Jun. Prof. Dr. João Vasco Silva

Personal information

João Vasco Silva is Junior Professor and Head of the Department of Plant Production in the Tropics and Subtropics at the University of Hohenheim. He holds a BSc in Agricultural Engineering from Instituto Superior de Agronomia (Portugal) and an MSc and PhD in Agricultural Sciences from Wageningen University (The Netherlands).

His research combines agronomy and data science to understand the contributions of climate change, genetic improvement and agronomic management to historical yield trends, diagnose yield constraints in farmers' fields, and identify entry points for integrated soil fertility management in tropical regions, particularly sub-Saharan Africa. He is also interested in farming systems research and how structural changes at the farm level shape food security and agricultural sustainability at higher scales.

João has been engaged in international agricultural research, including a Gates Foundation project on guiding investments in acid soil management in East Africa (www.acidsoils.africa) and an EU project on diversification of maize-based cropping systems in Zambia. He has also contributed to global agronomy prioritization efforts within the CGIAR Sustainable Farming Science Program and serves on the editorial advisory boards of Field Crops Research and Agricultural Systems.

Prior to joining the University of Hohenheim, he worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at Wageningen University (2017–2020) and as an Agronomy-at-Scale Data Scientist at CIMMYT (2020–2025), based in Harare, Zimbabwe.

CV

Since 2025 Junior Professor of Plant Production in the Tropics and Subtropics, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
2020–2025 Agronomy-at-Scale Data Scientist, International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Harare, Zimbabwe
2020–2025 Guest Researcher, Plant Production Systems, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
2017–2020 Postdoctoral Researcher, Centre for Crop Systems Analysis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
2012–2017 PhD in Production Ecology and Resource Conservation, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
2010–2012 MSc in Plant Sciences, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
2007–2010 BSc in Agricultural Engineering, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Lisbon, Portugal

Selected Publications

  1. Silva, J.V.; Rijk, B.; Berghuijs, H.N.C.; de Wit, A.J.W.; Reidsma, P.; van Ittersum, M.K. 2026. Agronomic management drives the wheat yield plateau in high-yielding environments of northwest Europe. Nature Food, 7, 45–54.
  2. Silva, J.V.; Cairns, J.E.; Kutywayo, D. 2025. Why crop yields fail to increase in southern Africa. Nature Food, 6, 1–2.
  3. Silva, J.V.; Aramburu-Merlos, F.; Baudron, F.; Gameda, S.; Sida, T.S.; Ruganzu, V.; Meliyo, J.; Jaleta, M.; Chamberlin, J.; Hijmans, R.J. 2025. Soil acidity remediation in sub-Saharan Africa requires targeted investments. Nature Food, 6, 799–808.
  4. Silva, J.V.; Baudron, F.; Ngoma, H.; Nyagumbo, I.; Simutowe, E.; Kalala, K.; Habeenzu, M.; Mphtaso, M.; Thierfelder, C. 2023. Narrowing maize yield gaps across smallholder farming systems in Zambia: What interventions, where, and for whom? Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 43, 26.
  5. Silva, J.V.; Reidsma, P.; Baudron, F.; Laborte, A.G.; Giller, K.E.; van Ittersum, M.K. 2021. How sustainable is sustainable intensification? Assessing yield gaps at field and farm level across the globe. Global Food Security, 30, 100552.
  6. Silva, J.V.; Giller, K.E. 2021. Grand challenges for the 21st century: what crop models can and can't (yet) do. The Journal of Agricultural Science, 1–12.
  7. Silva, J.V.; Reidsma, P.; Baudron, F.; Jaleta, M.; Tesfaye, K.; van Ittersum, M.K. 2021. Wheat yield gaps across smallholder farming systems in Ethiopia. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 41, 1–16.
  8. Silva, J.V.; Baudron, F.; Reidsma, P.; Giller, K.E. 2019. Is labour a major determinant of yield gaps in sub-Saharan Africa? A study for cereal-based production systems in Southern Ethiopia. Agricultural Systems, 174, 39–51.
  9. Silva, J.V.; Reidsma, P.; Laborte, A.G.; van Ittersum, M.K. 2017. Explaining rice yield and yield gaps in Central Luzon, Philippines: An application of stochastic frontier analysis and crop modelling. European Journal of Agronomy, 82 (Part B), 223–241.

Teaching Materials

R workflows for yield gap decomposition: Training website