Winter Semester:
Socio-Economics of Rural Development and Food Security (6 ECTS)
This module provides students with an overview of socio-economic aspects of hunger, malnutrition, and poverty in developing countries. Apart from more conceptual issues and development theories, policy strategies for sustainable rural development and poverty alleviation are discussed and analyzed. Special emphasis is put on problems in the small farm sector. Empirical examples are used to illustrate the main topics.

Food Chain Management and World Nutrition
Food Chain Management includes the fundamental principles of business management throughout the entire value chain of the food industry (from the upstream supply industry to the retail sector). Students gain a solid overview of the economic structures of the upstream sector (agribusiness in the narrower sense) and the downstream processing and trade stages after agriculture. Based on these initial descriptive presentations, they are then equipped with the methodological tools to understand business processes in the complex, division-of-labor value chain. They learn which areas of activity can be outsourced, which contractual systems should be applied if necessary, and which instruments can be used to improve business relationships, among other things. These skills directly prepare them for roles in industrial and commercial companies within the agricultural and food industries.


Summer Semester:
Agriculture, Nutrition and Sustainable Food Systems (6 ECTS)
This course will introduce students to how food systems and food policies are shaping what we eat, how we produce our food, and how this links to sustainable development in a global context. The course covers food systems in both developing and developed countries. Students learn to engage in a critical debate on the role of food policies and other drivers in shaping what we consume, how this links to food production and sustainable development, including nutritional outcomes, health, environment, and the economy.

Introduction to Choice Experiments in Food Economics
This module will run in two blocks. The first block concerns the introduction to choice experimental practice and the set-up of a small online experiment addressing a specific research question in the field of agricultural, food or nutrition economics. Students will work in groups of 4-5 students to identify and narrow down a research question in the field of agriculture. The second block concerns the analysis of the obtained data and interpretation of results.


Further details and lecture materials for all courses are available in Stud.IP for registered participants under: StudIP