Progress 09/15/24 to 04/10/25

Outputs
Target Audience:This project served a focused and strategic audience working at the intersection of agricultural trade and sustainability. The primary targets included researchers, policymakers, and technical experts from academia, government, and international organizations, as well as graduate students and early-career professionals. We engaged leading agricultural economists and policy scholars through paper presentations, invited talks, and panel discussions at the 2024 IATRC Annual Meeting. The event attracted key staff from USDA agencies (ERS, OCE, FAS), the OECD Trade and Agriculture Directorate, and several U.S. and international universities. Twelve graduate students and early-career scholars received travel support to attend, present, and participate in conference activities. This group was a priority audience, and the project provided them with valuable exposure, mentorship opportunities, and professional development. We also reached policy practitioners and industry analysts with research relevant to regulatory design, trade policy reform, and sustainability standards. Our policy roundtable and closing session created space for direct exchange between researchers and decision-makers. To extend the project's reach, a special issue in an academic journalis underway, ensuring broad and lasting dissemination of the research presented. Overall, the project delivered timely, policy-relevant knowledge to an audience positioned to shape sustainable trade systems. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project provided substantial opportunities for professional development, particularly for graduate students, early-career researchers, and emerging scholars in agricultural trade and sustainability. Twelve junior participants received funded travel to attend the 2024 IATRC Annual Meeting. This support enabled them to present their research, receive feedback from senior economists and policymakers, and engage in structured networking. These interactions served as informal mentoring opportunities and helped connect participants with potential collaborators and advisors. In addition to formal paper presentations, the conference included Q&A sessions, moderated policy discussions, and informal dialogue with experienced professionals from USDA, OECD, and major research institutions. These settings allowed participants to deepen their understanding of current methodological approaches, policy priorities, and professional standards in the field. Several early-career attendees were invited to submit papers to the upcoming special issue in theJournal of Agricultural Economics, creating an opportunity for publication and editorial engagement. The project also strengthened the collaborative capacity of mid-career and senior researchers by bringing together diverse experts across institutions and disciplines. These professional interactions helped initiate new joint research efforts, broadened exposure to policy-relevant questions, and increased knowledge-sharing across sectors. Overall, the project created a dynamic environment for training and development that extended beyond the event itself, fostering both immediate learning and long-term capacity building in agricultural trade and sustainability research. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of the project have been disseminated through multiple channels to reach academic, policy, and professional communities engaged in agricultural trade and sustainability. The primary vehicle for dissemination was the 2024 IATRC Annual Meeting, where over 100 participants from universities, USDA agencies, international organizations, and the private sector engaged directly with the research findings through presentations, policy panels, and discussions. The agenda and participant list were made publicly available on the IATRC website, providing transparency and access to key themes and contributors. Conference outcomes and follow-up announcements have been shared with professional networks through email listservs, institutional newsletters, and social media platforms (including LinkedIn and ResearchGate) to broaden reach beyond traditional academic audiences. The project team also engaged in informal outreach by promoting key sessions and research themes through professional associations such as the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) and the European Association of Agricultural Economists (EAAE). To ensure long-term access to results, a special issueis currently in development. This peer-reviewed publication will present selected conference papers and synthesize the major insights from the event. The special issue is expected to serve as a reference for scholars, policymakers, and stakeholders working on the intersection of trade and sustainability. Although the primary audience was professional and academic, efforts were made to include early-career scholars and students--many of whom are new to the field--through targeted travel support and mentoring. These activities helped raise awareness of agricultural economics as a career path and encouraged participation in future research. The public availability of event materials, combined with ongoing publication efforts, supports continued dissemination and engagement with the broader research and policy community. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? The project successfully achieved its central goal of advancing the understanding of agricultural sustainability in the context of international trade. The core activity was the organization and delivery of the 2024 Annual Meeting of the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium (IATRC), held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from December 8-10, 2024. The conference focused on the theme "Sustainability and Agricultural Trade: Interplay between Climate Change and Trade of Agri-Food Products." It brought together over 100 participants, including academic researchers, USDA staff, international organization representatives (notably from the OECD), and private-sector professionals. Across three days, the program featured two high-level keynote speakers, over 50 paper presentations across 15 thematic sessions, a moderated policy panel, and a closing policy roundtable. Under Objective 1, the project created a focused platform for experts to present, discuss, and debate state-of-the-art research on the intersection of sustainability standards and global agri-food trade. Participants engaged with empirical and theoretical studies covering trade policy, environmental standards, food security, and regulatory harmonization. The event attracted faculty and researchers from leading institutions, as well as representatives from USDA's Economic Research Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, and Office of the Chief Economist. The breadth of institutional representation and disciplinary backgrounds fostered interdisciplinary dialogue. A key accomplishment was the depth of technical exchange and the diversity of research methods presented, which included computable general equilibrium modeling, structural gravity analysis, and policy evaluation frameworks. Under Objective 2, the conference actively encouraged the identification of research gaps and data limitations through moderated discussion and open Q&A sessions. The closing policy roundtable created a structured space for USDA, OECD, and academic participants to highlight data priorities, including the need for improved trade-flow tracking under emerging sustainability certification schemes and better linkages between trade and environmental outcome indicators. Participants noted the fragmented nature of sustainability metrics and the uneven implementation of standards across jurisdictions as critical barriers to both empirical analysis and policy coordination. These discussions helped clarify future research directions and established new priorities for data development and interdisciplinary collaboration. Under Objective 3, the project laid the foundation for sustained dissemination of results through a forthcoming special issue. The special issue is being co-edited by the project leadership and includes 10-12 papers from the conference. Drafts are currently under review, and publication is expected in late 2025. This output will ensure that the insights developed through the project are accessible to a broader academic and policy audience and will provide a lasting reference on the trade-sustainability interface. In addition to the special issue, the IATRC website continues to host the conference agenda, participant list, and (in future) select presentation materials. A notable outcome beyond the formal objectives was the professional development support provided to 12 graduate students and early-career researchers. Through dedicated travel funding, these junior scholars were able to attend the conference, engage with senior researchers, and present their own work. Many of them developed new mentoring connections and were invited to join future collaborative projects. This investment in early-career talent helped diversify participation and ensured that the next generation of agricultural trade scholars is engaged with sustainability issues.

Publications