Aims

The seminar aims at analyzing in depth specific problems of the agricultural and agro-food sector, on the one hand, and at applying to these problems the available quantitative treatments, on the other hand. Group works, invited talks by professional and academic speakers as well as field visits contribute to this aim.

Main themes

Topics are chosen together with the students. These topics encompass concrete problems in the agricultural and agro-food sectors in developed and developing economies. An indicative list of topics include: the optimization of agricultural production systems, the profitability of investment in the agricultural sector, research and vulgarization in agriculture, assessment of technology innovation, treatment of risk in agriculture, non-food use of agricultural products, the evolution of agricultural demands and prices, food quality and food safety, commercialization of agricultural commodities, horizontal and vertical integration in agro-food branches, strategic behaviours of agro-food producers, agricultural policy reforms, land policy and land use, credit to agriculture, agricultural trade liberalization, the link between agriculture and the environment, natural resources management, valuation of non-market goods, rural development, regional development, self-sustainable agriculture,…
Seminars are organized in a way to stimulate students participation, by encouraging group work, personal initiative and exchange of ideas. Students are invited to prepare each talk with documents made available to them. Collegial teaching is enriched with invited speakers who demonstrate a particular experience of the addressed topics. Field visits offer to the students the opportunity to meet actors of the agricultural and agro-food branches and to develop some familiarity with their concrete problems.

Content and teaching methods

Sample program of invited talks (2005)
The Gravity Model of International Trade, The Evolution of Agricultural Economics and of Development Theory, Efficiency Measurements and the Gains from Trade under Transaction Costs, L'agriculture paysanne au Mexique (in French), Real Option Theory, Estimating Cost Functions using FADN data, Economic and Environmental Performance, The Stochastic Frontier Method

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

This seminar is open to a wide public of undergraduate and graduate students in agronomics and economics. However, participation requires a solid background in economics.

Other credits in programs