Past activities

General Assembly
followed by a symposium on
“food safety: past, present and future”
October 9th 2024

The Belgian Association of Agricultural Economists (BAAE/BVLE/ABER) had its yearly General Assembly on October, 9th 13h00, followed by a symposium.

Herewith briefly the minutes of the general meeting of 9/10/2024 13h00 in Brussels:

  • the chairman welcomes those present, introduces the secretary and treasurer and does a tour de table
  • the 8 directors as appointed in 2021 continue their mandate and this is ratified by the meeting
  • the board receives discharge of the accounts to date as presented by the treasurer by the meeting (conclusion is: financial stability, same as previous years, small reserve)
  • the secretary gave an overview of activities in 2024 to date
  • in terms of communication, the secretary referred to
  • the chairman makes an appeal to actively share activities in our network
  • the chairman asked for concrete input for our news year event 2025, consisting of a company visit and subsequent drink

The general assembly was followed by a symposium on “food safety: past, present and future”. Exactly 25 years ago the food sector was envisaging the dioxin crisis and one year later the food safety agency FAVV/AFSCA started its activities.

14h Introduction by the chair
14h10: Prof. Yves Segers (CAG, KULeuven): The dioxine crisis: a historic perspective – download the presentation
14h40: Dr. Herman Diricks (FAVV/AFSCA): FAVV/AFSCA: 25 years maintaining food safety – download the presentation
15h10: Prof. Ine van der Fels-Klerx (Wageningen Universiteit): Food safety monitoring from an economic perspective – download the presentation
15h40:Prof. Wim Verbeke (UGent): food safety: a food marketing and consumer perspective –download the presentation
16h 10: Q&A
16h30: closing and reception

Belgian Francqui Chair
Professor dr. ir.
Wim Verbeke

March 6th 2024

Rector Herman Van Goethem and Professor Koen Vandenbempt, dean of the Faculty of Business and Economics are pleased to invite you to the inaugural lecture by Professor dr. ir. Wim Verbeke, laureate of the Belgian Francqui Chair 2023-2024

Inaugural lecture:

A quarter century of protein transition: insights from agri-food marketing and consumer research

Laudatio given by the promotors: Professor Nathalie Dens & Professor Steven Van Passel

After the lecture you are invited to the reception.

Location:
University of Antwerp, Stadscampus,
Tassis en Dürerzaal, Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerp

Please confirm your attendance before 26 February  2024.

Register here

About Prof. dr. ir. Wim Verbeke

Wim Verbeke is full professor of agri-food marketing and consumer behaviour in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Ghent University. He valorises his complementary background in natural (bio-engineering) and social (economic) sciences by studying the behaviour of consumers and other stakeholders in the agri-food sector. A wide range of topics and research questions have passed the review over the past 25 years, with the protein component on our plates usually being the common thread.

A quarter century of protein transition: insights from agri-food marketing and consumer research

The much-discussed protein transition was initiated 25 years ago and the call to shift gears resonates louder today than ever before. In his inaugural lecture, Wim Verbeke provides a view from the perspective of agri-food marketing and consumer research on the choices made, the evolution of the research themes and agenda, the insights gained and the new questions that arise about the protein transition. These include the rise of flexitarianism, the introduction and acceptance of alternative protein sources such as insects, microalgae or cultured meat, and diversity among consumers.

“Is carbon farming a real opportunity
for Belgian agriculture?”
workshop
February 23rd 2024

The Belgian Association of Agricultural Economists (BAAE) invites you to the workshop “Is carbon farming a real opportunity for Belgian agriculture?” The workshop will take place on this Friday February 23d from 3pm to 6pm in Louvain-la-Neuve.

Speakers include:

  • Professor Goedele Van den Broeck, UCLouvain
  • Professor Erik Mathijs, KULeuven
  • Mr Nicolas Verschuere, Soil Capital
  • Ms Fien Vandekerchove, Boerenbond

A drink will follow the workshop.

The venue is the Ocean room, B002, at the ground floor of the building ‘de Serres’, Place de la Croix du Sud. To reach the building ‘de Serres’ (tower B) at the Place Croix du Sud by train or car, please consult this link: https://uclouvain.be/en/research-institutes/eli/elim/acces.html .
If you arrive by car, free parking without the need for a parking sticker is located nearby: parking Baudouin 1er, at the intersection of Boulevard Baudouin 1er and Avenue du Jardin Botanique, Louvain-la-Neuve.

