Members in the News: Schnitkey, Muhammad, Rousu, Countryman, Hart, Zhang, Joshi, Orazem, and Hayes

Gary Schnitkey, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Corn Calls Out to U.S. Farmers as Trade War Erodes Soy Profits By: Bloomberg - January 29, 2019 “Farmers are going to really take a hard look at corn this year as an alternative to soybeans,” Gary Schnitkey, an agriculture professor at the University of Illinois in Urbana, said in a telephone interview. “There is some optimism for corn. There is less so for soybeans.” The trade war and a large forthcoming South American crop have pushed U.S. soybean prices 15 percent below their 2018 high. Corn has fared much better. Returns on an acre of corn this year should eclipse those from an acre of soy on high-productivity farmland in central Illinois, the first time that’s happened since 2015, according to budgets that assume crop rotation created by Schnitkey. (Continued...) Read more on: Bloomberg Andrew Muhammad, University of Tennessee Why Americans are (finally) getting a raise By: Marketplace - February 1, 2019 Andrew Muhammad and his research on U.S. beef exports was featured on the NPR show “Marketplace with Kai Ryssdal.” The segment is about Japanese trade agreements and U.S. beef exports, it starts at 18:03. 20:57: "The lower price doesn't necessarily mean Japanese buyers will forsake American products for Australian ones, that's according to Andrew Muhammad a professor at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture." (Continued...) Listen on: Marketplace Matthew Rousu, Susquehanna University The Value of Facebook on BBC World News By: YouTube - December 24, 2018 Matthew Rousu from Susquehanna University and Rachael Kent from King's College London on BBC World News discussing the value of Facebook to users. Rousu starts by saying, "We ran what are called experimental auctions, where people were literally bidding for how much compensation they will need to give up their Facebook accounts. We had different series of times for different groups, different samples, slightly different methods across the teams' co-authors, but we consistently found that on average user would take over $1000 dollars to deactivate for a year." (Continued...) Watch on: YouTube Amanda Countryman, Colorado State University How the Trade War Has Affected American Farmers By: Pacific Standard - February 5, 2019 "If the trade conflict with China continues much longer, it will likely leave lasting scars on the entire agricultural sector as well as the overall U.S. economy," Amanda Countryman, an associate professor of agricultural economics at Colorado State University, wrote for the Conversation in 2018. (Continued...) Read more on: Pacific Standard Chad Hart, Iowa State University ISU survey examines tariff impact on Iowa’s economy By: Radio Iowa - February 7, 2019 Iowa State University recently completed an economic research study of the effects of the on-going tariffs placed on American trade. The impacts of the trade tariffs certainly have hurt agriculture, but Iowa State University Agricultural Economist, Chad Hart says the dispute with China probably cost between one and two billion dollars in our overall state economy.  “Ag took a major part of that cut, but we weren’t the only sector of the Iowa economy that was hurt by this,” Hart says, “a lot of our manufacturing faced additional costs because of this. Like I say, here, you’re talking about probably when I think of our percentage basis, it’s about a half a percent hit to the overall state economy.” (Continued...) Read more on: Radio Iowa Wendong Zhang, Iowa State University Owners have mixed views on farmland values in the next year By: Radio Iowa - December 26, 2018 Iowa State University economist Wendong Zhang conducts the annual survey. He says one third of those in the survey expect a modest decline, while 15 percent see no change. “So roughly half are in the camp of a modest decline or no change — half (expect) an increase.” The optimism about the land values extends beyond this year. “Five years from now a vast majority of people are thinking the land value will be higher than the current level,” he says. Zhang takes a more guarded approach in predicting what might happen. (Continued...) Read more on: Radio Iowa PK Joshi, International Food Policy Research Institute Budget Expectations 2019: ‘Agriculture Needs Massive Investment’ By: The Quint - January 28, 2019 Indian agriculture needs serious attention as majority of population is dependent on agriculture for their livelihood, says Dr Pramod Joshi, Director-South Asia at International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) ahead of the interim Budget on 1 February. This will be the Narendra Modi government’s final budget, ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. A majority of farmers, Joshi points out, have tiny and fragmented land holdings and that their size is declining over the years. (Continued...) Read more on: The Quint Peter Orazem, Iowa State University Iowa among most at-risk for job automation By: Sioux City Journal - February 3, 2019 Whether Iowa jobs are at risk from the growth of automation and use of artificial intelligence is less urgent than the need to get the work done, according to ISU economics professor Peter Orazem. “If you look at the labor force, Iowa’s unemployment rate is 2 percent,” Orazem said. “It’s clear we don’t have enough workers.” (Continued...) Read more on: Sioux City Journal Dermot Hayes, Iowa State University EU Won’t Include Agriculture In Trade Talks With U.S. By: Farm Journal's Pork - January 18, 2019 EU tariff and non-tariff barriers on pork limited U.S. pork exports to the second largest pork-consuming market in the world to less than 4,000 metric tons in 2017. The United States sends more pork to countries such as Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador and Singapore than it does to the EU. According to Iowa State University economist Dermot Hayes, opening the EU market to U.S. pork would result in billions of dollars in new exports to Europe. (Continued...) Read more on: Farm Journal's Pork

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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.