• State of the AAEA
• AAEA Executive Board Minutes
  • January 2001
  • March 2001
  • August 2001
• Awards Committee
• AJAE
• Choices
• RAE Editor
• Committee on Women in Agricultural Economics (CWAE)
• Community Economics Section
• Economic Statistics and Information Resources Committee (ESIRC)
• Extension Section
• Food Safety & Nutrition Section
• Food and Agricultural Marketing Policy Section (FAMPS)
• Professional Activities Committee
• Selected Papers Committee
• Selected Posters Committee
• Teaching & Learning Committee
• Tellers Committee
• 2001 Annual Meeting Selected Paper Abstracts

State of the AAEA
Bruce Gardner, Past President

Several substantive issues in the governance of the AAEA have been discussed in 2001, and the Executive Board heard the report of the ad-hoc Priorities & Governance Committee at its August meeting. The Board adopted many of the recommendations made by this committee.

1. The Board adopted a new vision statement for the AAEA: "AAEA will be the leading organization for professional development and information related to the economics and business of food, agriculture, resources, environment, development and allied fields."
2. AAEA activities will serve the intellectual and professional needs of all who are working with and studying economics, policy, and social issues related to the food and fiber system, resources, environment, and communities.
3. AAEA will foster communication on issues and ideas of importance to its members and to the broader set of leaders interested in these issues and ideas. In performing this function AAEA will draw on findings from its publications, annual meetings, sponsored workshops, conferences, and other agricultural and applied economics resources to provide user-friendly information to farmers, ranchers and other businesses, consumers, community, and policy decision-makers.
4. AAEA will strive to be the first choice of employers seeking employees with applied economics skills. AAEA employment services should provide assistance at the bachelors, masters, Ph.D., and post-graduate levels.
5. The Professional Activities Committee will work with the AAEA office to handle all proposals of new products and services to be offered to members.
6. A Meetings committee will work with the President, Executive Board and AAEA Staff to develop and plan meetings to ensure continued member involvement and relevance to the profession.
7. The Nominating Committee will include one member from each of six sections as recommended by the sections to the AAEA President. As new sections are formed, the representative positions will be rotated among the sections.
8. The Communications & Publications Committee will handle cross-cutting issues of policy, promotion and processes for the association's publications, communications and public relations vehicles.

• AAEA assets (as of Dec. 31, 2000)
  - Association $1.6 million
  - Foundation $1.3 million

Awards Committee
Jon A. Brandt, Chair

The Awards committee has evaluated the nominations for AAEA awards in 11 categories. Table 1 shows the number of nominations in each of these categories for this year (and information from the previous chair of committee is available for the previous four years). The table indicates a 24 percent increase in the total number of nominations this year over last year and the highest number nominated in five years. This is due in part to the urging by the committee to department heads/chairs late in calendar year 2000 to consider nominating persons or programs for these awards. This year the committee gave 15 awards and 5 honorable mentions in the 11 categories. Thanks to the sub-committee chairs Gerald Carlson(Enduring Quality), Dermot Hayes/Dan Sumner (Policy), Damona Doye (Extension), John Beghin (Master's Thesis), Jeffrey Williams (Doctoral Dissertation), Randy Fortenbery (Communication), James Wilen (Teaching), and Susan Capalbo (Research Discovery) for their careful, timely, and judicious work in choosing the winners. A large thank you as well to all of the subcommittee members who helped in this year's selection process.
In addition, the three journals of the association chose award-winning articles (and one honorable mention). So, a total of 14 categories of awards will be presented at the award ceremony this year (August 7, 2001). The award winners and honorable mentions in these categories are shown below.
As is normally the case, about one-third of the members of each subcommittee rotate off each year, including most chairpersons. I will work with President-elect Jean Kinsey in the coming months to replace those members retiring from these committees with new persons who bring diversity and broad experience to this process. If Jean selects a new chair of this committee, I will be happy to work with that person to contact current chairs for their recommendations for sub-committee chairs for next year.

AAEA Award Winners - 2001

Outstanding Master's Thesis Award (24 nominations)

RODRIGO DE SOUSA HERNANDEZ, "Guaymango, El Salvador: Agronomic and Economic Modeling of Soil Conservation and Agricultural Productivity in Relay Cropping Systems," University of California, Davis, Richard Howitt, Advisor.

KEELY STARRH MARTIN, "Two-Stage Estimation of Import Demand: Analysis of Selected U.S. Apple Export Markets," Cornell University, David Lee, Advisor.

