Idagaardfondens Thesis Prize (prisopgave)
Idagaardfonden (founded in 1929 by Jens Hvidbjerg) supports agricultural research, including but not limited to research on crop production, and with the specific aim of supporting research that can improve the production conditions and the profitability of Danish agriculture.
Idagaardfonden invites submissions of Master’s theses written on topics related to these aims, where up to 3 theses each year will be awarded a “Gold Medal” and 50.000 kr. The conclusions from each nominated thesis should be relevant for practitioners and must be made publicly available, and thus cannot contain confidential material. For inspiration, some relevant overall topics, all focusing on Danish agriculture, could be:
- Competitiveness
- Adaptation to climate change
- Optimization of output value
- Industry structure
- Ownership and/or financing structures
- Succession planning
- Efficiency improvements
All relevant university departments, including but not limited to the Department of Food and Resource Economics as well as the Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences from the University of Copenhagen and the Department of Agroecology as well as the Department of Animal Science from Aarhus University are encouraged to each select up to 5 of their best theses from a given academic year, written on topics relevant to this prize and which must have been awarded a mark of 10 or 12. For GDPR reason the student must give written consent before the thesis is nominated. The nominated theses from the past academic year should be submitted to Idagaardfonden (post@idagaardfonden.dk) by October 1 each year.
The theses will be assessed by a panel consisting of the following members:
- Mette Asmild, Idagaardfonden & Professor, Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen
- Poul Erik Jørgensen, Landbrugsdirektør, Nykredit
- Klaus Kaiser, Erhvervsøkonomisk chef, SEGES
- Morten Andersen Linnet, Forskningspolitisk chef, Landbrug og Fødevarer
- Birte Boelt, Senior Scientist, Department of Agroecology – Crop Health, Aarhus University
The prizes will be awarded at a ceremony where the winners will also present their main findings.
The theses can be written in either Danish or English.
Past winners:
2022:
Simon Andreasen & Mathias Jürgensen “Input Use, Yield, and Economic Indicators for conventional farmers in a Danish context”. Click here to read
2021:
Niels Frederik Vestergård ”Status on emerging resistance to succinate dehydrogenase inhibitors in Zymoseptoria tritici in Denmark and Sweden”. Click here to read.
Kirstine Mose Schade “The Effect of a Strategic and Managerial Focus on Productivity among Danish Farmers” Click here to read.
2020:
Julie Skovgaard Hansen and Amanda Prehn Henriksen ”Estimating Abatement Costs of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Danish Agricultural Sector using Non-parametric Efficiency Analysis”. Click here to read.