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Gerald J. Mangone Young Scholar

Global Environmental Change Early Career Award

NatureNet Science Fellow

2016

University of Virginia, Department of Environmental Sciences

Maury Environmental Prize

Environmental Resilience and Sustainability Fellow

USAID Research and Innovation Fellowship

Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems : Editor

Mitigating risk of exceeding environmental limits requires ambitious food system interventions

Crop switching can enhance environmental sustainability and farmer incomes in China

Combining socioeconomic and biophysical data to identify people-centric restoration opportunities

Transnational agricultural land acquisitions threaten biodiversity in the Global South

Compound heat and moisture extreme impacts on global crop yields under climate change

Dr. Kyle Davis is an Assistant Professor at the University of Delaware in the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences and the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences and a Resident Faculty in the UD Data Science Institute. His work focuses on food systems, water sustainability, and global environmental change. His current research in India, Nigeria, China, and the US combines environmental, economic, and social considerations with direct stakeholder engagement to inform agricultural decision making and to improve nutrition, environmental sustainability, and climate adaptation strategies. He also explores other human-environment interactions through projects on: the environmental and livelihoods impacts of large-scale land investments; variability and shock propagation through food trade networks; the relationship between human migration and global environmental change; and farmer coping strategies for climate variability and extremes. 

​Prior to joining UD in 2019, he was a Data Science Fellow and Earth Institute Fellow at Columbia University (New York) and a NatureNet Science Fellow with The Nature Conservancy. He earned his PhD in Environmental Sciences with a focus on Hydrology from the University of Virginia and is a proud graduate of UD.

Human Migration

Nutrition

Global Environmental Change

Food Systems

Sustainability

Geospatial Data Science

Foreign Land Investments

University of Delaware Faculty Profile

Davis Lab Website

Google Scholar Citations

UD study shows cropland expansion in Nigeria doesn’t equate to increased food security | UDaily

Irrigation expansion’s varying impacts on nutrition

UD’s Kyle Davis receives 2023 Global Environmental Change Early Career Award from the American Geophysical Union | UDaily

UD doctoral student and professor hold workshop in Nigeria focused on irrigation | UDaily

Enhancing China’s environmental sustainability and farmer incomes | UDaily

Global land rush threatens biodiversity

Examining the ongoing global land rush

Tropical forest loss and the global land rush

Sea levels in Bangladesh could rise twice as much as predicted

UD study shows how India can help itself by diversifying its crop production | UDaily

Assessing climate-resilient and nutritious staple crops in Nigeria

A multidimensional approach to food production decision making

The water-energy-food nexus of unconventional fossil fuels

Towards climate resilient and nutritious cereal crops in India

kyle-davis-wins-nsf-career-award-for-pioneering-research-on-climateresilient-food-systems

Assistant Professor, Geography and Spacial Sciences

University of Delaware assistant professor Kyle Davis has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award—one of the most competitive and prestigious honors for early-career faculty—for his work advancing the climate resilience of global food systems.

Davis, who holds joint appointments in the College of Earth, Ocean and Environment and the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, leads cutting-edge research at the intersection of agriculture, sustainability and global environmental change. His focus? Making food production more efficient, climate-smart and socially equitable—especially in regions grappling with limited water resources.

 With a growing global population and increasing pressure on land and water, Davis’s research is helping to answer one of the most critical questions of our time: How can we feed the world without destroying the planet?

His lab’s work recently led to the development of MIRCA-OS, a groundbreaking open-source dataset that offers high-resolution global data on irrigated and rain-fed croplands across 23 crop types. The tool, co-created with UD doctoral student Endalkachew Kebede and published in Nature Scientific Data, allows researchers, farmers and policymakers to assess how crop choices, rainfall and irrigation interact with water systems and food security.

Some of the thirstiest crops are grown in the most water-stressed areas Davis said. Shifting crop mixes to crops that require less water but still ensure farmer profits is a promising way to reduce the amount of water needed to irrigate crops and to avoid conditions of water scarcity.

Davis’s research spans continents, with active projects in the United States, India, China and Nigeria, where his team is exploring solutions to water scarcity, crop nutrition and agricultural sustainability. His work has appeared in Earth.com, Phys.org and major scientific journals. In 2023, he was recognized with the American Geophysical Union’s Global Environmental Change Early Career Award.  In addition to research, Davis is a dedicated mentor, guiding graduate students from around the world. “So much of my research is the result of their passion, abilities, drive and creativity,” Davis said.

Davis is available for interviews on topics including sustainable agriculture, water use, climate adaptation, food systems and the power of data science in global development. He can be contacted by clicking the "View Profile" button. 


Kyle Davis wins NSF CAREER Award for pioneering research on climate-resilient food systems

ud-researchers-launch-opensource-tool-to-boost-global-food-security-and-water-sustainability

 Efficient water usage in agriculture is crucial for sustaining a growing human population. A better understanding of the systems that support agriculture, farmers and farmlands allows for food production to become more efficient and prosperous.

That's what makes the Monthly Irrigated and Rainfed Cropped Areas Open Source (MIRCA-OS) dataset so important. MIRCA-OS offers high-resolution data on 23 crop classes — including maize, rice and wheat — and helps researchers, students and farmers examine irrigation, rainfall and croplands and how they interact with global water systems. 

Co-authored by Endalkachew (Endi) Kebede, a doctoral student in University of Delaware’s Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences, a recent paper focused on MIRCA-OS was published in Nature Scientific Data. 

Kyle Davis, assistant professor in the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences and the Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, served as a co-author on the paper and coordinated the study. 

