Members in the News: Bozic, Swinton, Lusk, Kolodinsky, Mark, Jansen, Irwin, Kauffman, Takach, Heady, Zhang, and Palma

Marin Bozic, University of Minnesota America's milk industry is struggling. Don't blame oat milk CNN - November 21, 2019 Milk production is rising even as small dairy farms shut down StarTribune - November 21, 2019 Scott Swinton, Michigan State University NYC and LA officials want to enact city-wide boycotts of food companies sourcing from the Amazon By: The New Food Economy - November 15, 2019 At this time, the proposed New York City resolution does not list companies from which it urges a boycott, nor does it specify any criteria for determining them. To Scott Swinton, a professor of agricultural and environmental economics at Michigan State University, this lack of clarity could render the resolution rather toothless. (Continued...) Read more on: The New Food Economy Jayson Lusk, Purdue University Time to give thanks for affordable and sustainable turkey By: The Conversation - November 20, 2019 Americans will eat about 210 million turkeys this year, amounting to over 16 pounds per person. Much of that will be eaten on Thanksgiving Day. Over time, our Thanksgiving meal has become considerably more affordable. Turkey will probably average about US$1.40 per pound across the country in November 2019, which is less than half the price consumers were paying for turkey in the 1970s in inflation-adjusted terms. (Continued...) Read more on: The Conversation Jane Kolodinsky, University of Vermont Tyler Mark, University of Kentucky Budding Hemp Farmers Struggle To Find Success In The 'Green Rush' By: NPR - November 16, 2019 "We really haven't seen any type of production since the '40s and '50s in the U.S., so this crop is almost like starting brand new," says Tyler Mark, a production economics professor at the University of Kentucky who researches hemp. Jane Kolodinsky, an applied economics professor at the University of Vermont, puts it more bluntly: "[Hemp farmers'] markets have bottomed out, and they don't have buyers for their products." Many farmers who jumped into the industry after the farm bill passed are inexperienced, she says. (Continued...) Read more on: NPR Jim Jansen, University of Nebraska-Lincoln End-of-season issues focus of ag land management webinar Nov. 18 By: High Plains Journal - November 15, 2019 Jim Jansen, an agricultural economist, and Allan Vyhnalek, a farm and ranch succession specialist, will lead the webinar. Both are Extension educators in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Department of Agricultural Economics. (Continued...) Read more on: High Plains Journal Scott Irwin, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Illinois Farm Economics Summit scheduled for December in DeKalb By: Daily Chronicle - November 16, 2019 “The stress of a prolonged period of low grain prices was amplified by low yield due to poor planting and summer growing season weather,” U of I agricultural economist Scott Irwin said in a news release. “Producers and landowners continue to face a series of difficult management challenges as they grapple with adjusting to this highly volatile economic environment.” (Continued...) Read more on: Daily Chronicle Nathan Kauffman, Kansas City Federal Reserve Jackson Takach, Farmer Mac STU ELLIS: The truth about state of farm economy hurts By: Herald & Review - November 19, 2019 But the USDA’s economists aren't the only ones challenging Secretary Perdue. Chief economist Jackson Takach of Farmer Mac, the farm mortgage agency in Washington, surveyed farm lenders and reported commercial bankers are “increasingly worried about farmers facing cash-flow problems: 46% of bankers expect an increase in loans secured by farmland for the 2019/20 growing year, up from 37% for the previous period.” Nathan Kauffman, chief economist for the Kansas City Federal Reserve said his survey of lenders found nearly 100% are concerned about liquidity and the shortage of working capital. And 90% are concerned about farm level incomes, with 70% concerned about how much leverage farmers have taken on with declining incomes. (Continued...) Read more on: Herald & Review Derek Headey, International Food Policy Research Institute Affordability of the Eat-Lancet Reference Diet: A Global Analysis By: Arabic, Business Standard, Net Ease, Daily Mail, The Financial Express Experts from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Tufts University in Massachusetts issued the warning in a study published today. They said the recommendations – which were created earlier this year – had failed to make the 'universal' diet affordable. (Continued...) Read more on: Arabic, Business Standard, Net Ease, Daily Mail, The Financial Express Wendong Zhang, Iowa State University MSNBC/Washington Post Debate: Democrats Will Battle Over These Important Economic Issues MSNBC -  November 20, 2019  An economist's guide to watching the Atlanta 2020 presidential debate: 3 essential reads Baltimore Sun - November 20, 2019 Farmers assess another difficult year as harvest season winds down KTTC - November 20, 2019 Marco Palma, Texas A&M University Local businesses use Texas A&M behavior science to design menus By: KBTX - November 20, 2019 “We see this as a win-win,” said Marco Palma, director of the Texas A&M Human Behavior Laboratory. While the Texas A&M Human Behavior Lab looks like non-descript office cubicles, the technology is anything but ordinary. Devices track your eyes, monitor your facial expressions, and even keep track of your brain function as you participate in stimulating experiments. (Continued...) Read more on: KBTX

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