Who

I’m Susan MacMillan, an American living in Kenya since 1972, most of those years writing about international livestock and agricultural research for development in the global south.

I curate science news relevant to advancing agriculture and food systems for better welfare—e.g., better food, nutrition, livelihoods, jobs, health, environments—in developing countries, particularly in Africa and South Asia, where most of the world’s poorest people live and farm for a living.

This weekly newsletter is free. All the news reported is based on current and credible science.

Heading home at dusk in Mozambique (Photo by ILRI/Stevie Mann).

Why

I started publishing this Taking Stock newsletter in 2015, when misunderstandings and misstatements made in rich countries about livestock issues were growing—and hurting the prospects of several billion people in poor countries for whom livestock and their products remain lifelines for better lives.

Bits of a little manifesto from me are here:

The Case for Not Making a Case for, or against, Livestock
(opinion published in the 16 Sep 2021 issue of Taking Stock)

At Tables of the Future
(opinion published 1 Oct 2021 on the SDG2 Advocacy Hub website)