Members in the News: Young, Hurt, Gray, Schwabe, McCarl, Zhang, and Mintert

Robert Young, American Farm Bureau Federation Agriculture mergers won’t hinder consumer choices — they’ll better them Written by: Robert Young in The Hill- November 4, 2017 When any of us look to buy things, we would probably prefer more choices to less. Our sense of increased competition is hard to shake. Recent merger and consolidation activity in the agricultural input space has raised some justifiable concern among industry watchers, as well as farmers and ranchers. But keep in mind there are innovation-based market forces at work behind this recent spate. (Continued...) Read the entire article on The Hill Chris Hurt, Purdue University INDIANA IN DEPTH: Farmers insist subsidies help despite controversy over program By: News and Tribune and WTHI TV- November 4, 2017 In May, President Donald Trump proposed a budget that would slash farm subsidies by $38 billion, $28 billion of which would come from crop insurance for farmers, the most important program, according to Chris Hurt, a professor of agricultural economics at Purdue University. (Continued...) Read the entire article on News and Tribune and WTHI TV Allan Gray, Purdue University Academy Helps Managers Tackle Marketplace Shifts By: AgPro- November 7, 2017 Agricultural retail managers might not realize it, but they have a role in helping their organizations succeed in this arena, says Allan Gray, Purdue professor of agricultural economics and center director. “The role of the retailer is changing,” says Gray, who is the faculty lead for the management academy. “Retailers are challenged with how to identify new production practices and systems that help farmers enhance their productivity while continuously improving their environmental footprint.” (Continued...) Read the entire article on AgPro Kurt Schwabe, Texas A&M University Bruce McCarl, Texas A&M University UCR-Texas A&M research team awarded $1.2 million NSF grant By: The Highlander - November 6, 2017 The grant recipients are Professor of Environmental Economics and Policy Kurt Schwabe, Assistant Professor of Groundwater Hydrology Hoori Ajami and Professor of Soil Physics and water management specialist Laosheng Wu. The three UCR academics were joined by TAMU’s Professor of Agricultural Economics Bruce McCarl, Professor of Chemical Engineering Efstratios Pistikopoulos, Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering Rabi Mohtar and Professor of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and Ecosystem Sciences and Management Raghavan Srinivasan. (Continued...) Read the entire article on The Highlander Wendong Zhang, Iowa State University How China hopes a transplanted Iowa farm will help transform its aging ag industry (and boost Iowa trade as well) By: Des Moines Register- November 7, 2017 Wendong Zhang, an assistant economics professor at Iowa State University in Ames, is intimately familiar with that challenge.  His grandfather’s village in coastal Shandong Province, just east of Hebei, packs 1,000 farmers onto fewer than 200 acres — a dense and old-fashioned production by hand compared with a mechanized American harvest.  (Continued...) Read the entire article on Des Moines Register James Mintert, Purdue University Ag Economy Barometer: Producers more optimistic in October By: Daily News - November 8, 2017 “One possible reason for the smaller share of producers planning to reduce fertilizer rates in 2018 is prices,” said James Mintert, director of Purdue’s Center for Commercial Agriculture and principal investigator on the barometer project. “Fertilizer prices, particularly for anhydrous ammonia, are lower than a year ago. For example, recent price quotes for anhydrous ammonia were 20 percent lower than a year ago, with other crop nutrient prices exhibiting smaller price declines.” (Continued...) Read the entire article on Daily News

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