Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra

The lecture brought forecasts necessary for the creation of long-term policies to protect our agricultural market. The lecture was followed by a discussion with students, some of whom have already completed an internship at the professional directorates of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), thanks to the fact that the Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra has a memorandum of cooperation with the OECD. The delegation from the OECD also held a press conference and at the end visited selected laboratories of the AgroBioTech Research Center.

In her lecture, Marion Jansen focused mainly on the impact of the war in Ukraine on trade in agricultural commodities. "The sharp rise in agricultural input prices over the past two years has raised concerns about global food security," she said. She emphasized that the number of people affected by malnutrition has increased significantly since 2020 due to covid and the war in Ukraine. Global calorie consumption will grow by 1.3% per year over the next decade, a slower pace than last decade. The reason is the expected slowdown in population growth and per capita income.

Senior agricultural policy analyst from the OECD Directorate for Trade and Agriculture, Hubertus Gay, presented further outlooks for the next decade, which are summarized in the publication OECD and FAO Agricultural Outlook 2023 - 2032. This year's publication was published in July. Among other things, it states that rising fertilizer costs can lead to higher food prices. For every 1% increase in fertilizer prices, agricultural commodity prices are estimated to increase by 0.2%. Energy prices are expected to fall in 2023, but then begin to rise slowly until 2032.

SUA Vice-rector for Strategic Development and Internationalization Lucia Palšová introduced the SUA and also highlighted an important project of our university INVEST - the alliance of European universities. We are the only university in Slovakia to lead this type of consortium. Kristína Gendová Ruzsíková from the Permanent Mission of the Slovak Republic to the OECD in Paris emphasized that Slovakia has been very active since the beginning of its membership in the OECD in 2000. "We represent the position of the Slovak Republic, we study OECD data and documents, which can then be implemented into national policies, " she explained.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) is an international organization based in Paris. It is considered one of the largest and most reliable sources of socio-economic data and analysis. The OECD Trade and Agriculture Directory provides policy analysis and recommendations for governments to help develop better trade, agriculture and fisheries policies.

Marion Jansen has been the Director of the OECD Trade and Agriculture Directorate since September 2020. Before joining the OECD, she worked as Chief Economist at the International Trade Center in Geneva. She previously held senior research positions at the World Trade Organization and led the Trade and Employment Program at the International Labor Organization.