Editorial note from the FOODSECURE coordination team
At the end of yet another academic year in the EU, many FOODSECURE researchers look up from their work and go out for conferencing, summer schools and some rest. Some venture into the science and policy interface, by engaging in seminars and workshops with policy makers in the area of food and nutrition security. Fresh scientific insight were brought to forums and checked against policy agendas. It is interesting to see the differences in scope of such agendas.
A brainstorm among a specialist audience on a future CAP reform (after 2020) revealed a motivation for the continuation of the current pillars of the policy yet with much refinement in the areas of rural development, innovative strength and risk management for EU farmers – they are facing more extreme weather than a decade ago, with more to come. How the CAP policy could help improve food security and healthier diets is not yet on the agenda.
At the European Science Open Forum, in Denmark last month, several eminent speakers underscored the importance of a healthy global population for addressing the challenges of living with many people on a planet with limited resources. Clearly, an individual’s dietary intake and his/her ability to absorb nutrients contained in the food that is eaten are seen as major health drivers. But how to connect this to a sustainable production base, and a reduction of food insecurity? The discourse and action planning on strengthened contributions of the food systems to public and individual health have come up strongly in recent years.
As FOODSECURE team, we will be challenged to think what is a supportive global and EU policy environment to help satisfy what the world's population needs in terms of both healthy, affordable food and of farming with solid business opportunities. Ample work to do.
We wish you an inspiring holiday season! Any comments or suggestions? Please feel free to contact us at foodsecure@wur.nl
Hans van Meijl, Petra Berkhout and Thom Achterbosch
FOODSECURE coordination team, LEI Wageningen UR
News
Pilot of the Navigator interface FOODSECURE has the ambition to present the scientific data generated within the project as a useful and actionable evidence base for the stakeholders. For that purpose, a web-based Navigator interface will be developed that will target in particular the community of policy officers at the EC. A team at LEI Wageningen UR has started to create a set of requirements and specifications for the Navigator tool by applying design methodology and thinking. In this approach, the end-user is at the heart of the process. In the coming months integrated product development process will be applied using participatory design methods. Based on the user insights, we will present an implementation plan for the further development of the Navigator concept, as well as a pilot version. You can have a first impression in a short presentation here. We invite interested EC stakeholders and research partners in FOODSECURE to contact anna.walstra@wur.nl
FOODSECURE publications more visible now. The webteam at LEI is currently improving the open access dissemination of the scientific publications from the project. Barbara van der Hout has created an automated link for the FOODSECURE Working Paper series and Technical Paper series to the website of IDEAS Research Papers in Economics. As a result, the papers will be included in one of the leading repositories for economic research, and accessible with Google, EconLit and other search engines. Two of the core papers are now available in the repository. More papers will be added. Please contact barbara.vanderhout@wur.nl for more information. Here is the link to the working paper series.
Participation at the EUROSCIENCE Open Forum. ZEF researchers and FOODSECURE colleagues partcipated in the  EUROSCIENCE Open Forum (ESOF) 2014 in Kopenhagen, Denmark. "Science building bridges" was the motto of this year's Forum. ZEF and FOODSECURE researchers organized a session on: "Food and nutrition security: how research informs policy."
New HLPE report with FOODSECURE contribution. The HLPE (High Level Panel of Experts) report on food losses and waste, requested by the Committee on Food Security, was recently presented. It is an important report, in particular because of the large scope and nuance in addressing post-harvest losses and consumer food waste. We commend the work of FOODSECURE team member Jikun Huang of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, co-author of the study. Martine Rutten from LEI Wageningen UR contributed substantive comments based on her work for DG Environment. The report is Available at: http://www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe/en/
Distinguished lectures, keynote addresses, and invited plenary presentations
Cecilia Alexandri and Lucian Luca (both of Institute of Agricultural economics, Bucharest) presented a paper on "Reaching an Equilibrium between the Domestic Agricultural Production and Food Consumption in Romania" at the International Scientific Days 2014, in Nitra, Slovak Republik, May 21-23, 2014.
