2009 Annual Conference

Financing & governing food & environmental security – the new challenge

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

08:45 - 18:00 (CET)

The FFA 2009 proceeded with the debate and worked with stakeholders in tracking the development of European agricultural and environmental policy. Over 500 delegates and speakers attended the forum.

FFA 2009 sought to address the subject of how we govern and provide finance for food and environmental security, against the backdrop of this global economic crisis. It posed a number of fundamental questions:

Do we need new structures to better govern and provide finance for food and environmental security?
How has the financial crisis affected global trends and prospects for agriculture and the environment?
Is Europe doing enough to build its own capacity for food and environmental security?
What should be Europe’s role in reforming the structures for governing and financing food and environmental security?
Has the world responded effectively to the challenge of food and environmental security, and what should it do next?

These are questions that are key to the debate on the future of agriculture in Europe and around the world. They need to be highlighted and not lost sight of in the urgency and determination to solve the global economic crisis because food and environmental insecurity have the potential to have a greater impact over the longer term on the world than the economic travails of 2008.

Three regional conferences were organised to expand on these issues: Madrid (13th May 2009), Milan (18th May 2009) and Kiev (27th May 2009).

Read Executive Summary of this event

Read Countryside report of this event

Agenda

Mar 18, 2009

08:45 - 18:00 (CET)

08:45 - 09:00 (CET)

Wednesday March 18th 2009

Introduction by Franz FISCHLER, Chairman of the RISE Foundation, Chair of the Forum on the Future of Agriculture

09:00 - 09:55 (CET)

Is a new architecture required for financing food and environmental security?

Keynote speech: Paul KRUGMAN, Professor of Economics & International Affairs, Princeton University
Chair: Franz FISCHLER

Responses to the address from:

Alexander SARRIS, Director Trade and Markets Division at FAO
Marc van STRYDONCK, Senior Banker, European Bank for Reconstruction & Development

09:55 - 11:00 (CET)

The global financial crisis and speculation on commodity markets

Panel Chair – Joseph DAUL MEP, Chairman of the EPP
Presentation: “Trading Practices and Price Dynamics in Commodity Markets”

Stephan SCHULMEISTER – Austrian Institute of Economic Research – WIFO
Klaus SCHUMACHER – Töpfer International (Invited)
Mikhail ORLOV, CEO, Agro-Invest, Russian Federation

10:45 - 11:00 (CET)

Coffee break

11:00 - 13:00 (CET)

Do the recent problems in the global economy impact on our ability to build Sustainable Farming Systems in Europe?

Panel Chair – Roger WAITE AgraFacts

Panel Discussion I: expanding our capacity to produce efficiently

Applying science & technology in farming
John ATKIN, Chief Operating Officer (Crop Protection), Syngenta AG
Importance to access to technology for expending our capacity
Benoit PASSARD, Vice-President, DeLaval
Developing the physical tools for sustainable farming
Francesco QUARANTA, Case New Holland
Building our farming capacity
Pekka PESONEN, Secretary-General, COPA-COGECA

Panel Discussion II: protecting & enhancing the environment

Using our soil & water efficiently
Michael HAMELL, Head of Unit, Agriculture, Forest, and Soil, DG Environment, EC
Protecting & enhancing biodiversity
Ariel BRUNNER, Birdirdlife International
Protecting the environment whilst ensuring high productivity
Hervé MORIZE, Société des Agriculteurs de France, Chairman
Land manager’s perspective
Antonio AMORIM, Groupo AMORIM

13:00 - 14:30 (CET)

Lunch

14:30 - 15:30 (CET)

The Nature & Scale of Public Goods Delivered by EU Land Managers

Report by the Director of the Ad hoc Task Force – RISE Foundation,
Professor Allan BUCKWELL, Chief Economist, Country Land & Business
Association

David BALDOCK, Executive Director, IEEP
Peter NOWICKI, Wageningen University
Jozséf POPP, Hungarian Research Institute of Agrarian Economics

15:30 - 16:45 (CET)

Is Europe responding effectively to the food & environmental security challenge?

Panel Chair – Neil PARISH, Chair, Committee on Agriculture & Rural
Development, European Parliament
Keynote speech: Michel BARNIER, Minister for Agriculture & Fisheries, France

Andrzej DYCHA, Vice Minister, Ministry of Agriculture, Poland
Loretta DORMAL-MARINO, Deputy DG Agriculture, European Commission
Willem Jan-LAAN, Director of External Affairs, Unilever

16:30 - 16:45 (CET)

Coffee break

16:45 - 17:45 (CET)

Has the world responded effectively to the challenges of food and environment security?

Panel Chair – Carlo TROJAN Chairman – IPC

Presentation: “Are we on track?”
Colin TUDGE, Biologist and writer
Dr. Josue DIONE, Director, (Food Security & Sustainability) United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
Saliou SARR, Coordinator, Network of Farmers’ and Agricultural Producers’ Organisations of West Africa (ROPPA)

17:45 - 18:00 (CET)

Closing presentations and debate:

Commissioner Mariann FISCHER-BOEL Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development

Ivo HLAVAC, 1st Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Czech Republic
Will the global economic crisis prevent us from achieving food & environmental security?

Conclusion: remarks from the Conference Chair

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