My research program is interested in the sustainability of our land resource base. My students and I are concerned about issues such as global food security, climate change, and deforestation. We think about questions such as: How can we feed 10 billion people while reducing the environmental footprint of agriculture? Can organic farming be part of this solution? How might climate change affect future crop yields? How might climate change in Canada alter the functioning of the Boreal forest ecosystem? How does urban expansion influence land change in different parts of the world? Is urbanization good for the global environment? We typically study these questions on regional-to-global scales, by developing global data sets of the world’s land cover and land use, and also global data analysis and modelling tools to explore agriculture-environment interactions and tradeoffs. I am also interested in regional-scale landuse-environment interactions, chiefly in Canada and India.
My research program is housed in the Global Land and Water lab, shared with Professor Bernhard Lehner. Together, we formed a vibrant research group that addresses global and regional issues related to the sustainability of land and water resources.
My research program is housed in the Global Land and Water lab, shared with Professor Bernhard Lehner. Together, we formed a vibrant research group that addresses global and regional issues related to the sustainability of land and water resources.
News
Congratulations to PhD student, Verena Seufert, who led a study recently published in Nature, comparing yields from organic and conventional farming. Read more here.
Congratulations to PhD student, Verena Seufert, who led a study recently published in Nature, comparing yields from organic and conventional farming. Read more here.
Select publications
- Seufert, V., N. Ramankutty, and J. A. Foley, Comparing the yields of organic and conventional agriculture, Nature, advance online publication, 2012.
- Foley, J. A., N. Ramankutty, et al., Solutions for a cultivated planet, Nature, 478(7369), 337-342, 2011.
- Ellis, E. C., and N. Ramankutty, Putting people in the map: anthropogenic biomes of the world, Front. Ecol. Environ., 6(8), 439-447, 2008.
- Ramankutty, N., J. A. Foley, and N. J. Olejniczak, People on the land: Changes in Population and Global Croplands During the 20th Century, Ambio, 31 (3), 251-257, 2002.
- Ramankutty, N., H. K. Gibbs, F. Achard, R. DeFries, J. A. Foley, and R. A. Houghton, Challenges to estimating carbon emissions from tropical deforestation, Glob. Change Biol., 13, 51-66; doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2006.01272.x, 2007.