GEOG Seminar 9/11: "Groundwater Depletion, Value Chains Evolution, and Neo-Agriculture Sustainability"

Join us for our weekly seminar this Thursday at 3:30 p.m. in River Road or via Zoom with researcher Sami Assassi sharing lessons from greenhouse tomato farming in Algeria.

Dr. Sami Assassi will present research on the transformation of groundwater-based agriculture in El Ghrous, Biskra, Algeria, a region that has relied on deep wells for over 40 years. The study combines surveys across the entire tomato value chain, statistical modeling with propensity score matching, and spatiotemporal satellite imagery to compare conditions in 2013, a period of agricultural expansion, with 2023, a period of decline. 

Findings show that farmers’ profit margins fell by nearly half, while upstream and downstream actors such as seed suppliers, wholesalers, and retailers multiplied theirs two- to five-fold. This divergence is explained by groundwater depletion, soil degradation, higher input costs, and the saturation of national tomato markets. Remote sensing revealed a 36% decline in greenhouses in El Ghrous and a geographic relocation of farming to more favorable neighboring areas. 

The results highlight how environmental and economic stress can restructure value chains, concentrating power among fewer, larger intermediaries while undermining smallholder viability and raising critical questions for sustainability and equity in arid-zone agriculture

Speaker Bio

Dr. Sami Assassi is an economist and researcher specializing in natural resource management and food security in North Africa. His work focuses on the links between agricultural economics, climate variability, and environmental change, with an emphasis on the Maghreb region. He has contributed to research and teaching at the École Nationale Supérieure Agronomique in Algiers and collaborates with international partners on sustainable resource governance and food security.

For Zoom Details, please visit the Department Calendar.