Basha, Lee, and Jain earned first place in the 2026 USDA Agricultural Marketing Service & Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Graduate Student Section Local Food Economics Data Visualization Challenge.
The team was one of eight teams selected nationwide to participate in the competition. Each team was assigned a different agricultural sector and challenged to identify production and value-added processing challenges and opportunities aligned with USDA's Local and Regional Food Systems priorities. Assigned to the U.S. dairy sector, the team investigated local market access by developing a novel framework to evaluate whether regions with similar production capacity also possess the processing infrastructure and market connections needed to support local and regional dairy systems. All selected teams presented their findings to a panel of USDA and academic judges at the 2026 AAEA Annual Meeting in Kansas City, Missouri.
Basha, Lee, and Jain developed the Dairy Market Pathways Index, a new framework that characterizes the buyer-side market ecosystem surrounding dairy production. By combining this index with county-level measures of milk production, processing infrastructure, and Federal Milk Marketing Order characteristics, the project demonstrates that abundant dairy production does not necessarily translate into strong local market opportunities for dairy producers. The work provides a framework for evaluating regional food systems, identifying infrastructure gaps, and informing USDA investments and regional food-system planning.
Visualization 1: A county-level indicator of the buyer-side market ecosystem surrounding dairy production, combining direct-to-consumer sales, intermediated local-market sales, and nearby dairy-sourcing food hubs.
Visualization 2: Comparison of milk production, processing infrastructure, and Federal Milk Marketing Order utilization in the Upper Midwest and Northeast, illustrating how similar production levels can support very different regional dairy systems.
The project was completed under the mentorship of Dr. Andrew Stevens (University of Wisconsin–Madison) and with guidance from USDA Agricultural Marketing Service mentors Laura Edwards-Orr, Amber Marlow, and Yvette Garcia. Their feedback strengthened both the analytical framework and the project's policy relevance. The team will continue collaborating with Dr. Stevens to further develop this research into a policy-focused publication.
