Agricultural and Food Economics

Last changed: 09 March 2020

The agricultural and food sector of today is facing several challenges. Among these are challenges related to adaptation of sustainable agricultural practices such as practices to ensure reduced negative impacts on climate and to promote biological diversity, improved animal welfare practices and meeting societal and consumers’ expectations and demand for goods produced with sustainable production methods. Other challenges relate to the resilience of agricultural systems and the economic viability of farms and other agri-food businesses, efficient use of resources in the agricultural and food sector and the global interdependencies of agricultural and food sectors.

The research within the Agricultural and Food Economics (AFE) group aims at contributing to the understanding of how these challenges can be met. The challenges facing the agricultural and food sector are involved. Therefore we engage in interdisciplinary approaches to encompass the complexity and combine theoretical insights from the agricultural and food economics discipline with insights from other sciences, in particular the natural and behavioural sciences. Our empirical focus spans around the globe and includes Sweden, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and China. We collaborate intensively with international colleagues and with colleagues in other research groups at our Department. Furthermore, we work in well-established interdisciplinary collaborations within SLU. Our research is to a large extent funded by external sources of research funding, including Formas, the Swedish Farmers’ Foundation of Agricultural Research, and the European Commission.

On the teaching side, we teach courses in economics, agricultural economics and econometrics. The courses are given within SLUs agronomist economics program,  bachelor program in economics and business studies with a sustainable development focus, master program in agricultural economics and management and the AFEPA program.

Here are examples of research themes we are currently working on:

 

  • Animal health and welfare economics
  • Consumption patterns of plant based milk in Sweden
  • Economics of Lean management for agricultural firms
  • Economics aspects on the horse industry
  • Farmers’ adoption of low-input practices
  • Farmers’ environmental considerations and their determinants
  • Food supply and demand and their linkages to food security in developing countries
  • International food and agricultural trade and trade policy analysis
  • Obstacles for farm business development
  • Rationalising inefficiency in agriculture
  • Risk and resilience of agriculture
  • Productivity and environmental efficiency analysis of agricultural production (China and Egypt)
  • The resilience of agrifood systems under the dynamics of environmental challenges in developing countries
  • Strategic behaviours of agricultural firms and economic effects

 

 

Link to staff

Link to publications 

 

Related pages: