Some Eastern European countries, specifically the large
grain-producing nations of the Black Sea region (Russia, Ukraine and
Kazakhstan), will be of major importance in solving the ‘global food problem’.
To achieve this, they will need to further mobilise their market and export
potential via properly functioning agricultural markets and trade structures.
The current debate about global food security, however, is controversial when it
comes to whether and with which measures the state should intervene into the
economic system. Based on the findings of several joint research projects that
examine how Eastern European grain, dairy and meat markets are functioning,
agricultural economist of IAMO and Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
strongly advocate restraint in the introduction of measures to regulate
agricultural markets.