Home

Announcements for Friday, April 27, 2012

News

  • Jacobs takes on new role in cooperatives

    Keri Jacobs, assistant professor with the Department of Economics, will fill a research and extension position focused on the economics of cooperatives and working with Iowa cooperatives to address emerging issues Jacobs joined the ISU faculty in 2010 with interests in economics related to agricultural business, land-use decisions and agricultural policy.

    The Iowa Institute for Cooperatives, which represents 150 cooperatives in the state, has expressed its commitment to support Jacobs’ research and extension program. The nonprofit association currently is undertaking a fundraising project with a goal of $1 million. Jacobs will begin serving in the position on August 15.


    “This is one of the most exciting periods in history for Iowa agriculture,” said David Holm, executive director for the Iowa Institute for Cooperatives. “Cooperatives play a significant role in Iowa agriculture and we enthusiastically look forward to working with Dr. Jacobs to address our members’ needs today and in the future.”

    The cooperatives economist position is similar to one held for 31 years by Roger Ginder, an ISU professor of economics who retired in 2010. Ginder was a nationally recognized expert in cooperative financial and strategic management.

    In her new position, Jacobs will develop research and extension activities on the economics of cooperatives and related organizations, with an emphasis on the agribusiness sector. Areas of activity may include the role of cooperatives in the evolving industrial organization of agricultural markets; vertical integration; innovation and product development; contracting; ownership, control rights and governance structures; organizational strategies; finance and the equity structure of cooperative firms; regulation and taxation of cooperative entities; and risk and risk-sharing in commodity markets.

    "It is wonderful to have the opportunity to work on the important issues facing cooperatives and thus the producers in our state," said Jacobs. "Cooperatives play an integral role in our economy and I am looking so forward to engaging with them in a way that supports and contributes to their continued success."

    Jacobs’ extension and outreach plans include professional development opportunities for cooperative members, boards of directors and other cooperative leaders. She also will teach an undergraduate course in cooperative economics.

    Since joining Iowa State, Jacobs has worked on research related to conservation, bioenergy production and distribution, environmental and feed availability concerns for pork producers and other areas. She has taught courses in agricultural finance, farm business management and applied economic optimization.

    Jacobs, a native of Monticello, Iowa, earned a doctorate in economics from North Carolina State University and bachelor’s degree in business administration and economics from Coe College.

  • Iowa State NAMA Chapter Wins National Agri-Marketing Competition

    The Iowa State National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) chapter won first place in the association’s Student Marketing Team Competition, held in conjunction with the association’s annual conference and trade show April 17-20 in Kansas City, Mo.

    To compete, students developed a business plan and professional presentation to market a new product or service. This year the team marketed Caridea Farms fresh Iowa-raised shrimp. The team was judged by a panel of marketing and agribusiness professionals. The chapter’s marketing team advanced to the final round of competition, ultimately beating out 29 other universities for the first place honors. This is the first time Iowa State University has won the national competition.

    The chapter also won the John Deere Signature award for overall points accrued for student participation, involvement in the national competition, scholarship awards and annual report. The team received $3,000 with the award that will be used for future chapter activities.


    Team members included: Darrin Rahn of Milledgeville, Ill. and Kaci Demott of Rockport, Mo., seniors in agricultural business; Brittany Jurgemeyer of Rockwell, a senior in public service and administration in agriculture; Abby Webb of Wapello, senior in marketing; Jessica Kuehner of Lawler, senior in agricultural studies; Alyssa Foster of Riverside, senior in agricultural education; Ellie Weiss of Ames, junior in agricultural studies; Andy Edson of Nashua, and Marcie Stevenson of Wheatland, juniors in agricultural business; Beth Irlbeck of Dedham, junior in public service andadministration in agriculture; Traci Tiernan of Granger, junior in agricultural education, communications option; Katy Darrah of Monmouth, Ill., junior in agronomy; Alicia Humphrey of Ixonia, Wis., sophomore in agricultural education, communications option; Donna McCune of Manlius, Ill., Emily Flory of Denver, Breanne Wagner of Webster City, Joy Tong of Ningbo, China, and Dacia Dykstra of Decorah, all sophomores in agricultural business; Tanner Walleser of Lansing, freshman in pre-business; and Jordan Neighbor of Alburnett, and Calvin McBride of Alburnett, both freshman in agricultural business.

