Members in the News: Johansson, Joshi, Gilligan, Featherstone, Zhang, Glauber, Smith, Zhang, Langemeier, and Rabinowitz

Robert Johansson, USDA-Office of the Chief Economist China’s Shopping List in America Has These Farm Goods at the Top By: Bloomberg - March 6, 2019 Canada may see shipments of rapeseed and wheat shrink, while Australia could find China is less keen to buy its beef and cotton. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Chief Economist Robert Johansson identified livestock products as a key area for potential exports to China. Meanwhile, Australia’s agriculture minister has warned that any deal that’s unfair to other nations could end up at the World Trade Organization. (Continued...) Read more on: Bloomberg and Transport Topics News PK Joshi, International Food Policy Research Institute Modi's $10.6 Billion Bounty Seen Giving Little Relief to Farmers By: Bloomberg Quint - February 26, 2019 “Income support is a good beginning and every small and marginal farmer will benefit from this,” said P.K. Joshi, director for South Asia at the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute. “They can use money to buy seeds, fertilizers and pesticides.” (Continued...) Read more on: Bloomberg Quint Daniel Gilligan, International Food Policy Research Institute What happens when you incentivise primary education in Uganda Written by Daniel Gilligan, Naureen Karachiwalla, Ibrahim Kasirye, Adrienne Lucas and Derek Neal: VoxDev - March 4, 2019 Most low-income countries no longer charge fees for access to primary education, but primary completion rates remain far below one in many countries (Lucas and Mbiti 2014, World Bank 2018). Many schools still lack important instructional resources and educators often work in civil service systems that provide both robust employment protections and weak accountability practices. Teachers are frequently absent from school and are often not fully engaged in teaching when present (Duflo et al. 2018, World Bank 2018). (Continued...) Read more on: VoxDev Allen Featherstone, Kansas State University Farm loan delinquencies highest in 9 years By: Lincoln Journal Star - February 28, 2019 "It is beginning to become a serious situation nationwide at least in the grain crops — those that produce corn, soybeans, wheat," said Allen Featherstone, head of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University. (Continued...) Read more on: Lincoln Journal Star Wei Zhang, International Food Policy Research Institute Act fast to halt the declining insect numbers Written by Wei Zhang: SciDev - March 3, 2019 Researchers, policymakers and donors should act fast to halt the diminishing insect numbers, writes Wei Zhang. Insects are among the most diverse and successful organisms on our planet, and their significant contributions  to vital ecological functions including pollination, pest control and maintenance of wildlife cannot be ignored. (Continued...) Read more on: SciDev Joseph Glauber, International Food Policy Research Institute Vincent Smith, Montana State University UPDATE: The agriculture secretary is wrong: There is no looming farm crisis Written by Joseph Glauber and Vincent Smith: United States Morningstar - February 27, 2019 The plight of American farmers always makes for good copy, even when the facts don't match the rhetoric. And when Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue as well as media reports suggest that farmers are about to face a financial crisis, based on cherry-picked data, farm interest groups rush to Congress to ask for more subsidies, on top of the $20 billion a year already being given to crop growers. (Continued...) Read more on: United States Morningstar Wendong Zhang, Iowa State University Editorial: Understand these long-term factors shaping China's demand for ag imports By: Omaha World-Herald - March 2, 2019 The author of the new report is Wendong Zhang, an assistant economics professor at Iowa State University. He is a native of China who writes extensively about China’s agricultural sector. His report outlines a set of key points; here are some examples: » Agriculture is not China’s “comparative advantage.” In other words, other countries that are more efficient or more productive in their agricultural output in general could find significant export opportunities in China, given its 1.3 billion population. (Continued...) Read more on: Omaha World-Herald and Soundcloud Michel Langemeier, Purdue University Expert talks grain futures during Farmers Breakfast By: The Tribune - March 7, 2019 Michael Langemeier with Purdue University’s Department of Agricultural Economics said one of first things most economists are taking a close look at now are acreage decisions based on the prices of the two largest crops grown in the Corn Belt. (Continued...) Read more on: The Tribune and The Herald Adam Rabinowitz, University of Georgia Georgia growers face season of uncertainty By: Henry Herald - March 3, 2019 “We had the market facilitation program last year to cover some of those losses that were a result of trade and (U.S. Secretary of Agriculture) Sonny Perdue has said he doesn’t want to do that again this year,” said Rabinowitz, an assistant professor with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “If those tariffs do not get removed, then there’s questions on what’s going to happen in terms of prices and indications are there will not be any other type of government support.” (Continued...) Read more on: Henry Herald

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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.