CHRISTINA L. WELCH STAIR, "An Economic Analysis of Alternative Methods of Corn Rootworm Control: Soil Insecticides, Areawide Pest Management, and Transgenics," Purdue University, Marshall Martin, Advisor.

Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation Award ( 27 nominations)

JOHN MICHAEL CRESPI, "Generic Commodity Promotion and Product Differentiation," University of California, Davis, Richard Sexton, Advisor

MICHAEL JAMES ROBERTS, "Hotelling Reconsidered: The Implications of Asset Pricing Theory on Natural Resource Price Trends," University of California, Berkeley, Peter Berck, Advisor

Honorable Mention
STAVROULA MALLA, "Searching for Genes: Public and Private Spillovers in Agricultural Research," University of Saskatchewan, Richard Gray, Advisor

SILVIA SECCHI, "Economic Issues in Resistance Management," Iowa State University, Bruce Babcock, Advisor

YOSHITO TAKASAKI, "The Microdynamics of Conservation and Development in Tropical Forests," University of Wisconsin, Bradford L. Braham, Advisor

Distinguished Teaching

Less than 10 Years Experience (7 nominations)

MICHAEL BOLAND, Kansas State University.

Undergraduate Teaching, More Than 10 Years Experience (6 nominations)

JAY AKRIDGE, Purdue University

Graduate Teaching, More Than 10 Years Experience (8 nominations)

RON MITTLEHAMMER, Washington State University

Distinguished Extension Program

Individual (7 nominations)

G. ART BARNABY, Kansas State University

GERALD DOEKSEN, Oklahoma State University

Group (4 nominations)

DOUG JOSE, University of Nebraska, KEVIN KLAIR, University of Minnesota, JON NEWKIRK, Washington State University, JAMES NOVAK, Auburn University, KENNETH STOKES, Texas A&M University and H. DON TILMON, University of Delaware, Extension Risk Management Education Coordinating Team.

Distinguished Policy Contribution (7 nominations)

JULIAN ALSTON, University of California, Davis and PHILIP PARDEY, International Food Policy Research Institute.

Quality of Communication (12 nominations)

RICHARD A. LEVINS of the University of Minnesota, Willard Cochrane and the American Family Farm, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln

Quality of Research Discovery (17 nominations)

GORDON C. RAUSSER, University of California, Berkeley and ARTHUR A. SMALL, Columbia University. "Valuing Research Leads: Bioprospecting and the Conservation of Genetic Resources." Journal of Political Economy 108 (1): 173-206.

Honorable Mention:

ROBERT G. CHAMBERS, University of Maryland and JOHN QUIGGIN, Australian National University. Uncertainty, Production, Choice, and Agency: The State-Contingent Approach, Cambridge University Press.

DANIEL J. PHANEUF, North Carolina State University; CATHERINE L. KLING, Iowa State University; and JOSEPH A. HERRIGES, Iowa State University. "Estimation and Welfare Calculations in a Generalized Corner Solution Model with an Application to Recreation Demand." The Review of Economics and Statistics 82 (February): 83-92.

Outstanding American Journal of Agricultural Economics Article

DAVID SUNDING and JOSHUA ZIVIN. "Insect Population Dynamics, Pesticide
Use, and Farmworker Health." American Journal of Agricultural Economics 82(August 2000): 527-540.

Honorable Mention:

NIGEL KEY, ELIZABETH SADOULET, ALAIN de JANVRY. "Transaction Costs and Agricultural Household Supply Response. " American Journal of Agricultural Economics 82 (May 2000): 245-259.

Outstanding Review of Agricultural Economics Journal Article

PETER J. BARRY, LEEANN M. MOSS, NARDA L. SOTOMAYOR, and CESAR L. ESCALANTE. "Lease Pricing for Farm Real Estate" Review of Agricultural Economics 22 (Spring-Summer 2000): 2-16

Outstanding Choices Article

MATTHEW P. FELDMANN, Northwestern University, MICHAEL L. MORRIS, CIMMYT (Mexico City), and DAVID HOISINGTON, CIMMYT (Mexico City), "Genetically Modified Organisms: Why All the Controversy?" Choices (First Quarter, 2000): 8-12.

Publication of Enduring Quality (8 nominations)

MICHAEL K. WOHLGENANT, Demand for Farm Output in a Complete System of Demand Functions." American Journal of Agricultural Economics 71 (May 1989): 241-252.