    The team is coached by Stacey Noe, Agricultural Entrepreneurial Initiative program coordinator; Carly Cummings, Agricultural Entrepreneurship Initiative program assistant; and Lori Youngberg, CALS Distance Education program coordinator.

  • Wednesday's Environmental/Resource Department Workshop with Yongjie Ji, Iowa State University

    Yongjie Ji, Iowa State University, will present Wednesday's Environmental/Resource Department Workshop entitled "Modeling Recreation Demand when the Access Point is Unknown," starting at 12 PM in 568D Heady Hall.

    Abstract: Modeling riverine type of recreation activities often suffers the lack of detailed information about the household or individual travel cost partly because we do not know the true access points. In this paper, we propose a utility compatible modeling technique and compare the performance of our approach with pre-existing approaches by conducting a series of Monte Carlo experiments. Our results show that although pre-existing approaches do not perform well enough in preference parameter estimation, they provide relatively good approximation on welfare estimate. We also apply our approach using data from 2009 Iowa River Survey.

  • Weekly Media Connections for the Department of Economics

    Dave Swenson was interviewed by Ryan Foley, a reporter from The Associated Press Iowa City Bureau, for a story on the household income gap between recently more prosperous farmers and typical rural area wage-earners. Foley was interested in how to measure the differences and what the differences meant for cities and public services.

Graduate Student Announcements

  • Sustainable Systems MS at Rochester Institute of Technology

    Golisano Institute for Sustainability (GIS) at Rochester Institute of Technology is accepting applications for September 2012 admission to the Sustainable Systems M.S. (http://www.rit.edu/gis/academics/ms-sustainability/ ). Since this is an interdisciplinary program, students of many education backgrounds are admitted, and likewise, coursework and research draws on numerous disciplines within science, engineering, and liberal arts.

    GIS’ multidisciplinary faculty have active research programs in diverse aspects of sustainable production systems, sustainable mobility, alternative energy systems, remanufacturing, recycling, and Eco-IT. Their research is supported by grants from such agencies as the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Department of Commerce, Environmental Protection Agency, and many major corporations. Our faculty and students (http://www.rit.edu/gis/academics/students/ ) conduct their research in state-of-the-art laboratories, which will expand into our new 83,000 sg. ft. research center (http://www.rit.edu/gis/academics/construction/ ) in October 2012.

    We would very much appreciate your help in reaching students who may be interested in learning more about our program and financial aid. More information available at: http://www.rit.edu/gis/academics/ms-sustainability/

Conferences and Calls for Papers

  • Missouri Valley Economic Association call for papers

    The Missouri Valley Economic Association will be holding its annual meeting in Memphis, October 25-27, 2012. Attached is a call for papers.

    The MVEA is a nice regional organization which accepts papers in all stages of development. It also encourages and welcomes graduate students to attend and hone their presentation skills. More information is available on the website, www.mvea.net

    Please consider presenting a paper and joining us in Memphis. As in the past, papers presented at the conference are eligible for consideration for publication in the refereed Journal of Economics.

Funding Opportunities

  • USDA Risk Management Education and Outreach Partnership Program Grant
  • Funding opportunity - Agricultural risk management education
  • Nominations for Garfield Award due June 22

    Research!America is proud to announce a call for nominations for the 11th annual Garfield Economic Impact Award. Established in 2002, this annual award recognizes outstanding research demonstrating the economic impact of medical and health research, including research-based innovations in the medical or health care delivery arena. Founding support for the Garfield Award was provided by the Eugene Garfield Foundation. A grant from Merck & Co., Inc. in 2010 supports the Garfield Award and the tradition of extending an honorarium of $10,000 for the winning publication. The 2012 Garfield Award will be presented in the month of November, in Washington, DC. The Garfield Award committee will consider nominations received by the close of business June 22, 2012.

