Dr. Alejandro Plastina In the News
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, was interviewed for a May 22 Daily Iowan story, "Farm income was up going into planting season, but not as high as president says."
Congratulations to two faculty members who have been promoted effective the 2020-21 academic year!
Iowa State University has promoted Chad Hart from associate to full professor.
A study led by Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, on cover crop use by farmers, was cited in a Feb. 7 story on KMAland radio.
The Iowa Farmland Ownership and Tenure Survey conducted by Iowa State University suggests that adoption of conservation practices has increased slightly since 2012, and that ongoing trends in land ownership and management are likely barriers to a number of conservation practices.
A study published by Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, was cited in a story, "More ag banks slide into red as trade war drags on," on Americanbanker.com on Dec. 5, 2019.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, and Wendiam Sawadgo, 5th year Ph.D. student, presented on Farmland Ownership and Environmental Impacts at the Annual Agriculture Conference at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago on Wednesday, November 20, 2019.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, and Chad Hart, associate professor, were interviewed for a November 15 Des Moines Register story, "ISU report: Iowa farm finances continue to erode, with 44% of growers struggling to cover costs."
The study of more than 200 mid-size Iowa farms found 44% could be classified as having vulnerable liquidity in December of 2018. That was just 31% in December of 2014. ISU Extension economist Alejandro Plastina says several factors have led to the fall.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, is co-PI on an Iowa State-led team winning a multi-state (Iowa, California, Kentucky) NIFA grant for $2 million. Plastina will lead the economic analysis portion across the three states.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, co-authored an article with an economic analysis of cover crops that has been published this week in the peer-reviewed journal Agricultural Systems:
John Lawrence, vice president for extension and outreach, Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, and Wendong Zhang, assistant professor, wrote articles in the 2nd Quarter issue of Choices magazine. The issue theme is The Future of Farm Management Extension.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, wrote that "Cash rents declined slightly in 2019 but won’t offset lower prices for farmers who are renting land," in an article about the Iowa State University Extension and Outreach’s “2019 Cash Rental Rates for Iowa 2019 Survey,” (FM 1851) which was published in the May edition of Ag Decision Maker newsletter.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, is a co-PI in a recently awarded NIFA grant. The project director is Paul Lasley (ISU), and co-PIs are Steven Bradbury (ISU), John Miranowski (ISU), Evan Sivesind (ISU-Ent), and Alicia Rosburg (University of Northern Iowa). The project title, which focuses on environmental economics, is Assessment of the Socio-Economic Factors Impacting Adoption of Voluntary Pest Resistance Management by Rural Communities.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, was interviewed by Greg Meyer from the Financial Times last week, and his extension publication was referenced in the article “US-China tensions knock soyabeans to post-crisis low.”
Two member of the department were selected to receive AAEA Awards at the AAEA Annual Meeting in Atlanta in July, 2019.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor published a new report, "Egg Processing, Cartoning and Transportation Costs: A Special Report," for the Egg Industry Center.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, and Sergio Lence, professor, have just published a new article in the American Journal of Agricultural Economics on Feb 8.
Lee Schulz, associate professor, and Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, were interviewed for an Dec. 14th Pilot-Tribune article on farm markets.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, was interviewed on RFD-TV about the Cover Crops Net Returns Calculator.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, has had a new peer-reviewed article published in Cover Crops with funding from NCR-SARE and CARD:
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, had the article "Choosing Corn Hybrids for 2019" published in Wallaces Farmer Nov. 26, 2018.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, was interviewed for a Nov. 16th Iowa Farmer Today story "Iowa hotline offers financial, health resources."
Several department members will offer valuable insight on key factors impacting 2019 operating decisions at 12 Pro-Ag Outlook and Management Seminars to be held across the state in November and December.
This decision tool is intended to help farmers who do not currently use cover crops evaluate the expected annual net returns to cover crop adoption under alternative scenarios, and to serve as a benchmark for farmers who are already using cover crops and want to improve the return on their investment.
Fangge Liu, job market candidate, presented two papers at the AAEA Meetings in Washington, D.C., Aug. 6, 2018:
"Modeling the Property Price Impact of Lake Restoration: Evidence from Iowa"
Fangge Liu, Iowa State University; Wendong Zhang, Iowa State University; Catherine L. Kling, Iowa State University
Wendong Zhang and Alejandro Plastina, assistant professors, were interviewed for an Estherville News article on the results of the 2017 Iowa Farmland Ownership Tenure Survey conducted by ISU Extension and Outreach. The survey, started in 1949, is conducted every five years.