Andrej Cupák and Ján Pokrivèák (both of Slovak University of Agriculture, Nitra), Marian Rizov (Middlesex University Business School, London) and Cecilia Alexandri and Lucian Luca (both of Institute of Agricultural Economics, Bucharest, Romania) presented a paper on "Economic Development and Food Demand in Central and Eastern European Countries: The Case of Romania" at the 142nd EAAE Seminar at the Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary, May 29-30, 2014.
Bruno Lanz (Graduate Institute Geneva), Simon Dietz (LSE) and Tim Swanson (Graduate Institute) presented a paper on "Economic growth, population dynamics, and global land use: An integrated assessment" at the Sustainable Resource Use and Economic Dynamics (SURED) Conference, organized by the ETH Zurich in Ascona, Switzerland, June 10, 2014.
Christophe Gouel (INRA) presented a paper on "Trade Policy Coordination and Food Price Volatility" at the 17th Annual Conference on Global Economic Analysis/GTAP in Dakar, Senegal, June 18-20, 2014.
Alex Gohin (INRA) and Ruixuan Cao (INRA) presented a paper on "On the macro-economic impacts of climate change under cognitive limitations" at the 17th Annual Conference on Global Economic Analysis/GTAP in Dakar, Senegal, June 18-20, 2014.
Martina Bozzola (IHEID), Emanuele Massetti, Robert Mendelsohn and Fabian Capitanio presented a paper on "A Ricardian Analysis of the Impact of Climate Change on Italian Agriculture" at the World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists (WCERE) in Istanbul, Turkey, June 28 - July 2, 2014.
Raja Chakir (INRA), Stephane De Cara (INRA) and Bruno Vermont (INRA) presented a paper on "Price-Induced Changes in Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Agriculture, Forestry, and other Land Use: A Spatial Panel Econometric Analysis" at the World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists (WCERE) in Istanbul, Turkey, June 28 - July 2, 2014.
Anne Fournier (INRA), Stephane De Cara (INRA) and Carl Gaigné (INRA) presented a paper on "Feeding the Cities and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: A new Economic Geography Approach" at the World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists (WCERE) in Istanbul, Turkey, June 28 - July 2, 2014.
Estelle Gozlan (INRA) and Jean-Christophe Bureau (INRA) presented a paper on "Trade Liberalization and Optimal Taxation with Pollution and Heterogeneous Workers" at the World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists (WCERE) in Istanbul, Turkey, June 28 - July 2, 2014.
Basak Bayramoglu (INRA) presented a paper on "Trade and fisheries subsidies" at the World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists (WCERE) in Istanbul, Turkey, June 28 - July 2, 2014.
Cecilia Bellora (INRA) and Jean-Christophe Bureau (INRA) presented a paper on "The indirect effects of a greener EU agriculture on trade, land use and GHG emissions" at the World Congress of Environmental and Resource Economists (WCERE) in Istanbul, Turkey, 28 June – 2 July, 2014.
Jean-Christophe Bureau (INRA) presented on "EU CAP: Income Support and Eligibility Requirements" at the International Food Policy Research Institute seminar in Washington D.C., July 16, 2014.
Publications and book chapters
Berlinschi, R., Swinnen, J. and K. Van Herck, "Trapped in Agriculture? Credit Constraints, Investments in Education and Agricultural Employment," The European Journal of Development Research, forthcoming.
Breisinger, C., Ecker, O. and J.-F. Maystadt, 2014, "Building resilience to conflict through food security policies and programs," 2020 Conference paper 3, Washington DC : International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [download]
Ciaian, P., d'Artis, K. and J. Swinnen, 2014, "The Impact of the 2013 CAP Reform on Land Capitalization," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, forthcoming.
Curzi, D., Pacca, L. and A. Olper, 2013, "Trade Collapse, Quality and Food Exports," Applied Economics Letters, 20(18): 1614–1617.
