Cincuenta años de docencia e investigación en economía agroalimentaria al servicio del desarrollo con rostro humano

The purpose of this article is to make a brief compilation of the main problems that have inspired research in agrifood economics over the last 50 years. Furthermore, the article aims to highlight the efforts that have allowed agriculture and food to prosper with a human face, through training and research networks in agro-food economics, as well as the main contributions in this field in the emblematic case of the Center for Agrifood Research Edgar Abreu Olivo of the Universidad de Los Andes (ULA), Venezuela, during the last 25 years. Fifty years ago, as a young teacher, I used to begin my lessons by asking myself and my students about the transformation of the world's food systems and their future evolution. The question later divided the economists of the day. Some predicted that technology, combined with market forces under the capitalist model, would gradually replace the family, artisanal and small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) forms, which then accounted for a significant share of global food production. Others, more pragmatic, raised the fact that primary food production would be left in the hands of individual entrepreneurs (artisans, peasants and SMEs). They had reason to justify this view in terms of capital, labour and knowledge requirements. They also pointed out that agricultural chains would allow large processing and marketing companies to control the chains according to their interests, and that the balance of power generated would allow them to obtain substantial profits from the capital generated without assuming the main risks. Since then, half a century has passed and the concept of agri-food economics has gradually taken shape. By the beginning of the century, “feeding the world” had become a strategic issue for humanity. The article makes a compilation of the road travelled and shows the teaching and research efforts that have undoubtedly contributed to the emergence of the new science, which the Agrifood Economy has become.