Excursion to the OECD

In June 21-27, 2010 students of the Master in Science in "International Agribusiness (MIA)" and two Postdocs from the Department of Agriculture Economics and Rural Development of Göttingen University had the opportunity to visit important institutions in Paris, France.


Visiting the OECD, June 2010

The first day started with a visit to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). We were received by Carmel Cahill a Senior Counsellor of the Trade and Agriculture Directorate and several Senior Agriculture Policy Analysts, with whom we held interesting meetings regarding trade policies, agriculture and rural development topics.


Good Weather in Paris (in the backyard of the OECD-Building), June 2010

"I consider this Paris excursion to be both an enriching and enlighten experience. It has been a great privilege to meet people involved in highly regarded institutions such as the OECD that has an enormous impact worldwide and the French agriculture research institute INRA with a strong impact in the European Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) context. In addition, it has been a great opportunity for us to raise questions and discuss on different matters and views regarding agriculture, climate change and food security in a global context." (Ana Stoddart)

The following day, the group visited several key French Agriculture Institutions: the "Fédération nationale des syndicats d'exploitants agricoles (FNSEA)", the main farmers association in France and "Institute national de la recherché agronomique (INRA)". Very interesting insights of the French agriculture and rural organization were presented. In addition we discussed the perspectives for the next CAP-reform and the special view of the different actors on the reform process. We also discussed other investigations and project carried out at the INRA.


Visiting the INRA, Paris, June 2010

On the last day of the excursion, the group had an outdoor visit in the Parisian Tropical Garden at
Nogent sur marne and some interesting meetings were held with members of the "Groupe de recherche et d'échanges technologiques (GRET)". The discussion was focused on a recently developed model for price determination and world panorama scenarios were presented and discussed with the class.

Excursion Booklet

(Sebastian Lakner & Ana Stoddart, 21.12.2010)