Dr. Julio A. Berdegué is FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for Latin America and theCaribbean since the 22nd of April 2017.Dr. Berdegué, a national of Mexico, holds a Ph.D. in Social Science from Wageningen University, TheNetherlands, and a Master of Science degree in agronomy from the University of California-Davis (USA).Before his appointment at FAO, he was the Principal Researcher at the Latin American Center for RuralDevelopment (Rimisp) in Santiago, Chile, where he coordinated the Territorial Cohesion Working Group,spearheading research, policy support and capacity development programs addressing issues of territorialinequality and rural development.Dr. Berdegué has published and worked extensively on different aspects of rural development, such as territorialdevelopment, rural non-farm employment, the changing structures of agri-food and rural markets and theirimpact on small and medium producers and enterprises, and the role of small and medium cities in ruraldevelopment.He has written and edited several books and dozens of articles in international scientific magazines, some ofwhich are among the most-cited in their respective fields.Julio Berdegué has advised national and regional governments in several Latin American countries, includingColombia, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, and Peru.He has been a board member of several international organizations, including the International Maize andWheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT) which he chaired between 2008 and 2011, and the International Instituteon Environment and Development (IIED).