Members in the News: Taylor, Klieger, Frisvold, Ortiz-Bobea, Awokuse, Franken, Zhang, Sheldon, Countryman, Thilmany, Batabyal, Stevens, et al.

Michelle Klieger, Bentley University George Frisvold, University of Arizona Could Climate Change Put an End to Arizona’s Alfalfa Heyday? By: Civil Eats - September 15, 2021 If alfalfa were to go up in price, Klieger sees dairies continuing to buy it because there are few other alternatives for nutritious feed for cows. “Even if we reduce acreage, the same number of people are going to want alfalfa, which is going to drive the price up,” said Klieger. As a result, she foresees that “the price will go up faster than the decline in the amount [of alfalfa].” Then there’s the challenge of a lifelong cotton and alfalfa farmer scoring contracts growing vegetables and fruit. Grocery stores and wholesale buyers want to make sure a farmer can deliver, said George Frisvold, a professor at the University of Arizona’s department of agriculture and resource economics. Yet it’s hard to demonstrate this if you’re a new to growing a crop. (Continued...) Read more on: Civil Eats Ariel Ortiz-Bobea, Cornell University Climate change will alter where many crops are grown By: The Economist - August 28, 2021 It is betting that a warmer climate will steadily increase how much its assets are worth, by enabling farmers in the places where it is investing to grow more valuable crops than they have traditionally selected. It is far from the only business making such wagers. Climate change could make a cornucopia out of land that was once frigid and unproductive. It could also do great harm to regions that feed millions. (Continued...) Read more on: The Economist Titus Awokuse, Michigan State University If you're a coffee drink, you really need to care about climate change By: Los Angeles Times - September 14, 2021 “U.S. consumers should expect much more expensive and lower-quality coffee because of rising temperatures, extreme rainfalls, and higher frequency of severe droughts,” said Titus O. Awokuse, chairman of the department of agricultural, food and resource economics at Michigan State University. (Continued...) Read more on: Los Angeles Times Jason Franken, Western Illinois University U.S. beef cattle: Numbers down, prices up By: Prairie Farmer - September 14, 2021 Jason Franken, agricultural economist at Western Illinois University, says the U.S. cattle herd appears to be in its second successive year of decline, within what is typically a decade-long cattle inventory cycle consisting of periods of expansion and contractions. (Continued...) Read more on: Prairie Farmer Wendong Zhang, Iowa State University U.S. production influences global ag practices By: Iowa Farmer Today - September 4, 2021 That figure comes from Wendong Zhang, a global economics analyst from Iowa State University, and illustrates just how crucial the relationship between U.S. agriculture and other countries is. (Continued...) Read more on: Iowa Farmer Today Ian Sheldon, The Ohio State University Considering Carbon Markets? Look, But Don't Leap By: Pennsylvania Ag Connection - September 9, 2021 "Farmers are always looking for ways to diversify their income, and carbon markets are one way of doing that," said Ian Sheldon, a CFAES professor and the Andersons Chair of Agricultural Marketing, Trade, and Policy who will moderate the Sept. 21 discussion.  (Continued...) Read more on: Pennsylvania Ag Connection Amanda Countryman, Colorado State University Dawn Thilmany, Colorado State University Farmers hit with most disruptive price hikes, supply shortages in decades as pandemic slowdowns catch up to Colorado By: The Colorado Sun - September 13, 2021 Chemicals used in pesticide compounds increasingly come from China, said Dawn Thilmany, an agricultural economist at Colorado State University. China, a top market for U.S. agricultural exports, has been locked in a trade war with the U.S. and there are relatively high tariff rates — around 20% — on exports and imports between the countries, said Amanda Countryman, another Colorado State University agricultural economist. (Continued...) Read more on: The Colorado Sun Amitrajeet Batabyal, Rochester Institute of Technology Air pollution hurts us in ways we typically do not think of By: Rochester Business Journal - September 13, 2021 Readers will not be surprised to learn that air pollution adversely affects our well-being in a variety of ways. For instance, we have known for quite a while that air pollution causes respiratory illness and cardiovascular disease. (Continued...) Read more on: Rochester Business Journal Andrew Stevens, University of Wisconsin Choices Agricultural & Applied Economics Association Greater Unemployment In Animal Ag By: The Mid-West Farm Report - September 10, 2021 Rural counties that rely on dairy and animal agriculture saw higher unemployment rates due to COVID-19, according to a recent article published in Choices, the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association’s peer-reviewed journal. Andrew Stevens, an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at UW-Madison, authored the piece with Emeritus Professor Dan Bromley. (Continued...) Read more on: The Mid-West Farm Report Daniel O'Brien, Kansas State University Stocks-to-use ratio, soil moisture are key factors to watch for forecasting 2022 wheat prices By: Rural Radio Network - September 8, 2021 The U.S. and world wheat markets are seeing the tightest ending stocks-to-use ratios in nearly a decade — two driving factors behind higher average wheat prices. Kansas producers should keep a close eye on the factors behind these trends as they enter fall planting, according to Daniel O’Brien, K-State extension agricultural economist. (Continued...) Read more on: Rural Radio Network James Mintert, Purdue University Farmer sentiment improves in August, but inflationary concerns mount By: WBIW - September 8, 2021 “Although corn, soybean, and wheat prices have declined in recent weeks, farmers have more confidence in their 2021 revenue expectations,” said James Mintert, the barometer’s principal investigator and director of Purdue University’s Center for Commercial Agriculture. “Yield prospects stabilized or improved for many producers in August as some precipitation fell in areas that had been abnormally dry and drought-stricken. That helps explain this month’s improvement in the Farm Financial Performance and Current Conditions indices.” (Continued...) Read more on: WBIW

