Progress 05/01/20 to 10/30/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The International Consortium for Applied Bioeconomy Research (ICABR) Annual Conference focuses on the latest economics and agribusiness research on innovations for food, agriculture, and biofuels, and the policies that determine their use and impact. Consistent with AFRI Priority Area 6. Agriculture economics and rural communities, and Program Area Priority b. Economics, Markets, and Trade (A1641), the overall goal of the ICABR meeting is to identify policies, regulations and institutions that can stimulate sustainable growth of the bioeconomy in the U.S. and worldwide. This project was originally a one-year conference grant to support the 2020 ICABR Conference planned to take place in Summer 2020 in Cordoba, Argentine. However owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, grant funds were redirected to two online / hybrid conferences in Fall 2020 and Summer 2021, and finally an in-person ICABR conference held in Bologna, Italy in Summer 2022. Funding in the 2020-2022 reporting periods was used to support prominent speakers from academia and industry (online speakers at the conferences and a series of associated online webinars, as well as support for students (including waived online conference registrations for over 80 junior scholars, as well as in-person conference attendance and travel support for 4 US graduate students and 4 US undergraduate student participants in the conference in Bologna), as well as broaderconference-related logistics and communications promoting broad participation in the (online and in-person) conferences. This project also allowed for increasing targeted outreach and dissemination of ICABR conference results through a new newsletter established through this grant (ICABR Quarterly); this newsletter has continued since the end of the grant period. Ultimately the information generated through the ICABR conference, webinars, and online newsletter seek to directly help U.S. farmers and agribusinesses in their efforts to enhance productivity and improve efficiency, and also help guide USDA and others in developing science, technology, and trade policies that improve productivity and earnings in U.S. agriculture. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training activities in the final reporting period include support for four US graduate students and four US undergraduate students to travel and present their research at the in-person ICABR conference held in Bologna, Italy in Summer 2022. Professional development activities resulting in increased knowledge and skills include participation in the conferences and and associated meetings / dinners / seminars for these students, as well as support for other junior scholars listed under major activities. The new newsletter of the ICABR, established through this grant, also continues to provide regular updates to readers on current professional openings, fellowships, and other opportunities in the bioeconomy field both in the US and globally. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The information generated through the ICABR conferences, webinars, and online newsletter have sought to directly help U.S. farmers and agribusinesses in their efforts to enhance productivity and improve efficiency, and also help guide USDA and others in developing science, technology, and trade policies that improve productivity and earnings in U.S. agriculture. Funding in the 2020-2022 grant period was used to support prominent speakers from academia and industry, promote broad participation in ICABR conferences (one online, one hybrid, and one in-person) including targeted efforts to recruit and engage junior scholars and scholars from under-represented groups, to develop the new ICABR website for conference recruiting and results-sharing, and to support targeted outreach and dissemination of conference results through the ICABR website as well as a new newsletter established through this grant (ICABR Quarterly). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: Promote the ICABR conference broadly to and expand the participation of U.S. experts, research institutes, agricultural industries, policymakers, and young scholars working on the conference themes of bioeconomy sciences, economics, and policy. Following the successful 2020 (online) ICABR conference and the 2021 (hybrid) ICABR conference, the long-awaited in-person 2022 ICABR conference in Bologna, Italy featured keynote speakers by Richard J. Roberts of CSO New England Biolabs on the topic "Combatting Hunger and Climate Change with Biotechnology"; Jutta Roosen, Chair of Marketing and Consumer Research at Technical University Munich speaking on "Attention-driven Food Choice for Healthier Cereal Options"; and Richard Sexton, University of California, Davis speaking on "Implications of the Increasing Importance of Credence Attributes in the Food Supply Chain." Additionally, a pre-conference workshop discussed trends in regulatory harmonization in the bioeconomy, and six conference panels and 22 parallel sessions, both in-person and hybrid, covered a range of scientific, economic, and policy topics, including: Innovation, Climate Change and the Bioeconomy (Moderator: Davide Viaggi); The Future of Food Systems Research (Moderator: Regina Birnir); Opportunities to Advance a Circular Bioeconomy (Moderator: Carl Pray); and The War in Ukraine - Implications for Agricultural and Energy