GRK 1666:  Transformation of Global Agri-Food Systems: Trends, Driving Forces and Implications for Developing Countries

• Subject Area: Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine
• Term: from 2011 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 162899918

Global agri-food systems are undergoing a rapid transformation towards highervalue products, new standards, and a higher degree of international and vertical integration. This transformation is largely driven by changing consumer preferences and new opportunities for the agribusiness sector arising from globalization processes. The ramifications for industry structure, competitiveness, and social welfare are not yet sufficiently understood. Likewise, there are knowledge gaps for public and private sector policymaking to enhance efficiency and equity outcomes, also with a view to smallholder farmers and other poor households in developing countries. The overall objective of this RTG is to analyze the trends, driving forces, and implications of the agri-food system transformation and train future generations of first-class researchers and policymakers in relevant fields. The strength of the RTG is its interdisciplinary and international perspective and the innovative cooperation with the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) ¿ an international research organization and policy think tank. During the first funding phase, important research results were developed on the restructuring of global food supply chains, the dynamics of food consumption behavior, and on linking smallholders to evolving markets. These research results have already achieved international visibility. In the second phase, the research questions and methodologies will be deepened and extended. Four new cross-cutting themes will be pursued to further strengthen the cooperation and synthesis of the findings. The four crosscutting themes are gender, nutrition, preferences, and policy. While some of the research is based on secondary data, extensive primary data will also be collected through household and industry surveys as well as laboratory and field experiments in developed and developing countries. Data collection activities build on the data already available from the first phase. The research is complemented by specific training components for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers ¿ incl. courses, seminars, and research stays abroad. The RTG promotes innovative research and qualification approaches across faculty boundaries. The first funding phase has initiated positive structural effects at the University of Göttingen, which shall be consolidated and extended in the second phase.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Matin Qaim
• Participating Researchers: Professorin Dr. Yasemin Boztug; Professor Dr. Bernhard Brümmer; Professor Dr. Stephan von Cramon-Taubadel; Professorin Marcela Ibañez-Diaz, Ph.D.; Professorin Dr. Claudia Keser; Professor Stephan Klasen, Ph.D. (†); Professor Dr. Oliver Mußhoff; Professor Dr. Achim Spiller; Professor Dr. Ludwig Theuvsen; Professorin Dr. Meike Wollni; Professor Dr. Xiaohua Yu, Ph.D.