Conference Agenda

Over the past two decades, the expansion of artisanal gold mining, driven by a dramatic rise in global gold prices, has had significant socio-economic and environmental consequences in gold-rich regions. In Ghana, where gold rich regions overlap with cocoa-producing areas, tensions have emerged between informal and often illegal gold miners and local cocoa-producing communities over land use and the externalities associated with mining. We hypothesize that the proximity to and intensity of informal gold mining negatively affects cocoa productivity and profitability. Competition over resources such as land and labour as well as environmental degradation associated with mining may undermine agricultural productivity. To test this hypothesis, we combine two unique datasets, namely representative primary household data from cocoa producers and geo-spatial information on informal mining activities in cocoa-growing regions, to explore the relationship of artisanal mining and cocoa producers’ agricultural production outcomes in Ghana. Given the spatial dependence of our data, we apply a spatial econometric model, which reveals a negative association between mining proximity and intensity and cocoa yield, cocoa revenue and cocoa profit. By assessing potential impact pathways, we find that labour dynamics may explain part of these production outcomes near mine sites, where mining jobs with higher wages attract workers away from agriculture.

Herd health management is an important strategy in the sustainable intensification of livestock for food system transformation. While adoption patterns and productivity gains have been analyzed in previous studies, the social implications are still not well understood. We test the hypotheses that the adoption of herd health management practices increases intra-household labor demand among male and female household members and, thereby, affects women's empowerment. We use primary data from smallholder dairy farmers in Kenya on time use, women's participation in decision-making and livestock asset ownership, adoption status of important herd health management practices, as well as household demographic characteristics. We apply censored regression and multinomial logit regression models to test our hypotheses. The results show that adopting herd health management practices is associated with more labor demand in dairy production for both men and women. The magnitude of the change differs across production systems but is always higher for men. Additionally, herd health management practices are negatively associated with different aspects of women’s empowerment including women’s livestock asset ownership and control over income from dairy. The study underscores the importance for gender-sensitivity in the sustainable intensification of livestock production in the Global South.

This study investigates the challenges and incentives shaping the maintenance of organic farming (OF), with a particular focus on non-monetary drivers. Drawing on original survey data collected from approximately 4,000 organic farmers in France, the analysis examines the factors influencing farmers’ decisions to remain engaged in organic practices beyond the initial conversion phase. While OF is widely recognised for its environmental, social, and health benefits, its persistence is increasingly challenged by economic, technical, and social constraints. Moving beyond traditional institutional and financial support mechanisms, the study explores the role of alternative, non-monetary incentives in sustaining farmers’ commitment to OF. The results highlight the central role of institutional trust, participation in agricultural networks, and farmers’ own organic consumption patterns in explaining continued engagement in organic farming. In contrast, spatial factors—such as geographical isolation or location within environmentally sensitive or protected areas—as well as environmental sensitivity related to soil quality or climate change, do not exert a significant influence on farmers’ decisions to maintain OF. By emphasising the importance of institutional and social dimensions, this study contributes to the literature on sustainable agriculture by demonstrating that the durability of organic farming cannot be explained solely by economic incentives. The findings suggest that policies aimed at strengthening institutional trust through transparent and stable governance, and at fostering robust farmer networks, may play a crucial role in supporting the long-term viability of organic farming in France and beyond.

We propose a data-driven synthetic network to identify target groups for policy interventions to reduce food-related emissions. In the model, diets change gradually as agents adjust the shares of their protein intake to imitate others. Connections between households reflect their similarity of cultural tastes. Policy interventions differ with respect to the number of people within each target group who receive

messages about the Lancet diet. We examine both direct emission reductions from selected households changing their diets and indirect emission reductions resulting from their influence on others in the network. We find that policy messages romoting the Lancet diet to households in target groups differentiated based on lifestyle achieve greater reductions in diet-related emissions than policies targeting households in different strata of urban density or meat consumption. This is due to the tradeoff between agents’ meat consumption and social connectivity, which determines whom to target to maximize the adoption of sustainable diets. We also show that the effectiveness of policy interventions depends on whether individuals discuss diets between different target groups. Between-groups

interactions may delay the diffusion of sustainable diets if the policy targets an insufficient number of

individuals, that is, below a group-specific threshold.