See other Member in the News items Know another AAEA Member who has made statewide, national, or international news? Send a link of the article to Jessica Weister at jweister@aaea.org. What research and topics are you working on? Want to be an expert source for journalists working on a story? Contact Allison Ware at aware@aaea.org. *Disclaimer - This email is to acknowledge citations of current AAEA members and/or their research in any public media channel. AAEA does not agree nor disagree with the views or attitudes of cited outside publications.

Members in the News: Gundersen, Taylor, Rucker, Liu, Irwin, Khanna, Chen, Zipp, Kolodinsky, MacDonald, Richards, Manfredo, Batabyal, Munisamy, et al.

Craig Gundersen, Baylor University Government and charitable actions likely kept millions of Americans out of food insecurity during the pandemic By: The Conversation - September 8, 2021 Vast Expansion in Aid Kept Food Insecurity From Growing Last Year By: The New York Times - September 8, 2021 Mykel Taylor, Auburn University Farmers urged to share the wealth with landowners, economist says By: Successful Farming - September 7, 2021 Just as certain, however, is that grain prices will eventually decline. Farmers who locked in high cash rents during the boom times may be stuck with unprofitable leases when the market does fall. It’s one of the pitfalls of cash rent agreements, says Mykel Taylor, the Alfa Endowed Eminent Scholar in agricultural economics at Auburn University. (Continued...) Read more on: Successful Farming Randy Rucker, Montana State University Wild Horse Adoption Saves Taxpayer Monday and Reduces Ecosystem Damage By: Northern Ag Network - August 26, 2021 Record droughts in the West are causing the Biden administration to rapidly round up and move wild horses off public rangelands. Facing an increased risk of death from lack of water and forage, the Bureau of Land Management recently announced it is planning to remove more than 6,000 additional animals from the range by the end of next month and place them in off-range holding facilities. That’s in addition to nearly 1,200 animals that have already been gathered through emergency actions this year. (Continued...) Read more on: Northern Ag Network Yangxuan Liu, University of Georgia Stay Aware Of Market Risk By: Cotton Farming - September 1, 2021 Fuel is running out for the continued cotton prices. The weather conditions this year favor U.S. cotton production across the Cotton Belt. We could end up with a higher production level than expected with continuing favorable weather for the rest of the season. Whenever there is an increase in supply, cotton prices tend to trend down. (Continued...) Read more on: Cotton Farming Scott Irwin, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Using Preliminary August FSA Data to Project Final 2021 Planted Acreage for Corn and Soybeans By: Farms.com - September 3, 2021 Each year the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) provides estimates of planted acreage of corn and soybeans in the U.S. These estimates provide important fundamental information about potential crop size and have important implications for the price of corn and soybeans. As a result, market participants spend considerable effort in forming expectations about the magnitude of these acreage estimates. (Continued...) Read more on: Farms.com Madhu Khanna, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Luoye Chen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Katherine Zipp, Pennsylvania State University Marginal Land Available for Bioenergy Crops Scarcer Than Estimated By: Michigan Ag Connection - September 7, 2021 Land is the planet's limiting resource. We need land for food, biofuel, feed, ecosystem services, and more. But all land is not equal. Concerns about diverting land under food/feed crops to biofuel feedstocks have led to interest in using marginal land to produce these dedicated bioenergy crops for advanced biofuels. (Continued...) Read more on: Michigan Ag Connection Jane Kolodinsky, University of Vermont Closure of Bakersfield market leaves town with limited food options By: VT Digger - September 6, 2021 Jane Kolodinsky, an economist and food researcher at the University of Vermont, said many small, rural stores were already hanging on by a thread before the pandemic — and the past year-and-a-half brought challenges that could be insurmountable. (Continued...) Read more on: VT Digger James MacDonald, University of Maryland Tyson, Perdue Farms Shell Out $36 Million To Settle Antitrust Claims In Oklahoma Lawsuit By: Harvest Public Media & KOSU - September 1, 2021 The lawsuit also alleges the chicken companies use Agri Stats, a data website, to share compensation data and suppress wages. James MacDonald, a professor of agricultural economics at the University of Maryland, says Agri Stats is often featured in antitrust lawsuits against big meat processing companies.  (Continued...) Read more on: Harvest Public Media & KOSU Timothy Richards, Arizona State University Mark Manfredo, Arizona State University ASU Agribusiness Professor Named 2021 Fellow Of The Agricultural And Applied Economics Association By: Patch - September 7, 2021 Tim Richards, a professor and the Marvin and June Morrison Endowed Chair in the Morrison School of Agribusiness at the W. P. Carey School of Business, was recognized in August as a 2021 Fellow of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association, AAEA's most prestigious honor. "There are few scholars in agricultural and applied economics today who are as productive, accomplished, well-rounded, respected and liked as Tim Richards," said Mark Manfredo, former chair and professor of agribusiness. (Continued...) Read more on: Patch Amitrajeet Batabyal, Rochester Institute of Technology Unemployment benefits expired Sunday: Here’s what that means for New Yorkers By: Rochester First - September 3, 2021 “They’ve managed to prevent very large numbers of Americans at the lower end of the income distribution from becoming absolutely destitute, they’re now able to pay rent, they’re now able to provide some modicum of support not only for themselves, but also their family members,” said Amit Batabyal, a Arthur J. Gosnell Professor of Economics at the Rochester Institute of Technology. (Continued...) Read more on: Rochester First Gopinath Munisamy, University of Georgia Florida Farmers Still Hurting Even After New Trade Agreement With Mexico, Canada By: WSFU - September 3, 2021 "To assemble the data and figure out if it is Mexican prices that are making our life hard, or is it retailers choosing Mexican produce over American produce, you know, there are many questions in there," Munisamy says. (Continued...) Read more on: WSFU Rodrick Rejesus, North Carolina State University Crop insurance disincentive to sustainability efforts By: KMA Land - August 31, 2021 Crop insurance serves as a disincentive for farmers to adopt climate-change mitigation measures, according to a new study by researchers at North State University. If insurance will compensate for crop losses due to drought or severe weather, a farmer may not want to pay extra for climate-change adaptation efforts, said Rod Rejesus, a professor of agricultural and resource economics at North Carolina State and the study’s corresponding author. (Continued...) Read more on: KMA Land Shuoli Zhao, University of Kentucky Bhagyashree Katare, Purdue University Maria Marshall, Purdue University Corinne Valdivia, University of Missouri Study finds Americans value more options when it comes to COVID-19 testing By: WTVQ - September 2, 2021 COVID-19 diagnostic testing is essential to tracking the virus’ spread and helping individuals, families and communities recover from the pandemic, but people have to be willing to take the test. (Continued...) Read more on: WTVQ Richard Sexton, University of California, Davis Hanbin Lee, University of California, Davis Daniel Sumner, University of California, Davis Californians will pay more for pork under Prop. 12 By: Imperial Valley Press & Sierra Sun Times - September 2, 2021 California’s Proposition 12 will soon require farms to add space for certain farm animals, including breeding pigs, or mother sows. As the January 2022 date for full implementation of Prop. 12 approaches, some pundits warn of upcoming bacon shortages and up to 60 percent higher pork prices, while others downplay any negative effects on Californians. (Continued...) Read more on: Imperial Valley Press & Sierra Sun Times Jordan Shockley, University of Kentucky Some farming practices can qualify for carbon credits By: The News-Enterprise - September 7, 2021 Jordan Shockley, a University of Kentucky agricultural economist, conducted a study on how much money Kentucky farmers could expect to make from the carbon market. He found that a 100-acre corn and soybean farmer in Hardin County could expect between $6-$21 per acre for no-till and cover crop practices. (Continued...) Read more on: The News-Enterprise

See other Member in the News items Know another AAEA Member who has made statewide, national, or international news? Send a link of the article to Jessica Weister at jweister@aaea.org. What research and topics are you working on? Want to be an expert source for journalists working on a story? Contact Allison Ware at aware@aaea.org. *Disclaimer - This email is to acknowledge citations of current AAEA members and/or their research in any public media channel. AAEA does not agree nor disagree with the views or attitudes of cited outside publications.

