2nd AIEAA Conference, Parma, 6-7 June 2013

The world economic crisis has changed the way in which policy makers look at food and agriculture as an engine for development. In this new paradigm, food and agricultural production are seen as having the capacity to help achieving several of the major dimensions of development, and specifically : accelerating GDP growth at early stages of development, reducing poverty and vulnerability, narrowing rural-urban income disparities, releasing scarce resources such as water and land for use by other sectors, and delivering a multiplicity of environmental services. Nonetheless, such new role of food and agriculture is often neglected in the public debate.

At the same time, in developed countries, environment, energy, health and food safety are among the most important issues linked with the challenge of a sustainable development of the so called bio-economy. Agriculture production and food processing, distribution and consumption are core activities of the bio-economy, but the latter includes other important industries producing and/or exploiting natural resources, such as forestry, marine activities or several bio-based manufacturing industries. The challenge of a sustainable development of the overall bio-economy claims for a careful analysis of the interdependencies between the bio-based industries as well as as of their relationships with natural resources.

The world economic crisis has changed the way in which policy makers look at food and agriculture as an engine for development. In this new paradigm, food and agricultural production are seen as having the capacity to help achieving several of the major dimensions of development, and specifically : accelerating GDP growth at early stages of development, reducing poverty and vulnerability, narrowing rural-urban income disparities, releasing scarce resources such as water and land for use by other sectors, and delivering a multiplicity of environmental services. Nonetheless, such new role of food and agriculture is often neglected in the public debate.

The world economic crisis – including commodity price spikes, global recession and the sovereign debt crisis - has changed the relationships between bio-based activities and economic development. To what extent, where and how the crisis has changed those relationships and what role bio-based activities can play in recovering and economic development are the overall objectives of the 2nd Conference of the AIEAA.