AJAE Editors
Peter Berck, Robert J. Myers, Spiro E. Stefanou, Michael E. Wetzstein, Editors

The editorial team of Peter Berck (University of California, Berkeley), Robert J. Myers (Michigan State University), Spiro E. Stefanou (Pennsylvania State University) and Michael E. Wetzstein (University of Georgia) undertook the management of AJAE in January 1, 2000 with responsibility for Volumes 83 and 84. We continue the collaborative, multi-university editorial management process that was initiated with Volume 80 and described in AJAE Vol. 80, No.5, pp: 1224-1228. Peter Berck assumes the responsibilities of assembling materials for August proceedings issue and supervising selection of the Outstanding AJAE Article. Robert Myers assumes the responsibility of final production scheduling and database management. This involves assembling accepted manuscripts, organizing issue layout, and serving as the liaison between the Editors and Blackwell Publishers concerning production scheduling and disposition of galley and page proofs. Michael Wetzstein assumes the responsibilities of assembling materials for December proceedings issue and overseeing editorial policy. Spiro Stefanou assumes responsibilities for new manuscript management, managing the AJAE finances, and serving as the Editors' liaison to the AAEA Executive Board.

We received 528 manuscripts between 1 January 2000 and 1 July 2001, implying an annual rate of 352 submissions over the 18-month period. This submission rate is slightly higher than recent years.

Table 1 presents the total manuscript handling time for the period 1 January 2001 through 1 July 2001 and summarizes the days elapsed from the time a manuscript is received at the Pennsylvania State University editorial office until a response is mailed to the corresponding author. This time includes the handling time of approximately 10-14 days for the manuscripts coordinated by the Editors at other locations. The average response time over this period was 99 days on a first submission, 70 days on a second submission and 33 days on a third submission. Only one manuscript was passed to a fourth round of review, which received a response in 15 days.

Table 2 presents the disposition of all manuscripts received. A final decision has been made for 316 manuscripts with 212 still unresolved. Considering the manuscripts for which we have reached a final decision, we have accepted 81 manuscripts for publication and rejected 235 submissions implying an acceptance rate of 26 %. Of the 212 submissions currently under potential consideration, 123 manuscripts have either been resubmitted for further publication review or are in the hands of the authors awaiting their decision to pursue a revision.

Table 3 presents the number of days a manuscript is in review under an Editor's management until a final decision (acceptance or final rejection) is communicated to the authors. The average time to acceptance is 147 days with a median of 150 days. The average time to a final rejection is 90 days with a median of 78 days. Similar to last year's report, over 90% of the final rejection decisions are made in the first round of review.

Amit Batabyal, the Book Review Editor received 75 books, monographs, and reports during the period 1 January 2000 through 1 July 2001. The materials received cover a number of fields, including agricultural economics, development economics, international trade theory, and natural resource and environmental economics. These materials are approximately evenly split between those covering North America and those covering geographical areas outside North America. Fifty-nine book reviews were commissioned during this period and forty of these reviews have been accepted and have been sent to the publisher.

The 2001 volume of the AJAE will contain 68 articles. In addition, we are publishing 3 comments, 3 replies to comments, and 27 book reviews. The August 2001 issue contains 24 principal papers and discussions that were presented at the ASSA meetings in January 2001.

Journal production is progressing smoothly with all issues being delivered to readers on time. Table 4 presents the circulation and usage of the AJAE among institutional subscribers and reports that the AJAE is subscribed by 1,265 institutions of which 530 are based in the U.S. Subscriptions to each issue of the AJAE increased throughout the year and subscriptions increased nearly 19% between 1999 and 2000, the year that Basil Blackwell assumed publication and marketing responsibilities. Visibility of the AJAE is enhanced by the online access available through Ingenta and through Blackwell Publishers' negotiated consortia agreements that will make the AJAE available in print or electronic form to 1,859 institutions in Eastern Europe, Africa, Korea and elsewhere. The AJAE generated $6,601 income from copyright permissions and subsidiary rights in 2000.

The project to place back issues of the AJAE on-line is progressing but is not complete at the time of this report. The AJAE is to be included as an economics title in JSTOR. The viewer's JSTOR access will be routed to the Mann Library, Cornell University, which is sponsoring of the effort to place Volumes 1(1919) through 71 (1995) of the AJAE online. Consequently, individual users interested in access to these issues but who do not have access to JSTOR at their home institutions can access the online issues of the AJAE directly and without cost by visiting the site at the Core Historical Literature of Agriculture at the Mann Library (chla.library.cornell.edu). All the volumes have been scanned, and the images have been inspected. However, the post-scanning processing to allow searching by article title and author is not complete. The Mann Library anticipates that the back issues will be accessible by the end of the year.

