The strong applied economics framework of the Agricultural Economics BSc and MSc programs at Macdonald Campus was essential in preparing me for my international career. Courses in soil, animal, and plant sciences and engineering provided me with a unique opportunity to apply economics to problems that had biological, physical science or engineering dimensions. This allowed me to interact with experts in a variety of fields and encouraged me to take a multidisciplinary approach to problems.
Whether I was doing my postdoc with IFPRI in the Brazilian Amazon (where my bioeconomic modeling skills also came in handy), supporting the organic label in the US, documenting the environmental impacts of trade at NAFTA, supporting the UN Commission on Sustainable Development’s round of negotiations on sustainable agriculture, coordinating non-state actors’ contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) negotiations, or doing macroeconomic and development policy work at UNCTAD – the approach has served me well throughout my career. The Mac AgEcon program established itself as a sustainable agriculture program before such a thing existed.
As McGill moves into its next century, Macdonald Campus is well positioned to serve as a model to other academic institutions. It can do this by strengthening the Agricultural Economics program’s approach to agriculture, food, environmental issues, and SDG2 (Zero Hunger), both nationally and in the context of cross-border impacts. An effective program should focus on:
- Macroeconomic issues such as the interactions between trade, climate change, healthy diets, etc.;
- Microeconomic issues such as the impact of consumer choices on local demand, food waste, and single-use plastics in packaging;
- Analysis of innovative institutions such as crop and climate insurance and extension services to help current and future farmers, including women farmers;
- Economic analysis of the rapid digitization of agriculture, including automation, artificial intelligence and machine learning;
- Bioeconomic analysis of investment in agricultural land and measurement of natural capital supplied by agriculture and, more generally, the role of agriculture in achieving the SDGs.
My advice to students would be to take one applied discipline like Agricultural Economics or Bioresource Engineering and as many classes in other areas as possible. If you are hesitating between jobs, find an organization or sector with high growth potential like STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics), space, or green innovation – especially if you are a woman. Then you will have assets and be at the decision-making table! IT’S OK to say you DON’T KNOW. Don’t take yourself too seriously; work hard but have fun and find at least one hobby so your job is NOT your life.