OECD Global Forum on Agriculture 2021 - Participants List

OECD Global Forum on Agriculture 2021: Policies for a more resilient agro-food sector 8-9 June 2021 | Virtual conference

13h00-13h10

Opening remarks

OECD Deputy Secretary General Masamichi Kono Mr Masamichi Kono was appointed Deputy Secretary-General in August 2017. His portfolio includes the strategic direction of the OECD policy on Environment, Financial and Enterprise Affairs, Tax, Trade and Agriculture. He oversaw the horizontal project on Sustainable Infrastructure Investment and currently oversees the horizontal project on Climate and Economic Resilience. He also represents the OECD at the Financial Stability Board.

13h10-14h15 Session 1: How can policies drive improvements in agricultural resilience?

Casper Holl, Head of Unit, European, International and Agro-economic Department, Ministry for Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, The Netherlands Before joining the Ministry for Agriculture in 2017, Casper Holl worked for the Dutch Ministries of Finance and Foreign Affairs and the Dutch embassies in Kiev and Paris. As an international economist, diplomat and policy maker, he has worked on wide range of topics, from the EU budget negotiations to technical assistance to third countries and from global anti money laundering standards to Brexit. The policy challenges of balancing public and private interests in the transition towards a more sustainable society are important driving forces for him, especially in his current role. Casper studied international economics and political economy in Maastricht and Washington DC. Jonathan Brooks, Head of the Agriculture and Resource Policies Division, Trade and Agriculture Directorate, OECD Jonathan Brooks joined OECD in 1999 and is head of the Agriculture and Resource Policy Division in the OECD’s Trade and Agriculture Directorate, which produces the annual Agricultural Monitoring and Evaluation and biennial Review of Fisheries and conducts analysis of how government policies can improve the productivity, sustainability and resilience of the agricultural sector. He has a PhD in Agricultural Economics from the University of California, Davis.

Ciaran Devlin, Head of Evidence and Analysis, Future Farming & Countryside Programme, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, The UK Ciaran Devlin leads a multi-disciplinary team of scientists, economists, social researchers and data scientists to develop the analytical and scientific underpinning for a new system of domestic support for agriculture in England.

The agricultural transition in England involves gradual withdrawal of direct subsidy over 7 years, supporting farmers to increase productivity, and pivoting towards paying farmers for the provision of environmental public goods on their land to meet government objectives on climate change and the environment. Before joining Defra, Ciaran worked as a UK government economist on a range of domestic policy areas including four years at the Prime Minister’s Implementation Unit in the Cabinet Office.

Dhanush Dinesh, Head of Partnerships and Outreach, CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) Dhanush Dinesh leads the cross-cutting Learning Platform on Partnerships and Capacity for Scaling Climate-Smart Agriculture, and the CCAFS Program Management Unit office at Wageningen University and Research. Prior to joining CCAFS, Dhanush worked as the Coordinator of the Plan Vivo Foundation, managing an international certification scheme for community-based Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES).

His previous work experience includes roles within the private sector, NGOs, and the UN system, in China, India, Thailand, and the UK. He has worked on a range of issues including forestry, environmental policy, climate change adaptation, and advocacy, at the national, regional, and global levels.

Corina Jordan, General Manager for the North Island Extension Programme, Beef + Lamb New Zealand Corina Jordan is the Beef + Lamb NZ lead on delivering the He Waka Eke Noa, the New Zealand government and agricultural industry partnership on addressing greenhouse gas emissions on farms focused on farm mitigation through extension.

From 2016, Corina was the Environmental Strategy Manager for Beef + Lamb NZ and led the development of the Beef + Lamb NZ’s new farm plan aimed at helping farmers improve their business and environmental resilience. Prior to joining Beef + Lamb NZ Corina spent 8 years working on environmental management issues for Fish and Game NZ.

Miranda Meuwissen, Coordinator H2020 SURE-Farm project on resilience of EU farming systems Miranda Meuwissen is professor of risk management and resilience in food supply chains at the Business Economics group of Wageningen University, the Netherlands.

She is a senior scientist of Wageningen Graduate School of Social Sciences and coordinates the H2020 SURE-Farm project on resilience of EU farming systems.

