The Green Revolution did not reach all parts of the world evenly. Many problems faced by farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are old and familiar but preclude the large-scale approaches that drastically improved agricultural production in a few key crops in other parts of Asia and India. The unique climate and soil challenges of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are now compounded by climate change and socioeconomic instability. “Sustainable intensification” is the research and development effort to find solutions that raise yields and incomes -- and provide social and economic benefits -- in a changing biophysical, socioeconomic, and political environment. We highlight innovative approaches for poor farming households trying to establish and maintain secure access to safe and nutritious foods. Crop breeding can address difficult climatic and soil conditions, while integration of animals, naturally fertilizing plants, and farming approaches can actually amend poor soils. Gender roles in a household may mean success or failure of interventions to reach poverty reduction and nutrition goals. Information technologies carried in the hand or on a satellite provide geographic specificity for targeting extension, market data, climate information, and other tools. The utility of such data can be magnified by global mapping and sharing platforms. South Sudan shows how political and economic recovery can incorporate sustainable intensification and economic development.