The agricultural economics research sector is concerned with understanding and promoting the transition towards sustainable and resilient agro-food systems. The research sector embraces various topics ranging from agricultural economics to rural sociology and which are developed through quantitative and qualitative approaches.
Topics addressed by the research sector include:
- Food security and food systems. Analysis of the functioning of socio-ecological systems in ensuring food safety and understanding of vulnerabilities and resilience
- Analysis of “value chains” in agro-food systems. Understanding of the bargaining power between the actors along the supply chains, market failures, information asymmetries and impacts on the sustainability of different supply chains.
- Technological, organizational and social innovation processes. Analysis of their origin, their mechanisms and the change generated. Estimate of the impacts of research and modeling of the adoption and simulation of the impacts of new technologies.
- Dynamics and structural changes in rural areas. Analysis of the factors of change: socio-demographic, evolution in the objectives of the various stakeholders, changes in the use of production factors, relations between the city and the countryside.
- Analysis of the formulation process of the common agricultural policy, and estimation of the impacts on the strategies of the actors and on the sustainability of the agro-food systems.
- Enhancement of agro-biodiversity and natural resources. Participatory methodologies and transdisciplinary approaches underlying the development of new knowledge and practices in food systems.
The agricultural economy sector has numerous collaborations with researchers from DiSAAA-a and other national and international research structures, consolidated through participation in European projects.