To register, please send an email to bvleaber@gmail.com with a copy to Bruno.Henrydefrahan@uclouvain.be by February 15 and make sure to pay your BAAE membership fee of 20€ by then for 2024 via https://bvle-aber.be/membership/

Context
The European Commission aims to achieve climate neutrality at the latest by 2050 and negative emissions thereafter. For this, the EU needs to increase carbon removals, i.e., the sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere through technical solutions, and establish sustainable carbon cycles in agriculture. 
 
On 30 November 2022, the Commission adopted a proposal for a first EU-wide voluntary framework to reliably certify high-quality carbon removals. The proposal sets out rules for: the independent verification of carbon removals, the recognition of certification schemes. The carbon removal certificates can be used for result-based rewards by private or public sources. 
 
At this stage, there is no question yet of greenhouse gas emission offsetting through the mechanism of carbon credits. But, upcoming EU legislation will cover the specific use of offsets. 
 
As well as legislation, there are also private initiatives. For instance, in Belgium and France: the Soil Capital platform. Under this system, farmers receive one certificate per tonne of carbon saved. Companies wishing to reduce their carbon footprint purchase these certificates via the Soil Capital platform, making it financially attractive for farmers to reduce their CO2 emissions. 
 
However, the prospect of carbon credits raises a number of questions:
– Risk of land grabbing by non-agricultural investors or financialization of agriculture with the possibility of raising farmland price? 
– Marginalisation of small-scale farms which do not have the means in terms of capital and know-how to invest in new practices? 
– Support to a new green washing? 
– Agricultural production down and no longer sufficient? 
– etc.

Guido Van Huylenbroeck
President BVLE/ABER

Koen Carels
Secretary BVLE/ABER

Best Paper Award

On June 7, 2023, Eva Boonaert’s paper received the Best Paper Award at the 23nd PhD Symposium on Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics in Ghent, organized by the Belgian Association of Agricultural Economists (BAAE). This annual event provides a valuable platform for PhD students to share their work, receive feedback and foster connections with fellow researchers in Belgium.

Eva’s paper, “Institutional Design Matters: Voluntary Sustainability Standards and Farmer Welfare in Peru“, highlighted the significance of institutional design in relation to voluntary sustainability standards and their effects on farmer welfare in Peru. Eva is a PhD student at KU Leuven working under the supervision of Prof. Miet Maertens.

Abstract – Do voluntary sustainability standards, such as Fairtrade, GlobalGAP and Organic, improve farmer welfare? Numerous studies have analyzed this question with inconclusive results. A major limitation of the evidence base is that it does not systematically examine how governance of VSS affects their welfare impact  In this study, we disentangle the effects of three main governance mechanisms through which VSS may affect farmer welfare: a compliance-based mechanism, a capacity-building mechanism, and a market-based incentive mechanism. We use secondary data from a nationally representative farm household survey in Peru, complemented by primary qualitative data, and multiple mediation models. Our results show that the market-based incentive mechanism is most important in generating welfare impact, followed by the capacity building mechanism, while the compliance-based mechanism with good agricultural practices has no effect. Among the market-based incentives, price premiums have the largest effect. In addition, we find that membership to a farmer organization amplifies the effect of VSS. Based on our findings, we highlight potential improvements in VSS institutional design to effectively improve economic sustainability.

photo-exposition
Jelle Vermeersch
“Buitenmensen – de stem van het platteland“
“Outdoorsmen – the voice of the countryside”
January 25th 2024

As first activity in 2024, BVLE/ABER visited the photo-exposition by Jelle Vermeersch: ‘Bui­ten­men­sen – De stem van het plat­te­land’ / ‘Outdoorsmen – the voice of the countryside’ in the St. Pieters Abbey in Ghent (https://historischehuizen.stad.gent/nl/sint-pietersabdij/tentoonstellingen/expo) about the life in rural areas of Flanders and Wallonia, followed by an introduction and discussion with the photographer himself  during a reception in a nearby café.

The Board will in the coming year try to further develop BVLE/ABER as a platform and community for people interested in the economic and social aspects of agriculture, the agri-food chain and rural areas. Besides acting as a professional organization of agricultural economists with own dedicated activities (such as our yearly PhD workshop, lectures from national and international researchers), we will also announce, support and co-organize events or workshops of other organizations so that we cannot only broaden our own network but also adding agricultural economic and sociological expertise to topics of their interest. We hope to provide you soon with more info in this regard.  make this possible, may we ask you to pay your membership fee of 20 euros for 2024 via https://bvle-aber.be/membership/

General Assembly
followed by a seminar on
“Strategic autonomy in food and agriculture”
June 28th 2023

Speakers:              

Panel debate:

Guided visit to Brewery 3 Fonteinen
February 23th 2023

Brouwerij 3 Fonteinen

On February 23rd BVLE-ABER visited Brewery 3 fonteinen (Molenstraat 47, 1651 Lot – Beersel) , who produces lambik beers in a traditional way based on cereals produced in the neighborhood.