    Nominations should include:

    • A copy of the publication or thesis.
    • A 200-word statement summarizing the reasons the work should be recognized, particularly describing how the work illustrates the economic impact of medical and health research, including research-based innovations in the medical or health care delivery arena.
    • To be considered, the work must have been published or accepted for publication between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2011.

    To promote growth of the field, the Garfield Award committee encourages, but does not require, that nominated work be conducted by early-career researchers. Self-nominations are welcome.

    Please submit nomination materials to garfieldaward@researchamerica.org or by mail to:

    Garfield Award Committee Research!America

    1101 King Street, Suite 520, Alexandria, VA 22314-2960

    For more information, contact Ellie Dehoney, Vice President, Policy and Programs, at 571.482.2717 or edehoney@researchamerica.org.

  • NCR-SARE Announces New Timeline for Research and Education Grant Program

    The North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR-SARE) program will implement a new, shorter timeline for its Research & Education (R&E) Grant Program this year (2013 grant cycle). The next R&E Call for Preproposals will be issued in August 2012, with preproposals due November 10, 2012. Awards will be announced in August 2013.

    The decision to reduce the interval between preproposal submissions to project awards from 15 to 9 months was made in response to survey comments from potential grant applicants. NCR-SARE R&E grant coordinator, Beth Nelson, noted that respondents were strongly in favor of the new timeline.

    “Many of the respondents commented that the period between the preproposals being due and funds being available was just too long—a lot can change in 15 months, especially when it covers two growing seasons,” said Nelson.

    The new timeline for the R&E grants will be:

    • Call for Preproposals: August
    • Preproposals due: early November
    • Call for Proposals: late February
    • Proposals due: late April
    • Funding notification: early August
    • Funds available: fall

    For questions or additional information regarding the timeline of the R&E Grant Program, contact Beth Nelson at schre002@umn.edu.

Job Opportunities

  • Economic Research Service - Ag Economist
  • Job opportunities at FEEM

    Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM), a leading research institute on sustainable development (www.feem.it) is looking to recruit motivated and talented researchers to cover open positions within the Climate Change and Sustainable Development Research Programme. Please find attached the calls of the current open positions:

    More information available at http://www.feem.it/getpage.aspx?id=433

  • One-year position at Missouri State University

    The Economics Department at Missouri State University in Springfield, MO, invites applications for a nine-month, full-time, instructor position for the 2012-2013 academic year, beginning August 2012. Candidates must have a Masters or PhD or be an ABD in Economics or in an acceptable field within Economics (e.g., Agricultural Economics, Financial Economics, etc.). The Department seeks candidates with evidence of excellent teaching ability, and a willingness to aid in student recruitment and departmental committee work. The teaching load is 12 hours per semester and will include micro and/or macro principles. An interest in teaching undergraduate Econometrics will be a plus, but is not a requirement for the position.

    Consideration of applicants will begin on May 10, 2012 and will continue until the position is filled.

    Missouri State University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity institution. Employment will require a criminal background check at University Expense.

    For more information contact Dr. Ardeshir Dalal (ADalal@MissouriState.edu), Search Chair.

    Apply online at http://jobs.missouristate.edu/postings/3923. The following documents must be uploaded to the online application: a letter of interest, a current CV, summaries of teaching evaluations, a copy of the most recent graduate transcript, names and contact information for 3-5 references.

Papers and Presentations

  • Recent presentations by Wallace Huffman

    Huffman, W.E. and Yu Jin, "Reduced Funding of Public Agricultural Research Stalls Future Growth of Agricultural Productivity in the United States." Presented at the 2012 NC1034 Symposium on The Future of Agricultural Research: Funding, Funding Mechanisms, and Public-Private Collaborations," USDA NIFA Headquarters, Washington, DC, March 15-16, 2012.

    Huffman, W.E. "Managing for Co-Existence." Presented at the 2012 BIGMAP Symposium on Agricultural Biotechnology Regulation, Trade and Co-Existence, Ames, IA: April 18, 2012.

  • Graduate student presentations

    Graduate students Adriana Valcu, Juan Murguia, Tong Wang, Jeremiah Richey, and In Soo Cho presented papers at the recent Midwest Economist Association Meeting in Evanston, Illinois on March 30 and 31st.