Members in the News: Bellemare, Balagtas, Coffey, Feng, Hennessy, and Black

Marc F. Bellemare, University of Minnesota What Americans Will—and Won’t—Pay for Avocados, in One Chart By: Bloomberg - September 12, 2017 There’s a good reason this price-demand relationship is so tidy. Nobody needs an avocado. Demand for such staples as eggs, milk, wheat and even coffee is less elastic than that for avocados because those things are considered household necessities, Marc Bellemare, an economist at the University of Minnesota, said. “I don’t want to say that avocados are a luxury good … but you can kind of think of them as such,” Bellemare said. (Continued...) Read the entire article on Bloomberg Joseph V. Balagtas, Purdue University Just Askin': The price of milk By: The News-Gazette - September 10, 2017 Said Kappy Koch, a director on the Illinois Milk Producers' Association board: "Stores are doing it as a loss leader to gain customers. The store price has nothing to do with what the dairymen receive." Joseph V. Balagtas, an agricultural economics professor at Purdue, agreed: "It's possible a small portion of that price difference could be explained by different brands or other quality differences (organic vs conventional), or different costs for milk or for running the store. But it would be hard to imagine that such a big difference in retail milk prices could be fully explained by cost differences, which brings us back to the loss-leader story. Once the store gets the shopper inside the door, they can make up for losses on milk sales by selling other more profitable items to the shopper. Milk is commonly thought to be used as a loss-leader in this way." (Continued...) Read the entire article on The News-Gazette Brian Coffey, Kansas State University K-State ag economist volunteers with Farmer-to-Farmer By: The Mercury - September 13, 2017 Ask Brian Coffey how he started his summer and he can tell you about faraway lands and hard-working people. For several weeks, the Kansas State University assistant professor used his expertise in agricultural economics as a volunteer in Tajikistan with the Farmer-to-Farmer Program, working with local fruit and vegetable growers to encourage strategic marketing and business planning. (Continued...) Read the entire article on The Mercury Hongli Feng, David Hennessy, and Roy Black, Michigan State University Crop insurance: What’s your motivation? By: Hongli Feng in Michigan Farm News - August 28, 2017 Extreme weather events such as drought and floods can have a devastating impact on crops and farm income. In a single Michigan county, Isabella, flooding in the early summer of 2017 was estimated to have caused more than $20 million in damage to crops. Crop insurance is an important tool that allows farmers to manage such risks in agricultural production. The importance of the federal crop insurance program (Multiple Peril Crop Insurance or MPCI) was highlighted in a recent hearing of the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. (Continued...) Read the entire article on Michigan Farm News

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 info@aaea.org or ascheetz@aaea.org  What research and topics are you working on? Want to be an expert source for journalists working on a story? We want to hear from you. Contact Jay Saunders via email, jsaunders@aaea.org.