Mabiso, A., Maystadt, J.-F., Hirvonen, K. and J. Vandercasteelen, 2014, "Refugees and Food Security in Host Communities: A Review of Impacts and Policy Options to Enhance Resilience," 2020 Conference paper 2, Washington DC : International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [more]
Mabiso, A., Maystadt, J.-F., Hirvonen, K. and J. Vandercasteelen, 2014, "Refugees and Food Security in Host Communities: A Review of Impacts and Policy Options to Enhance Resilience," 2020 Conference paper 2, Washington DC : International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). [more]
Maystadt, J.-F. and O. Ecker, "Extreme Weather and Civil War: Does Drought Fuel Conflict in Somalia through Livestock Price Shocks?," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, forthcoming. [download]
Maystadt, J.-F., Trinh Tan, J.-F. and C. Breisinger, 2014, "Does Food Security Matter for Transition in Arab Countries," Food Policy, (46): 106–115. [download]
Minten, B., Stifel, D. and S. Tamru, 2014, "Structural Transformation of Cereal Markets in Ethiopia," The Journal of Development Studies, forthcoming.
Minten, B., Tamru, S., Engida, E. and T. Kuma, 2013, "Ethiopia’s Value Chains on the Move: The Case of Teff," ESSP Working Paper 52. [download]
Minten, B., Tamru, S., Engida, E. and T. Kuma, 2013, "Using Evidence in Unraveling Food Supply Chains in Ethiopia: The Supply Chain of Teff from Major Production Areas to Addis Ababa," ESSP Working Paper 54. [download]
Olper, A., Curzi, D. and L. Pacca, 2013, "Do Food Standards affect the Quality of EU Imports?," Economic Letters, 122(2014): 233–237. [download]
Vigani, M. and A. Olper, 2013, "GMO Standards, Endogenous Policy and the Market for Information," Food Policy, 43(2013): 32–43. [download]
Vigani, M. and A. Olper, 2014, "GM-free Private Standards, Public Regulation of GM Products and Mass Media," Environment and Development Economics, forthcoming.
Colen, L., Demont, M. and J. Swinnen, 2013, "Smallholder participation in value chains: The case of domestic rice in Senegal," in Elbehri, A. (ed.), Rebuilding West Africa's Food Potential: Policies and market incentives for smallholder-inclusive food value chains, FAO Publications, pp. 391–415.
Rozelle, S., Huang, J. and X. Wang, 2014, "The food security roots of the middle income trap," in Naylor, R. L. (ed.), The Evolving Sphere.
Swinnen, J., 2014, "Political economy of EU agricultural and food policies and global food security," in Naylor, R. L. (ed.), The Evolving Sphere of Food Security, Oxford University Press, forthcoming.
Swinnen, J. and M. Maertens, 2014, "Finance Through Food and Commodity Value Chains in a Globalized Economy", in Köhn, D (ed.), Finance For Food. Towards New Agricultural and Rural Finance, Springer Publications, p 45–66.
FOODSECURE working papers
 FOODSECURE working paper no. 24.
The Tide That Does Not Raise All Boats: An Assesment of EU Preferential Trade Policies.
The aim of this article is to assess the impact of the European Union's trade preferences on global trade, focusing on several methodological issues that are relevant to these preferences' trade-creating impact.
 FOODSECURE working paper no. 23.
Are EU trade preferences really effective? A Generalized Propensity Score evaluation of the Southern Mediterranean countires's case in agriculture and fishery.
This study aims to assess the trade impact of preferential schemes. It focuses on the controversial case of the trade preferences in agriculture and fishery granted by teh EU to the Southern Mediterranean Countries over the period 2004-2009.
 FOODSECURE working paper no. 22.
The impact of EU trade preferences on the extensive and intensive margins of agricultural adn food products.
