Publications

Book Chapter
Food value chains: Transformations in low- and middle-income countries

Book
Global food policy report 2025: Food policy: Lessons and priorities for a changing world

Book Chapter
Food policy research in low- and middle-income economies: Past, present, and future
Blogs

Financing healthy, equitable, and sustainable food systems: Laying out options for action
A new blog series.

Famine in Gaza
A new analysis shows a deteriorating situation.

The path forward on global food system transformation
Comprehensive change can yield broad benefits, a new report shows.
Events

2025 Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual Meeting
IFPRI is participating in the 2025 Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Annual Meeting on July 27– July 29, 2025. The Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) is a not-for-profit association serving the professional interests of members working in agricultural and broadly related fields of applied economics. AAEA members are primarily employed by academic departments […]

The Future of Youth Jobs in Agrifood Systems in Africa
Also streaming on Please type your questions into the chat box with name, affiliation, and country. The event video, presenter slides, and podcast will be available in the days following the event. Africa’s population is the youngest of any region, affording the continent an adequate workforce to drive economic and social transformation. However, African economies […]

Worsening food insecurity, waning response capacity: Options for a better way forward
Food crises arise from the complex interplay of conflict, poverty, climate variability, and economic shocks, resulting in acute food insecurity among vulnerable populations. According to the latest Global Report on Food Crises (2025), the number of people facing severe levels of acute food insecurity has tripled over the past decade, rising from around 100 million […]
News
Food Policy Priorities for A Changing World
IFPRI’s 2025 Global Food Policy Report reflects on 50 years of progress and examines priorities for food policy research in the run up to 2050.
Collective efforts needed to reform food systems (New Age)
New Age (Bangladesh) quoted IFPRI Director General Johan Swinnen in this article on the Annual BIDS Conference on Development (ABCD) 2024, organized by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) in Dhaka. According to Swinnen, reforming food systems is feasible, but highly complex due to the multitude of stakeholders involved. He also emphasized the necessity […]
New paper calls for harnessing agrifood value chains to help farmers be climate-smart
The global food system is uniquely vulnerable to climate impacts, making adaptation of paramount importance.
Research
Awards
- 2021 AAEA Quality of Communication Award for his book with A4NH Director John McDermott, COVID-19 and global food security.
- 2018-2021 IAAE Honorary Life Members Award
- 2019 Book Award from the European Association of Agricultural Economists (EAAE) for his book “The Political Economy of Agricultural and Food Policies (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).”
- Honorary Doctorate, University of Göttingen, 2017
- Outstanding Article in Applied Economic Policy and Perspectives 2015 (Best AEPP paper in 2015 awarded by AAEA)
- President, International Association of Agricultural Economists, 2012–2015
- Quality of Policy Communication Award of the European Association of Agricultural Economics, 2014 (with Kym Anderson and Gordon Rausser for paper “Political Economy of Public Policies: Insights from Distortions to Agricultural and Food Markets”, in Journal of Economic Literature)
- Methusalem Research Award 2015–2023 (for the KU Leuven’s most distinguished researchers)
- President-elect, International Association of Agricultural Economists, 2009–2012
- Honorary Doctorate, University of Nitra, 2012
- Fellow of the American Association of Agricultural and Applied Economists, 2012
- President, Beeronomics Society, 2011
- Fellow of the European Association of Agricultural Economists, 2009
- Methusalem Research Award 2008–2015 (for the KU Leuven’s most distinguished researchers)
- Francqui Chair, University of Gent, 2009, KU Leuven Centre of Excellence Award 2005
- Quality of Research Discovery Award of the American Agricultural Economics Association, 2004 (with Scott Rozelle for outstanding paper “Success and Failure of Reforms: Insights from the Transition of Agriculture” in Journal of Economic Literature)
- International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium PhD Dissertation Award 1993 (for PhD thesis “Essays on the Political Economy of Agricultural Policies”)
- G.F. Warren Award (for outstanding publication “A Positive Theory of Agricultural Protection”), Department of Agricultural Economics, Cornell University 1992
- Michele Sicca Fellowship of the Cornell Western Societies Program 1990
- Joyce Graduate Fellowship of the (US) National Agricultural Biotechnology Council 1989
- Belgian American Educational Foundation Honorary Fellowship 1988
- Dissertation Award of the Alumni Association of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, KU Leuven, 1985 (for MSc Dissertation)