Dear members of BVLE/ABER,
 
Let me first of all wish you all the best for the year 2023. May it be a year with a lot of luck and pleasure both in your personal and professional life.
 
Now that it is again possible, we want to restart with our traditional New Year activity. We kindly invite you on Thursday, February 23 for a guided visit to Brewery 3 fonteinen (Molenstraat 47, 1651 Lot – Beersel) , who produces lambik beers in a traditional way based on cereals produced in the neighborhood.
 
The programme is as follows
 
13h30: arrival
14h00-15h30: guided tour with explanation
15h30-16h30: degustation and exchange

Please register your participation in the form below.
Participation costs 20 euro to paid by bank transfer on BE36 1032 0577 7181 (please mention “your name + 3 fonteinen”)
By paying the participation fee you automatically become member of BVLE-ABER for 2023
From 3 members per organization an invoice can be obtained.

Best regards,

Guido Van Huylenbroeck
President BVLE/ABER

Koen Carels
Secretary BVLE/ABER

bedrijfsbezoek

visite d’entreprise

Jean Gotta

verwerking van vlees van runderen, kalf en varken Aubel

Wij nodigen u graag uit voor een nieuw bedrijfsbezoek, ditmaal in de vleessector (rund-, kalf-en varkensvlees).

Het bedrijf is Jean Gotta (GHL Groupe SA/NV) in Aubel, in de Luikse regio.

Dit bedrijf produceert verschillende soorten stukken vlees, van versneden stukken tot consumentenporties.

Ontmoeting in Aubel op woensdag 11 mei om 14.00 uur

Adres :

GHL Groupe S.A/N.V
Rue de Merckhof 113
4880 Aubel

Opgelet, het aantal bezoekers is beperkt tot 20 personen. Inschrijving is verplicht bij Etienne.Verhaegen@economie.fgov.be

transformation de viande de boeuf, veau et porc
Aubel

Nous vous invitons à une nouvelle visite d’entreprise, cette fois-ci dans le secteur de la viande (bœuf, veau et porc).

Il s’agit de l’entreprise Jean Gotta à Aubel, dans la région de Liège.

Cette entreprise produit différents types de pièces de viande, des morceaux découpés jusqu’aux portions consommateur ».

Rendez vous à Aubel le mercredi 11 mai à 14h

Adresse :

GHL Groupe S.A/N.V
Rue de Merckhof 113
4880 Aubel

Attention, le nombre de visiteurs est limité à 20 personnes. L’inscription est obligatoire chez Etienne.Verhaegen@economie.fgov.be

Een landbouweconomische blik op de stikstofproblematiek

Samen met ILVO en de organisatoren van de Landbouwstudiedag, die traditioneel wordt ingericht door de vakgroep landbouweconomie van de Universiteit Gent, organiseerde de Belgische Vereniging voor Landbouweconomie (BLVE) op 4 mei 2022 een studienamiddag
‘Een landbouweconomische blik op de stikstofproblematiek’.

Best Paper Award

Charlotte Janssens

On April 5, 2022, Charlotte Janssens received the best paper award at the 22nd PhD Symposium on Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics of the Belgian Association of Agricultural Economists (BAAE).

Charlotte Janssens received the BVLE PhD Symposium award for the paper ‘Trade, Storage and Climate Extremes: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa’.  Charlotte is working on her PhD at KU Leuven under the supervision of Prof. Miet Maertens.

