The 29th Annual Conference of International Food and Agribusiness Management Association (IFAMA) were held in Hangzhou on June 22-27. This is the first time that the organization has held the annual conference in China, which is a dramatically important milestone for China’s agribusiness.

     Pic. IFAMA 2019

IFAMA was formed to stimulate strategic thinking across the full spectrum of the global food system. Today, IFAMA is an effective worldwide networking organization acting as a bridge between the agribusiness industry, researchers, educators, government, consumer groups and non-governmental organizations. As for mission, IFAMA has become an international management organization that brings together current and future business, academic, and government leaders along with other industry stakeholders to improve the strategic focus, transparency, sustainability, and responsiveness of the global food and agribusiness system, which will be a catalyst and clearinghouse for ideas and talent, and research agenda setter that drives the global food and agribusiness system to respond in an innovative, effective, and rapid way to the changing needs of the world.

Pic. IFAMA Introduction

The conference was supported by Government of Hangzhou and the fundamental research funds for the central universities. At the same time, we also need to thank the China academy for rural development for its support. And the supporters, including Alibaba group, Austral University, Bayer, BMO, ELDA Cantine, CHS, Global G.A.P. and so on, also contributed to the success of the conference.

In 2019, more than 250 scholars, coming from Russia, Costa Rica, Germany, New Zealand, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Argentina, South Africa and other countries and regions, attended the 29th IFAMA symposium, forum and student and Young Professional case competition conference in Hangzhou during June 22 to 26, as well as the post conference held on June 27.

Professor Wei Longbao, deputy dean of CARD in Zhejiang University, was the chair of the 29^th IFAMA Conference. And professor Kevin Chen and Holly Wang, Jeff Jia were the co-chair of the symposium, the best paper award and the case competition award respectively.

This year, attendees learned about “Food Security 2050: e-Commerce, Agri-food Value Chain Transformation” during six session-packed days that covered how to build platforms, develop organization Innovation and share opportunities and challenges about agri-food value chain.

Weekend are symposium days for paper presentation and case competition. There are 28 sessions with more than 100 authors sharing their presentation in Run Run Shaw science building of Zhejiang University. And the thesis covers a wide range of topics, including marketing, supply chain, management, production, human capital, strategy, innovation, labor, trade, sustainability, development, environment and entrepreneurship.

Besides, the preliminary competition of case study was held on June 23 with 20 teams from 14 countries. All the teams were divided into four categories: undergraduate, postgraduate and researcher, who competed in a very close, very exciting first round of the Case Competition and the eight final duels was held in Shangri-La on June 24.

The forum part was held on June 24-26 in Shangri-La hotel with 17 sessions. Hundreds of leaders and scholars from all over the world attended the forum and delivered speeches, including representatives from large enterprises like Alibaba group, Bayer and Global GAP, as well as the professors from different universities. In addition, at the annual awards ceremony on the afternoon of June 24, IFAMA honored Alibaba group the Distinguished Service Award, the highest honor bestowed by the association, for its distinguished contribution to global agribusiness and the food system. In addition, Longbao Wei, John Purchase and Raj Vardhan were elected as the 2019 fellow of IFAMA for their outstanding contributions to agribusiness.

Pic. IFAMA Award

Throughout the forum, sessions sparked new platforms, organization Innovation, opportunities and challenges about agri-food value chain, triggering intense discussion and reflection. In the final session, the organizing committee announced the winners of case competition, as well as the authors of the best paper award and best teaching case award namely Yipu Pang, Ayobami Oluwasogo Adetoyinbo and Yanfei Yao, and the prize was given by Co-chairs.

Pic. IFAMA Post Conference

Finally, on the morning of June 27, we invited scholars and entrepreneurs from all over the world to visit Alibaba Headquarter and experience the development of e-commerce in China.