What we’ve been reading this week

This week’s summary on the news stories, reports and blogs that have grabbed our attention. We welcome your thoughts and comments on these articles.

Two billion people suffering from hidden hunger according to 2014 Global Hunger Index, even as levels of hunger in many developing countries decrease, IFPRI

The Pig Pledge, Farms not Factories

Countries agree on key policy commitments to fight malnutrition globally, FAO

Conservation agriculture and ecosystem services: An overview, Palm et al

GeneWatch UK PR: Second-generation GM crops: an environmental disaster, GeneWatch

Building a bridge from basic botany to applied agriculture, Eurek Alert

EU makes public its wish list for under-fire U.S. trade deal, Reuters

Grand Challenge: Putting Women and Girls at the Center of Development, Impatient Optimists

Participatory Land Use Planning to Support Tanzanian Farmer and Pastoralist Investment: Experiences from Mbarali District, Mbeya Region, Tanzania, EcoAgriculture Partners

Food security successes earn World Food Prize, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Sowing the seeds of stable agriculture, SciDev.Net

Thomson Reuters Foundation and FAO launch global food security news platform, FAO

Food labels can reduce livestock environmental impacts, Eurek Alert

GMO The Truth with Vandana Shiva and Deepak Chopra, YouTube

Is the era of flagship publications (HDR, WDR) coming to an end?, From Poverty to Power

Ebola threatens chocolate, Politico

Feeding China: Chinese wary of biotech seed, The Des Moines Register

Africa’s Agricultural Potential, Farming First

Can Africa feed itself in spite of climate change?, RTCC

New study charts the global invasion of crop pests, Univerity of Exeter

Africa: The Role of Seed in Africa’s Agricultural Revolution – Interview, All Africa

Agriculture might just save the earth, Asia One

Redefining agricultural yields: from tonnes to people nourished per hectare, IOP Scienc

P is for Participatory Plant Breeding, World Development Movement

Should we upgrade photosynthesis and grow supercrops?, New Scientist

Tanzania’s proposed constitution empowers women to own land, Thomson Reuters Foundation

Climate change: 15m farmers to get crop insurance by 2017 –Adesina, The Sun