2018 AAEA Annual Meeting Call for Participation: AEM/GSS Section Case Study Competition

The AEM/Graduate Student Section Case Study Competition allows graduate students to test their communication skills and their ability to apply their knowledge of agricultural economics and agribusiness subjects to practical situations.  Students competing in the competition will receive a copy of the case study at least two weeks in advance of the AAEA annual meetings.

AEM/GSS Case Study Competition Rules: Each team should prepare an oral summary of their solution to the case that will last no more than 15 minutes.  Presentations lasting over 15 minutes will be penalized. After the presentation, teams should be prepared to answer questions from the judges on their interpretation of the case.

Teams can be comprised of up to three graduate students. Students may either compete as a team from the same school, or may choose to be mixed with students from other schools. If there is only one student from a school that wants to participate, the student can compete on their own, or he/she can be matched with other students. In the case of teams that are matched with individuals from different universities, competitors will be notified of their teammates as soon as possible, but no later than the same day the case is announced.

AEM/GSS Case Study Competition Prizes: The top three teams will receive plaques and cash prizes.

·         First Place:            $300

·         Second Place:        $200

·         Third Place:          $100

Specific Information for the 2018 Case Study Competition: The number of rounds will be determined by the number of teams entered. The final round will be composed of the top 3 teams. In addition to plaques and cash prizes, the three finalist teams will also be recognized during the AAEA Awards Ceremony.

• Sunday, August 5, 8:00 am – 3:00 pm:   First Rounds of Competition
• Monday, August 6, 1:30 pm – 4:00 pm: Final Round (if necessary)
• Monday, August 6, 6:00 pm – 7:15 pm: Awards Ceremony       

 Students participating in the case study competition will need to be registered for the Annual Meeting AND the Case Study Competition.

1. Students should register for the AAEA Annual Meeting through the 2018 Annual Meeting Registration Form which is available online at http://www.aaea.org/meetings/2018-aaea-annual-meeting/registration-travel/annual-meeting-registration.
2. Each team must also complete the Case Study registration form identifying their teammates and send it to AAEA no later than June 15, 2018.

Please direct any questions regarding the 2018 AAEA Case Study Competition to Dr. Eric Micheels (eric.micheels@usask.ca) or GSS Section Chair, William Maples (wmaples@okstate.edu).

Members in the News: Tyner, Laborde, Funk, Sumner, Marchant, Gundersen, Bovay, Messer, Boehje, McFadden, Kimle, and Burney

