AgMIP Global and Regional Assessments: Methods and Results

The Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) is a major international effort linking the climate, crop, and economic modeling communities with cutting-edge information technology to produce improved crop and economic models and the next generation of climate impact projections for the agricultural sector. Currently, AgMIP has over 650 participants from more than 45 countries contributing their expertise to over 30 projects and activities. The goals of AgMIP are to improve substantially the characterization of world food security due to climate change and to enhance adaptation capacity in both developing and developed countries.

AgMIP enables, supports, and provides oversight for a range of initiatives. These include regional integrated assessments; global economic assessments and global crop modeling activities; development of next-generation models incorporating enhanced economic and environmental interactions; data and tools to facilitate multi-model and multi-discipline assessments; activities to better understand existing crop and livestock models; cross-cutting themes to help interpret agricultural model results for decision-making; and efforts to include the wider network of crop modelers around the world for future assessments.

Results from these initiatives contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fifth Assessment Report, provide important context for national and regional stakeholders interpreting climate change risks, further state-of-the-art global food security assessments and agricultural models, and deliver important inputs, such as commodity prices, into regional integrated assessments.