Global Events

Around the world, agrifood systems generate jobs, support foreign exchange, and form the backbone of rural economies. Yet beneath this economic engine lies a quieter reality: the environmental and social burdens that never show up on balance sheets. These unpriced externalities — degraded soils, polluted water, greenhouse gas emissions, underpaid workers, and children engaged in […]

Extreme weather is driving up crop and livestock losses worldwide — and straining the very insurance markets farmers rely on to recover. Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)’s new global report, The State of Global Agricultural Insurance Under a Changing Climate, examines agricultural insurance programs and market trends and explores pathways toward strengthening agricultural insurance systems to protect farmers, […]

Throughout a career spanning more than four decades, Agnes Quisumbing has made major contributions to research on intrahousehold allocation, poverty and economic mobility, women’s empowerment, and the design and implementation of gender-sensitive agricultural programs. Stemming from her long-standing interest in inequality, Agnes’s work on gender, property rights, and women’s empowerment examines how inequality within the […]

While the global food system has largely adjusted to the disruptions in agricultural commodities and fertilizers following the invasion of Ukraine, the new conflict in the Middle East introduces a new set of challenges at a time when markets and supply chains remain vulnerable to geopolitical shocks. Disruptions to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, […]

Farm households face numerous risks that can discourage investments and trap them in poverty. Insurance should be a useful tool to reduce these hazards, but agricultural risks are inherently difficult to insure against. Willingness and capacity to pay insurance premiums also range widely. The lack of adequate agricultural insurance is a major concern for governments, […]