‘Trade, Storage and Climate Extremes: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa’

Abstract – Global warming is associated with changes in the frequency, intensity, spatial extent, duration and timing of temperature and precipitation extremes. Agriculture is particularly vulnerable to such climate extremes, often resulting in large production losses and an increased reliance on market mechanisms to ensure local food availability. This research focuses on Sub-Saharan Africa, a hotspot for food insecurity and climate extremes, and characterized by high trade costs and diverse agricultural market policies. First, a multi-region model of storage and trade under uncertainty in annual agricultural productivity is developed. Second, qualitative predictions are derived based on numerical simulation exercises. When extreme events vary across time, inter-annual storage may buffer food shortages in years with bad harvests. When the temporal pattern of extreme events varies across space and households engage in precautionary saving, trade may buffer local food shortages. The complementarity of trade and storage critically depends on the temporal and spatial correlation of climate extremes. The theoretical model predictions are empirically tested in the third step by estimating the heterogeneous food security impacts of dry and wet climatic conditions across ecological and economic dimensions. A doubling of the travel time to port, almost triples the impact of dry conditions in Arid, Semi-Arid and Sub-Humid areas in Sub-Saharan Africa. A 1% increase in the stock-to-use ratio of cereals, reduces the impact of next year’s dry conditions in Arid, Semi-Arid and Sub-Humid areas with 18%. Studies on possible mechanisms of adaptation to future climate change impacts should consider the complementarity of storage and trade.

PhD Award 2018 – 2021

Oyakhilomen_Oyinbo

The award for the best PhD defended at a Belgian University in the period July 2018 – June 2021 in the area of agricultural economics is given to Oyakhilomen Oyinbo for his PhD: Site-specific nutrient management advice and agricultural intensification in maize-based systems in Nigeria

April 5 2022

Symposium (un)fair trade practices

December 14th 2021 – Brussels

The Belgian Association of Agricultural Economists (BAAE) and the Strategic Advisory Council on Agriculture and Fisheries (SALV) welcomes you on December 14th to a symposium on unfair trading practices.
 
The symposium coincides with the first Dialogue for the Future of the Strategic Advisory Council for Agriculture and Fisheries. The Dialogues for the Future are part of the advisory council’s aim to broaden its understanding of the opportunities and challenges which Flemish agriculture and horticulture will face in the next two decades. The dialogues act as a starting point and breeding ground for a new elaboration on the five ‘key challenges identified of a sustainable future of agriculture in Flanders’ by the advisory council in 2017 at the request of the Flemish Parliament.

Symposium information

The symposium takes place on December, 14th at 13h30 till 16h00 in ZOOM

Program

  1. Opening by the chairperson of SALV (Hendrik Vandamme)
  2. Introduction by Claude Menard (Professor Emeritus, Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne): how to define fairness and how this is reflected in the EU B2B regulation
  3. Federica di Marcantonio (JRC-EC): Contracts and farmers’ perception on (un)fair trading practices: some evidence from research
  4. Viewpoint of the Strategic Advice Council for Agriculture (Pieter De Graef, SALV)
  5. Options taken in the transposition of the UTP-Directive by the Belgian legislator, (Paul Cambie, Federal Service for Economy)
  6. Debate with
    • Jean-Pierre Van Puymbrouck (Belpotato.be)
    • Pieter Verhelst (Boerenbond)
    • Hendrik Vandamme (ABS) 
    • Renaat Debergh (BCZ-CBL)
    • Frank Socquet (UNIZO)
    • Carole Dembour (FEVIA Vlaanderen)

Registration

Please register before December 12th 12h00.   A ZOOM-link will be sent to those who registered.
 
The BAAE is a small membership organization.  Your support is welcome. Participants are encouraged to pay the BAAE membership fee of €15 to IBAN BE36 1032 0577 7181 mentioning “BAAE member fee 2021 – NAME” and register at https://bvle-aber.be/membership

Looking forward to see you all

Guido Van Huylenbroeck
President

Koen Carels
Secretary

Dear all,

We cordially invite you to the second webinar of the Belgian Association of Agrcultural economists

‘The European green deal and its impact on agriculture and the food system’

on Thursday 25/3 from 15 to 17 h

European Green Deal

The program is as follows:

  1. Introduction by Professor Guido Van Huylenbroeck, President of the ABER/BVLE
  2. The green deal and the new Common Agricultural Policy by Dr. Anastassios Haniotis, Director, DG AGRI, European Commission
  3. The policy implications of the green deal on the CAP by Professor Jean-Christophe Bureau, AgroParisTech and INRAE
  4. From farm to fork strategy: How this should be adapted to make progress towards a climate neutral agriculture by Dr. Tessa Avermaete and Prof. Em. Wannes Keulemans, KU Leuven
  5. Flanders’ Protein Strategy: a building block for an integrated Flemish Food Policy by Mr. Kris Roels, LV Vlaanderen
  6. Short reflections from Mr. José Renard, Secrétaire général de la Fédération Wallonne de l’Agriculture (FWA) and Mr. Pieter Verhelst, Boerenbond
  7. Debate with the public

