Members in the News: Lusk, Zhang, Bovay, Brown, Muhammad, and Smith

Jayson Lusk, Purdue University The Cost of Happy Hens By: TEDx Talks YouTube - May 8, 2018 Recently there has been a strong push for better treatment of produce animals. Jason's talk asks whether society is ready to pay the price for the better treatment and if the better treatment society is pushing for really increases the animal's standard of living. A distinguished Professor and Head of the Agricultural Economics Department at Purdue University, Jayson Lusk received a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University in 2000. He served as a visiting researcher at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research and worked on a research fellowship awarded by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Listen on: TEDx Talks YouTube Wendong Zhang, Iowa State University U.S. Observations May 9, 2018 Content By: Voa Chinese - May 9, 2018 President Trump of the United States and Chinese President Xi Jinping call on Tuesday to discuss trade and North Korea issues; Tuesday, the United States includes four states including West Virginia, as of November this year China’s midterm election held a primary election; China imposed tariffs on U.S. pork and intensified inspections. VOA reporters took you to Iowa, the largest pork producer in the United States, to learn about local responses to Chinese practices; Prosecutor General of the State of New York, USA Schneiderman announced his resignation Monday, after the four women accused him of physical abuse. Two things that happened on the US campus caused a lot of trouble in the foreign students and the Chinese community. Why are the nationalist nerves of some Chinese and foreign students so sensitive? 39 years ago, the San Francisco Island nuclear power plant in central Pennsylvania in the United States took the worst commercial nuclear accident in the history of the United States. This incident changed the nuclear power industry in the United States. Listen on: Voa Chinese Hear Wendong Zhang on minute 11:11. Trade tensions may be slowing soybean sales to China By: Iowa Farm Bureau - May 7, 2018 The threat of trade tariffs is prompting Chinese importers to look beyond the United States for more of their ag imports, according to Wendong Zhang, an ISU Extension economist. “I fear that in many ways the harm has already been done even if the tariffs don’t come into play,” he said. “The trade tensions have really rattled the Chinese buyers. (Continued...) Read more on: Iowa Farm Bureau *John Bovay, University of Connecticut The Economics of Food Safety By: Quality Assurance & Food Safety - April 2018 John Bovay, assistant professor and extension economist for the University of Connecticut Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, sees the greatest economic impact of FSMA as affecting small business. “The costs of complying with the FSMA Produce Safety Rule will be onerous for small farms because large farms will be able to achieve some economies of scale in compliance,” he said, adding, “The same phenomena will occur in the food manufacturing and processing industry, which is affected by the Preventive Controls rule.” (Continued...) Read more on: Quality Assurance & Food Safety Scott Brown, University of Missouri Australia makes its move in global beef market Written by Scott Brown: Delta Farm Press - May 7, 2018 USDA recently released its twice-per-year look at international beef markets, and projections for 2018 show the largest growth in world beef production since 2006. While the U.S. is contributing a large share to the 2.4% world growth, countries outside of the U.S. are projected to increase output by 1.6% this year, the largest increase for all non-U.S. countries since 2013 and the third-largest since 2007. (Continued...) Read more on: Delta Farm Press Andrew Muhammad, University of Tennessee Aaron Smith, University of California, Davis Chinese tariffs threaten ‘profound’ loss to U.S. soybeans By: Delta Farm Press - May 2, 2018 Andrew Muhammad, professor and Blasingame Chair of Excellence, and Aaron Smith, assistant professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, examine the impact of a potential retaliatory tariff from China in a new report, Evaluating the Impact of Retaliatory Tariffs on U.S. Soybeans in China. “Our analysis indicates that exports could drop by $1.4 billion to $7.7 billion if a 25 percent tariff is applied to U.S. soybean exports to China, resulting in a potential farm-level loss of 33 cents to $1.76 per bushel,” Muhammad and Smith say. (Continued...) Read more on: Delta Farm Press

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*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.