Drawing on a randomized controlled trial among rice farmers in Nigeria, Jeffrey Bloem (IFPRI) and Clark Lundberg (San Diego State University) introduce a new method for linking village-level interventions with high-resolution earth observation data – which captures spatial variation in how new technologies spread and influence land use. While they find evidence that the adoption of improved fertilizer boosts agricultural productivity, the effects on tree canopy cover depend on the local landscape.
Intensification or expansion? A new approach to measuring agricultural change (VoxDev)
September 16, 2025