Markets (Moderator: Justus Wesseler) Objective 2: Recruit leading international scientists, economists and practitioners from academia and industry to help obtain the latest insights in the biological sciences and economics via keynote addresses, plenary panel discussions and informal interaction with all participants. Throughout the full grant period progress towards this objective was made through both online / hybrid / in-person conferences and through continuing a series of online webinars sharing the perspectives of top scholars with the broader ICABR community. Objective 3: Promote participation among young scholars, including low-income scholars and students otherwise unable to attend an international research conference, with particular emphasis on women and under-represented groups. In the final reporting period we specifically recruited participation among young scholars (with support from this grant) including 4 US graduate students and 4 US undergraduate students provided travel support, and more than 50 junior scholars receiving waivers for the online registration fee for the hybrid conference. Objective 4: Disseminate conference results broadly among participants and the global agricultural research and economic development community. The information generated through the ICABR conference, webinars, and online newsletter seek to directly help U.S. farmers and agribusinesses in their efforts to enhance productivity and improve efficiency, and also help guide USDA and others in developing science, technology, and trade policies that improve productivity and earnings in U.S. agriculture. Funding in the full 2020-2022 reporting period was used to support prominent speakers from academia and industry and conference-related logistics and communications promoting broad participation in the (online/hybrid/in-person) conferences, deployment of the fully redesigned ICABR website for conference recruiting and results sharing, as well as targeted outreach and dissemination of conference results through the newsletter established through this grant (ICABR Quarterly). Recordings from all three conferences are available via the ICABR website.
Publications
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Progress 05/01/21 to 04/30/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The International Consortium on Applied Bioeconomy Research (ICABR) Annual Conference focuses on the latest economics and agribusiness research on innovations for food, agriculture, and biofuels, and the policies that determine their use and impact. Consistent with AFRI Priority Area 6. Agriculture economics and rural communities, and Program Area Priority b. Economics, Markets, and Trade (A1641), the overall goal of the ICABR meeting is to identify policies, regulations and institutions that can stimulate sustainable growth of the bioeconomy in the U.S. and worldwide. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic the 2020 ICABR Conference was fully online (details previously reported). In this reporting period the subsequent 2021 ICABR Conference was held in a hybrid format (in person for European colleagues in Ravello, Italy, but online for most other participants). Conference grant funds during this reporting perios were thus used to support prominent speakers from academia and industry (online speakers at the hybrid conference), provide support for students (including waived online conference registrations for over 50 junior scholars in 2021), and conference-related logistics and communications promoting broad participation in the (online and hybrid) conference itself, as well as targeted outreach and dissemination of conference results through a new newsletter established through this grant (ICABR Quarterly).The information generated through the ICABR conference, webinars, and online newsletter seek to directly help U.S. farmers and agribusinesses in their efforts to enhance productivity and improve efficiency, and also help guide USDA and others in developing science, technology, and trade policies that improve productivity and earnings in U.S. agriculture. Changes/Problems:Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic many activities for this reporting period were again online. As a result we were unable to spend much of the budget which largely focuses on travel-related costs for promoting in-person conference attendance by bioeconomy scholars and students. We are proceeding with a previous no-cost extension to apply these funds to future ICABR meetings and webinars, in the hopes that travel will soon again be possible. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Professional development activities resulting in increased knowledge and skills include participation in the online / hybrid conference for junior scholars receiving registration waivers, as well as the other participants listed under major activities. The new newsletter of the ICABR, established through this grant, also continues to provide regular updates to readers on current professional openings, fellowships, and other opportunities in the bioeconomy field. