Press Coverage
Coverage Related to Research on the Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Food System
- Maine Policy Matters Podcast. “Maine Food System and the Pandemic—Interview with JG Malacarne and Jason Lilley” 11/15/2022 (available here, 596 listens as of April 1, 2023)
- Bangor Daily News, “Mainers physical and mental health has gotten worse during the COVID-19 Pandemic.” 1/20/2022. (available here)
Coverage Related to Research on Climate Resilience in Agriculture
- AGRILINKS – “Leveraging the Seed System to Solve the Last Mile Challenge for Insurance” (available here)
- VoxDev – “Combining improved seed varieties and index insurance to address drought losses” (available here)
- Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Markets Risk and Resilience – “World Food Day 2022: Strengthening Food Security and Resilience So No One is Left Behind” (available here)
Coverage Related to the Maine Farmers Markets Price Report (available here)
- Morning AgClips. – 8/11/2022. “UMaine Extension launches online Maine farmers market price report” (available here)
- News Center Maine. 8/22/2022. – “New online pricing tool can benefit Maine farmers at local markets” (available here)
- Portland Press Herald. 9/4/2022. – “Green Plate Special: At farmers markets, great deals are a growing trend” (available here)
Projects
The Maine Farmers Market Price Report
Up-to-date and market-specific price data is important to farm businesses as they refine business plans, apply for financing, and manage day-to-day operations.
The Maine Farmers Market Price Report is a collaboration among agricultural service providers throughout the state of Maine, who are working together to meet this need.
Subsidizing Learning About Resilience-building Agricultural Technologies in Mozambique
Resilience-building agricultural technologies help rural households in developing countries withstand and recover from climate-related disasters. However, sustaining the adoption of these technologies is a challenge because they do not provide benefits in every year. This MRR Innovation Lab project in Mozambique is testing short-term subsidy and training programs for rural households to learn about stress-tolerant maize bundled with index insurance for a seed-replacement guarantee. The project contributes evidence on how to spark lasting adoption for resilience-building technologies.
“SOE Faculty Member Jonathan Malacarne and SOE graduate student Shelby Smith are part of a new research project focused on value-added grains. Led by researchers at Cornell University and funded by a $2 million USDA Award, the multi-institutional project team will focus on developing infrastructure to establish markets for organic grains in the Northeast and Midwest. Jonathan and Shelby will be leading the economic side of the project, which involves supply chain mapping, studying the role of institutional markets in supporting a value-added organic grains economy, and identifying challenges in getting organic grains to consumers at prices they’re willing to pay. They are excited to collaborate with colleagues from UMaine, including Ellen Mallory of UMaine Cooperative Extension, researchers and students from Cornell University, University of Vermont, the University of Wisconsin, the University of Maine, the University of Illinois, Oregon State University and South Dakota State University, as well as agricultural stakeholders. Congratulations Jonathan & Shelby ! We look forward to learning from you and the entire multi-institutional research team.”
This project explores the determinants of uptake and measure the impacts on on-farm investment levels and nutritional outcomes of drought-tolerant (DT) maize varieties — both alone and bundled with a complementary insurance product that kicks in and stabilizes farmer income at those higher drought pressure levels where DT varieties lose their efficacy.
Update: On Thursday, March 14, 2019, Cyclone Idai slammed into the coast of south eastern Africa near the port city of Beira, Mozambique. Early reports suggest that over 1.5 million people in Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe will be affected. Read what Jonathan and other AMA Researchers have to say about it here.
Jonathan G. Malacarne 