Call for Paper Proposals NCCC-134

The NCCC-134 Committee on Applied Commodity Price Analysis, Forecasting, and Market Risk Management will host its 2022 Conference on April 25-26, 2022 at the Holiday Inn St. Louis --- Downtown Conv Ctr, St. Louis, Missouri.

General Topics

Proposed papers should emphasize applied research. We encourage papers on commodity price forecasting, farm and agribusiness risk management, futures and options markets, as well as price analysis problems or issues. Please submit work that will be completed by April 2022 on these and the following topics in commodity markets:

• Supply, demand, and price behavior
• Improved forecasting methods
• Improved risk management procedures
• Futures and options markets

Proposal Format

Submit a two-page (double spaced) prospectus which contains the following.

1. Statement of the problem
2. Data and empirical procedures
3. Research objectives
4. Likely results and practical implications

Proposals SHOULD NOT IDENTIFY AUTHORS to protect their anonymity in the review process. Proposals should be Adobe Acrobat files (pdf) and the file names should not contain author names. An example proposal is posted at our website (http://www.farmdoc.illinois.edu/nccc134/submissions.html).

Submission Procedure

Authors should submit their proposals through online submission system by following that e link https://cmt3.research.microsoft.com/NCCC1342022. Submissions must be made by November 15, 2021.

1. If you have not submitted through this system in the past, you will need to create a user account by clicking the “Registration” tab in the online system.
2. After you log in to the system, click “+ Create new submission” in the Author Console.
3. Enter the title of your proposal.
4. The section “AUTHORS” should list your e-mail address, Name, Organization, and Country.
5. To add more authors, please enter the e-mail address of your co-author and click “+ Add.” Fill in the fields to provide the name, organization, and country of your co-author and click “+ Add.” Repeat this process to add more co-authors.
6. To upload your proposal click “Upload from Computer” and select the file.
7. Click “Submit.”

Submission Decisions

Screening committee will notify all submitting authors of their decision in December 2021. Successful authors must complete and submit their research presentation by April 18, 2022. Completed manuscripts are due on June 1, 2022 for digital publication.

See you in 2022!

NCCC-134 Committee Co-Chairs

Olga Isengildina Massa (oimassa@vt.edu)

Mindy Mallory (mlmallor@purdue.edu)

Members in the News: Batabyal, Glauber, Dall’Erba, Martinez, Plakias, O’Hara, Woods, Thilmany, Jablonski, Edmondson, Segovia, Valdivia, McCarl, et al.

