Coping with risks in agriculture: what challenges and prospects? Call For Papers

CALL FOR PAPERS

                                                                                  February 22-23, 2018

Collège des Bernardins, Paris, France

Coping with risks in agriculture: what challenges and prospects?

CHALLENGES AND CONTEXT

Agriculture is a particularly complex sector due to multiple risks and uncertainties farmers face at different levels (farm level, international level…). Farmers are confronted to risks whose likelihood and frequency increase:

·       Price volatility is a major issue for farmers with the liberalization of agricultural markets and the CAP reform;

·       Quality and price requirements of the agri-food, mass retailing sectors, and an increasingly restrictive legislation reduce farmers’ room to maneuver and their bargaining power;

·       Global warming represents a substantial challenge in developed and developing countries. This phenomenon causes an increase in the frequency of extreme events (floods, drought…) which lead some countries to offer crop insurance (e.g. France) or other instruments (microfinance…);

·       Agriculture adopts new technologies (robots, GMOs, nanotechnologies, big data…) that can represent new risks and opportunities for farmers.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this international symposium is to bring together international researchers in social sciences (economics, management, law, sociology, anthropology, history, geography, political science, philosophy, agronomy…) and agricultural professionals (farmers, agricultural chambers, cooperatives, ministries and other public authorities, insurance companies, agricultural experts, unions, banks, agribusiness firms…) to answer several questions that arise in agriculture. What is the offer and demand of risk management instruments? How do farmers perceive risks today? What different strategies do they develop to handle risks (on-farm instruments or market instruments such as insurance or futures markets)? How do farmers manage risks ex ante (diversification, marketing and production contracts, insurance…) and ex post (adaptation strategies following the occurrence of an event)? How can farms become more robust and resilient to overcome extreme events? What should the role of agricultural policy as regards agricultural risk management be? What do we make of the past agricultural policies in various countries of the globe?

This symposium will allow an update on the state-of-the-art in risk management in agriculture, with the feedback and experience of agricultural professionals and research results from international academics of the social sciences. The goal of this conference is to contribute to a joint reflection on the challenges farmers are facing today in terms of risks and how they cope. This symposium aims at providing guidance to farmers and policy-makers for a more viable and resilient agriculture.

The conference will be in English and French languages (simultaneous interpretation service will be available for the plenary sessions).

SCIENTIFIC TOPICS

All conference proposals on risks in agriculture are welcome. Contributors are encouraged to develop proposals on sensitive issues and emerging challenges on risks in agriculture in developed or developing countries. Proposals may focus on the following themes (but are not limited to this list):

·       Risk management instruments and actors (agricultural cooperatives, insurance companies, contracts, futures…)

·       Risk and diversification strategies (wood sector, agricultural methanization, biofuels, agrotourism, short supply chains…)

·       Risk, public policy and regulatory development (CAP, CETA, TAFTA…)

·       Risk and uncertainty linked to the complexity of the farming sector

·       Farmers’ risk perceptions, attitudes and aversion

·       Organization of agro-food sectors and price and quality risks for farmers

·       Agricultural crisis/es and learning process

·       New technologies, opportunities and risks

·       Quality and food safety in food chains

·       Liberalization of agricultural markets and price volatility

·       Mitigation and adaptation strategies to climate change in developing and developed countries

·       Agriculture, risks and natural resource management (water, soils…)

·       Occupational risks in agriculture

·       Adaptation to risk and resilience in agriculture

·       Risks and urban agriculture

·       Complementarity between agricultural systems and risk management

CALENDAR

Communications and proposals for workshops	Deadline
Proposals for workshops 1-2 pages, including theme, the name of the Coordinator, the summary of the workshop (300 words maximum) and the list of contributors and their respective contributions	1er July 2017 The Scientific Committee's response: 1St August 2017
Proposals for communications 2-3 pages, including about 1000 words + 10 bibliographic references (in French or in English)	1St September 2017 The Scientific Committee's response: October 15, 2017
Communications (20 pages maximum) and workshops in their final format	January 15, 2018
Symposium	February 22-23, 2018

ORGANIZATION

Format of contributions: no specific format is required. Papers must be based on a theoretical or epistemological, conceptual (with or without mathematical modeling) or empirical approach (case studies, field studies, econometrics, computational methods). Papers based on case studies, on a state of empirical knowledge or a literature review are also welcome. Contributions may be written by researchers (Scientific contributions) or professionals (Studies).

