Max Merbis has long-term experience in studying issues related to the world food situation and food security with a focus on developing countries, including the impact of European agricultural policies and the WTO, the impact of biofuels and price volatility, the impact of rapidly changing demand patterns for meat and the prospects for smallholder farming. He participated in the modeling team that conducted of a number of impact analysis studies on reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the EU, contributed to policy studies on the future of the CAP and advisory tasks to the European Commission, the European Parliament and Dutch Ministries. He participated in countries studies and coauthored policy studies for Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ukraine, China and the Middle East.