"I am interested in further developing the network"

Nadja El Benni has been a member of Agroscope's Executive Board since 2017, where she heads the "Sustainability Assessment and Agricultural Management" research division. Prior to this, she worked at FiBL as a scientist in the area of food policy. She is also currently President of the Swiss Society for Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology (SGA).

What connects you with FiBL?

I got to know FiBL while studying agricultural economics at ETH in a course on the evaluation of agricultural policies with Mathias Stolze, who was head of the FiBL Department of Socioeconomics (now the Department of Food System Sciences) at the time. I was very pleased when I was given the opportunity to conduct research on food policy in this very department in 2016. During my short but intense time at FiBL, I worked on various projects using very different methods, from analysing consumer decisions in China and India to developing an organic action plan for the canton of Aargau. I have very fond memories of that time, especially of my colleagues, with whom I am still in contact today.

What have you and FiBL achieved together?

In one of my roles at Agroscope, I am particularly interested in maintaining and developing the network of agricultural economics and agricultural sociological research in Switzerland. The most important platform for this network is the Society for Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology (SGA), which I currently chair. The board of the SGA is made up of representatives from ETH, Agroscope, FiBL, HAFL, Agridea, FOAG and the current implementing partner Biovision. Together, we want to further develop applicable knowledge in the SGA's thematic fields, shape the scientific discourse between national and international researchers, and promote exchange and dialogue between science, economics, administration, education and consulting. The SGA also specifically promotes young scientists, for example by supporting the Swiss PhD Seminar in Agricultural Economics initiated in 2020 by ETH, Agroscope, FiBL and the University of Geneva.

We have celebrated many joint successes in recent years. For example, organising the SGA Annual Conference in 2022 at the new FiBL premises in Frick, the special issue "Evidence-Based Agricultural and Food Policy - Role of Research for Policy Making" (see below) jointly launched by ETH, Agroscope and FiBL, which was published in 2023 in the Journal Q Open of the European Association of Agricultural Economists, and holding the first PhD seminar at FiBL in Frick.  

When you look to the future, what would you like to see from FiBL?

FiBL is one of the key partners in the SGA network with a very broad portfolio of topics and its specific expertise in the field of organic farming. Compared to other countries, agricultural economics and agricultural sociological research in Switzerland is only carried out by a few research institutions. Close co-operation is therefore all the more important. I am very much looking forward to working in this network in the coming years and developing it further together with FiBL. I would also be very pleased about future joint research projects!

Further information

Link

academic.oup.com: Special Issue "Evidence-Based Agricultural and Food Policy - Role of Research for Policy Making"