“We first developed a comprehensive data library of crop-specific irrigated and rainfed harvested areas for all countries,” Kebede said. “This involved two years of gathering data from a wide range of international, national and regional sources. Through this process, we produced a tabulated crop calendar, annual harvested area grids and monthly harvested area grids for all irrigated and rainfed crops.”

“The amount of effort that Endi put in to gather, process and harmonize all of this data is truly incredible,” Davis said. “His effort is a very important contribution to the scientific and development communities.”

Doctoral student Endalkachew Kebede (left) and Assistant Professor Kyle Davis. (Photo credit: University of Delaware)  Cropland accounts for 13% of Earth's total habitable land, and the preservation of cropland is important in feeding the growing global population.

“Crop production has been a widespread human activity for a few thousand years, and it has a huge role in global food security,” Kebede said. “But it also has unintended impacts on the environment, such as overutilization of water resources, pollution through rivers or the effects on soil and the environment.”

MIRCA-OS can play a crucial role in helping to better understand croplands and agriculture, allowing the global population to be successfully fed while minimizing the agricultural effects on the environment.

In addition to the data included on cropland and water resources, MIRCA-OS allows researchers to view social aspects like poverty and unemployment through an agricultural lens, creating a better understanding of the interconnectivity of agriculture and social issues.

MIRCA-OS is an updated version of the earlier MIRCA2000 dataset. Kebede said the MIRCA2000 was released nearly two decades ago, so renewing the data gives users more accurate and timely information.

Both datasets specialized in examining irrigation and rainfall, but the MIRCA-OS added two new complexities to their data.

First, MIRCA-OS is open source, meaning it is publicly available for anyone to use, download, or modify. Kebede said the added accessibility allows the technology to contribute to anyone's work, whether it be a student, a researcher or a farmer.

“Anybody can use, update it, or upscale it to the special skill they’re interested in,” Kebede said. “Some might use it for research, some might use it to create policies and some might use it to practice agriculture.”

To arrange an interview with Davis, visit his profile and click on the contact button.


UD researchers launch open-source tool to boost global food security and water sustainability

how-diverse-crop-mixes-can-help-solve-the-water-scarcity-crisis

How exactly can alternative crop mixes come to our rescue in this water scarcity crisis? Different crops have different water needs in order to grow without stress. And it is often the case that the thirstiest crops are grown in places where little water is available. Shifting crop mixes to crops that require less water but still ensure farmer profits is a promising way to reduce the amount of water needed to irrigate crops and to avoid conditions of water scarcity.

Kyle Davis, assistant professor in Geography and Spatial Sciences at the University of Delaware, can offer commentary on this. He is an expert in food systems, sustainability, global environmental change and geospatial data science among other things. 

Diverse crop mixes can save water, maintain economic output, and provide for the needs of aquatic ecosystems. Davis and others recently released a study that looks at issue. 

 "These findings demonstrate strong opportunities for economic, food security and environmental co-benefits in irrigated agriculture and provide both hope and direction to regions struggling with water scarcity around the world," the study notes. 

Davis has been featured in publications such as Earth.com and Phys.org and was recently awarded an Early Career Award for pioneering global research in sustainable agricultural food systems. He can be contacted by clicking the "View Profile" button. 


How Diverse Crop Mixes Can Help Solve the Water Scarcity Crisis

Perspectives in Global Development: Fall 2022 Seminar Series
Featuring: Kyle Davis

Sustainable food systems aim to provide sufficient and nutritious food, while maximizing climate resilience and minimizing environmental impacts. Yet historical practices, notably the Green Revolution, prioritized the single objective to maximize production over other nutritional and environmental dimensions. My research explores ways to maintain humanity's achievements while overcoming past shortcomings of global food systems.

About the speaker

Dr. Davis is an Assistant Professor of Environmental Data Science at the University of Delaware. His work focuses on food system sustainability and environmental change from local to national (India, Nigeria, China, the US) to global scales. His research employs data-driven mixed methods to quantify environmental, economic, and social dimensions of sustainability and to explore food system solutions for improving incomes, nutrition, natural resource use, and climate adaptation. His other work investigates human-environment interactions related to: the socio-environmental effects of large-scale land investments; variability and shock propagation through food supply chains; and the relationship between human migration and global environmental change. Prior to joining UD in 2019, he was a Data Science Fellow and Earth Institute Fellow at Columbia University (New York) and a Nature Net Science Fellow with The Nature Conservancy. He earned his PhD in Environmental Sciences with a focus on Hydrology from the University of Virginia and is a proud graduate of UD (BS Biochemistry).

About the seminar series

The Perspectives in Global Development seminars are held Wednesdays from 12:25 – 1:15 p.m. eastern time during the semester. The series will be presented in a hybrid format with some speakers on campus and others appearing via Zoom. All seminars are shown in Warren 151. Students, faculty and the general public are welcome to attend. The series is co-sponsored by the Department of Global Development, the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, and the School of Integrative Plant Science as part of courses GDEV 4961, AEM 4961, NTRES 4961, GDEV 6960, AEM 6960, and NTRES 6960.

Kyle Davis: Measuring the Sustainability of Food Production Systems: Exploring the Solution Space

Part of the Med and One Earth LabLinks, "Inclusive diets within planetary boundaries," on November 16-17, 2022, this session focused on resilient diets and featured Dr. Kyle Davis, University of Delaware; Dr. James Robinson, Lancaster University; and Dr. Matti Kummu, Aalto University. Moderated by Dr. Swapnika Ramu, Associate Scientific Editor at Med.

00:00 - Dr. James Robinson
13:34 - Dr. Matti Kummu
27:49 - Dr. Kyle Davis
47:00 - Panel discussion

Resilient diets: Can we define a diet that demonstrates resilience in the face of shocks &amp; extremes?

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