So far, tensiometers have been tested in four central districts of Punjab, initially with more than 500 farmers the first year, and then peaking with an additional 4,500 farmers in 2011 before testing was scaled back. Data showed, on average, a 30 percent reduction in the water used in the test plots when compared with the standard practices employed in the control plots.
Urban agriculture faces unique growing challenges due to the peculiarities of farming in a densely built environment. Storm Sandy highlighted additional challenges New York City farmers and gardeners must face as a result of increasingly extreme weather.
Watch a video about the Columbia Water Center’s project to address a looming water crisis in north Gujarat, India.
Visit the interactive digital Earth Institute 2012 Annual Donor Report to see some of the remarkable projects, initiatives and achievements that have been made possible through the support and advocacy of donors, students, faculty and staff in fiscal year 2012.
From warmer temperatures to natural disasters such as flooding and drought, changing patterns of climate are having billion-dollar impacts on our food-growing systems. But scientists are struggling to find ways to measure and predict what may happen in the future—and to translate that into policies to help feed a bulging world population.
Scientists and agronomists are racing to develop seeds that are higher yielding, more nutritious, and both drought and climate resilient to meet the challenge of feeding the world in the future.
Rosario Costa-Cabral and her brothers harvest hundreds of fruits, oils and wood products from the stream-laced forest of the Amazon River delta. But the climate here is changing: Tides rise higher, and seasonal floods are growing worse.
A new interactive mapping tool lets users visualize a broad range of soil data for the continent of Africa.
Thanks to a groundbreaking new program that relies on advanced satellite technology, a weather index insurance payout of unprecedented scale will benefit poor African farmers.
Focusing on the American Midwest, Andrew Robertson analyzes the relationships between floods, weather and climate patters throughout the 20th century.
State of the Planet is a forum for discussion on varying viewpoints. The opinions expressed by the authors and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Earth Institute or Columbia University.