In this paper we study the trade creation effects of the EU preferential trade agreements (PTAs) in the agriculture and food sectors for a large sample of developing countries in the period 1990-2006. Main results show that the EU PTAs positively affect agricultural extensive margins, especially through other than tariff impacts linked with the PTA, while in the food industry the results are more sensitive to the estimator used.
 FOODSECURE working paper no. 21.
Food Security and Agriculture in Developing Countries: Measurement and hypotheses for impact evaluations.
This paper reviews the challenges related to establishing credible causal links between particular interventions and aggregate food security. A first set of challenges result from the lack of a common measurement of food security, with a multitude of indicators and definitions being used in different studies, making comparisons and broader inferences particularly hard.
Other relevant discussion papers and reports from FOODSECURE researchers
Hannah Pieters, Nicolas Gerber and Daniel Mekonnen, 2014, Country typology on the basis of FNS. A typology of countries based on FNS outcomes and their agricultural, economic, political, innovation and infrastructure national profiles. FOODSECURE technical paper no. 2. [download]
Joachim Vandercasteelen, Mekdim Dereje, Bart Minten, and Alemayehu Seyoum Taffesse, 2014, DP 350/2014: Perceptions, impacts and rewards of row planting of teff. LICOS Discussion Paper 350/2014. [download]
Andrea Guariso, Mara P. Squicciarini and Johan F. M. Swinnen, 2014, Food Price Shocks and the Political Economy of Global Agricultural and Development Policy. LICOS Discussion Paper 348/2014. [download]
Calendar/upcoming events
September, 25-26, 2014. The Rossi-Doria Centre of Excellence is going to host an international workshop on “Global value chains and trade policies for food and nutrition security” at Roma Tre University in September 2014. The event is prepared by the Center on Globalization, Governance, & Competitiveness (Duke University), IFPRI and the Rossi-Doria Centre of Excellence (Roma Tre University) to guarantee a strong research base for this policy-oriented conference. Contributions from FOODSECURE colleagues are welcome! Please feel free to contact Luca Salvatici - Università degli Studi Roma Tre, Dipartimento di Economia: Via Silvio D'Amico, 77 Roma 00145, Italy, E-mail: luca.salvatici@uniroma3.it
November 7, 2014. Graduate Institute, Geneva. "The Right to Food and Conflicts over Land Use". This symposium will be hosted by FOODSECURE partner Graduate Institute Geneva together with the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Right. The event will gather a group of noted scholars to discuss a range of issues raised by conflicts over land at different levels and the implications for food security. Land use scientists, agricultural economists, geographers, social scientists, and legal and human rights scholars will attempt to examine the nature of the problem from both global (land use modeling) and local (case study) perspectives. We will also examine the way in which these conflicts are experienced by both global and local communities, and the ways in which they might be managed through domestic and international laws or intervention. Contact: derek.eaton@graduateinstitute.ch
December 9, 2014. One-day cross-module meeting of the Guidance-Future groups. This cross-module meeting will focus on trade policies with food and nutrition security considerations. Scenarios and indicators useful for a simulation analysis will be discussed as well as preliminary research results. The meeting will also discuss the interactions between the EU trade policy and the others European policies (e.g. Common Agricultural Policy, climate and environmental policies, and aid policy). Location still to be confirmed. Contact: Anne-Celia Disdier anne-celia.disdier@ens.fr
Save the date: March 24-27, 2015, FOODSECURE consortium meeting in Bratislava. This will be the third FOODSECURE consortium meeting to be held in Bratislava, Slovakia. Jan Pokrivcak of the Slovak University of Agriculture will kindly host the conference. We will discuss scientific progress in the project’s research agenda, including an original survey study on the determinants of food and nutrition security in Eastern Europe (under WP2). We will have a three-day conference, starting at the end of Tuesday afternoon with an informal drink or dinner. This will allow all the participants to travel to Bratislava on Tuesday. On Wednesday and Thursday the actual conference will take place. Friday could be used for technical workshops on various subjects. The program is not finalized yet, but the date is fixed (starting Tuesday March 24). We will keep you posted!
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