Macro Agriculture Research Institute (MARI) is a joint research center established by Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU, Wuhan, China) and International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI, Washington, DC, USA). MARI addresses the challenges of increasing interconnectedness and complexity of agricultural systems, which act as natural, social and economic environments for providing food and other products to sustain life. It aims to understand the interactions among the components of agricultural systems and provide knowledge for decision-making in order to make interconnected agricultural systems more sustainable and resilient.

Research at MARI investigates agricultural systems from a socio-technical system perspective, integrating bio-physical and socio-economic subsystems, thereby building bridges between disciplines and patterns of thought. MARI brings together researchers with disciplinary backgrounds of economics, management science, crop science, geography, environmental science and computer science. MARI’s academic staff consists of members from the College of Economics and Management, the College of Plant Science and Technology, the College of Resources and Environment and the College of Informatics of HZAU and various divisions of IFPRI.

MARI commits itself to

• Understanding interactions among natural and human components of agricultural systems and the micro-foundation of macroscopic dynamics in agricultural systems

• Informing the decision-making of farmers, agribusinesses and policy-makers to make agriculture more sustainable and resilient

• Investigating theoretical and applied aspects of agricultural practices characterized by the use of digital technologies and data-driven innovations

MARI’s research activities span the following four core thematic areas:

• Smart Agriculture

• Social-ecological Resilience and Sustainable Agriculture

• Land Use and Land Cover Changes

• Agricultural Production and Ecosystem Services