Tracking Research in Agriculture, Chains, & Ecosystems

Website Description (TRACE-AG / G-CASS) TRACE-AG (Tracking Research in Agriculture, Chains & Ecosystems) is a global surveillance platform that applies public health monitoring methods to the food system. The platform integrates data on crop conditions, extreme temperatures, flooding, and supply chain disruptions to provide continuous, systematic assessment of agricultural performance and food security across countries and regions. The system enables users to examine how environmental shocks propagate through agricultural production and into downstream supply chains. Through an interactive interface, users can explore temporal trends, compare geographic areas, and identify emerging risks to food systems. TRACE-AG introduces dynamic metrics including speed, acceleration, jerk, and persistence to quantify the pace, direction, and stability of change, extending analytic approaches previously applied to pandemic tracking into the domain of agriculture and food systems. This platform was developed as a proof of concept to demonstrate how surveillance science can be adapted to monitor global agricultural and supply chain conditions in near real time. It represents a shift from static reporting toward continuous monitoring and early signal detection, with direct relevance for research, policy, and operational decision making. TRACE-AG was developed through long standing collaborations established under Feed the Future, reflecting over a decade of joint work across institutions beginning in 2010. The project was supported by leadership from Dr. Vara Prasad, Distinguished Professor and Director of the Center for Crops, Climate and Communities at Kansas State University, whose work focuses on crop responses to changing environments and strategies to sustain agricultural productivity under stress. The platform is the first multilingual web application developed at Northwestern University, with full functionality available in English, Hindi, and Chinese, including native script integration. This design enables broader global engagement and accessibility across key agricultural regions. Together, TRACE-AG provides a scalable framework for monitoring the intersection of climate, agriculture, and supply chains, offering a foundation for future expansion into forecasting, intervention targeting, and global food system resilience.网站描述（TRACE-AG / G-CASS） 农业、供应链与生态系统追踪研究平台（Tracking Research in Agriculture, Chains & Ecosystems，简称TRACE-AG）是将公共卫生监测方法应用于食品系统的全球监测平台。该平台整合作物状况、极端高温、洪涝与供应链中断相关数据，对各国及各地区的农业表现与粮食安全开展持续、系统的评估。 该系统支持用户探究环境冲击如何通过农业生产传导至下游供应链。借助交互式界面，用户可探索时间趋势、对比不同地理区域，并识别粮食系统面临的新兴风险。TRACE-AG引入了速度、加速度、急动度（jerk）与持续性等动态指标，以量化变化的速率、方向与稳定性，将此前应用于疫情追踪的分析方法拓展至农业与食品系统领域。 本平台作为概念验证原型开发完成，旨在展示监测科学如何适配以实现近实时监测全球农业与供应链状况。它标志着从静态报告向持续监测与早期信号识别的转变，可直接服务于科研、政策制定与运营决策。 TRACE-AG依托“未来粮食倡议（Feed the Future）”框架下建立的长期合作关系开发，其背后是2010年起跨机构开展的十余年联合研究工作。该项目得到了堪萨斯州立大学作物、气候与社区中心主任、杰出教授瓦拉·普拉萨德（Dr. Vara Prasad）的领导支持，其研究聚焦于作物对环境变化的响应以及逆境下维持农业生产力的策略。 本平台是西北大学开发的首款多语言网页应用，支持英语、印地语与中文全功能访问，且整合了各语言原生字符。这一设计可提升关键农业区域的全球参与度与可及性。 综上，TRACE-AG提供了一个可扩展的框架，用于监测气候、农业与供应链的交叉影响，为未来拓展至预测、干预目标设定与全球粮食系统韧性建设奠定了基础。