Amitrajeet Batabyal, Rochester Institute of Technology Microeconomics explains why people can never have enough of what they want and how that influences policies By: The Conversation - August 31, 2021 Economics is broadly divided into macroeconomics and microeconomics. The big picture, macroeconomics, concentrates on the behavior of a national or a regional economy as a whole: the totals of goods and services, unemployment and prices. (Continued...) Read more on: The Conversation Joseph Glauber, IFPRI China’s Food Security Policies Could Endanger Others By: The Well News - August 9, 2021 Analysis-Higher U.S. food benefits give legs to dollar stores' fresh food push By: U.S. News Report & World News, MSN, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo, Yahoo Sports, Market Screener, Newsbreak, & Fresh Plaza - August 25, 2021 Sandy Dall'Erba, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Study Proposes New Ways to Estimate Climate Change Impacts on Agriculture By: Environmental News Network - August 23, 2021 “If you pay attention to forecasts of how the climate will affect U.S. agriculture, the results are completely different. Some scientists predict it's going to have a positive impact for the nation in the long run, some report it's going to have a negative impact,” says study co-author Sandy Dall’Erba, professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics (ACE) and director of the Center for Climate, Regional, Environmental and Trade Economics (CREATE) at U of I. (Continued...) Read more on: Environmental News Network Charley Martinez, University of Tennessee Farming Fundamentals geared toward educating new and beginning farmers By: Co-op - August 31, 2021 Not everyone who farms started out on a farm. Some are one, two or even three generations removed from life on the land, but they aspire to live a rural life and work a farm to support themselves and their family. To address this growing trend in Tennessee, University of Tennessee Extension has expanded the role of Charley Martinez, an assistant professor and Extension specialist in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. (Continued...) Read more on: Co-op Zoë Plakias, The Ohio State University Jeffrey O’Hara, USDA - Agricultural Marketing Service Timothy Woods, University of Kentucky Dawn Thilmany, Colorado State University Rebecca Jablonski, Colorado State University Hailey Edmondson, Colorado State University The buy local boom of the pandemic bottoms out in 2021 By: Farm and Dairy - September 1, 2021 The Consumer Food Insights survey was born out of a joint project between Colorado State University, Pennsylvania State University’s Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Marketing Service and the University of Kentucky looking into the local food system’s response to COVID. “There are lots of pressures [consumers] are facing,” said Zoë Plakias, assistant professor in Ohio State University’s department of agricultural, environmental and development economics. She studies U.S. supply chains and food systems, with a focus on short supply chains, direct marketing and local foods. (Continued...) Read more on: Farm and Diary Michelle Segovia, University of Missouri Corinne Valdivia, University of Missouri University of Missouri plays crucial role in new NSF artificial intelligence institute By: Mirage - July 30, 2021 MU’s team, including Segovia and Corinne Valdivia, will conduct surveys, participatory workshops and economic experiments to identify the social, behavioral and business catalysts, and barriers to adoption of the digital twins. Insights gained from these efforts will directly inform the development and deployment of the technology, providing crucial information about the values, concerns and practices of decision makers – i.e. farmers, consumers, and other stakeholders – resulting in digital twins innovations that are salient, trusted and actionable. (Continued...) Read more on: Mirage Bruce McCarl, Texas A&M University 'Volatility Is Opportunity': How The Agriculture Sector Is Responding Positively To Climate Change By: Markets Insider - July 29, 2021 University Professor in the department of agricultural economics at Texas A&M University Bruce McCarl agreed. Some of his research has found that climate change has caused crop production to expand in much of the U.S. The Dakotas, for instance, have tripled their corn production in recent years. The states hit hardest by climate change are already warm. (Continued...) Read more on: Markets Insider Glynn Tonsor, Kansas State University Senate hearing elicits critical facts and logic By: Canadian Cattlemen - August 27, 2021 Glynn Tonsor, PhD, Kansas State agricultural economics professor, provided perspective, reminding folks that the beef supply chain is very complex, is constantly evolving and that not all the players accept all the evolutions. (Continued...) Read more on: Canadian Cattlemen James Mintert, Purdue University Crop report takeaway: 'Indiana crop production doing very well' By: AgriNews, AgriMarketing, & Hoosier Ag Today - August 29, 2021 As producer sentiment holds steady, farmers weigh in on rising input prices and farmland values By: WBIW - August 3, 2021 Luis Ribera, Texas A&M University Bart Fischer, Texas A&M University Oral Capps, Texas A&M University Food availability depends on agricultural imports and exports By: Southwest Farm Press - August 6, 2021 Economic activity related to the importation and exportation of agricultural products benefits consumers and helps stimulate both the Texas and U.S. economy, according to experts from the Department of Agricultural Economics in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.  (Continued...) Read more on: Southwest Farm Press Richard Sexton, University of California, Davis No Prop 12 delay as state's pork prices set to rise By: Western Farm Press - August 30, 2021 “The roughly 9% of North American sows affected will each get about 20% more housing space," noted coauthor Richard Sexton, a UC Davis professor of agricultural and resource economics. "But, the additional space will be for those sows that already have more space, not those confined in small individual stalls.” (Continued...) Read more on: Western Farm Press Joseph Outlaw, Texas A&M University New webinar: Exploring farmers' climate-smart tools By: Morning Ag Clips - August 30, 2021 This Agri-Pulse webinar will document some of the progress that has been made in developing a systems approach to water conservation, discuss barriers to adoption, and provide data on how on-farm profitability is impacted. Speakers include: Joe Outlaw, Ph.D., regents fellow, professor and extension economist in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University (Continued...) Read more on: Morning Ag Clips Barry Goodwin, North Carolina State University Why California’s new pork rules could mean big changes for Minnesota hog farmers By: MinnPost - August 6, 2021 A report on the economic impact of Prop 12 by Barry Goodwin, a professor at North Carolina State University specializing in agricultural economics, describes the new space requirements as not backed by animal science. (Continued...) Read more on: MinnPost Carson Reeling, Purdue University With Dynamic Lotteries, You Get What You Need By: Indiana Ag Connection - August 5, 2021 "Most of the time, price dictates who gets an in-demand item, but we can all agree there are certain resources that shouldn't simply go to the highest bidder," said Carson Reeling, an associate professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University who led the study. "A dynamic lottery levels the playing field, but still sorts out who values a resource the most. It also, according to our study, improved the well-being of the participants relative to other non-price means of allocating resources." (Continued...) Read more on: Indiana Ag Connection Bart Fischer, Texas A&M University Joseph Outlaw, Texas A&M University Potential impact of inheritance legislation on family farms By: Wisconsin State Farmer - August 2, 2021 “Senator John Boozman, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, and Representative G.T. Thompson, ranking member of the House Committee on Agriculture, asked the Agricultural and Food Policy Center to examine what impact these proposals would have on farmers and ranchers,” said Bart Fischer, Ph.D., co-director of AFPC. “Agricultural producers are extraordinarily sensitive to changes in stepped-up basis and estate taxes because much of their net worth is traditionally comprised of land and equipment,” said Joe Outlaw, Ph.D., co-director of AFPC and primary report author. (Continued...) Read more on: Wisconsin State Farmer Gary Schnitkey, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Stress Testing an Illinois Grain Farm By: KMA Land - August 29, 2021 The breakeven prices, by the way, are calculated at $4.41 for corn and $10.23 for soybeans at trend yield. Those breakeven cash prices are higher than in the past says Schnitkey because non-land costs have gone up by about $100 per acre since 2014 for corn and 50 bucks for soybeans. Should the corn and soybean market move back to 2014 to 2019 price levels, $3.64 for corn on average and $9.91 for soybeans, then things turn really ugly says Schnitkey. For comparison, the average net income on the farm during that period was $25 per acre. (Continued...) Read more on: KMA Land Chengzheng Yu, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Madhu Khanna, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Ruiqing Miao, Auburn University US corn and soybean maladapted to climate variations, study shows By: Effingham Daily News - August 24, 2021 Yu, Khanna, and co-author Ruiqing Miao, Auburn University, studied corn and soybean yield from 1951 to 2017 in the eastern part of the U.S., an area where crops can grow without irrigation. Crop yield increased significantly during this period due to a wide range of technological and breeding improvements. But when the researchers isolated the effect of climate-related adaptations, they found significant negative impacts on yield. (Continued...) Read more on: Effingham Daily News Matthew Stockton, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Jay Parsons, University of Nebraska-Lincoln UNL hosting weaning webinar Thursday By: The North Platte Telegraph - July 31, 2021 Panelists will include Karla Wilke, a cow/calf specialist in the university’s Department of Animal Science; Randy Saner, a beef systems educator with Nebraska Extension; Matt Stockton, an agricultural economics specialist with Nebraska Extension; and Jay Parsons, a farm and ranch management specialist in the Department of Agricultural Economics. (Continued...) Read more on: The North Platte Telegraph Cicely Batie, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Nebraska Department of Agriculture names Lexington native as assistant director By: The North Platte Telegraph & KSNB - July 21, 2021 “Agriculture is not only a family tradition; it’s become my professional passion. I’m excited to be a part of the Nebraska Department of Agriculture in my home state where agriculture is our No. 1 industry,” Batie said. “I look forward to learning more about the great work the department does for Nebraska’s farmers and ranchers and to help capitalize on the many opportunities we have to promote and engage with the agriculture industry.” (Continued...) Read more on: The North Platte Telegraph & KSNB Todd Kuethe, Purdue University James Mintert, Purdue University Indiana farmland prices hit record high in 2021 By: Dubois County Herald - August 3, 2021 “A unique combination of economic forces including net farm income, expected income growth, crop and livestock prices, interest rates, exports, inflation, alternative investments, U.S. policy, and farmers’ liquidity, all played a major factor in the price increase we’re experiencing,” said Todd H. Kuethe, Purdue associate professor and Schrader Endowed Chair in Farmland Economics and survey author. For more in-depth analysis on the survey, the Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture will host a free webinar Friday, Aug. 20, from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. ET. Join Purdue agricultural economists Todd Kuethe, James Mintert and Michael Langemeier as they break down the Purdue Farmland Values Survey and USDA Land Values report, discuss marketing strategies for 2021 corn and soybean crops, and make projections for 2022 corn and soybean returns. (Continued...) Read more on: Dubois County Herald James MacDonald, University of Maryland Family farms find ways to meet challenges and protect agricultural heritage By: Polk County Itemizer-Observer - August 4, 2021 There’s been a “steady shift” of production to much larger operations, said economist James MacDonald, visiting research professor at the University of Maryland in College Park, who has written extensively on family farm operations. (Continued...) Read more on: Polk County Itemizer-Observer

