Crop Modeling Community of Practice: Improving global coordination of crop modeling efforts

Summary

Climate change is posing significant challenges to global crop production, including extreme weather, water scarcity, and pests. To support farmers, CGIAR scientists are conducting research and field trials to develop crop adaptation models. These models provide crucial data for improving farming practices and ensuring long-term sustainability. The CGIAR platform facilitates collaboration among over 900 members, sharing knowledge and resources to bridge gaps in crop modeling. The initiative also promotes capacity building, publishes research, and funds mini grants to drive progress in agricultural resilience and crop improvement.

Takeaways

• 😀 Higher temperatures, water scarcity, extreme weather events, and soil degradation are challenges facing global crop production.
• 😀 Farmers are uncertain about how to maintain productivity in the face of climate change, risking long-term agricultural sustainability.
• 😀 CGIAR scientists around the world are conducting experiments, field trials, and surveys to help farmers improve their practices and livelihoods.
• 😀 The data collected by CGIAR scientists is used to drive models simulating crop adaptation to climate change, optimizing water, nutrients, and other inputs.
• 😀 The outputs from these models generate actionable recommendations for farmers, crop scientists, and policymakers.
• 😀 Data collected must adhere to FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles and be model-ready to maximize its impact.
• 😀 Improving global coordination of crop modeling efforts can significantly enhance the development of adaptive and resilient crops.
• 😀 The CGIAR platform for big data in agriculture supports a crop modeling community of over 900 members, including CGIAR centers and international partners.
• 😀 The community of practice promotes knowledge sharing, capacity building, and collaboration, facilitating access to model-ready data and research resources.
• 😀 Since 2017, eight webinars organized by the community have reached over 1,600 participants, increasing the visibility of crop research data.
• 😀 Mini grants totaling $120,000 have been awarded to crop modeling projects, fostering collaboration and leveraging in-kind contributions from project investigators.
• 😀 The current focus is on bridging the gap between crop modeling and other crop disciplines to make more breeding and research data available for crop models.

Q & A

What are the main challenges faced by farmers worldwide due to climate change?

Farmers face challenges such as higher temperatures, water scarcity, extreme weather events, soil degradation, pests, and diseases, all of which affect crop production and agricultural sustainability.

How are CGIAR scientists helping farmers adapt to climate change?

CGIAR scientists are conducting experiments, implementing field trials, and surveying farmers to gather data. This data drives models that simulate crop adaptation to climate change, taking into account factors like water, nutrients, and other inputs.

What is the role of data in crop adaptation models?

Data collected from experiments and field trials is used to drive models that simulate crop adaptation. This data needs to be fair, findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable, and model-ready to maximize its value and impact.

Why is it important for crop modeling data to be fair, findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR)?

The FAIR principles ensure that the data is easily accessible and usable by researchers, policy makers, and farmers. This increases the potential for the data to have a positive impact on crop adaptation strategies and agricultural sustainability.

What is the CGIAR platform for big data in agriculture?

The CGIAR platform for big data in agriculture supports a community of practice focused on crop modeling. It involves CGIAR centers and international partners, with over 900 members sharing knowledge, resources, and model-ready data.

How has the CGIAR community of practice contributed to crop modeling and agricultural research?

The community of practice has facilitated knowledge sharing, promoted fair data principles, organized webinars, published blog posts and journal articles, and awarded mini grants to promote collaboration and capacity building in crop modeling and research.

What is the significance of the mini grants awarded by CGIAR?

The mini grants, totaling 120,000 USD, promote collaboration among crop improvement experts. They have also leveraged substantial in-kind contributions from project investigators to advance crop modeling and improvement projects.

What is the current focus of CGIAR in crop modeling?

CGIAR's current focus is on narrowing the gap between crop modeling and other crop disciplines, making more research and breeding data available for crop models to help address crop improvement challenges.

How has the CGIAR community promoted knowledge sharing in the past?

The community has organized eight webinars since 2017, reaching over 1,600 participants, and has received over 3,000 views on YouTube. Blog posts and articles in open access journals further promote the visibility and accessibility of crop research data.

How can people engage with the CGIAR crop modeling community?

To engage with the CGIAR crop modeling community, individuals can join the mailing list and follow the community on social media platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn.