Members in the News: Baylis, Ribera, Dorfman, Marshall, Zhang, and Khanna

Kathy Baylis, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Luis Ribera, Texas A&M University Trump suggests that U.S. farmers are facing big trade barriers in Mexico. They have actually fallen. By: The Washington Post - June 5, 2018 “The trade deficit is increasing because we’re coming out of a recession and people are consuming more things in the United States,” said Kathy Baylis, an associate professor of agricultural economics at the University of Illinois. “We like eating fresh strawberries and avocados in winter” — two products imported from Mexico. “The American farmers are nervous,” said Luis Ribera, a professor of agricultural economics at Texas A&M University. “When you lose market share, it’s very difficult to get it back.” (Continued...) Read more on: The Washington Post *Jeffrey Dorfman, University of Georgia How to distribute food stamps to make them more effective By: MarketWatch - June 5, 2018 SNAP works, but it could be refined, new research suggests. A recent study found that one-third of SNAP recipients spend roughly two-thirds of their monthly benefit within the first four days of receiving it. And SNAP recipients who were better off financially were more likely to be among those who quickly spent their benefits. Crucially, these researchers suggested that policymakers could explore more frequent SNAP benefit disbursals as a way of encouraging recipients to spend their money more slowly. (Continued...) Read more on: MarketWatch One Change To Help Unlink SNAP And Hunger By: GPB News - June 6, 2018 In a new study published in the journal Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, University of Georgia economist Jeffrey Dorfman takes a second look at that spending pattern. What he found paints a different picture which in turn suggests a simple adjustment to the SNAP program. Dorfman looked at 2012 survey data gathered by the US Department of Agriculture on exactly how people spend their grocery money. When he dug into the subset of Americans who receive SNAP, the new pattern emerged. (Continued...) Read more on: GPB News Maria Marshall, Purdue University Farmers drop organic labels over certification process, access to markets, study says By: Phys.org - June 1, 2018 Torres and Maria Marshall, a Purdue professor of agricultural economics, published their findings in the journal HortScience. Data are based on more than 1,500 farmer surveys. Of the 234 farms that were or had been organic at some point, the authors find that 36 percent had dropped certification. Large- and medium-sized farms were less likely to decertify than small farms. These farms may be able to produce enough volume of fruits and vegetables to access high-value, high-volume markets. (Continued...) Read more on: Phys.org Wendong Zhang, Iowa State University Ninety-nine percent of America’s farms are family-owned. But only half are family-farmed. By: The New Food Economy - June 1, 2018 But most Iowa landowners are not new. “You don’t own land for one or three years,” says Wendong Zhang, an extension economist at Iowa State University (ISU). “A quarter of the land in Iowa is owned by the same owner for the last 40 years; half has been owned for over 20 years. So owners are after long-term returns.” (Continued...) Read more on: The New Food Economy Madhu Khanna, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Innovative technologies, policies make agriculture environmentally sustainable By: Herald-Whig - June 3, 2018 "Ultimately, land is the resource in fixed supply on the planet; therefore, we have to figure out how to best use the land to meet diverse needs," said Madhu Khanna, College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences Distinguished Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois and lead author of a new study. "We need to explore opportunities for ‘sustainable intensification' which allow us to increase productivity while reducing environmental harm. More research is needed, including looking at ways in which the recent emergence of big data-enabled precision agriculture can intensify agricultural production sustainably." (Continued...) Read more on: Herald-Whig

See other Member in the News items If you would like to improve your scientific communications and media skills, attend the Post-conference Workshop on Science Communications and Media Engagement. It is Wednesday, August 8 morning, and costs just $25. Make this important event a part of your meeting schedule this year. Know another AAEA Member who has made statewide, national, or international news? Send a link of the article to salvarado@aaea.org What research and topics are you working on? Want to be an expert source for journalists working on a story? Contact Allison Scheetz at ascheetz@aaea.org.

*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.