The results of the 2017 Iowa Farmland Ownership Tenure Survey conducted by ISU Extension and Outreach were announced June 28 at 10 a.m. in the Horton Room of the ISU Alumni Center.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor was quoted in a June 7 ArgiNews news brief:
Rental rates for Iowa farmland increased for the first time since 2013, according to a survey conducted by Iowa State University Extension and Outreach.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, hosted the spring meeting of the North Central Farm Management Extension Committee (https://ncfmc.org/) in Heady Hall on May 17-18. Plastina served as elected Secretary for the NCFMEC in 2017/18.
Newly published research by Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, examines converting underperforming areas in Iowa crop fields to switchgrass, which could help farmers decrease costs while potentially providing an economic benefit from a future bioenergy crop market.
Alejandro Plastina and Wendong Zhang, assistant professors, answered reader questions on pasture rental and field tiling April 30 as part of the Timely Tips panel in Wallaces Farmer magazine.
"Having an estimate in writing of all the work that will be done to fix the fence is a good first step. A second step would involve putting a value to the pasture. Typically, a negotiation would follow, and a written contract should be signed," advised Plastina.
"Many producers are experiencing financial challenges, especially regarding working capital. So you may want to consider the impacts of pattern-tiling all your fields on your working capital, and that may suggest you want to prioritize on the most needed fields or even subfields." said Zhang.
The first of a series of articles on cover crop economics has been published today on Cambridge Core in Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems as an open access article (https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742170518000194):
Alejandro Plastina, Sergio H Lence; A Parametric Estimation of Total Factor Productivity and Its Components in U.S. Agriculture, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, aay010, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajae/aay010
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, was selected as the recipient of the 2018 ANR Programming Innovation Award for developing a collaborative partnership with the Iowa Farm Business Association and using their farm-level data to evaluate the financial situation of Iowa farms, publish several extension articles (including an article in Choices Magazine and FMR 1892), and serve as the basis for most of his extension presentations. He received the award April 3, 2018.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, was interviewed for a March 27th story in Wallaces Farmer about the results from the 2018 Iowa Farm Custom Rate Survey.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, discussed by conference call the results of his study on the economics of cover crops (www.card.iastate.edu/conservation) with Sheldon R. Jones, Chief Operating Officer, the Soil Health Institute;
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, along with Fernando Miguez, associate professor of agronomy; Fangge Liu and Wendiam Sawadgo, graduate students in economics; Guillermo Marcillo, graduate student in agronomy; and Sarah Carlson, the strategic initiatives director for Practical Farmers of Iowa, found substantial variability in net returns, driven by the costs of planting and terminating cover crops, feed cost savings from grazing cover crops, cost-share program payments, and the difference in yields obtained in fields with and without cover crops.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, was interviewed by the Telegraph Herald newspaper in Dubuque, Iowa, about the potential effect of a NAFTA repeal.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, and Chad Hart, associate professor, had the article "Is ARC-CO Acting as a Safety Net Program? Evidence from Iowa" published in Choices.
Alejandro Plastina and Wendong Zhang, assistant professors, were members of the Timely Tips panel to answer questions sent by Wallaces Farmer readers on changes in the new federal tax law changes and how they affect farmers' equipment purchases.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, was interviewed for an article by George Silva in the MSU Extension newsletter about how cash rates should not be the sole factor in cropland rental decisions.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, was interviewed Oct. 10, 2017 by the Iowa Agribusiness Radio Network about his report on ARC and PLC payments in Iowa. Read the report.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor did several recent interviews:
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, made the following presentations:
“Economics of Cover Crops in Midwest Agriculture.” Invited presentation, Conservation Infrastructure Initiative, Cover Crops Working Group, West Des Moines, Iowa, Aug. 4, 2017.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, discussed the farm financial situation with the Iowa AgSTATE Group based on his analysis of farm level data from the Iowa Farm Business Association June 16, 2017.
The 72nd Annual Ag Credit School jointly organized by ISU Extension and Outreach and the Iowa Bankers Association was successfully conducted June 12-16 in Ames.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, was elected Secretary of the North Central Farm Management Extension Committee during its Spring meeting at Kansas State University.
The decision tool “Iowa Cash Rents by Land Quality” on the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development's (CARD) website has been updated with 2017 data.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, made a presentation on farmland leasing trends to the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers – Iowa Chapter at their Spring Seminar, March 22, at the Quality Inn Conference Center in Ames, IA.
Alejandro Plastina, assistant professor, made a presentation on Thursday, March 2nd, to the Heartland Chapter of the National Association of Credit Managers in Ankeny, IA about the outlook for the farm economy.