FARMS4Biodiversity’s second Annual Meeting yields exciting results!
After a productive first year of data collection, FARMS4Biodiversity held its annual meeting in February. We are really proud of this year’s work: SFHC has taken the lead in a complex network of interdisciplinary collaboration between five universities, the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (see their press release on our project here!), social and natural scientists, 24 family farms and 70 individual farmers. See below for more details on all we’ve accomplished in the first year of this new project!
SFHC Farmer Promoter Mwapi Mkandawire demonstrates method for catching and identifying pollinator taxa. Over 1300 bees and wasps and over 1000 butterflies have been collected thus far!
The Scenarios of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services team had an excellent year of research, exploring the role of different organisms — ground dwelling anthropoids, flying insects, birds and bats — in combatting pests such as the fall armyworm and stemborer. The whole team took a field trip to see demonstrations of their methods and to understand the challenges they faced in data collection. We also heard updates on their assessment of pollinators and pollination services: in examining how agroecological practices protect biodiversity, they have collected more than 1300 bees and wasps, and recorded over 1000 butterflies to date! That’s over 53 species of pollinator.
The Community Social Dynamics team continued their research on the relationship between community-level social relationships and land use. They focused particularly on farmers’ experiences with the effects of climate change and seed saving.
Demonstration of malaise insect traps by the Scenarios of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services team at Annual Meeting field trip.
The Participatory Scenario Planning team worked with farmers to train community members in remote sensing and GIS (Geographic Information Services) technologies. Farmers hope to map landscape and crop diversity analysis and eventually build a model to predict yield. Thus far they have mapped a total of 52 villages!
We are so excited by all the work that the FARMS4Biodiversity project has completed in its first year. We are honoured to be working with such skilled collaborators, and excited to see the results of this research!
With funding from Avaaz, SFHC did a major distribution of food and hygiene supplies this August. These supplies are critical for families affected by the pandemic. According to local request, we delivered… – 25, 000 cloth face masks–… Read More
We’re proud to feature in the prominent food systems newspaper, Civil Eats, in an article discussing the failure of U.S. investment in African industrial agriculture. The article explores the promise of African agroecology as an alternative: offering new,… Read More
SFHC has been busy during May. In order to reduce risk of COVID-19 transmission, SFHC has divided the staff into several teams who work on various SFHC projects independently at the SFHC office. Teams only come in once… Read More
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Last Updated: April 2, 2020 by Rachel Bezner-Kerr
FARMS4Biodiversity’s second Annual Meeting yields exciting results!
After a productive first year of data collection, FARMS4Biodiversity held its annual meeting in February. We are really proud of this year’s work: SFHC has taken the lead in a complex network of interdisciplinary collaboration between five universities, the Norwegian Institute of Bioeconomy Research (see their press release on our project here!), social and natural scientists, 24 family farms and 70 individual farmers. See below for more details on all we’ve accomplished in the first year of this new project!
The Scenarios of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services team had an excellent year of research, exploring the role of different organisms — ground dwelling anthropoids, flying insects, birds and bats — in combatting pests such as the fall armyworm and stemborer. The whole team took a field trip to see demonstrations of their methods and to understand the challenges they faced in data collection. We also heard updates on their assessment of pollinators and pollination services: in examining how agroecological practices protect biodiversity, they have collected more than 1300 bees and wasps, and recorded over 1000 butterflies to date! That’s over 53 species of pollinator.
The Community Social Dynamics team continued their research on the relationship between community-level social relationships and land use. They focused particularly on farmers’ experiences with the effects of climate change and seed saving.
The Participatory Scenario Planning team worked with farmers to train community members in remote sensing and GIS (Geographic Information Services) technologies. Farmers hope to map landscape and crop diversity analysis and eventually build a model to predict yield. Thus far they have mapped a total of 52 villages!
We are so excited by all the work that the FARMS4Biodiversity project has completed in its first year. We are honoured to be working with such skilled collaborators, and excited to see the results of this research!
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Avaaz funds major hygiene and food distribution for COVID-19 affected families
September 11, 2020
By Rachel Bezner-Kerr
With funding from Avaaz, SFHC did a major distribution of food and hygiene supplies this August. These supplies are critical for families affected by the pandemic. According to local request, we delivered… – 25, 000 cloth face masks–… Read More
SFHC highlighted in Civil Eats
August 29, 2020
By Rachel Bezner-Kerr
We’re proud to feature in the prominent food systems newspaper, Civil Eats, in an article discussing the failure of U.S. investment in African industrial agriculture. The article explores the promise of African agroecology as an alternative: offering new,… Read More
May Update
July 30, 2020
By Bunmi Osias
SFHC has been busy during May. In order to reduce risk of COVID-19 transmission, SFHC has divided the staff into several teams who work on various SFHC projects independently at the SFHC office. Teams only come in once… Read More
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