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?As noted previously under Objective 4, the information generated through the ICABR conference, webinars, and online newsletter seek to directly help U.S. farmers and agribusinesses in their efforts to enhance productivity and improve efficiency, and also help guide USDA and others in developing science, technology, and trade policies that improve productivity and earnings in U.S. agriculture. Funding in the 2021-22 reporting period was used to: (i) support prominent speakers from academia and industry and conference-related logistics and communications promoting broad participation in the (online) conference itself (including targeted efforts to recruit and engage scholars from under-represented groups); (ii) deploy the fully redesigned new ICABR website for conference recruiting and results-sharing; and (iii) engage in targeted outreach and dissemination of conference results through the ICABR website as well as a second year of publication of a new newsletter established through this grant (ICABR Quarterly). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?As many activities for the current reporting period were once again online due to the continuing Covid-19 pandemic, a large portion of the budget remains (unused travel funds). In the next reporting period we plan to continue with online webinars and planning for the next (26th) ICABR Conference, including travel support for top scholars and a diverse group of participants to the degree that conditions allow.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: Promote the ICABR conference broadly to and expand the participation of U.S. experts, research institutes, agricultural industries, policymakers, and young scholars working on the conference themes of bioeconomy sciences, economics, and policy. The 2021 ICABR Conference saw participation by over 200 scholars and practitioners through a hybrid in-person and online conference based in Ravello, Italy. Keynote speakers included Ramanan Laxminarayan, Founder and Director of the Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics & Policy; Joachim von Braun, Chair of the UN Food Systems Summit Group of Scientists; Chris Barrett, Professor of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University; and Caixia Gao, Principal Investigator of the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. An international panel chaired by Hans Hogeveen, Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the UN Organizations for Food and Agriculture, international experts discussed the societal challenges facing the UN Food Systems Summit. Additionally, over two dozen conference panels and parallel sessions, both in-person and online, covered a range of scientific, economic, and policy topics, including: Fostering Innovations to Strengthen Resiliency for Sustainable Agriculture Intensification (Moderator: Ruben Echevarria) featuring Uma Lele, David Shearer, Mauricio Lopes, Jennifer Baarn, Sara Mbago Frontiers of Science & Technology in China (Moderator: Carl Pray) featuring Ren Wang, Long Zhao, Jiaqing Gong, Jikun Huang Future Directions of the Food System (Moderator: Yael Rubinstein) featuring Romina Cavatassi, Koen Deconinck, Caterina Ruggeri Laderchi , Jose Rosero Moncayo, Sara Savastano, Tom Reardon. Objective 2: Recruit leading international scientists, economists and practitioners from academia and industry to help obtain the latest insights in the biological sciences and economics via keynote addresses, plenary panel discussions and informal interaction with all participants. Progress towards this objective was made through both the hybrid conference and through continuing a series of online webinars sharing the perspectives of top scholars with the broader ICABR community. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic the project team and the ICABR Board elected to offer a hybrid conference in 2021. With the theme "Roles of the Bioeconomy in Resilience and Sustainable Development", there were over 200 participants either in person or online, as well as keynotes by prominent bioeconomy scholars and scientists as listed above. Objective 3: Promote participation among young scholars, including low-income scholars and students otherwise unable to attend an international research conference, with particular emphasis on women and under-represented groups. In the reporting period we specifically recruited participation among young scholars (with support from this grant). Recruitment was done through online advertising and an online application system (based on the Qualtrics platform) developed at the University of Vermont, and more than 50 junior scholars received waivers for the online registration fee for the hybrid conference. Objective 4: Disseminate conference results broadly among participants and the global agricultural research and economic development community. The information generated through the ICABR conference, webinars, and online newsletter seek to directly help U.S. farmers and agribusinesses in their efforts to enhance productivity and improve efficiency, and also help guide USDA and others in developing science, technology, and trade policies that improve productivity and earnings in U.S. agriculture. Funding in the 2021-22 reporting period was used to support prominent speakers from academia and industry and conference-related logistics and communications promoting broad participation in the (hybrid) conference itself, deployment of the fully redesigned ICABR website for conference recruiting and results sharing, as well as targeted outreach and dissemination of conference results through the newsletter established through this grant (ICABR Quarterly). Recordings from the 2021 confernece, along with speakers' presentations are available via the ICABR website.
