Monday, September 9, 2019

Members in the News: Ortega, Mitchell, Tonsor, Schulz, Thilmany, Lusk, Lubben, Torres, Malone, Roe, Baker, Westhoff, Countryman, Zhang, Haab, and Sohngen

David Ortega, Michigan State University
New Import Taxes Underscore China's Role As Growing U.S. Food Supplier
By: NPR - September 2, 2019
Agricultural economist David Ortega of Michigan State University says China has grown into the third-biggest supplier of foreign food to the U.S., behind Canada and Mexico. So when the trade war turns into a food fight, the indigestion cuts both ways.
DAVID ORTEGA: It's not just American farmers that are missing opportunities to send products to China, but then we also have farmers in China whose livelihood depend on products coming here. And likewise, we have, you know, consumers on both ends that are being affected in terms of prices from these tariffs.
(Continued...)
Read more on: NPR

James Mitchell, Kansas State University
Glynn Tonsor,
Kansas State University
Lee Schulz, Iowa State University
K-State researchers study incentives needed for animal ID
By: Ag Journal - September 1, 2019
"When we think about traceability, program designers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture are concerned about decreasing our response time to diseases and preventing losses, but those in the cattle industry are concerned about making money,” said James Mitchell, a doctoral student in K-State’s Department of Agricultural Economics. “So you have this conflicting story of trying to make an effective traceability program, but also trying to incentivize people to use this program, because for animal traceability to be effective, you need high enrollment of animals and producers.”
Mitchell, along with K-State agricultural economist Glynn Tonsor and Lee Schulz, of Iowa State University, surveyed producers to further understand what it would take to increase their participation in public or private traceability programs.
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Read more on: Ag Journal

Dawn Thilmany McFadden, Colorado State University
Jayson Lusk,
Purdue University
Colorado farmers and ranchers have a beef with Gov. Jared Polis
By: The Denver Post - September 2, 2019
“Colorado has a rich history of innovative producers, ranchers and food startups, so the discussion is relevant and timely,” Dawn Thilmany, a professor at Colorado State University, wrote in an email. “What is most important to remember is that this is not an ‘either-or’ choice, and it is clear the state can lead in cattle and beef, but also, the development of plant-based alternatives.”
Jayson Lusk, an agriculture economist, said it’s tough to convince farmers to make a major shift in their production given the infancy of the market. “I do think it’s a bit of trend, but it’s starting from a fairly low base. The question is how big will the market be. It’s hard to say yet,” he said. “The net impact on most agriculture is potentially negative.”
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Read more on: The Denver Post

Glynn Tonsor, Kansas State University
USDA: Probe launched over beef pricing after Kansas fire
By: Wisconsin State Farmer - August 30, 2019
The impact on retail beef prices for consumers since the Aug. 9 fire is not yet known because those figures are only reported monthly, said Glynn Tonsor, an agricultural economics professor at Kansas State University.
In the days after the fire, fed cattle prices fell by $5 per hundredweight to about $105 per hundredweight, Tonsor said. That amounts to about $70 per head for a 1,400-pound animal.
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Read more on: Wisconsin State Farmer

Jayson Lusk, Purdue University
Perdue launches investigation into beef pricing margins
By: The Fence Post - August 30, 2019
Jayson Lusk, a distinguished professor and head of the Agricultural Economics Department at Purdue University, said the packers made more money after the price of cattle tumbled and the cost of beef increased following the fire but the “economic effects are exactly what one would expect even in a perfectly competitive market.
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Read more on: The Fence Post and Tri-State Livestock News

Bradley Lubben, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Nebraska Rural Poll releases data from immigration impact survey
By: Daily Nebraskan - September 3, 2019
According to Brad Lubben, associate professor of agricultural economics and policy specialist for Extension, Nebraska Rural Poll’s annual topic is decided by a team of analysts with input from stakeholders around the state who look at current events that affect rural Nebraska. McElravy said the team will additionally research if anyone at the University of Nebraska has expertise in polling topics for insights.
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Read more on: Daily Nebraskan