Wally Tyner, Purdue University David Laborde, International Food Policy Research Institute Sam Funk, RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness China could end up hurting itself with trade action against US farmers. Here's how By: CNBC - April 19, 2018 "This is a lose-lose for China," said Wallace Tyner, an agricultural economist at Purdue University. "They grow only 15 percent of their soybeans and depend on imports for their whole animal feed system and on the oil for human consumption. And so when the price of something that important to your imports goes up, it negatively effects your economy." "In the short run, China may not have many options because the planting decisions have already been made in different parts of the world," said David Laborde, a researcher at the International Food Policy Research Institute in Washington D.C. "By even threatening that tariff, China in fact already raised the price for what they're going to have to pay for beans now," said Sam Funk, a St. Louis-based grains and oilseeds analyst with RaboResearch. "Why would you announce that threat other than to get the [Trump] administration to back off theirs and trying to create some kind of, if you will, bargaining chip." (Continued...) Read more on: CNBC Daniel Sumner, University of California at Davis California Almonds Are Back After Four Years of Brutal Drought By: Bloomberg - March 14, 2018 After dropping during the drought, the 2017 almond crop rebounded to a record 2.14 billion pounds of shelled nuts. That’s more than triple the amount of walnuts, the No. 2 U.S. nut, and more than four times that of pistachios, which are emerging as a serious competitor for California acreage. Almonds are “incredibly versatile,” said Daniel Sumner, an economist at the University of California, Davis. “And California is the best place to grow it. Where else can the weather be hot and dry and perfect, but you also have a system where you can bring water from mountains full of snow?” Almond-picking is also highly mechanized, which attracts farmers concerned about migrant-worker labor shortages, and its long history in the state creates a level of expertise competitors can't match, he said. (Continued...) Read more on: Bloomberg Mary Marchant, Virginia Tech American farmers wary of Trump trade policies By: Fox News - April 17, 2018 Farm state lawmakers fear widespread economic damage to rural America if a trade war with China erupts; Doug McKelway reports. Mary Marchant can be found in the video at 1:25 – 1:38. “We need China, China needs us. China is very important to U.S. Agriculture, and it is my sincere hope that this situation will be deescalated.” (Continued...) Listen on: Fox News Craig Gundersen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Poverty and Social Policy Debate Series: Restricting Sugary Beverages By: American Enterprise Institute (AEI) - April 2018 There is a long history of proposals to place restrictions on SNAP recipients. These proposals are based on the perception that participants are extravagant in their food purchases (e.g., comments like "the other day I saw a man using food stamps to buy lobster") and/or are purchasing the "wrong" things ("the woman and her children in front of me in line were using SNAP to buy sugary cereals"). (Continued...) Read more on: American Enterprise Institute (AEI) *John Bovay, University of Connecticut Is Food Safety Modernization Act working? By: Southeast Farm Press - December 1, 2017 “I would assess this more as a band aid than a cure-all,” says John Bovay of the University of Connecticut. Bovay is part of a team of researchers who looked at the impact of FSMA from several points of view in the paper “Economic Effects of the U.S. Food Safety Modernization Act,” which was selected to appear in the journal Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy. Bovay used the fresh tomatoes industry as a case study into FSMA. The paper looks at the impact on farmers, both large and small, and why some benefit from FSMA more than others. The paper also looks at the potential benefits and disadvantages to domestic growers due to new regulations. (Continued...) Read more on: Southeast Farm Press, and Food Quality Safety *Kent Messer, University of Delaware Food Labels--the Good, the Bad and the Ugly By: USDA Radio - September 19, 2017 More and more food products are carrying labels about how the food was produced, which can be good or bad or ugly. PARTICIPANTS: Gary Crawford and Kent Messer, University of Delaware economist. (Continued...) Listen to the three part clips on: USDA Radio Part 1, USDA Radio Part 2, and USDA Radio Read more on: Food Navigator Wally Tyner, Purdue University How Trump's Tariffs Are Squeezing His Farmer Support Base By: Fortune - April 18, 2018 “The annual loss in U.S. economic well-being would range between $1.7 billion and $3.3 billion,” Wally Tyner, Purdue University Agricultural Economics Professor, noted in a study. “Chinese economic well-being also falls if they impose a tariff, in some cases as much or more than for the U.S. The reason for that is that soybean imports are very important to their domestic economy.” (Continued...) Read more on: Fortune Mike Boehlje, Purdue University Ag economist offers strategies for weathering tough times By: Wisconsin State Farmer - April 4, 2018 Dairy farmers facing the current market challenges need to have a certain set of skills to survive until times get better. “You can’t just worry about defense, you have to have an offense,” Dr. Mike Boehlje advises dairy producers. The agricultural economics professor from the Center for Food and Agricultural Business at Purdue University was a keynoter at the business conference of the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin (PDPW.) (Continued...) Read more on: Wisconsin State Farmer Brandon McFadden, University of Florida Don't let food companies scare you about GMOs | Opinion Written by Brandon McFadden: Florida Today - April 20, 2018 Humanity needs an innovative food system to not only survive, but to thrive. In 2050, nearly 10 billion people will populate the Earth. Future generations will be dealing with not only greater numbers of neighbors and denser population centers, but also a food system likely to face the negative impacts of climate change, including more bugs with the potential to damage crops, and adverse farming conditions brought on by mass drought. (Continued...) Read more on: Florida Today Kevin Kimle, Iowa State University Speculating how a trade war could impact Iowa’s AgTech companies By: Clay & Milk - April 12, 2018 Kevin Kimle, director of the Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative at Iowa State University, told Clay & Milk the people in the agtech industry worry about the general prosperity of agriculture and that they’ve got plenty to deal with already due to low commodity prices. “If agriculture gets hit hard it could make it difficult for those creating a technology that you want farmers to buy,” Kimle says. “If farmers aren’t profitable they are going to be much more reluctant to make spending decisions.” (Continued...) Read more on: Clay & Milk Shaheer Burney, University of Connecticut UConn researcher: SNAP doesn’t spur poor food habits By: The Chronicle - April 20, 2018 Shaheer Burney, a postdoctoral fellow in agribusiness, works with UConn’s Zwick Center for Food and Resource Policy in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. Using 15 years of data, Burney created a statistical model to observe changes in SNAP policies, income levels, demographics and overall expenditures on food away from home in SNAP households. “This is an informative result for those supporting the proposal to replace SNAP benefits with a ‘Harvest Box,’” Burney said. “Essentially, the Harvest Box does not solve the issue of fast food being purchased with SNAP dollars, because SNAP dollars don’t generally go toward eating out.” (Continued...) Read more on: The Chronicle

See other Member in the News items If you would like to improve your scientific communications and media skills, attend the Post-conference Workshop on Science Communications and Media Engagement. It is Wednesday, August 8 morning, and costs just $25. Make this important event a part of your meeting schedule this year. Know another AAEA Member who has made statewide, national, or international news? Send a link of the article to salvarado@aaea.org What research and topics are you working on? Want to be an expert source for journalists working on a story? Contact Allison Scheetz at ascheetz@aaea.org.

