The agricultural sector is undergoing a period of rapid transformation, driven by the powerful and interconnected impacts of climate change, demographic transitions and uneven economic growth around the world. In this context, the expectations placed on scientists, including agricultural economists, by policy-makers, research-funding bodies, academic institutions, the private sector and civil society are changing. Knowledge creation, the provision of policy advice and formulation of general recommendations are no longer sufficient on their own. Instead, the societal impact of the profession needs to be amplified by demonstrating and communicating effectively the outcomes of research.
How then can we raise our impact and contribute more effectively to the resolution of important societal challenges? This is the question analysed during the congress by exploring several promising avenues. Improvements in methodologies and new sources of data create opportunities for generating new impact and measuring societal outcomes more accurately. Sustained interactions with other disciplines in the natural and social sciences hold promises to enhance our understanding of complex systems and phenomena. Effective stakeholder engagement is crucial to identify relevant issues, develop appropriate solutions and ensure the use of scientific knowledge in decision-making throughout society.
The XVI EAAE Congress aims to foster discussion of those issues and stimulate interaction among scholars, businesses, policy makers and representatives from civil society, which will eventually improve farming and life in Europe and beyond.
During the seminar, Calogero (Gero) Carletto, Manager of the Data Production and Methods Unit in the Development Data Group at the World Bank, presented his journal article: "Better data, higher impact: improving agricultural data systems for societal change". The document reviews recent developments in the agricultural data landscape, highlights existing constraints to further progress and argues for agricultural economists to take responsibility for building agricultural data systems equipped to respond to the diverse needs of a changing world.
Resources
- Read the journal article
- Access the presentation