This Jean Monnet Europa Policy Lab is presented with the support of the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union.

The European Union’s agricultural policy has been significantly reformed over the last three decades. In the past, it was causing major distortions in the world market. After a series of reforms, the Common Agricultural Policy is now considerably less distorting in international trade. The reforms undertaken have implications for the prospects of reaching consensus between Australia and the EU on a Free Trade Agreement. In comparison with agricultural reform in the Antipodes and North America, EU reforms have evolved differently. In parallel with these developments, new issues have emerged on the food policy agenda. Sustainable food (including organics), Geographical Names (Indications) and farm support linked to landscape services are examples of the new issues in agri-food policymaking which have become increasingly important in debates on the direction of future food policy.

Program

10am: Registration
10.30am: The Changed Architecture on the EU’s Agricultural Policy and Implications for a Free Trade Agreement with Australia (Carsten Daugbjerg)
12pm: Lunch
12.45pm: Panel – New Issues in Food and Agricultural Policy (Carsten Daugbjerg, Geoff Cockfield, Hazel Moir)
1.45pm: Afternoon tea
2.00pm: Discussion

Speakers

Carsten Daugbjerg is a Political Scientist and Professor of Agricultural and Food Policy at the University of Copenhagen. He is an Honorary Professor at The Australian National University and co-editor of the Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning. His research focuses on agricultural policy reform, agricultural trade negotiations in the World Trade Organization, public and private food standards in global trade, government interest group relations and environmental policy (focusing in particular on agri-environmental regulation, organic food policies and biofuels policy). In parallel with his academic career, Professor Daugbjerg has been an organic beef and wheat farmer in Denmark and a reserve officer in the Danish Royal Guards.

Geoff Cockfield is Professor in Government and Economics at the University of Southern Queensland. His research interests include rural politics and policy, natural resources management and policy and climate change adaptation and policy. Prior to his academic career he worked in agricultural industries and then rural journalism. Recently, he was a Core Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Kansas State University. He is Executive Director (Acting) of the Institute for Resilient Regions and Director of the Centre for Sustainable Agricultural Systems.

Hazel Moir is Adjunct Associate Professor at the ANU Centre for European Studies. Since 2004 her main interest has been the patent system, particularly its economic impact. Her work on patent systems has extended to trade treaties, particularly the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) and European bilateral treaties. In the context of EU treaties she has done in-depth work on Geographical Indications (GIs). She is currently running an EU-funded project designed to identify and assess all the available empirical material on the real-world impact of GI labelling.