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earth matters
science and insights for people who care about Earth, its resources and its environment

Food and Agriculture

December 5, 2015

Elsa Ordway's research examines the rapidly growing palm oil industry in Cameroon, with the aim of identifying where palm oil expansion can occur while protecting rainforest ecosystems and the livelihoods of smallholder farmers.

November 10, 2015
Stanford scientists have tested a way to measure crop yield from space using satellites that can directly measure plant photosynthesis.
October 30, 2015

Rosemary Knight, in collaboration with Aqua Geo Frameworks and the Tulare Irrigation District, recently used a new imaging technology to find water hidden hundreds of feet underground in California's drought-ravaged Central Valley.

Ship
October 21, 2015

Some countries argue that setting up marine protected areas in the Southern Ocean would interfere with their right to “rational use” of natural resources.

February 20, 2015

After changes in government policy and farm practices, European grain yields leveled off. Stanford's Frances C. Moore says climate trends account for 10 percent of that stagnation.

February 10, 2015

Two-thirds of high seas fisheries are depleted or overfished, with impacts of climate change and marine pollution compounding the problem. Technology and political will can reverse the downward trend and move toward sustainability.

February 10, 2015

New research by a Stanford team shows that climate change is expanding the amount of U.S. agricultural land that is suitable for harvesting two crops per growing season, a system known as double cropping. The practice offers higher productivity and more income for American farmers, but future yield losses from climate change may still outstrip the gains from double cropping. 

January 8, 2015

A new study by Roz Naylor and postdoctoral scholar Ling Cao offers the clearest picture to date of China’s enormous impact on wild fisheries. The study also presents a more sustainable alternative to the current practice of using wild-caught fish to feed farm-raised fish.

September 12, 2014

Earth Systems alumnus Dan Karp is the co-lead author of a new study in Costa Rica that revealed that habitat destruction significantly reduces the incidence of evolutionarily distinct species.

September 8, 2014

Peter Vitousek and colleagues in China have shown in a new Nature study that Chinese farming practices could be designed to simultaneously improve yields and substantially reduce environmental damages.