Professor Carl Pray is a distinguished Professor in the Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics Department, the School for Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. He earned his PhD in Economic History from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the US. His research mainly focuses on agricultural science and technology policy in China, South Asia, Africa and Latin America. Key issues related to his recent research include: How does government research, science policy, intellectual property rights, regulations and advances in basic sciences influence the development and adoption of new agricultural technology? What are the economic and institutional impacts of new agricultural technology – especially its impact on poor farmers in Asia and Africa?

Professor Pray is the President of ICABR, the International Consortium for Applied Bioeconomy Research. He is currently leading research projects on the economics of agricultural research by private firms in India and China and on the impact of agricultural policy changes in Africa and Asia. He is also working on projects on digital agriculture. He have published more than 80 journal articles in international top ranking journals such as Science, Nature, the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Economic Development and Cultural Change, and Research Policy as well as publishing 7 books and 45 book chapters.