* Studies focus on an empirical analysis (case studies, empirical surveys, sharing of experience) on risks in agriculture. They will be evaluated on the quality of the collected data/material, the originality, implications, coherence, and ability to have a critical eye on the results.

* Scientific contributions focus on a theoretical, conceptual and/or empirical approach based on scientific references regarding risks in agriculture. They shall be appraised according to the originality of the method and analysis, quality of results, theoretical and/or empirical input compared to existing literature.

Apart from individual papers, we also encourage:

Ø  Workshops: a coordinator proposes a workshop theme whose program and animation will be under his/her responsibility. The workshop proposal must mention the theme, name of coordinator, a summary of the workshop (500 words maximum) and a list of speakers, their laboratory/university/school/institution, and the title of their respective contributions. Each workshop lasts 2 hours maximum.

Publication: the best contributions will be selected for publication (peer-reviewed journals) that will be further specified.

Participants: the conference is open to all scholars, professionals, PhD students, and students interested in the theme of the symposium on registration.

REGISTRATION

The registration for the Conference will be recorded after payment. Fees cover coffee breaks and lunch. Gala fees (evening of the 22^nd of February) represent 50 euros extra.

Ø  'Early bird' registration until December 10, 2017: 120 euros (students) and 240 euros (researchers and professionals)

Ø  Students (after December 10, 2017) registration fee: 150 euros

Ø  Researchers and professionals (after December 10, 2017) registration fee: 300 euros

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE:  Sylvie Lupton (INTERACT, UniLaSalle), Nalini Rakotonandraina (INTERACT, UniLaSalle), Loïc Sauvée (INTERACT, UniLaSalle), Hanitra Randrianasolo (University of Paris-Sud, UniLaSalle), Michel Dubois (INTERACT, UniLaSalle), François Delaisse (Groupama Paris Val de Loire), Estelle Escamilla (Groupama Paris Val de Loire), Thierry Dechêne (Groupama Paris Val de Loire)

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE: Zohra Bouamra-Mechemache (Toulouse School of Economics, INRA), Ben  Bradshaw (University of Guelph), Jean Cordier (AgroCampus Ouest), Toni Darbas (CSIRO), Yann De Mey (ILVO, Wageningen University), Michel Dubois (INTERACT, UniLaSalle), Muriel Figuié (CIRAD, UMR MOISA, Montpellier), Robert Finger (ETH Zürich), Alberto Garrido (Universidad Politécnica de Madrid), Françoise Gérard (CIRAD, UPR GREEN, Nogent-sur-Marne), John Brian Hardaker (University of New England), Raymond Jussaume (Michigan State University), Richard Just (University of Maryland) , Sylvie Lupton (INTERACT, UniLaSalle), Bill Malcolm (University of Melbourne), Nadine Marshall (CSIRO), Miranda Meuwissen (Wageningen University), Hanitra Randrianasolo (University of Paris-Sud, UniLaSalle), Daniel Rodriguez (University of Queensland), Carla Roncoli (Emory University), Pascal Salembier (Tech-CICO, Université de Technologie de Troyes), Loïc Sauvée (INTERACT, UniLaSalle), Nicola Shadbolt (Massey University), Ganesh Shivakoti (Arizona State University, AIT Bangkok), Vincent Smith (Montana State University), Inès Sneessens (ICEDD), Joshua Woodard (Cornell University), Bryan Wynne (Lancaster University), Milad Zarin-Nejadan (University of Neuchâtel)

-->

CONTACT: for questions about this conference, please contact Sylvie Lupton, sylvie.lupton@unilasalle.fr