14h15 – 15h30 Session 2: Launch of the OECD/FAO report Building agricultural resilience to natural hazard-induced disasters: Insights from country case studies Graziella Romito, Director of International Relations, Ministry of Agricultural Food and Forestry Policies, Italy Graziella Romito has worked for the Italian Government since 1999. Currently she is the Chair of the G20 Agriculture Deputies under the G20 Italian Presidency. Graziella contributes to defining the Italian position on agricultural policies and represents the Ministry at high-level meetings of the OECD, FAO, G20, G7, WTO, and European Institutions. She has provided technical and political advice in several cooperation projects (Tunisia, Israel, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Colombia, Mozambique, and Egypt). From 2009-2014, she held the position of Director of Rural Development and from 19992009, she was the Administrative Director of the Experimental Oenology Institute of Asti. Graziella has a Master’s Degree in Law (University of Siena) and a Master in Performing Arts (University of Urbino).

Emily Gray, Agriculture Policy Analyst, OECD Emily Gray is a lead on the risk and resilience work. Since joining the OECD in 2015, Emily has worked on a range of issues including projects on digital and agriculture, innovation systems in food and agriculture, and reviews of policies to improve agricultural productivity and sustainability in OECD countries and Southeast Asia.

Prior to joining the OECD, Emily was at the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Sciences (ABARES) where she carried out economic analysis and policy research on agricultural productivity and biosecurity policy. Emily has a PhD in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Sydney.

Tamara van ‘t Wout leads and provides technical backstopping support to projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Tamara engages in project design, formulation and management; monitoring and evaluation; conducting research and policy analysis; and developing and conducting capacity building trainings. Prior to FAO, Tamara worked for several NGOs. Tamara has a master’s degrees in international relations and food security.

Alev Adıgüzel, Section Manager, Water Allocations Branch, Basin Management Department, Directorate General for Water Management, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Turkey Alev Adıgüzel currently manages a team reponsible for sectoral water allocation planning on a basin and sub-basin basis and following the implementation of these plans. Her expertise includes water efficiency and tendering for EU Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance projects. Alev is a qualified environmental engineer.

Oscar Bustamante Cuevas, Emergency Section and Agricultural Risk Management, Institutional Management Deparment, Ministry of Agriculture, Chile Oscar Bustamante Cuevas has extensive experience in geographic information systems, remote sensing and data and information management applied in the context of emergencies and disasters. He is the FAO contact working on the development of damage and loss indicators associated with agricultural activity through the Southern Agricultural Council. Oscar is responsible for completing the table of Underlying Risk Factors coordinated by Chile’s National Office of Emergency (ONEMI) on behalf of the Ministry for Agriculture as well as for completing tables on the following risk variables: volcanic, mass removal, tsunamis and hazardous materials. He is a qualified agricultural engineer, specialized in vegetables and flowers and has undertaken studies in Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management Japan.

Chris Carson, Agriculture Counsellor, New Zealand Permanent Mission in Brussels Chris Carson works on agricultural (and other primary industries) issues, especially those affecting New Zealand’s global and bilateral trading relationships, and issues such as climate change and sustainability. He works with counterparts in the EU Commission, across the EU Member States, and in the OECD and other international organisations.

Prior to taking up his current role Chris was Director of International Policy in the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) in New Zealand, and part of the senior leadership team of the Policy and Trade branch. The Directorate’s responsibilities include trade and international environment issues (including climate change negotiations and the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases). The Policy and Trade branch covered all agricultural policy including water and environmental policy, climate change, and frameworks for responding to adverse events. Chris has also worked as a Counsellor in the Agriculture and Commodities Division of the WTO, and at the OECD.

Jan Lewandrowski, Senior Economist, USDA Office of Energy and Environmental Policy (OEEP) Jan Lewandrowski’s duties include evaluating options to reduce farm sector GHG emissions and increase carbon sequestration in terrestrial sinks, developing long-run projections of land use change and net emissions from the agricultural and forest sectors, and assessing the potential roles of agriculture, forestry and bio-energy in addressing climate change goals. Previously, Jan spent 15 years with USDA’s Economic Research Service analyzing economic issues at the interface of natural resources and agriculture.

Jan has a PhD in resource economics from North Carolina State University.

OECD Global Forum on Agriculture 2021

Tamara Van ‘t Wout, Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation Specialist, FAO

Dr Josephat Peter, STATE Veterinarian and Acting Chief Veterinarian North, Namibia As the Chief Veterinarian North Dr Peter is responsible for ensuring that the provisions of Namibia’s Animal Health Act are being complied with and initiates actions when provisions are contravened. Dr Peter leads the planning and implementation of animal disease control strategies and eradication programmes for animal diseases of economic and public health significance. He oversees clinical outreach, detection and investigation, prevention, control, surveillance and where appropriate eradication of animal diseases. A trained veterinarian Dr Peter has undertaken extensive post graduate studies including in disease outbreak management and regionalization.