See other Member in the News items Know another AAEA Member who has made statewide, national, or international news? Send a link of the article to Jessica Weister at jweister@aaea.org. What research and topics are you working on? Want to be an expert source for journalists working on a story? Contact Allison Ware at aware@aaea.org. *Disclaimer - This email is to acknowledge citations of current AAEA members and/or their research in any public media channel. AAEA does not agree nor disagree with the views or attitudes of cited outside publications.

Webinar: Household Food Security in the United States in 2020

Date: Wednesday, September 8, 2021
Time: 1:00 PM ET
Duration: 1 hour
Host: Alisha Coleman-Jensen

Description:
USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) plays a leading role in Federal research on food security and food security measurement in U.S. households.

In this webinar, ERS Social Science Analyst Alisha Coleman-Jensen will provide an overview of USDA’s annual report on the prevalence and severity of food insecurity in U.S. households in 2020.The report includes changes in food insecurity from previous years, the prevalence of food insecurity by selected household characteristics, and food insecurity among children. 

Food-insecure households are defined as having had difficulty at some time during the year providing enough food for all their members due to a lack of resources. Food-secure households are defined as having had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members.

https://globalmeetwebinar.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1493240&tp_key=76de91da6b

Members in the News: Lusk, Boehm, Gundersen, Lopez, Steinbach, Wang, Thompson, Mintert, Ellison, Schnitkey, Zulauf, Barrett, Dall’Erba, et al.

