2010Spring_Seminar_AgPriceVolatility

International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council

IPCSeminars

Agricultural Price Volatility: Prospects, Challenges and Possible Solutions

May 26 - 27, 2010
Barcelona Spain

The agricultural sector has been deeply battered by both the food and financial crises and faces a looming climate change crisis. Projections differ on whether commodity prices will continue their long-term decline of the last decades or experience a reversal of this trend, but experts agree that price volatility is likely to grow in the future. Price volatility presents different sets of challenges to consumers and producers throughout the world and a grave risk to the food security of millions of people in developing countries. This seminar brought together agriculture and trade experts from around the world to examine current and projected trends in prices, review past policy responses, discuss policy options available today, and arrive at pragmatic recommendations for addressing volatility in the future.

Background Briefs:

FAO's Long-term Outlook for Global Agriculture - Challenges, Trends and Drivers

Josef Schmidhuber

Alternative Mechanisms to Reduce Food Price Volatility and Price Spikes

(Maximo Torero and Joachim von Braun)

Recent Agricultural Price Volatility and the Role of Grain Stocks

(Brian Wright)

Price Volatility and Border Measures

(Alberto Valdés)

How Can Policy Underpin Farmers' Risk Management Strategies

(Jesús Antón)

Seminar Presentations

Opening Session

Ramon Torrent, University of Barcelona, Director of the Observatory of Globalization; Coordinator of the WTO-Regional Integration Chair. Opening Remarks
Carlo Trojan, Former EU Ambassador to the WTO; IPC Chairperson. Seminar Objectives
Keynote: Joaquim Llena, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Action, Generalitat of Catalonia

Session I - The Outlook for Food and Agricultural Prices and an Overview of Policy Options in Response to Price Volatility

Josef Schmidhuber, Head, Global Perspective Studies Unit, FAO. FAO's Long-term Outlook for Global Agriculture: Factors Driving Prices and Volatility
Brian Wright, Professor, Univeristy of California Berkley. Recent Agricultural Price Volatility and the Role of Grain Stocks
Maximo Torero, Director, Markets, Trade and Institutions Division, International Food Policy Research Institute. The Benefits of Reduced Price Volatility for Agricultural Commodities

Keynote

Harsha V. Singh, WTO Deputy Director-General. The International Trade System and Agricultural Price Volatility

Session II - Price Volatility - Considerations for Developing Countries

Raul Montemayor, Vice President, International Federation of Agricultural Prodcuers; IPC Member. Policy Responses to Address the Needs of Developing Country Producers
Hassan Zaman, Lead Economist, Poverty Reduction and Equity Group, The World Bank. Poverty and Hunger Impacts of Higher Food Prices and Policy Implications
Alberto Valdes, Research Associate, Universidad Catolica de Chile. Price Volatility and Border Measures

Session III - CAP Reform and Risk Management

Tassos Haniotis, Director for Economic Analysis, Perspectives and Evaluation, EC Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development. The CAP Reform Process in Perspective: Producer Safety Nets and Their Relevance
Stefan Tangermann, Professor Emeritus at the University of Goettingen; former Director for Trade and Agriculture at the OECD; IPC Member. EU Agriculture, the CAP and Risk Management
Fernando Burgaz, Chairman of CEIGRAM and President of Entidad Estatal de Seguros Agrarios. Reforma de la Pac y la Gestion de Riesgos

Session IV - Futures Markets and Volatility

Joaquim von Braun, Director, Center for Development Research and Professor of Economics and Technical Change, University of Bonn; IPC Member. Futures Markets--Grain Price Volatility and Global Food Security
Carl Hausmann, Managing Director, Global Government and Coporate Affairs, Bunge; IPC Member. Price Volatility--Markets as the Messenger

Session V - Moving the Policy Agenda Forward

Carmel Cahill, Senior Counsellor, OECD Directorate for Trade and Agriculture. What's Next for OECD Countries' Agricultural Policies?
Carlos Perez del Castillo, Former Permanent Representative of Uruguay to the WTO; IPC Member. Weighing Domestic and International Considerations
Carlo Trojan, Former EU Ambassador to the WTO; IPC Chairperson. Sorting Out International Institutional Questions