With 2017 drawing to a close, we at Agrilinks are reflecting on a banner year of rich contributions from our vibrant community of development professionals.  We received a record 320 posts from all over the globe, sharing lessons learned, innovations, news, opportunities and more! This year, we moved to a monthly themed approach to showcase important topics in food security and received quality material on nutrition, gender, ICT4Ag, aquaculture and fisheries, and more in response to our calls for submissions. And oh yeah, we launched a refreshed site, too!

One of the ways we convene the far-flung community is our monthly Agrilinks webinar series. Each month, a panel of experts come together to discuss emerging issues in global food security and agriculture with their peers. Our webinars routinely attract a global audience of 100+ development professionals every month and generate a lively dialogue on critical and sometimes controversial topics.

We’d like to thank everyone who helped make 2017 so fruitful for Agrilinks and share out some of the year’s most popular webinars — aka, Must-See Agrilinks TV! If you didn’t have a chance to catch some of these events the first time around, we encourage you to check out the post-event content. Each page includes links to the audio recordings, webinar recordings, transcripts and other resources, so there are lots of ways to tune in and learn.

Addressing Food Safety in Animal Source Foods for Improved Nutrition
January 25, 2017
In this joint Agrilinks and Microlinks webinar, experts shared effective approaches to improving food safety and quality related to livestock production. Tune in and learn about improving food safety and quality throughout the livestock value chain including production methods, processing and storage technologies, risk assessments, policy impacts, opportunities for the private sector and consumer education. 

Not All Seed Is Declared Equal: Improving Access
February 28, 2017
Seed is the single most important agricultural input of crop production, but not all seed is equally accessible and available. In this special event, experts addressed how Quality Declared Seeds might be able to close some of the gaps by offering a range of crop and seed varieties critical to climate-smart and nutrition-sensitive agriculture. The event explored global seed quality regulations and trends with key examples and case studies from Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi.

Women Without Borders: Gender and Informal Cross-Border Trade
March 8, 2017
Around 70 to 80 percent of informal cross-border traders in southern Africa are women. Although cross-border trade helps many women become economically empowered, it can also make them extremely vulnerable to harassment and gender-based violence from corrupt border agents. These women also experience high taxation and trade regulations, unsanitary working conditions, and limited access to credit facilities and information on market opportunities. On International Women's Day, Microlinks and Agrilinks hosted a special seminar where presenters discussed new findings and recommendations on how to address these constraints.

Research for Development: How Three Innovation Labs Are Driving Impact
July 25, 2017
This webinar showcased the applied research of three Feed the Future Innovation Labs and their contributions to on-the-ground development impact. Leaders from the Feed the Future Innovation Labs for Nutrition, Soybean and Reduction of Post-Harvest Loss presented examples of how U.S. universities are leading the development of tools and innovations that support smallholder farming communities to improve food security, nutrition and women’s empowerment.

Private Sector & Smallholder Adaptation: What We Know
September 19, 2017
Companies purchasing from small farmers are often on the front lines delivering services, information and finance to communities hard hit by variable weather and other threats. Understanding how these companies are responding to the risks facing their farmer suppliers is critical to developing effective partnerships for resilient value chains. This webinar shared key takeaways from the Feed the Future Learning Community for Supply Chain Resilience, led by CIAT, with consortium partners from IITA, the Sustainable Food Lab and Root Capital sharing findings from their engagement with the food and beverage industry and the finance sector.

Can Small-Scale Irrigation Empower Women?
October 31, 2017
Despite the unique needs, roles and norms that relate women and men with water, very little research has been done on how irrigation can empower or disempower women and men. The Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Small-Scale Irrigation (ILSSI), led by Texas A&M University, has tackled this question head-on with both quantitative and qualitative research complemented by insights from the field and gender-irrigation trainings in three Feed the Future countries.

To check out more Agrilinks webinar recordings, visit our YouTube page. We’re already planning for a great 2018 with an event on the value of resilience programming in the works for January 25. Stay tuned, and see you next year!