Jayson Lusk, Purdue University Grocery items getting smaller? It's not your eyes, it's 'shrinkflation' By: Today - July 28, 2021 Ag Economist discusses pandemic changes to beef cattle industry By: The Cattle Site - August 2, 2021 Rebecca Boehm, Union of Concerned Scientists Tyson has a stranglehold over Arkansas’s poultry industry By: The Counter - August 23, 2021 All across our economy, the issue of competition or lack thereof across different sectors is becoming a more prominent issue among policymakers. We saw the Biden administration’s executive order to address competition not just in food and agriculture, but across the economy. There’s always been concern and issues around lack of competition in the food and agriculture system — as early as the 1920s in meat and poultry packing. (Continued...) Read more on: The Counter Craig Gundersen, Baylor University New Tool Sheds Light on Impact of Racism on Food Insecurity By: Food Bank News - August 18, 2021 Baylor professor speaks on largest food SNAP benefit increase in history By: Fox 44 News - August 24, 2021 Rigoberto Lopez, University of Connecticut Sandro Steinbach, University of Connecticut Changing Food Retail Landscape, Competitiveness, and Health Outcomes By: Mirage - August 24, 2021 Rigoberto Lopez, professor of agricultural and resource economics in the College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources, has received a Research Excellence Program (REP) grant to develop new knowledge about the evolving food retail landscape. This project will provide necessary research to help make the food shopping options in the U.S. more competitive and healthier for people everywhere. Lopez will lead an interdisciplinary team that includes Sandro Steinbach, assistant professor of agricultural and resource economics; Kristen Cooksey Stowers, assistant professor of allied health sciences, and Debarchana Ghosh, assistant professor of geography. (Continued...) Read more on: Mirage Tong Wang, South Dakota State University Producers reap rewards of cover crops By: Phys.org & Dakota Farmer - July 30, 2021 Cover crops, which are planted after harvesting the cash crop, help prevent erosion and runoff and increase soil organic matter, thereby reducing the need for fertilizer and improving water quality. In addition, cover crops can help suppress weeds, thereby reducing herbicide and pesticide usage, according to assistant professor Tong Wang of South Dakota State University's Ness School of Management and Economics. (Continued...) Read more on: Phys.org & Dakota Farmer Nathanael Thompson, Purdue University James Mintert, Purdue University Economist shares marketing strategies By: AgriNews - July 26, 2021 Now is the time to brainstorm marketing strategies for new crop corn and soybeans, said Nathan Thompson, agricultural economics professor at Purdue University. The U.S. Department of Agriculture released the July Crop Production and World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate report. James Mintert, director of the Center for Commercial Agriculture at Purdue, discussed the results. (Continued...) Read more on: AgriNews Brenna Ellison, Purdue University How Will the Covid-19 Vaccine Change Food Acquisition Behaviors? By: Farms.com - August 23, 2021 In early 2020, as confusion and concern over the Covid-19 virus grew and spread, normal life changed dramatically for millions of Americans. While stay-at-home orders were issued across the country and workplaces, schools, and college campuses shut their doors, regular routines changed, and a major shift occurred in how millions of people acquire food for themselves and their households. (Continued...) Read more on: Farms.com Gary Schnitkey, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Carl Zulauf, The Ohio State University Timeline of a Rare Series of Disruptive Events for United States Agriculture By: Farms.com - July 21, 2021 A rare series of disruptive occurrences over the last three years has contributed to volatility in agricultural exports and markets. The roller-coaster patterns of United States agricultural exports and corn and soybean prices in that time is tracked with concurrent events ranging from the tariff war’s disruption of agricultural trade in 2018, to widespread weather caused planting delays and record prevent plant acres in 2019, to the COVID-19 pandemic and response in 2020. (Continued...) Read more on: Farms.com Christopher Barrett, Cornell University Reaping the benefits: Training in rice growing system raises yields and well-being By: Bioengineer.org, Scienmag, Agro Vista Profits, Science Daily, Phys.org, & Farms.com - July 21, 2021 Professor Abdul Malek of the University of Tsukuba (Japan), together with international colleagues including Asad Islam (Monash University), Christopher Barrett (Cornell University), Marcel Fafchamps (Stanford University), and Debayan Pakrashi (Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur), conducted these randomized introductions of SRI in Bangladesh and studied them from agricultural and social angles. (Continued...) Read more on: Bioengineer.org, Scienmag, Agro Vista Profits, Science Daily, Phys.org, & Farms.com Sandy Dall’Erba, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Study proposes new ways to estimate climate change impacts on agriculture By: Phys.org, Herald News, & Latestly - August 20, 2021 A Groundbreaking Self-Driving Test Track Could be Coming to Central Illinois By: WCIA & Illinois Newsroom - August 9, 2021 Gary Schnitkey, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Cash Rents Rise in 2021 with Implications for 2022, By Gary Schnitkey By: Crop Producer - August 19, 2021 The U.S. Department of Agriculture released 2021 state-level cash rents. The average cash rent in Illinois was $227 per acre, a $5 increase over 2020 levels. Over time, cash rents typically follow agricultural returns in a lagged manner. Higher returns in 2020, along with projected higher returns in 2021 and 2022, likely lead to upward pressures on 2022 cash rents. (Continued...) Read more on: Crop Producer Diane Charlton, Montana State University Montana State University ag economist featured on CBS Sunday Morning By: Farm Forum - July 27, 2021 Diane Charlton, an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Economics in MSU’s College of Agriculture and College of Letters and Science, studies the economics of agricultural production with a focus on labor and migration. Sunday Morning called on Charlton’s expertise for a segment titled “Invisible People” that aired June 27. (Continued...) Read more on: Farm Forum Justin Benavidez, Texas A&M University Bart Fischer, Texas A&M University Texas A&M course helps ranchers manage bottom line By: Morning Ag Clips - August 22, 2021 In a message during the general session, Justin Benavidez, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension economist, Amarillo, provided producers with some good news on cattle prices but some caution about feed prices and the need to manage their risk. Very few people are involved in the day-to-day production ag workforce – 1.3% – so there is a definite lack of knowledge amongst the general public of what beef producers do or need to, said Bart Fischer, Ph.D., co-director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center in the Texas A&M University Department of Agricultural Economics, Bryan-College Station. (Continued...) Read more on: Morning Ag Clips Alvaro Durand-Morat, University of Arkansas Subir Bairagi, University of Arkansas Global rice prices spike during pandemic despite supply By: Arkansas Democrat Gazette, ABC 7, & Stuttgart Daily Leader - August 21, 2021 "Most commodity prices went down during the pandemic because of lower demand," said Alvaro Durand-Morat, assistant professor of agricultural economics and agribusiness for the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the Division of Agriculture's research arm. "But rice went the other way." Durand-Morat is co-author with research post-doctoral associate Subir Bairagi of International Rice Outlook: International Rice Baseline Projections 2020-2030. The full report from the Agricultural Experiment Station is available at https://bit.ly/AAES-RiceOutlook . (Continued...) Read more on: Arkansas Democrat Gazette, ABC 7, & Stuttgart Daily Leader Trey Malone, Michigan State University K. Aleks Schaefer, Michigan State University Agricultural economy rebounding By: Grand Rapids Business Journal - August 20, 2021 It was authored by Steven R. Miller, director for the College of Economic Analysis of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University; Trey Malone, assistant professor for the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University; and K. Aleks Schaefer, assistant professor for the Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at Michigan State University. “The one thing that the pandemic taught me about agriculture is how resilient the system can actually be,” Malone said. “This has been a crazy shock to everyone, yet you can still find most of the products you want on the grocery shelves. A year later, a lot of prices have come back to a place where we would have expected them to be prior to the pandemic.” (Continued...) Read more on: Grand Rapids Business Journal Wendong Zhang, Iowa State University Iowa Farmland Owners could see Large Tax Increase from American Families Plan By: KIWA Radio - August 22, 2021 Iowa Leads Corn Belt States With Highest Cash Rent Average By: WNAX - August 23, 2021

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