Ritsuko Yoneda, Director for the OECD, International Affairs Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan Born and raised in Japan, Ritsuko Yoneda joined the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in 1999. With over 20 years of experience, she has engaged in crops, fisheries and livestock policies. In the International Affairs Department, she contributes to various international fora including OECD, G7, G20 and the Global Forum for Food and Agriculture.

In 2019, she was actively engaged to the G20 Niigata Agricultural Ministers Meeting under the Japanese presidency. Specialized in international law and political science, she holds a Masters of Arts in Law and Diplomacy in the Fletcher School of Tufts University, and a Bachelor of Law in Kyoto University.

Raffaella Zucaro, Senior Researcher, Council for Agricultural Reseach (CREA), Centre for Politics and Bioeconomy, Italy Raffaella Zucaro works on topics related to water resources for agriculture, agriculture and water policies, water management, and public irrigation investments. She also acts as coordinator for numerous national (including institutional) and international projects on water in agriculture and is the author of several articles and publications in this field. Raffaella holds a PhD in Environmental and Food Resources Economics from the Parthenope University of Naples.

13h00-14h15

Session 3: Improving the policy toolkit for agricultural risk management Jesús Antón, Senior Economist, OECD Jesús Antón currently leads the work on agricultural policy reviews and productivitysustainability-resilience performance in the OECD. From 2014-2017 he led the Platform for Agricultural Risk Management in the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD). He previously led the development of the OECD holistic framework for agricultural risk management, undertaking related modeling analysis, country studies and research on climate change and on animal diseases. He has also worked and published on other areas such as decoupled payments, policy impact assessment and trade. He has a PhD from the University of Madrid, an MSc in Economics from the London School of Economic and a master’s from the College of Europe.

Katherine Baldwin, Research Agricultural Economist, Market and Trade Economics Division, USDA Economics Research Service Katherine Baldwin specializes in policy analysis, with a particular focus on resilience.

Before rejoining ERS in 2021, Katherine worked as a Policy Analyst at the OECD in the area of risk and resilience, including as an author of the reports Strengthening Agricultural Resilience in the Face of Multiple Risks and Building Agricultural Resilience to Natural Hazard-Induced Disasters: Insights from Country Case Studies, as well as the OECD Food, Agriculture and Fisheries Working Paper, “Design Principles for Agricultural Risk Management Policies.” Prior to her work at the OECD, Katherine held positions at the FAO in Rome and the US International Trade Commission in Washington. Throughout her career, Katherine’s work has covered various issues related to agriculture, including risk management, taxation, agricultural statistics, food loss and waste, trade competitiveness, trade facilitation, and commodity outlook and analysis.

Joe Glauber is also Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Prior to joining IFPRI, Glauber spent over 30 years at the U.S. Department of Agriculture including as Chief Economist from 2008-2014. As Chief Economist, he was responsible for the Department’s agricultural forecasts and projections, oversaw climate, energy and regulatory issues, and served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation.

From 2007-2009, Dr Glauber was the Special Doha Agricultural Envoy at the office of the U.S. Trade Representative where he served as chief agricultural negotiator in the Doha talks. He served as economic adviser at the so-called Blair House agreements leading to the completion of the Uruguay Round negotiations and was senior economist for agriculture at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. He is the author of numerous studies on crop insurance, agricultural policy, and agricultural trade issues.

Dr Glauber received his PhD in agricultural economics from the University of Wisconsin in 1984 and holds an AB in anthropology from the University of Chicago. In 2012, he was elected Fellow of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

Arup Chatterjee, Principal Financial Sector Specialist, Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department, Asian Development Bank Arup Chatterjee is responsible for leading financial sector development initiatives and providing operational support in financial sector reform and development, regulatory and supervisory oversight architecture, insurance, and Fintech. As the focal point for insurance, he has advised on disaster risk financing, agriculture insurance, health insurance, pensions and social security reforms, and Takaful (a type of Islamic insurance) in Asian, African, and Latin American countries. He has served with the International Association of Insurance Supervisors at the Bank for International Settlements, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, and the Ministry of Finance for the Government of India.

Francesco Del Bianco, Director General, Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food, Canada Francesco Del Bianco is responsible for the design of business risk management programs that provide agriculture producers several billion dollars in annual support to manage market and production risks that threaten the viability of their operations. He has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Western Ontario and a Master of Science in Administration from the École des Hautes Études Commerciales, Montréal.

Céline Ollier, Senior Auditor, European Court of Auditors Céline Ollier has had the role of team leader for several performance audits focused on the European Common Agricultural Policy including the ECA’s audit report on risk management in the CAP released in December 2019.

Mrs Ollier received her master’s degree in agronomy from the ENSAIA in Nancy in 2001.

