Department of International Economics and Agribusiness

The Department of International Economics and Agribusiness was established on 01/10/2019. on the basis of the Department of Agricultural Economics and International Economic Relations. Its head is dr hab. Mariusz Hamulczuk. It is part of the Institute of Economics and Finance of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, established at the same time.

Its predecessor, the Department of Agricultural Economics and International Economic Relations, was established in 2000 from the merger of two departments: the Department of Agricultural Economics and the Department of World Agriculture. The merger resulted from the decision of the university authorities to reduce the number of chairs and increase their number. The department was divided into three departments: Department of Agricultural Economics, Department of International Economic Relations and Department of Quantitative Methods, which was attached to the department in January 2008.

The Department of Agricultural Economics was established in 1953 with the establishment of the Faculty of Economics and Agriculture. In 1970, the Department was incorporated into the newly established Institute of Agricultural Economics and Agrarian Policy and transformed into the Department of Agricultural Economics. After the dissolution of the Institute, the Department of Agricultural Economics was re-established in place of the Department on 01/01/1992.

The organizer and the first head of the Department of Agricultural Economics was professor Zenon Tomaszewski, who headed it (since 1970 the department) until his retirement in 1978. In 1979, the management of the Department was entrusted to Professor Zbigniew Adamowski, who was also the director of the Institute. From 1987 to 1991, the head of the department was associate professor Zdzisław Kozioł. After the dissolution of the Institute and the establishment of the Department, Professor Z. Adamowski became its head again and held this position until 1993. In the years 1994 – 1996 the Department was headed by associate professor Z. Kozioł, and in the years 1997 – 1999 by dr hab. Inż. Stanisław Stańko, prof. SGGW.

In the years 1982 – 1994, the Department of Agricultural Economics conducted comprehensive team research under the supervision of associate professor Zdzisław Kozioł, the results of which were presented at scientific conferences organized by the Department and in scientific publications. These studies were conducted on an empirical basis from over 1,800 individual farms located throughout the country. These data, verified and supplemented every few years, constituted a unique database of information about peasant farms, and especially about economic processes that took place there. Organizing and conducting such team research allowed for the integration of a wider research team around the Department, at the same time providing scientific material for doctoral, habilitation, master’s theses and many articles.

In 1961, associate professor Stefan Królikowski came up with the idea of creating a parallel unit dealing with the issues of global agriculture. Due to the interest in the affairs of developing countries at that time (the period of gaining independence by African countries and others), this unit was to be called the Intercollegiate Institute for Agricultural Research in Developing Countries and function at the Warsaw University of Life Sciences.

In the fall of 1964, at the request of the Faculty Council, proposing the establishment of a temporary plant within the Department of Agrarian Policy, it was approved by the Senate of the University and the Ministry of Higher Education, and on April 1, 1965. the plant was established and its management was assumed by assistant professor S. Królikowski.

By order of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education at the beginning of the academic year 1970/71, the reorganization of universities took place. Chairs and departments were closed and institutes were built in their place. The plant ceased to exist and its employees became part of the team of the Institute of Agricultural Economics and Agrarian Policy, conducting their research and teaching within the new organizational framework.

The organizer of the World Agriculture Department at this institute in 1976 and its head was dr hab. Mieczysław Adamowicz. From 01/10/1976 Professor Bolesław Strużek became the head of the Department and was so until 02/02/1979. Then professor Jan Górecki (1980-1989) was the manager. On July 1, 1982, as part of changes in the structure of the university, the plant was renamed the Department of World Agriculture. Under the leadership of Professor Górecki, the facility, and then the department, developed into a large unit with a dozen or so employees. At that time, the Department was the main contractor and coordinator of the ministerial topic of basic research “Development trends in agriculture in the world and their connections with the agri-food economy of Poland”. Since 1978, the Department has been publishing the series “Problems of World Agriculture” to this day. Since 1990 The Department of World Agriculture was headed by professor Henryk Lipiński, and then by dr hab. Julian Krzyżanowski and dr hab. Henryk Manteuffel, prof. SGGW.

After the merger of the Department of Agricultural Economics and International Economic Relations from January 2000 to October 2003, Dr. hab. Stanisław Stańko, prof. SGGW, from November 2003 to the end of 2012 prof. dr hab. Henryk Manteuffel, from January 2013 to the end of 2016 dr hab. Maria Parlińska, prof. SGGW., And from January 2017 to September 2019, dr hab. Joanna Kisielińska, prof. SGGW.

The Department of Quantitative Methods was established in 2008, after the new Faculty of Applied Informatics and Mathematics had been separated from the Faculty of Economic Sciences. Some of the employees of the former Departments of Econometrics and Statistics and Computer Science remained at the Faculty of Economic Sciences, creating a new facility. Prof. dr hab. Ewa Drabik. From February 2010 until the end of 2012, this function was performed by dr hab. Maria Parlińska, prof. SGGW and from January 2013 until September 2019 this function was performed by dr hab. Joanna Kisielińska, Prof. SGGW.

Since 2004, the department has been organizing an annual international scientific conference entitled “Global problems of agriculture and food economy”, devoted to the global and international aspects of the agri-food economy and rural development. Since 2014, the department has also been organizing a cyclical scientific conference entitled “Current trends in international economic relations”, the subject of which focuses on the phenomena, processes and tendencies occurring in the contemporary world economy. Conferences are a place for meetings and exchange of views of the scientific community from Poland and abroad.

The staff of the department are members of the editorial committee of the Scientific Journals of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences – Problems of World Agriculture. The journal has been published since 1978. In 2007 was transformed into a quarterly, constituting a series of Scientific Journals of the Warsaw University of Life Sciences, published in Polish and English. Editor-in-chief of the journal until June 2013. was prof. Henryk Manteuffel, and currently he is dr hab. Maria Parlińska, prof. SGGW. The journal is devoted to economic and social issues of agriculture and food economy, mainly in the international aspect.