Value chains is the hot topic currently in agricultural economics. As a result, not surprisingly, many people came to the poster session, although it was organized very late in the afternoon of the second day, just before the biggest event of the conference, the "Gala dinner’’.

This year, there were up to 15 posters registered, and they had only one hour to present their work. I felt very positive as I learned about the many attempts to find the bottlenecks in the value chains of tropical and sub-tropical products in developing countries, perhaps leading to new suggestions and solutions for farmers. While Sham UI Haq and Yee Mon Aung worked on rice and pulses in Myanmar, Hazal Akcakara from the University of Bonn, evaluated the impact of sustainability certification on palm oil.

One of the most interesting presenters in this session was Stefan Burkat from the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). He presented five posters in which he was involved. He had analyzed with different approaches the value chain of cattle, beef and cocoa in Columbia. His work promises to bring benefits to farmers in Columbia.

To be honest, it is definitely challenging to discuss such a broad topic as value chains in the short period of time given for poster presentations. However, hopefully it still had value, as each presenter could get feedback from and further discuss with fellow experts. The sessions closed the second day. We have now only one day left. And I am looking forward to finding out which 5 posters will win the ECOLAND poster awards granted on the closing ceremony on Friday-maybe these will be one of them!