Ricardo Labarta is the Program Leader for SPIA within the CAS Secretariat. He is an Agricultural and Environmental Economist, who has developed his professional career in many countries of Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America. His economic research has focused on understanding the contributions of agricultural innovations and natural resource management into economic prosperity and sustainability of the developing world.

Prior to joining the CGIAR Advisory Services Secretariat as Senior Manager of SPIA, he was the Impact Assessment Research Leader at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT). Ricardo has also held research positions at the International Potato Center (CIP) and the World Agroforestry Center (ICRAF). He received his Ph.D. and M.Sc. From the Department of Agricultural, Food and Resource Economics at Michigan State University.