Andrew McDonald is an Associate Professor of Global Cropping Systems at Cornell University in the School of Integrative Plant Science and the Department of Global Development. His Systems Agronomy for Global Development group uses cropping systems ecology to address foundational challenges to agricultural sustainability and food security through integrated systems analysis, development of decision frameworks and by fostering alliances for evidence-based priority setting and technology scaling. Prior to joining Cornell in 2019, Andy coordinated CIMMYT’s Sustainable Intensification programme in South Asia (150+ national and international staff) and was the project leader for the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia. CSISA is an ecoregional initiative that has been supported by the Gates Foundation and USAID for more than a decade to work with partners in the public and private sectors across South Asia to innovate and scale sustainable intensification technologies. It combines foundational research with innovation systems approaches to accelerate change processes through engagement with policymakers, markets and the broader development communities. Many of these approaches are informed by spatial analytics to empower priority setting and solution targeting.
At Cornell, Andy’s research programme uses mixed methods approaches in the field to eco-regional scales to understand how cropping systems function, establish key entry points for sustainable intensification and devise and evaluate the performance of promising innovations. Much of this work is coordinated through a robust network of partners in India, including the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) and CGIAR institutions through the CSISA initiative.
His current thematic priorities for his programme in South Asia are to characterise the drivers and consequences of agricultural burning in South Asia, devise precision fertility and water management solutions for complex smallholder-dominated systems, optimise time management to increase climate resilience and water productivity, quantify the functional dimensions of cropping systems diversification, understand landscape and management controls on greenhouse gas emissions in rice-based cropping systems and conduct regional yield gap and nitrogen use efficiency assessments.
