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Announcements for Friday, November 16, 2012

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  • Duffy honored by American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers

    Iowa State University economist Mike Duffy was recently honored for his service to agriculture by the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers (ASFMRA).

    The Carl F. Hertz Distinguished Service in Agriculture Award was presented to him at the society’s recent meeting in Indianapolis, Ind. The national award is designed to honor individual service to agriculture, other than directly in the farm management and rural appraisal professions.

    Duffy is the director of the graduate program in sustainable agriculture, an ISU Extension and Outreach economist in farm management and a professor of economics at Iowa State. He is currently responsible for Iowa’s well-known annual land value survey, the land tenure survey and cost of crop production estimates. In addition, he leads the Extension and Outreach Farm Financial Planning Program. In 2009, Duffy was named one of the top 25 Iowans of influence by Iowa Farmer Today.

    “The award is particularly meaningful to me because it is named in honor of Carl Hertz. He was a true pioneer in land appraisal,” says Duffy.

    Duffy credits the Iowa chapter of ASFMRA with encouraging him to develop a class at Iowa State on land appraisal, as well as helping him to produce and deliver the annual soil management conference, now in its 89th year.

    Carl F. Hertz, the founder of Hertz Farm Management, graduated from Iowa State with a degree in animal science in 1933. In 1937, he started the first formal professional farm management office in Iowa and in 1946 began his own business. In 1939, he became one of the first Accredited Farm Managers in the US. Carl died in 2005, but his company continues to provide services in professional farm management, real estate sales, auctions, acquisitions and farm appraisals.

    ASFMRA, founded in 1929, is a professional organization providing education and networking opportunities for individuals who work in the areas of farm and ranch management, rural and real estate property appraising, review appraisal and agricultural consulting services.

  • Grad students attend Heartland Workshop

    Last weekend, ISU Department of Economics graduate students Jae-Hoon Sung, Kevin Meyer, T.J. Rakitan, and Sandip Agarwal (pictured left to right) attended the 4th annual Heartland Environmental and Resource Economics workshop at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Made possible by a grant to Midwestern universities from the US Environmental Protection Agency, the workshop offered opportunities for scholars to share and discuss current research topics in environmental economics.

    This was a first conference for Meyer and Rakitan. “It was a great experience,” says Rakitan. “We got to see scientific discourse in progress, and I learned a lot.”

    Meyer added, “I wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be a lot of fun. I got to learn about a lot of environmental issues I had never even heard of, like the effects of floods on armed conflicts.”

    Agarwal and Sung had both attended other conferences before, and this one ranked well. Says Sung, “It was a polite conference—very helpful for meeting colleagues in our field from other schools.”

    Agarwal mentioned the excellent networking and learning opportunities. "There was much to see. We were able to talk to presenters and compare notes on many topics of research."

    All four students agree that in years to come, these experiences will be even more compelling when they have the chance to present research of their own.

  • Weekly Media Connections for the Department of Economics

    Ron Prescott spoke with Michael Crumb of the Ames Tribune on the return of Chrysler to the automobile market. He also spoke with Sioux City radio regarding Black Friday.

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