Publications
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
https://icabr.net/
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
ICABR Quarterly: The Quarterly Newsletter of the ICABR. (2022). https://icabr.net/most-recent-newsletter/
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Progress 05/01/20 to 04/30/21
Outputs
Target Audience:The International Consortium for Applied Bioeconomy Research (ICABR) Annual Conference focuses on the latest economics and agribusiness research on innovations for food, agriculture, and biofuels, and the policies that determine their use and impact. Consistent with AFRI Priority Area 6. Agriculture economics and rural communities, and Program Area Priority b. Economics, Markets, and Trade (A1641), the overall goal of the ICABR meeting is to identify policies, regulations and institutions that can stimulate sustainable growth of the bioeconomy in the U.S. and worldwide. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic there was no in-person ICABR Conference in the reporting period as originally planned, however the project team and the ICABR Board were able to pivot to a fully online conference, along with a series of smaller online symposia sharing expert knowledge and opinions relating to the bioeconomy. As a result, funding in the 2021 reporting period was used to support prominent speakers from academia and industry (online speakers at the conference and associate online webinars), support for students (including waived online conference registrations for 28 junior scholars), and conference-related logistics and communications promoting broad participation in the (online) conference itself, as well as targeted outreach and dissemination of conference results through a new newsletter established through this grant (ICABR Quarterly). The information generated through the ICABR conference, webinars, and online newsletter seek to directly help U.S. farmers and agribusinesses in their efforts to enhance productivity and improve efficiency, and also help guide USDA and others in developing science, technology, and trade policies that improve productivity and earnings in U.S. agriculture. Changes/Problems:Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic all activities for the reporting period were moved online. As a result we were unable to spend much of the budget which largely focuses on travel-related costs for promoting in-person conference attendance by bioeconomy scholars and students. We are requesting a no-cost extension to apply these funds to future ICABR meetings and webinars, in the hopes that travel will soon again be possible. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Training activities in the present reporting period include support for three graduate students participating in design and implementation of ICABR conference-related recruiting materials (including use of the conference management software ConfTool, as well as developing a LimeSurvey-based recruitment tool for outreach to under-represented scholars) and online web materials (developing and deploying a new online conference system via Zoom). Professional development activities resulting in increased knowledge and skills include participation in the online conferences and webinars for these students, as well as the other participants listed under major activities. The new newsletter of the ICABR, established through this grant, also provides regular updates to readers on current professional openings, fellowships, and other opportunities in the bioeconomy field. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?As noted previously under Objective 4, the information generated through the ICABR conference, webinars, and online newsletter seek to directly help U.S. farmers and agribusinesses in their efforts to enhance productivity and improve efficiency, and also help guide USDA and others in developing science, technology, and trade policies that improve productivity and earnings in U.S. agriculture. Funding in the 2021 reporting period was used to: (i) support prominent speakers from academia and industry and conference-related logistics and communications promoting broad participation in the (online) conference itself (including targeted efforts to recruit and engage scholars from under-represented groups); (ii) develop the new ICABR website for conference recruiting and results-sharing; and (iii) engage in targeted outreach and dissemination of conference results through the ICABR website as well as a new newsletter established through this grant (ICABR Quarterly). What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?As all activities for the current reporting period were moved online due to Covid-19, a large portion of the budget remains (unused travel funds). In the next reporting period we plan to continue with online webinars and planning for the next (25th) ICABR Conference, including travel support for top scholars and a diverse group of participants to the degree that conditions allow.