To ensure agriculture’s role as part of the solution to the challenges facing humanity, it is crucial to support small-scale farmers, foster cooperation among various stakeholders and improve access to technologies and the quality of life of rural communities. This was the consensus reached by participants in a discussion on the future of agriculture, which was held at the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA).

In recognition of his more than thirty-five years devoted to global agrifood trade issues, Marcos Jank, Senior Professor of Agribusiness at INSPER and Coordinator of Insper Agro Global, was conferred with the title of “IICA Chair” by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), during the annual meeting of its Executive Committee in Costa Rica.

A free, transparent international trade based on rules and science is indispensable for ensuring global food security and mitigating the imbalances between the natural resources available in different regions of the world, experts warned during a panel on the global agricultural trade situation and the positioning of the continent’s countries. The debate took place within the framework of the 44th meeting of the Executive Committee of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), the governing body of the organization, which meets for two days with the presence of Agriculture Ministers of the Americas and other high-ranking sector officials.

“The next 25 years will be the most important in the history of agriculture. Therefore, we must take the right actions and if we succeed during that period, we will be all right forever”.