Please confirm your participation through  http://bvleaber.fikket.com/event/bvle-aber-webinar-25-03-15h00-17h00-the-european-green-deal-and-its-impact-on-agriculture-and-the-food-system
 

IMPORTANT

1/ This activity is for MEMBERS ONLY. Therefore we ask all those wanting to participate to first become member and to regulate with their inscription also their 2021 membership fee of 15 euro  following the instructions on following site: http://bvleaber.fikket.com/event/bvle-aber-membership-2021 

2/ Attendees agree they will be listed in the public event registration page

3/ Registered attendees will receive a link to the ZOOM webinar by email

4/ Ticket sales will end at March 23 12h00

Prof. Guido van Huylenbroeck

President of ABER/BVLE

Koen Carels

Secretary of ABER/BVLE

Dear BVLE/ABER members [1]
 

COVID times have not prevented the Belgian Association of Agricultural Economics to remain active, among others with the organization of some successful webinars. However, we all feel time has come to resume our on campus activities including more social events. Therefore we want to invite you on Friday, October, 15th to a hopefully nice and interesting visit in the neighborhood of Leuven. The programme we foresee is as follows:
 

  • 14h00: General assembly at Division of Bio-Economics of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences of KULeuven, Celestijnenlaan 200E B-3001 Leuven-Heverlee: election of members of the board + finances 2020
  • 14h30: Visit to and presentation of the Division of Bio-Economics of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences of KULeuven
  • 15h45: Departure to Meerdael
  • 16h30: Visit (with tasting) of the wine company Chardonnay-Meerdael, Monarkenweg 50 – 3050 Oud-Heverlee https://chardonnaymeerdael.be/

 
During the visit we foresee for translation to English and French where needed.
 
For the visit of the wine company we are limited in number of persons per group. So a quick registration by sending an email to bvleaber@gmail.com is needed to reserve your place (no later than October 6th).
 
We hope this programme is of interest to all our members, including those from abroad.  We will of course take into account the COVID rules of that moment and ask to present a covid-safe proof to create a safe environment for all particpants.
 
Looking forward to see you all
 

Guido Van Huylenbroeck                                        Koen Carels
presidentsecretary

[1] This activity is for MEMBERS ONLY. Therefore we ask all those wanting to participate to first become member and to regulate with their inscription also their 2021 membership fee of 15 euro at BE36 1032 0577 7181

2009/09/30
ABER/BVLE symposium in Brussels on the Milk price crisis
downloads

2009/01/28
ABER/BVLE nieuwjaarsreceptie + lezing: recente ontwikkelingen van prijzen en kosten in de melkketen door Jean-Jacques Vanhaelen
download – presentatie

2008/12/11
ABER/BVLE symposium on poverty in agriculture
Louvain-la-Neuve, December 11 2008.
download – presentatie
EAAE – congres

2008/06/25
de lezing van Dhr Luc Aucremanne over de inflatie in het algemeen en de stijging van de voedingsprijzen in het bijzonder. download – presentatie

2006/04/23
BVLE Workshop: call for papers
    Cover outline

2008/02/06
Lezing van Dr. Schneider “The Health Check of the CAP: Is this a real Reform?
download – presentatie

2007/05/30
Beleidsstudiedag “Samenwerking in de landbouw: getuigen van succes en falen” door ons georganiseerd in samenwerking met de FOD Economie.
Programma –>( NL / FR ).
download – presentaties

2007/02/28
BVLE – Symposium
Van LANDBOUW – ECONOMIE naar LANDBOUW en MAATSCHAPPIJ
ILVO, Melle Meer info – Information download – presentaties

2007/01/31
Algemene Vergadering + voorstelling jaarthema: samenwerking
download nieuwjaarsbrief van de BVLE voorzitter

2006/06/07
Algemene Vergadering

Studiedag in Brussel
“Biotechnologie: economische uitdagingen en maatschappelijke visies”
georganiseerd door de Belgische Vereniging voor Landbouweconomie in samenwerking met FOD Economie.

2006/04/26
BVLE Workshop Louvain
    Program
    Proceedings

2006/01/25
WTO: het bredere belangenkader, de uitdagingen en de rol die landbouw daarin speelt.

2005/11/30
Symposium Rural Development – Gembloux

2005
AgEcon Seminars – Brussel

2005/05/25
Studiedag – Hervorming van het suikerbeleid – Brussel
download – presentaties

2005/04/27
Workshop Gent
download – presentaties

2004/10/27
Symposium – organisatievormen in de landbouw – Heverlee