Professor Szczepan Figiel and Dr. Zbigniew Floriańczyk actively participated in the 32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE 2024)

From the 2^nd to the 7^th of August, 2014, in New Delhi, India, The International Association of Agricultural Economists held its triennial 32nd International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE 2024). This worldwide event gathered 1071 participants from 68 countries attracted by the overall Conference theme “Transformation Towards Sustainable Agri-Food Systems”, with a particular focus on the important role that the agricultural economics profession will need to play in addressing related interdisciplinary knowledge gaps and policy challenges. Featuring the best that it has to offer the international community of agricultural economists was delighted by the fact that the Honorable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, together with the Honorable Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan, officially inaugurated the ICAE 2024.

The ICAE 2024 presentations and debates were driven by general assumption that profound transformations of agri-food systems are required everywhere – in low-, middle-, and high-income countries to achieve more effectively the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The ICAE 2024 Organizers received over 1300 submissions (papers, posters, and symposia) leading to tough competition for slots. Among 57 organized symposia included in the ICAE 2024 Program (out of 95 proposals submitted) symposium on “Consequences of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine for the World Agricultural Markets and the EU Food System: Current State and the Future Implications in the Context of Potential Accession of Ukraine to the EU” was conducted. The symposium was organized and chaired by Professor Szczepan Figiel of the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics – National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland.

Multidimensional Consequences of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine for the EU World Agricultural Markets, such as international trade distortion, threatening global food security, violating equilibria in the regional and local markets of the neighboring UE member state countries, and implications of potential the EU enlargement by Ukraine for agri-food markets and the EU food system were discussed based on presentations delivered by:

1)      Dr. Taras Gagalyuk of Leibnitz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies, Halle, Germany (Topic: The EU Integration of Ukrainian Agriculture: Challenges on both Sides);

2)      Professor Paweł Chmieliński of the Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland (Topic: The current situation and problems related to the Ukrainian agricultural land market in the context of Ukraine’s integration into the European Union);

3)      Professor Bozhidar Ivanov, Professor Hrabrin Bachev (presenter), and Professor Daniela Dimitrova of the Institute of Agricultural Economics, Sofia, Bulgaria (Topic: Competitiveness of grain and oilseed production in Black Sea Region in the world commodity market. A case of Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Russia);

4)      Dr. Zbigniew Floriańczyk of the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics – National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland (Topic: Integration of the EU and Ukrainian Commodity Markets from the CAP Perspective: A Scenario Analysis).

A solid ground for a lively discussion was provided by the assigned symposium discussant Professor Barbara Wieliczko of the Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland. Afterwards, interesting questions and comments from the symposium audience followed as well as responses from the presenters and the chair.

The participation in the ICAE 2024 of the contributors to the symposium representing Poland (i. e. Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics – National Research Institute and Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development of the Polish Academy of Sciences) has been possible thanks to the support of European Rural Development Network.

Prepared by Szczepan Figiel