The two-day seminar ‘Small Farms: decline or persistence?’ was held on 26 and 27th June at the University of Kent, Canterbury. The seminar was jointly organised by the Centre for European Agri-environmental Studies (CEAS) at the School of Economics, the European Association of Agricultural Economists (EAAE) and the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE). The seminar raised big interest in academics from all over the world and representatives of international organisations – the EU, OECD, FAO and the World Bank. It attracted nearly 90 delegates from 26 countries, presenting more than 60 papers in the plenary, contributed papers and posters sessions. Julia Goodfellow – Vice Chancellor of the University of Kent, David Colman – President Elect of the International Association of Agricultural Economists, Csaba Forgacs – Former President of the European Association of Agricultural Economists and Sophia Davidova – Honorary Director of CEAS welcomed the participants.
The event proved a timely opportunity to re-consider recent evidence of the multiple roles – economic, social and environmental – of small farms in developed, transition and developing countries.
Selected papers will be published in Agricultural Economics, the journal of the International Association of Agricultural Economists, in a special issue devoted to the seminar.
The seminar benefitted from the sponsorship of the International Association of Agricultural Economists, supporting the participation of academics from low-income countries.