Best of Both Worlds

Rural landscape It's a big job, but somebody has to do it: Figure out how to feed the nine billion people who will inhabit Earth by 2050—without sending the environment spinning out of control.

Recognizing the importance of that task, the U of M's Institute on the Environment has launched a planet-sized project to map and understand global patterns of agricultural production and management. Known as the Global Landscapes Initiative (GLI), the project aims to help agribusinesses, environmental groups, and others increase food production while reducing adverse environmental impacts of farming such as water pollution, groundwater depletion, and greenhouse gas emissions.

"By bringing together volumes of satellite data, ground-based observations, and state-of-the-art analysis, GLI paints a remarkably detailed picture of cropland around the world," says Institute on the Environment director Jonathan Foley, who founded and heads GLI. "It tells us where agriculture is going well, where it's not, and where doing things differently might allow us to produce more food at less cost to the environment."

Understanding the Footprint

The idea for the initiative came from a project Foley and colleague Navin Ramankutty undertook at the University of Wisconsin a dozen years ago to map agricultural land use worldwide. Instead of simply tapping into satellite data and trying to locate farmlands, the researchers developed new tools that allowed them to combine the satellite maps with information from almanacs, census bureaus, and agriculture departments to create a unique picture of which crops have been grown where, how much fertilizer and irrigation they used, what the climate was like, what yields resulted, their carbon footprint, and more.

When Foley came to the U of M in 2008, he began showing the global agricultural data to members of the Twin Cities' agribusiness community. It turns out to be just what many are looking for as they work to boost both food production and the environmental sustainability.

"People are pretty blown away," says GLI's chief collaboration officer, Paul West. "It's many years ahead of most other groups that are doing anything similar out there."

A number of exciting collaborations have emerged in recent months. In one, GLI is helping General Mills determine how much irrigation water is required to grow crops it buys from around North America. It is also helping the company identify excess nutrients that may impact water quality.

"The ultimate goal is to have a solid understanding of the environmental footprint of all consumer products," says Steve Peterson, director of sourcing sustainability at General Mills.

Getting to that state is difficult, Peterson says, because each product is composed of many raw materials produced in different places under different conditions with different environmental costs. "The challenge is to find tools that will help tell that story," Peterson says. "We believe GLI can play a key role."

Beyond Great Science

Last January a number of global heavy hitters gathered to discuss how GLI might tailor its work to add value to theirs: Conservation International, Google.org, the Keystone Center, Mc-Gill University, the McKnight Foundation, the Nature Conservancy, and the Science Museum of Minnesota. Programmatic and funding partners Cargill, General Mills, and the Mosaic Co. also attended.

"It was a great first meeting," says participant Chris Lambe, director of social responsibility with crop nutrient developer Mosaic. "It's going to take cross-sector partnership—government, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector—if we're going to look at helping the world grow the food it needs."

"I view this as more than a philanthropic effort," says General Mills chief sustainability officer Jerry Lynch. "For us, it's also a business imperative. It's a good investment of resources that helps us conserve and protect the natural resources our business is built on. And we're glad it's helping a lot of other people. Working together to address this enormous challenge makes it easier for all of us to achieve our end goal."

GLI is currently exploring ways to boost its capacity to disseminate data and tools via the Internet. One promising application relates to climate change adaptation: GLI researchers hope to develop an interface that allows users to plug in what the climate is likely to be in a specific area at some future date, gather information about how that might affect yields, and identify how they in turn could maximize food production and minimize adverse environmental impacts.

"Our main aim is to go beyond having great science," West says, "and make sure our research is relevant to groups doing work that ultimately affects the food security and health of the planet." Mary Hoff is managing editor at the Institute on the Environment.

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