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Objective 1: Promote the ICABR conference broadly to and expand the participation of U.S. experts, research institutes, agricultural industries, policymakers, and young scholars working on the conference themes of bioeconomy sciences, economics, and policy. The 2020 ICABR Conference successfully recruited over 300 applicants for scholars to share their research in the bioeconomy fields, with just over 100 accepted for oral presentations. Keynote and plenary speakers included Carl Pray, President of the International Consortium on Applied Bioeconomy Research; Luis Basterra, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of Argentina; Sergio Busso, Secretary of Agriculture and Livestock of the province of Córdoba, Argentina; and Manuel Otero, Director General of IICA, as well as Bruno Prosdocimi Nunes, General Coordinator of Bioeconomics at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Brazil; Wálter Oyhantcabal and Carolina Balian, of the Sustainability and Climate Change Unit of the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries (MGAP) of Uruguay; Marcelo Eduardo Alos, Secretary of Food, Bioeconomy and Regional Development of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of Argentina; Mabel Gisela Torres Torres, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation of Colombia; and Federico Torres Carballo, Deputy Minister of Science, Technology and Telecommunications of Costa Rica. Objective 2: Recruit leading international scientists, economists and practitioners from academia and industry to help obtain the latest insights in the biological sciences and economics via keynote addresses, plenary panel discussions and informal interaction with all participants. Progress towards this objective was made through both the online conference and through the series of online webinars sharing the perspectives of top scholars with the broader ICABR community. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic the project team and the ICABR Board shifted to a fully online conference, along with a series of smaller online symposia sharing expert knowledge and opinions relating to the bioeconomy. The 24th ICABR conference (originally planned for Córdoba Argentina) took place virtually in October 2020 with the theme "Accelerating Innovations for the Bioeconomy: Applied Research, Policy Change and Economic Growth", with support from international partner institutions including the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in Latin America. There were 20 panels and 85 papers, as well as keynotes by prominent bioeconomy scholars and scientists as listed above. Objective 3: Promote participation among young scholars, including low-income scholars and students otherwise unable to attend an international research conference, with particular emphasis on women and under-represented groups. In the reporting period we specifically recruited participation among young scholars (with support from this grant) and African scholars (with support from additional sponsorship funding from the UM6P system in Morocco). Recruitment was done through online advertising and an online application system (based on the LimeSurvey platform) developed at the University of Vermont - in total 104 applications were received. In the end, as all conference activities were moved fully online and the conference registration fee reduced to zero due to the Covid-19 pandemic, no travel awards were granted in the reporting period. Nevertheless this recruiting effort served to increase ICABR's direct outreach and engagement with these groups of under-represented scholars. Objective 4: Disseminate conference results broadly among participants and the global agricultural research and economic development community. The information generated through the ICABR conference, webinars, and online newsletter seek to directly help U.S. farmers and agribusinesses in their efforts to enhance productivity and improve efficiency, and also help guide USDA and others in developing science, technology, and trade policies that improve productivity and earnings in U.S. agriculture. Funding in the 2021 reporting period was used to support prominent speakers from academia and industry and conference-related logistics and communications promoting broad participation in the (online) conference itself, development of a new ICABR website for conference recruiting and results-sharing, as well as targeted outreach and dissemination of conference results through a new newsletter established through this grant (ICABR Quarterly). All sessions from the 2020 ICABR conference were broadcasted live (Spanish and English) and the recordings, along with speakers' presentations are available via the ICABR and IICA websites. In Summer 2020 the ICABR also co-organised a set of six online (free and open to the public) webinars related to the ICABR 2020 conference, with links to recordings of these sessions provided in the new ICABR newsletter.
Publications
- Type:
Websites
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
https://icabr.net/
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2021
Citation:
ICABR Quarterly: The Quarterly Newsletter of the ICABR. (2021). https://icabr.net/most-recent-newsletter/
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