News
2024 Arkansas Food Systems Fellowship: Strengthening networks and leadership for local food systems change
January 31, 2025
The Wallace Center launched the inaugural Arkansas Food Systems Fellowship in 2024. The fellowship is hosted through the Wallace Center’s Food Systems Leadership Network, which connects and accelerates sustainable food systems leaders across the U.S. Its design resulted from a multi-year participatory process to identify strategies to strengthen the food systems change ecosystem in Arkansas. […]
Riva Brown is Winrock International’s 2024 Farmer-to-Farmer Volunteer of the Year
January 3, 2025
Riva Brown, a university professor and volunteer who conducted a highly successful assignment with a women-owned enterprise in Senegal, has been named Winrock International’s 2024 Farmer-to-Farmer Volunteer of the Year. Brown is an associate professor of public relations at the University of Central Arkansas and a global learning specialist with UCA’s Center for Global Learning […]
#thaiRAIN helps Southeast Asian farmers say no to burning
December 23, 2024
Between the end of the year and the first quarter of each year, Thailand and neighboring countries rise to the top of the world’s rankings for the poorest air quality, with high levels of PM2.5 haze. PM2.5 stands for particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers or smaller; so small, they’re 30 times finer […]
Inspiring women in agriculture: A Havener-Dowswell Scholarship story
November 25, 2024
In the heart of Guinea, recent graduate Mariame Sekou Touré is paving the way for sustainable development and inspiring women in agriculture. At 36, she has already made significant strides as an agricultural engineer, dedicating her career to transforming the lives of farmers through knowledge-sharing and practical support. Her journey into agriculture began at a […]
Pairing CSi and Krayasart: a #thaiRAIN success story
October 29, 2024
Innovation forum paired with Thai tradition In Thailand and neighboring countries, the Festival of the 10th Lunar Month holds a special place in local traditions. It is a time when people pay homage to their ancestors with the season’s first harvest, a tradition that dates back hundreds of years. Among the foods prepared during this […]
Friends of clean air: A #thaiRAIN success story
October 17, 2024
Too hard to breathe Air pollution has topped Thailand’s environmental challenges over the past decade. According to the State of Global Air Report, toxic haze was linked to 32,200 deaths in 2019 — higher than those caused by COVID. Thailand’s average PM2.5 concentration in 2023 was 4.7 times above the World Health Organization’s air quality […]
Southeast Asia “center of excellence” in the making: a #thaiRAIN success story
September 19, 2024
We need to talk about agri-food climate-smart innovations Southeast Asian farmers are facing the concrete effects of climate change, such as unusual weather, rising temperatures, water shortages, increasing pest infestations and devastating floods. The region has invested in R&D and innovations for many years, but the results have been unsatisfactory. Crop yield increases have stalled […]
First RAIN DROP excitement: A #thaiRAIN success story
September 19, 2024
Isn’t RAIN DROP refreshing? Isn’t it refreshing to feel raindrops falling from the sky? Just like that, RAIN’s grant program, called RAIN DROP, aims to revitalize Thai agriculture by enhancing the capacity of grantees — partners who will work to scale technologies among farmers. RAIN has prioritized grant programs, given that the project works with […]
Low overhead dairy grazing: Exploring the current state of dairy in the U.S. Midwest
September 19, 2024
(Feature photo image, above: Saxon Homestead Farm dairy cows grazing. Photo credit: Dan Hagenow Video Creation, LLC.) On July 18, 2024, Wallace Center and Winrock International staff hosted their first farmer workshop in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, for the Improving the Health of the Great Lakes through Profitable Low Overhead Dairy Grazing project. Funded by the Great Lakes […]
Winrock International announces new director for climate and environment
August 29, 2024
“Climate work is a critical part of Winrock’s mission, impacting a wide range of our locally led programming including sustainable agriculture and water, safe migration and counter-trafficking, climate finance, net zero, carbon crediting and markets, ecosystems and clean energy,” said Winrock President and CEO Maqsoda Maqsodi. “We’re in a pivotal climate moment in history, and […]