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WorkshopsPre-conference Tour "Extension Agricultural Education Tour" DATE: Saturday, July 22 Visit commercial farms in Ventura County, about two hours north of Long Beach. The Tour will include visits to farms producing strawberries, flowers, and vegetables, including lettuce, celery, parsley and cabbage. All farms will be in production in late July. Lunch will be a box lunch at the Hansen Agricultural Learning Center, a research facility owned and operated by the University of California. A tour of the facility will be included. Ben Faber, farm advisor from Ventura County, and Eta Takele, farm advisor from Riverside County, will be leading the tour all day.
Pre-conference Workshops "New Food Safety Incentives and Regulatory, Technological, and DATE: Saturday, July 22 For the last decade, food safety has been a major public policy and health issue. Economists on the frontier of this new research topic have sharpened their analytical tools and developed new applications and models. BSE is the latest example of how food safety impacts markets, domestically and overseas. Both industry and government are focusing on how to prevent pathogen contamination of the food supply chain, which causes 5,000 U.S. deaths each year from acute foodborne illness and an unknown number of complications, such as arthritis and paralysis. A major issue for public policy and private strategy is choosing a target level of safety, as well as how to set and enforce regulations, insurance and supply contracts to achieve compliance. New economic incentives in regulatory policies and a movement away from command and control are demonstrated by the evolution of HACCP as a U.S. and international regulatory program. The workshop starts with a panel of three industry food safety innovators discussing how their companies control pathogens in the food supply chain, the economic incentives (or disincentives) faced and the role of innovation. Researchers from eight countries (Australia, Canada, Denmark, Mexico, Netherlands, Sweden, UK, U.S.) follow and share their methods, results and ideas on food safety innovation and economic incentives. All sessions are in a plenary format to promote collaboration among researchers attending the workshop. By bringing together a diverse range of expertise, the workshop will demonstrate the dramatic advances in economic analysis of the public and private good, and control of pathogens in the food supply. Economists with an interest in bioterrorism, traceability, animal production, biotechnology regulation and supply chain management will be particulary attracted to this workshop. For more workshop information, go to www.fsn-aaea.org.
"The State-of-the-Art in the Analysis of Survey Data with Complex Sample Designs" DATE: Saturday, July 22 Most of the primary data sets used by agricultural economists are based on samples with complex designs. However, standard statistical packages often do not allow for consideration of the complexities in the sample design. Furthermore, statisticians often have different views on how users of the data should test for statistical significance in relationships among variables. This is true for household survey data, such as the Current Population Survey, the farm and household data of the Agricultural Resource Mangement Survey (ARMS) and natural resource databases, such as the Natural Resource Inventory (NRI). Topics to be covered include: Recognizing a sample with a complex design, weighted vs unweighted analyses, calculation of correct confidence intervals for sample estimates, hypothesis testing based on sample estimates, software packages capable of complex sample survey data analysis, common analysis methods and interpretation of results, approaches to handling missing data, examples using real survey data. The Economics, Statistics and Information Resource Committee (ESIRC) of AAEA considers this a high priority professional development issue for the members of AAEA. Current or interested users of the ARMS data and the National Resource Inventory (NRI) will definitely want to attend. Because of the technical nature of the topic, attendance is limited to the first 50 registrants for the one-day workshop.
"Simulation for Risk Analysis" DATE: Saturday, July 22 Simulation continues to be the methodology of choice for risk analysis. Simulation is also gaining popularity for conducting feasibility analysis in business and for developing probabilistic forecasts of critical variables, such as prices and input costs. Excel add-ins such as Simetar, a simulation and risk analysis software package, make teaching simulation and probablistic forecasting, easier than in years past. The benefit is that sutdents no longer have to master a specialized computer language; they can utilize their knowledge of Excel and learn how to analyze risk in a short time. The objective of this workshop is to teach participants how to use Simetar for deterministic modeling, stochastic simulation, probablistic forecasting and ranking risky alternatives. This material will interest agricultural economists who plan to teach simulation for risk analysis and for researchers and extension educators who plan to apply risk analysis to their programs. Each participant will receive a six-month trial version of Simetar and materials needed for the workshop. Pariticpants will need to bring their own laptop computer. The workshop will be taught by James Richardson and associates. Registration for the workshop is limited to 40.
"Young Professional Teaching Academy" DATE: Sunday, July 23 The Young Professional Teaching Academy is designed to acquaint participants with a wide range of valuable teaching techniques and resources for the university and college instructor. All AAEA members are encouraged to enroll in the Academy, but its primary audience is junior faculty and graduate students (Ph.D.) pursuing an academic position in the near future. Most graduate programs in agricultural, resource, environmental and general economics have minimal formal student preparation in classroom instruction, and most graduate students and young faculty members learn to teach by mimicking former instructors and by teaching (i.e. learning by doing). This is often quite challenging and leads to sub-optimal performance. The Teaching Academy focuses on enhancing professional skills and learning in the classroom, and will provide value for Ph.D. students, young faculty and the students in our classrooms. Participants will receive a certificate from AAEA recognizing their successful completion of the Academy and a 3-ring binder containing the resource articles of the tenured faculty speakers and a valuable collection of other professional articles on teaching, learning and communication in applied economics. The Academy curriculum consists of three sessions on Instructional Basics (course design, syllabus preparation, classroom management, student advising, learning styles, grading strategies, active learning) and two sessions on Course Specifics (econometrics, environmental economics, agribusiness economics and management, international trade, agricultural finance, rural/community development). AAEA awards-winning graduate and undergraduate instructors will be the instructors for the Academy. Academy participants are invited to participate in the TLC Annual Meeting scheduled from 4:30 - 6:00 pm on Sunday. The Academy is limited to 40 participants.
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