trains students to be entrepreneurial and to address environmental and social needs.

 

Written by Miriam Rich, Director of Communications for the Office of International Research, Education, and Development at Virginia Tech.

Invasive pests. Biocontrol agents. Smallholder farmers. All of these are things we think of when we consider integrated pest management in the developing world. But what about life-changing financial support that can help a person realize their career dreams? Not so much.

Agricultural communication (or agricultural communications) is a field of study and work that focuses on communication about agriculture-related information among agricultural stakeholders and between agricultural and non-agricultural stakeholders. It is done formally and informally by agricultural extension and is considered a subset of science communication. However, it has evolved into its own professional field.

The Response-Inducing Sustainability Evaluation RISE is a computer-based tool that allows assessing the sustainability of agricultural production and trends hereof at farm level (early warning system).

The holistic sustainability assessment follows a systems approach and covers ecological, economic and social dimensions. The tool identifies strengths (potentials) and weaknesses with regard to sustainability, hereby providing the farmer with a testimonial on one side and the identification of intervention points for improvement on the other. RISE thus not only aims at diagnosis, but rather at the initiation of measures to improve sustainability of agricultural production. As a monitoring tool RISE can visualize trends and developments over time on individual farms as well as within sectors or catchment areas, thus providing information about primary production in raw material supply chains.

ICTs have proved to be effective tools in stimulating young people’s interest in agriculture. The added value of these technologies for youth in agriculture lies at least at three levels: ICTs offer new marketing tools to enhance more than in the past (youth-led) agricultural businesses; ICTs help promote agricultural interest and opportunities for youth, and finally, they bring about new jobs linked to agricultural software and ICT-based agribusinesses (mobile applications (mAgri), market information systems, etc).

Despite these opportunities, there are several challenges being faced by youth in Southern Africa, who are engaged in agriculture and ICTs: lack of capacity and policy support that would enable them to take advantage of the opportunities that ICTs offer, lack of documentation and promotion of youth’s innovations and best-practices, lack of policy provisions related to youth’s involvement in agriculture as well as youth in ICT, aiming at improving their livelihoods in urban and rural areas.

Elsevier’s newly revised “Charting a Course for a Successful Research Career” is a crash course of practical advice on how to plan your career.

The booklet provides wide-ranging topics from planning your career to preparing a grant funding application, to selecting a research discipline, supervisor and mentor. It also discuses the importance of getting recognized for the work you do, how to publish research – thinking about this early on is essential – and where to publish.