In 2017, she obtained a master’s degree in the audit of organisations and public policies from the University of Lorraine.

14h15-15h15

Session 4: What are the lessons from COVID-19 for food systems resilience?

Lee Ann Jackson, Head of the Agro-Food Trade and Markets Divisions, Trade and Agriculture Directorate, OECD Lee Ann Jackson leads the work examining the links between policies and outcomes on food and agricultural markets, including specific analysis related to modelling medium term outlook for commodity markets, understanding policies from a food systems perspective, and enhancing the transparency and predictability of agricultural trade. Lee Ann has over 20 years of experience working in the area of trade and agriculture, including 16 years working at the WTO, where she served as the Secretary to the Committee on Agriculture, advising WTO member countries on issues related to agricultural trade policy and multilateral negotiations.

OECD Global Forum on Agriculture 2021

Joe Glauber, Senior Research Fellow, International Food Policy Research Institute

Preeti Ahuja, Practice Manager of the Latin America and the Caribbean Region, Agriculture and Food Practice, World Bank Group Preeti Ahuja manages a team of experts supporting clients through analytics, financing, and partnerships, leveraging global best practices and knowhow. Previously, she was the Practice Manager for Global Engagements, Strategy and Operations in the Agriculture Global Practice.

Before joining the Agriculture Global Practice, Preeti served as Sector Manager of the Development Effectiveness group in the Africa and Middle East and North Africa Regions, respectively, working closely with front-line operational teams and Bank Group management. Prior to joining the Bank, Ms. Ahuja worked with Booz, Allen, Hamilton in Italy and led the Management Reporting Group of a USA leading commercial bank, and has worked with FAO and the Inter-American Development Bank. Preeti holds degrees from Delhi University, Boston University and INSEAD, France.

Eileen Bentley, Head of Client Capability, Bord Bia - The Irish Food Board As a member of the Strategic Insight & Planning team of Bord Bia, Eileen Bentley’s role focuses on bringing world class marketing capability to the Irish food and drink industry in areas such as strategy, customer management and digital marketing. Before joining Bord Bia, Eileen was based in Lausanne Switzerland where she worked as International B2B Communications Manager for Nespresso for three years. Prior to that, Eileen began her marketing career with Sainsbury’s in London as part of their national advertising team.

Eileen holds a BCL Degree in Law from University College Dublin.

Thomas Hertel, Distinguished Professor of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University Professor Hertel’s research and teaching focusses on international trade, food and environmental security. He is a Fellow, and a Past-President, of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA), Fellow of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the founder and Executive Director of the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP). Professor Hertel is the inaugural recipient of the Purdue University Research and Scholarship Distinction Award. He has also received a number of AAEA awards including, Outstanding Graduate Teacher, Publication of Enduring Quality, Distinguished Policy Contribution, Outstanding Journal Article and Quality of Communication. His research is also been recognized by the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Association (Best Journal Article) and the Ecological Society of America (Sustainability Science Award).

Professor Hertel is a contributing scientific expert to Action Track 5 of the United Nations Food System Summit ‘Building resilience to vulnerability, shocks and stresses’.

15h15-15h30

Closing Session Marion Jansen, Director of the Trade and Agriculture Directorate, OECD Marion Jansen previously held appointments as Chief Economist and Director of the Division of Market Development at the International Trade Centre (ITC; 2014-2020), as counsellor in the World Trade Organization (2012-2014; 1999-2009) and as Head of the Trade and Employment Programme in the International Labour Organization (ILO; 20092012). She worked in the private sector (economics consulting) before joining the WTO. Marion holds a PhD in economics from the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Spain) and undergraduate degrees from the Universities of Toulouse (France), Konstanz (Germany) and Passau (Germany). She has lectured at the University of Geneva, the World Trade Institute, the Universitat Pompeu Fabra and the European University on international trade, socioeconomic effects of globalization and managerial economics.

Tetsuo Ushikusa, Deputy Assistant Minister for International Affairs, Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan Since joining the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries in 1987, Tetsuo Ushikusa has been involved in many international agricultural trade negotiations such as WTO, TPP, RCEP and various bilateral negotiations, as well as worked for the domestic departments of the Ministry including Farm Management Bureau, Food Industry Bureau and Food Security Division. As Deputy Assistant Minister, he is responsible for OECD, WTO and G7/G20 issues, and actively contributed to G20 Agriculture Ministers’ Meeting in 2019 as the Chair of its Deputies meetings. He is now serving as the Chair of OECD Committee for Agriculture. He holds B.A. in Agricultural Economics and in Literature from the University of Tokyo.