Agricultural and Food Economics

Our research

The research activities of the Agricultural and Food Economics group focus to a large extent on the use of various resources at different stages of the food marketing chain. The mission of the group is to provide stake holders at various levels of the chain with new and relevant knowledge and understanding of the system of importance for industry and societal development as well as university education.

Our research interests/activities concern the assessment of agricultural and trade policies, modelling of the agri-food markets and the application of econometric tools/methods to the study of agricultural-, resources- and environmental- related issues/problems. By applying choice experiments preferences for public goods such as landscape attributes and animal welfare regulations are examined. Methodological development in CE related to sample selection bias and hypotheses testing as well as non-parametric econometric methods are vital areas for methodology developments. Another vital research area is supply chain analyses of the food marketing chain accounting for quality and safety standards, especially in the presence of mixed markets and market imperfections. The analyses are of theoretical as well as empirical nature using primarily econometric methods. Yet another vital mission is economic analyses at firm level considering productivity, efficiency and risk management aspects for example through collaboration or changes in managerial practices represent. Economic consequences of animal welfare regulations and livestock diseases represent another example.

The group interacts with strategic European collaborators through the EU funding network as well as relevant partners in North America and the CGIAR-system. Industry collaboration is of major importance, especially for access to good quality firm level data at the primary sector.