The Agricultural Economics Society is one of the world’s leading associations of professional and academic agricultural economists
Paul Wilson, professor of agricultural economics and director of the Centre for Food Policy and Foresight at the University of Nottingham, has been named as the new president of the Agricultural Economics Society (AES).
Wilson was given the 2025-26 presidency at the society’s 99th annual conference in Bordeaux, France, where he used his address to outline the need for sustainability assessment to be at the heart of future food system policy making.
The society is one of the world’s leading associations of professional and academic agricultural economists. Founded in 1926, the AES has some 600 members in 65 countries.
The AES promotes the study and teaching of agricultural economics and relevant disciplines, and their application to issues in the agricultural, food and related industries, rural communities and the environment.
Wilson said: “In the 1920s the fledging agricultural economics profession focused on understanding farm finances and production; today we must develop robust metrics and analysis of financial, social and environmental sustainability to inform national and global farm, food and trade policies.”
As president of the society, Wilson will represent the AES at key national and international events, strengthen the role of the profession in providing independent insights to policymakers, and develop stronger links with the agri-food industry.
His address also paid tribute to the often-unrecognised worldwide profession of farm data analysts, whose work to collect and collate data underpins the outputs of global organisations such as the Food and Agriculture Organisation.
Wilson added: “As a profession we have access to a wealth of data to analyse the most pressing global issues of our time; we owe a debt of gratitude to those responsible for its collection. Now more than ever, we must ensure agricultural economics analysis is at the heart of evidence-based sustainable global policies in pursuit of our collective net-zero ambitions.”
