Our Co-Chairs
David Laborde
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
As director of the FAO's Agrifood Economics Division (ESA), David leads work on policy monitoring, policy reform, and realignment of incentives to support agrifood system transformation. He also provides leadership on two priority areas for the institution: resilience and bioeconomy.
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Before joining FAO, David Laborde worked at the International Food Policy Research Institute of the CGIAR in Washington D.C. for 16 years as part of the Markets, Trade, and Institution Division. He led the research theme on Macroeconomics and Trade and was also co-director of the Ceres2030 project.
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Valeria Piñeiro
International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
Valeria is Regional Representative of the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region and Senior Research Coordinator in the Markets, Trade, and Institutions Unit at IFPRI where she analyses policies influencing economic development, trade, and sustainability in agriculture.
Valeria currently leads Avanzar2030, an evidence-based research project that will identify and provide the costing for innovative policies, technologies and institutions in agrifood system that address climate change, economic well-being, nutrition and food security in the LAC region.
Valeria has significant experience in economic development and growth using computable general equilibrium (CGE) models as an analytical tool and has taught courses on the theory and application of CGE models
Jaron Porciello
CABI, Havos.ai,
Juno Evidence Alliance
Jaron has worked with agricultural research communities, publishers, UN agencies, donors, and development groups across Sub-Saharan Africa for more than a decade to support the changing and complex sociotechnical environment of research, evidence, and data.
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Currently a Associate Professor of the Practice (Information & Data Science) at Notre Dame, she previously, worked at Cornell University, and was director of a developing world agricultural science information public-private partnership (TEEAL) , as well as program manager for AGROA, a Research4Life (R4L) partnership across WHO, FAO, and UNEP, and co-directer of the Ceres2030 project.
Carin Smaller
Shamba Centre for
Food & Climate
Carin has worked for over fifteen years advising policy makers, donors, and parliamentarians in more than 20 countries on public and private investment and trade in agriculture and food systems. She co-founded the Shamba Centre to continue her lifelong quest to end hunger and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Before setting up the Shamba Centre, Carin was the Director of Agriculture, Trade, and Investment at the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and Director of the Trade Information Project at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP). She was also a co-director of the Ceres2030 project.
Our champions
Seyni Nafo
African Union Adaptation Initiative (AAI),
African Group of Negotiators
Ambassador Nafo has made significant technical contributions to Africa’s sustainable development agenda over the last decade; particularly in fighting climate change, promoting renewable energy and mobilization resources.
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He has served as Spokesperson for the African Group of Negotiators (AGN) for over a decade, and was Vice-President of the Bureau of the UN Climate Talks (COP22) in Morocco. During the historic Paris Climate Talks in 2015, (COP21), he led negotiations for Africa, and for the G77 and China representing over 135 developing countries, on accelerating climate actions.
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He currently serves as Technical Coordinator of the African Union Adaptation Initiative (AAI), and is an Alternate Member on the Green Climate Fund Board (2022-2024), as well as Goodwill Ambassador for Resource Mobilization at the African Union Green Great Wall Initiative (GGWI). He is a Senior Adviser to H.E. Jean-Pierre Elong Mbassi, Secretary General of United Cities and Local Governments of Africa (UCLG Africa).
He has also been a member of the UN Secretary General High-Level Advisory Group on Climate Action and Senior Adviser for Africa of the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA), which manages the Global Commission on Adaptation chaired by Ban Ki-moon and co-led by Kristalina Georgieva and Bill Gates.
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In 2015 and 2016, Amb. Nafo co-chaired the UN Expert Body on Climate Finance (UNFCCC’s Standing Committee on Finance) and since its inception in 2011, he has been advising African Members of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Board. He also spearheaded the Africa Renewable Energy Initiative (AREI).
Matin Qaim
Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany
Dr. Qaim is a renowned agricultural economist with research and project experience in Europe, the USA, and numerous countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Much of his research focuses on sustainable food systems, agricultural development, and the reduction of poverty, hunger, and malnutrition. He has over 250 academic publications and is actively involved in science communication through public lectures, articles, news features, and media interviews.
Currently a Professor of Agricultural Economics and Director of the Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany, Dr Qaim previously worked as a Professor at the University of Goettingen (2007-2021) and the University of Hohenheim (2004-2007), and as a Researcher at the Universities of Bonn, Kiel, and Berkeley, California.
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Dr. Qaim is member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina), Fellow of the American Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA), and President-Elect of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE).
He has served on different high-level expert committees, including for the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, FAO, the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), the European Commission, The Royal Society, and the German Federal Government and Parliament.
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Maximo Torero Cullen
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
of the United Nations
Dr. Torero is the Chief Economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization. He joined the Organization in January 2019 as Assistant Director-General for the Economic and Social Development Department.
Prior to joining FAO, he was the World Bank Group Executive Director for Argentina, Bolivia, Chile Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay He also previously led the Division of the Markets, Trade, and Institutions at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
His major research work lies mostly in analyzing poverty, inequality, importance of geography and assets (private or public) in explaining poverty, and in policies oriented towards poverty alleviation based on the role played by infrastructure, institutions, and on how technological breakthroughs (or discontinuities) can improve the welfare of households and small farmers. His experience encompasses Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia.
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Dr. Torero is a professor on leave at the University of the Pacific, Perú, and an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow at University of Bonn, Germany.
He has has received in 2000 the Georg Foster Research Fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, won the Award for Outstanding Research on Development given by the Global Development Network, twice, in 2000 and in 2002, and received the Chevalier de l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole in 2014.