{"id":214,"date":"2012-11-14T16:23:03","date_gmt":"2012-11-14T16:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2012\/?p=214"},"modified":"2012-12-03T19:24:15","modified_gmt":"2012-12-03T19:24:15","slug":"global-project-targets-local-yield-gaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2012\/global-project-targets-local-yield-gaps\/","title":{"rendered":"<h2>Global Project Targets <\/h2> <h1>Local Yield Gaps<\/h1>"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As the world\u2019s population explodes to an estimated 9 billion people by 2050, farmers face the daunting challenge of making the most of every acre of suitable land while preserving the environment.<\/p>\n<p>Increasing yields on existing farmland obviates turning to rainforests, wetlands and other unsuitable land.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe critical question is: Where in the world do we have existing farmland with the capacity to produce much higher, stable yields?\u201d said Ken Cassman, Robert B. Daugherty Professor of Agronomy at UNL.<\/p>\n<p>To answer that question, Cassman and an international research team are developing a tool to identify areas around the globe where significant gaps exist between actual and potential yields for different crops. Yield potentials vary widely and often are difficult to measure.<\/p>\n<div class=\"imageBlock\">\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2012\/global-project-targets-local-yield-gaps\/120524_yields_079\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-215\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-post-feature wp-image-215\" title=\"120524_Yields_079\" src=\"http:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2012\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/120524_Yields_079-900x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2012\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/120524_Yields_079-900x600.jpg 900w, https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2012\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/120524_Yields_079-450x300.jpg 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>From left, Justin van Wart, Patricio Grassini and Ken Cassman<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Unlike other efforts to estimate yield potential, the team\u2019s Global Yield Gap Atlas uses a bottom-up approach. Working with colleagues at Wageningen University in the Netherlands, the team is recruiting agronomists worldwide to identify key agricultural areas and collect data about local conditions and farming methods. These data will be scaled to the national, regional and global levels.<\/p>\n<p>They also are developing the necessary methodology, such as accurately converting short-term weather data into long-term patterns and scaling up local yield estimates. All information and methodologies will be shared on the new public website www.yieldgap.org.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe beauty of this project is that it is a global project but with local relevance,\u201d said UNL agronomist and co-investigator Patricio Grassini. The atlas will estimate global yield trends and food security but also help individual countries identify production potential to better strategize resource allocations and trade opportunities.<\/p>\n<div class=\"imageBlock\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Fy8h4yRZrZ4?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>With a $2 million grant from the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, the team is working in India, Bangladesh and 10 Sub-Saharan African countries. Grassini also has developed collaborations in Argentina and Brazil with funds from the University of Nebraska\u2019s Robert B. Daugherty Water for Food Institute.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThe beauty of this project is that it is a global project but with local relevance.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Securing food for the future requires accurate information and decades of planning, Cassman said. \u201cWe need to do a better job than we have in the past, and that\u2019s what the Global Yield Gap Atlas will do.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h1>Traveling the World<\/h1>\n<p>Nebraska native Justin van Wart hoped graduate studies at UNL would lead to something important. But, doctorate fresh in hand, he didn\u2019t expect to already be traveling the world to help solve a critical global problem.<\/p>\n<p>As an agricultural economist, van Wart brings a large-scale perspective to the Global Yield Gap Atlas project. His doctoral work for UNL agronomist Ken Cassman included developing methods to scale local data to regional and global levels.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s going to have a huge impact on our ability to analyze national and global agriculture,\u201d Cassman said.<\/p>\n<p>Now, as a postdoctoral fellow, van Wart finds himself in a new country almost every month, presenting his methods and helping build collaborations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s amazing to work with internationally renowned agronomists,\u201d van Wart said. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of surreal to be shaking hands and talking directly with the person whose paper I was highlighting for a report just a few months ago.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s also creating connections that will lead to future career opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s such an exciting field,\u201d he said of the yield gap research. \u201cThere\u2019s so much happening nationally and internationally.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; As the world\u2019s population explodes to an estimated 9 billion people by 2050, farmers face the daunting challenge of making the most of every acre of suitable land while preserving the environment. Increasing yields on existing farmland obviates turning &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2012\/global-project-targets-local-yield-gaps\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":216,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[491,1],"tags":[115,435,214,211,91,215,267,212,218,206,216,210,219,213,208,209,202],"class_list":["post-214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-homepage","category-uncategorized","tag-agriculture","tag-agronomy","tag-argentina","tag-bangladesh","tag-bill-melinda-gates-foundation","tag-brazil","tag-collaboration","tag-india","tag-justin-van-wart","tag-ken-cassman","tag-netherlands","tag-patricio-grassini","tag-robert-b-daugherty-water-for-food-institute","tag-sub-saharan-african","tag-wageningen-university","tag-weather","tag-yield-gap"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":708,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214\/revisions\/708"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.unl.edu\/annualreport\/2012\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}