*Articles in response to the AAEA Communicating Out Strategy Press Releases highlighting: Government Relations, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy, Choices Magazine, General Media, and/or 2018 AAEA Annual Meeting in Washington D.C.

Scientific, Ethical, and Economic Aspects of Farm Animal Welfare

Live stream: 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM EDT No registration needed. Remember to mark your calendar! Click here to join on Monday, April 23 3 time/venue options to attend in person in Washington, DC 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM EDT American Farm Bureau Federation cohosted by Animal Agriculture Alliance Noon Lunch Seminar 2253 Rayburn House Office Building cohosted by NC-FAR 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM EDT 328A Russell Senate Office Building cohosted by NC-FAR

RSVP requested to attend AFBF, House, or Senate briefings. Click here to register and for more information.

Members in the News: Barnaby, Ribera, Gundersen, Belton, Sheldon, Sumner, Hertel, Outlaw, Marchant, Tonsor, Hurt, Robinson, Grant, Wolf, and Williams

Art Barnaby, Kansas State University Luis Ribera, Texas A&M University US farmers in 'precarious position' with China as trade war fears escalate By: CNBC - April 7, 2018 "A trade war is not good for us," said Art Barnaby, an agricultural economics professor at Kansas State University. "There's a lot of uncertainty as to where this is going to end up." "Subsidies are just a patchwork and not sustainable," said Luis Ribera, an agricultural economist at Texas A&M University in College Station. "They usually disrupt markets and harm producers in the long run." (Continued...) Read more on: CNBC Craig Gundersen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Here's why Moby's controversial plan for food stamps wouldn't work By: Yahoo Lifestyle - April 10, 2018 Moby’s plan is problematic, according to Craig Gundersen, a professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois. “The reason SNAP works so well is that it gives dignity and autonomy to families,” he tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “The notion of the government telling people what to feed themselves is insulting and could cause SNAP participants to drop out of the program altogether.” (Continued...) Read more on: Yahoo Lifestyle Ben Belton, Michigan State University Let them eat carp: Fish farms are helping to fight hunger Written by Ben Belton, Dave Little & Simon Busch: The Conversation - March 8, 2018 Over the past three decades, the global aquaculture industry has risen from obscurity to become a critical source of food for millions of people. In 1990, only 13 percent of world seafood consumption was farmed; by 2014, aquaculture was providing more than half of the fish consumed directly by human beings. (Continued...) Read more on: The Conversation Ian Sheldon, The Ohio State University Daniel Sumner, University of California at Davis Impact on Farmers From Trade Tariff Threats Between the U.S. and China By: AEDE, The Ohio State University - April 11, 2018 AEDE Professor Ian Sheldon joins Daniel Sumner from the University of California at Davis and David Swenson from Iowa State University on the Knowledge@Wharton radio program to discuss trade battles over trade deficit and the impact on farmers. Originally aired on Sirius XM Channel 111, Business Radio Powered by The Wharton School Listen to the interview on: AEDE, The Ohio State University Thomas Hertel, Purdue University Purdue Listed As Source Recommending Steel Tariff, Researcher Pushes Back By: WBAA - April 6, 2018 A U.S. Department of Commerce document lists Purdue University research as a source for recommending a 24 percent tariff on imported steel. When Purdue agricultural economics professor Thomas Hertel first saw the Trump Administration’s math, he had to check for himself. “We quickly re-ran that experiment here and we get the same outcome,” says Hertel. (Continued...) Read more on: WBAA Joe Outlaw, Texas A&M University 2017 peanut year praised as 'really good;' growers concerned about future By: Southwest Farm Press - April 9, 2018 In response to peanut growers’ concerns about base acres, Outlaw explained that to pay for the seed cotton program the generic acres had to be taken out and reallocated to cotton or whatever a grower planted over the 2009 to 2012 period. (Continued...) Read more on: Southwest Farm Press Mary Marchant, Virginia Tech Ag groups urge reasoned trade approach from Trump administration By: Delta Farm Press - April 4, 2018 Virginia Tech professor of agricultural and applied economics Mary Marchant says the back and forth between Trump and China could lead to a trade war that will hurt both countries. Marchant has focused her research efforts on Chinese markets for over a decade. (Continued...) Read more on: Delta Farm Press Glynn Tonsor, Kansas State University Drought, tariffs challenge Kansas agriculture industry By: The Topeka Capital-Journal - April 7, 2018 Glynn Tonsor is a professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University who tracks the beef industry. Domestic and export demand for meat has been strong, which he said has “bailed out” the industry. “Meat prices are higher than we expected, which is good for livestock producers, but I’m purposefully emphasizing both domestic and foreign demand,” he said. (Continued...) Read more on: The Topeka Capital-Journal Christopher Hurt, Purdue University U.S, China trade tariffs could challenge local farmers By: The Herald - April 9, 2018 According to a study by Purdue University professor of agricultural economics Chris Hurt, that shift in the global market could drop U.S. pork prices up to 4.4 percent. While the price drop would help pork farmers sell more domestically and in other countries, Hurt’s study didn’t expect the increased sales to fill the gap left by China. (Continued...) Read more on: The Herald, AgWeb John R.C. Robinson, Texas A&M University Luis Ribera, Texas A&M University More tariff threats cast shadow on agricultural products By: Waco Tribune-Herald - April 7, 2018 Chinese tariffs on grain crops or cotton would create a “reshuffling,” but not necessarily devastate farmers over the long haul, said John R.C. Robinson, an agricultural economics professor at Texas A&M University. Trade disruption of any duration with China could negatively impact U.S. farmers and ranchers who ship $135 billion in product worldwide annually, said Luis Ribera, a Texas A&M University AgriLife Extension Service economist, whose specialties include risk analysis. (Continued...) Read more on: Waco Tribune-Herald Jason Grant, Virginia Tech VT professor explains what tariffs mean for you By: WSET - April 4, 2018 How will America respond? That's something economists are waiting to find out. "That's the million dollar question. That's the real worry in this. If we go into a full scale trade war. And nobody wins then. Farmers lose consumers lose.," said Virginia Tech associate professor Jason Grant. (Continued...) Read more on: WSET Christopher Wolf, Michigan State University Milk is crazy cheap right now, and dairy farmers are suffering for it By: Michigan Radio - Match 15, 2018 Christopher Wolf, a professor of agricultural, food and resource economics at Michigan State University, joined Stateside to explain the issue to us. Listen to learn about the scale of the problem, the implications these low prices have in the milk industry, and what's being done about it for farmers. (Continued...) Listen to the interview on: Michigan Radio Luis Ribera, Texas A&M University Trade war with China could stunt Texas agriculture and economy By: Cleburne Times-Review - April 10, 2018 Texas produces 46 percent — nearly $450 million annually — of  the nation’s cotton exports to China, according to Luis Ribera, an associate professor and extension economist at Texas A&M University’s agricultural economics department. (Continued...) Read more on: Cleburne Times-Review, Corsicana Daily Sun Brian Williams, Mississippi State University Farmers in Mississippi could suffer from proposed tariffs By: Mississippi Public Broadcasting - April 9, 2018 MSU's Brian Williams says, talks about tariffs can risk the nation's relationship with China. "Because we've got some other countries around the world that would be more than happy to step in and take the U.S. place in exporting soybeans to China: two of them being Brazil and Argentina," said Williams. (Continued...) Read more on: Mississippi Public Broadcasting

See other Member in the News items If you would like to improve your scientific communications and media skills, attend the Post-conference Workshop on Science Communications and Media Engagement. It is Wednesday, August 8 morning, and costs just $25. Make this important event a part of your meeting schedule this year. Know another AAEA Member who has made statewide, national, or international news? Send a link of the article to salvarado@aaea.org What research and topics are you working on? Want to be an expert source for journalists working on a story? Contact Allison Scheetz at ascheetz@aaea.org.

*Articles in response to the AAEA Communicating Out Strategy Press Releases highlighting: Government Relations, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy, Choices Magazine, General Media, and/or 2018 AAEA Annual Meeting in Washington D.C.

Youth for growth: Transforming economies through agricutlure report

The report was commissioned by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and it is intended to shape US government's response to surging youth populations in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. View the full report, Youth for Growth: Transforming Economies through Agriculture, along with supplementary materials—including the US Policy Companion, the highlight video, and digital interactive; as well as YouTube video from the 2018 Global Food Security Symposium and young professionals meeting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJQFH4DPeoo&t=8478s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGqNlBdzG-Y&t=2510s