Ariana Torres, Purdue University
In the market for good deal
By: Fort Wayne Journal Gazette - September 3, 2019
“There are some things that are expensive, but there are some things that are not,” says Ariana Torres, assistant professor in the departments of horticulture and landscape architecture and agricultural economics at Purdue.
Another example is a bell pepper. The study showed that the lowest price for a bell pepper at a grocery store was 33 cents and the highest at $2.50. At a farmers market, the peppers ranged from as low as 20 cents to as high as $1.50.
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Read more on: Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

Trey Malone, Michigan State University
This Morning: Learning how to harvest hops in Michigan
By: WLNS - September 4, 2019
According to research from Michigan State University, the craft beer industry generated nearly $500 million in gross state product in 2016, contributing nearly $1 billion and 9,738 jobs in total aggregate economic contributions. “The impact could change the lens in which craft beer is viewed,” said Trey Malone, MSU agricultural economist and the study’s lead author.
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Read more on: WLNS

Brian Roe, The Ohio State University
New study shows Americans throw out more refrigerated food than they think
By: WINK News - August 29, 2019
Professor Brian Roe is the study’s senior author and a professor of agricultural, environmental and development economics at The Ohio State University. He says, “This kind of goes to show that even though the best intentions people have of using the refrigerator to try to help reduce food waste by storing it there and using it for later – often times those good intentions are not followed through.”
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Read more on: WINK News, Fast Company, and The Columbus Dispatch

Gregory Baker, Santa Clara University
Study Finds Farm-Level Food Waste is Much Worse Than We Thought
By: Civil Eats - August 20, 2019
“We’re very excited for this data to come out,” Greg Baker, the study’s author and executive director of the Center for Food Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University, told Civil Eats. “There is a lack of awareness by consumers about how large of a problem this is at the farm level.” He added that the study corroborated the scenarios that he and his colleagues had been observing the fields for a while.
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Read more on: Civil Eats

Patrick Westhoff, University of Missouri
Amanda Countryman, Colorado State University
Trump’s trade war is draining profits for Montana wheat farmers
By: High Country News - August 30, 2019
This year, farmers and ranchers across the country impacted by the tariffs are receiving at least $15 per acre. These payments will make up for soybean growers’ short-term losses, “but that will not be true of all producers everywhere,” said Patrick Westhoff, director of the Food and Agriculture Policy Research Institute at the University of Missouri.
Along with the immediate concern of revenue losses, this trade conflict may also provoke more lasting problems. The subsidies are “not a sustainable approach for having a healthy U.S. farm economy,” said Amanda Countryman, an associate professor in agriculture and resource economics at Colorado State University. China is the largest export market for U.S. agricultural products, and payments to farmers can’t compensate for the erosion of that relationship, or the trust that was its foundation, Countryman said; the payments are merely a “Band-Aid on a much deeper wound.”
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Read more on: High Country News

Wendong Zhang, Iowa State University
U.S. farmers harvest disappointment as trade war escalates
By: Xinhua News Agency - September 4, 2019
Zhang Wendong, an assistant professor in the Iowa State Department of Economics, said U.S. farmers' potential of tapping into China's pork market is also unpromising in the long run, as China is expected to consolidate its hog industry and boost its overall competitiveness.
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Read more on: Xinhua News Agency

Timothy Haab, The Ohio State University
Brent Sohngen,
The Ohio State University
Study estimates Lake Erie region worth $443 billion
By: Toledo Blade - August 14, 2019
But Tim Haab, professor and chair of OSU’s agricultural, environmental, and development economics department, said he believes Key-Log Economics tried to aggregate past studies to some degree, which likely skewed its results.
One of his colleagues, Brent Sohngen, an OSU environmental economics professor who has presented at several Great Lakes conferences, responded by writing an eight-page paper titled “Water Cooler Economics.” In it, Mr. Sohngen claims Key-Log Economics appears to have overestimated potential benefits of phosphorus reduction by several million dollars, including beach visits and recreational fishing.
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Read more on: Toledo Blade

See other Member in the News items
Know another AAEA Member who has made statewide, national, or international news?
Send a link of the article to Sinais Alvarado at
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 2019 AAEA Annual Meeting in Atlanta.

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