Members in the News: Thatcher, Outlaw, Richardson, Mintert, McFadden, Ferraro, Misra, and Bellemare

Mary Kay Thatcher, American Farm Bureau Foundation ‘2017 or 2018 farm bill?’ to be topic of U of A webinar By: Delta Farm Press - August 30, 2017 Mary Kay Thatcher, chief lobbyist for the American Farm Bureau Federation and a veteran of seven farm bills, will be the featured speaker for the next University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Webinar. The webinar, “Will it be a 2017 or 2018 farm bill?” will air at 10 a.m. CDT on Thursday, Sept. 7. You can connect with your computer, IPad or Smartphone by Internet or dial-in and listen in by phone. (Continued...) Read the entire article on Delta Farm Press Joe Outlaw and James W. Richardson, Texas A&M Mega-mergers in agriculture expected to raise prices By: Wisconsin State Farmer - August 30, 2017 In an attempt to predict the impact of the mergers on seed pricing, Texas A&M agricultural economics professors Joe Outlaw and James W. Richardson last September calculated the magnitude of concentration in the industry. They found that the proposed Bayer-Monsanto combination would raise cotton seed prices 18.2% while corn seed would rise 2.3% and soybean seed would climb 1.9%. (Continued...) Read the entire article on Wisconsin State Farmer  Jim Mintert, Purdue University Producer Sentiment Down Slightly as Commodity Prices Weaken By: KTIC - September 5, 2017 “Weakness in the Index of Current Conditions compared to July wasn’t unexpected given the recent downtrend in grain and oilseed prices,” said Jim Mintert, director of Purdue’s Center for Commercial Agriculture and principal investigator for the barometer. “For example, from July 17 to August 21 – the first days of the July and August sentiment surveys, the December corn futures contract price declined 6 percent. Prices for wheat and soybeans also weakened, generating additional concern about farm revenues and profitability.” (Continued...) Read the entire article on KTIC Brandon R. McFadden, University of Florida ‘Gluten-free water’ shows absurdity of trend in labeling what’s absent By: Brandon McFadden in The Conversation - August 28, 2017 The food labeling craze coupled with banner headlines about the dangers of gluten, genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and hormones are leading to increasingly absurd results. For example, you can now buy “premium” water that’s not only free of GMOs and gluten but certified kosher and organic. Never mind that not a single drop of water anywhere contains either property or is altered in any way by those designations. (Continued...) Read the entire article on The Conversation Paul Ferraro, John Hopkins University Start Preparing for the Next Hurricane Harvey By: Paul Ferraro in Bloomberg View- August 29, 2017 My heart goes out to the people who have borne the brunt of Hurricane Harvey and still face continued flooding and a long recovery. As a nation, we need to be better prepared for such catastrophic floods so as to mitigate their widespread damage and loss of life. Harvey’s 50 inches of rain in a few days might be unusual, but extensive flooding with its subsequent property damage and loss of life is not. It’s time to stop using the words “unprecedented” or “one in a pick-your-large-number-year flood” to fool ourselves into believing that we’re experiencing one-off disasters that can’t be defended against. We have the tools to prepare, if we’re bold enough to use them. (Continued...) Read the entire article on Bloomberg View Sukant Misra, Texas Tech University Chamber to Celebrate Area Harvest with October 18 Luncheon By: Everything Lubbock - September 6, 2017 Dr. Sukant Misra, Associate Vice Provost for International Programs at Texas Tech University, will be the featured speaker at the luncheon. Misra is responsible for, along with the Vice Provost of International Affairs, the oversight of the Office of International Affairs (OIA). Previous to that, he served as the Associate Dean for Research for the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources (CASNR) from 2002 to 2014. He has served Texas Tech in various faculty and administrative capacities since his initial employment as a faculty member in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics in 1993. Prior to joining Texas Tech, he was a researcher at the University of Georgia for three years. He received his Bachelor and Master's degrees in Analytical and Applied Economics from Utkal University, India, in 1979 and 1981, respectively. He obtained a second Master of Science degree in 1986 and his doctorate in Agricultural Economics in 1989, both from Mississippi State University. (Continued...) Read the entire article on Everything Lubbock Corrected link from September 5, 2017 release of "Members in the News" Marc Bellemare, University of Minnesota Is ‘Food Waste’ Really Such a Waste? By: Marc Bellemare in The Wall Street Journal - August 24, 2017 When it comes to food, many people think “waste not, want not” is an effective public policy. “Up to one third of all food is spoiled or squandered before it is consumed,” the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization says. “It is an excess in an age where almost a billion people go hungry." Two years ago, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the "first-ever national food waste reduction goal, calling for 50-percent reduction by 2030." (Continued...) Read the entire article on The Wall Street Journal

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.