ISHS Acta Horticulturae 40: III Symposium on Horticultural Economics
FOREWORD |
| Author: | R.R.W. Folley |
| Abstract:
This is a very early stage in the history of the Commission for Horticultural Economics of the ISHS at which to look back, but it is worth noting that this Wageningen Symposium took place less than five years after the first tentative meeting, intended to attract people with an interest in the economics of horticulture, was held at Reading University (1968). The quick growth to institutional maturity of this gathering of applied economists must be satisfying to the Society as a whole. To those directly concerned, the continuance of a regular core of participants, and the attendance of an increasing number of young research workers in the field is also a source of satisfaction. In this way, constructive contacts between organizations and between individuals develop, and international exchange of knowledge and ideas is greatly facilitated. The latter is much to be welcomed, for the commodities within the economists' purview comprise about one-quarter of household expenditure on agricultural-type products by western European families. Greater knowledge of the whole will help an appreciation of the relative importance of the parts, and economists need this knowledge if they are to be effective. The growth to maturity is also accentuated by the introduction of simultaneous sessions on "Farm Management" and "Marketing and Marketing and Market Research". In this way specialists in both fields were able to have more time for formal discussions. The simultaneous sessions also resulted in an increase in the number of papers. On this occasion the Society has been able to publish all papers in full. However, if future Symposia are on the scale as Wageningen publication will only be possible in a compressed form. Participants at the third Symposium will remember Wageningen in association with the International Agricultural Centre.
The IAC was a real "home from home", with a willing, helpful and professionally able staff.
The excursions were excellently organized and conducted, and the Commission extends it thanks to IAC for housing the Symposium and providing an environment and services which helped to make a social success as well as a professional milestone. | |
