CIHEAM Conference 15 to 17 June, Agricultural Higher Education in the 21st C: global challenge in knowledge transfer to meet world demands for food security and sustainability, to be held at CIHEAM Zaragoza, Spain. This conference is sponsored by the OECD Cooperative Research Programme. See the programme and REGISTER NOW!

 

The world population continues to grow at about 1.5 % a year. The projected 7 billion for last year was reached and the UN statistics are pointing to 8 billion for 2020. Additionally, emerging world economies are undergoing significant changes in their diet. Therefore, in the forthcoming decades we have to double our food production on less land per capita, with less water, often under limiting and highly variable environmental conditions.

 

Today in most developed countries, farmers are ageing and less and less young people are interested in agricultural studies. This is an alarming issue in the OECD countries, where agricultural knowledge is advancing significantly, but whose transfer via the higher education system lags behind. Agricultural studies are not attractive for the new generations of students. This raises concerns about communications, and a gap in understanding between agriculture and society as a whole.

 

In the non-European Mediterranean countries, as in most other developing countries, there is still interest in agricultural studies for high school graduates but the common challenge now consists of finding a way to complement classical agricultural education with new and emerging techniques.

 

A major question ahead for all is how to manage the sustainability of the agricultural systems; agriculture undoubtedly needs to increase its productivity while securing the sustainability of the agro-ecosystems. We have to improve the agricultural knowledge transfer system and adapt it to these goals, including new strategies, techniques and incentives to encourage the introduction of production systems and emphasize long-term sustainable goals.

For this conference, we take the widest definition of agriculture, namely the food and non-food value chains relating to agriculture, forestry, food and natural resources, with due regard to rural development and the environment. The conference aim is to exchange ideas and views.

 

Thus, the goal of the conference is to convene top-level experts and hold a brainstorming discussion.  The outcome of the conference will be recommendations for the future development of curricula in the agricultural and life sciences.

 

The conference is organised jointly by: