Gender and development specialist Paula Kantor had a deep understanding of how change can empower men and women to give them greater control over their own lives.

Derek Byerlee, former director of the CIMMYT economics program (1987-94) and current visiting scholar at Stanford University and adjunct professor at Georgetown University, presented some of his latest research at a brown bag lunch at CIMMYT headquarters on 1 May. His presentation, “Growing Land Scarcity, the Borlaug Hypothesis and the Rise of Megafarms,” examined the economic and environmental benefits and repercussions of cropland expansion, the recent rise of agribusiness and the delicate balance between crop intensification and deforestation.

We have come a long way when it comes to obtaining aerial images of our research sites. My colleagues and I once used helium-filled balloons and twin cameras to obtain infrared and color images in an all-day operation; now we use unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) fitted with high-resolution lenses and multispectral cameras to take dozens of images over large areas in a matter of minutes.

To demostrate the advances of the project “Increasing the profitability of maize-coffee systems” conducted by CIMMYT in Colombia over the past 10 years in collaboration with the National Federation of Colombian Coffee Producers (FEDERECAFE, Spanish acronym), two field days were held at the Paraguaycito–Quindío (29 April) and La Catalina–Risaralda (7 May) Experiment Stations belonging to CENICAFE, FEDERECAFE’s research unit. At these events, attended by 158 representatives of the Local Coffee Growers’ Committees and the National Federation of Cereal Growers (FENALCE, Spanish acronym), the latest advances in the areas of climate change, agronomy and genetic improvement were presented.*

Agricultural research for development must reconcile approaches that place resource-poor farmers at the center, said CIMMYT’s new Director General addressing staff at CIMMYT headquarters near Mexico City on his first say in the new job.

The CSISA project team is improving existing designs of harvest and post-harvest machinery to meet local needs.