We appreciate the important input of the Associate Editors and we wish to acknowledge their excellent and important service to the Journal. We are most grateful to them: Azzedine Azzam, Christopher Barrett, Michael Carter, Ariel Dinar, Paul Fackler, Marcel Fafchamps, George Frisvold, Lilyan Fulginiti, Barry Goodwin, Gloria Helfand, Bryan Hubbell, Larry Karp, David Kraybill, Jeffrey LaFrance, Sergio Lence, Erik Lichtenberg, Ethan Ligon, Rigoberto Lopez, H. Alan Love, Douglas Miller, Mario Miranda, Catherine Morrison Paul, Timothy Richards, Dale Squires, Utpal Vasavada, and Alfons Weersink. In addition, the Journal could not thrive without the generous assistance of many referees. As always, the published version of this report contains the list of referees who have volunteered their services.

In particular, we wish to note a special debt of thanks to Jeffrey LaFrance. During the course of the past year personal circumstances have forced Jeff to scale back his activities and we reluctantly accepted his resignation from the Editorial Board. Jeff has offered the AJAE exemplary service as an associate editor since his appointment in 1997.

The editorial administration assistance of Nicole Alderman (Robert Myers's office), Angie Erickson (Peter Berck's office), Jane Mease (Spiro Stefanou's office), and Donna Ross (Michael Wetzstein's office) is greatly appreciated, and we wish to further acknowledge our respective departments for their support of our editorial activities.

Table 1
Journal Response Times, 1 Jan. 2000 to 1 July 2001 (in percent)

Table 2
Disposition of Manuscripts, 1 Jan. 2000 to 1 July 2001

CHOICES
Paul Barkley, Editor

July 2000 to July 2001 has been a traumatic year for CHOICES magazine. The production company that had secured the first outsourcing agreement with AAEA was sold to a larger printing and publishing firm - Meister Publishing Company - in Willoughby, Ohio. Although the president of Clear Window moved with the firm and a named technical editor was assigned to the magazine, the division of responsibilities and obligations remains somewhat unsettled and unsettling. The move put the Third Quarter 2000 issue well behind schedule, and the domino effect from this delay led to the decision not to publish a Fourth Quarter 2000 issue.

Donna Dunn and I made a July 2000 trip to Washington, DC to talk with the institutional (agency)sponsors of the magazine. The trip was not as successful as earlier trips because of generally tight budgets within USDA and some uncertainty surrounding how USDA would be treated after the change in administrations.

The magazine was a major topic of debate and discussion at the winter meeting of the AAEA Executive Board. Two items fueled the discussions. First, the magazine has always run a large deficit. Advertisers have not stepped forward in great numbers, and individuals associated with the magazine seem unable to act as effective salespersons for the available space. Second, the magazine has evolved into a prime vehicle for professional agricultural economists to communicate the results of their work to each other, but it has not become effective in carrying out its primary purpose: communicating the results of the professional work in agricultural economics to non-members or to other potential stakeholders. These themes combined to force the Executive Board to give the magazine a finite future. Four issues will be published in 2001 and three issues will be published in 2002. During these years, issues regarding the life, the format, and the intended audience of the magazine will be discussed and decisions regarding the future of CHOICES will be taken.

Submissions, Solicitations, Acceptances, and Rejections
Thirty manuscripts were submitted for consideration between January 2001 and July 1, 2001. This number was down ten from submissions during the same time period in 2000. The number includes two surprise revisions from late 2000. Eleven of the thirty are already published or accepted; four more are likely to be accepted when modest revisions are made. Nine have been rejected, and the remaining six are in various stages of review or revision. The "usable inventory" of manuscripts stands at about 25.

As with last year, all submissions have come in as feature articles. The short article, the viewpoint, and the letter to the editor have not been used by any authors except those who contributed to the debate that developed in response to the Tweeten guest editorial.

Advisory Board
The CHOICES Advisory Board started the year with 25 members. One member has dropped off because of poor health. Nine of the remaining 24 will complete their terms in December, 2001. A replacement procedure will be discussed at the August 2001 meeting of the Board. The Board has been active in reviewing manuscripts, assisting in the transition between production companies, and in selecting the winner of the Outstanding Article award.

In Summary
CHOICES continues to enjoy a very positive reputation among member readers. The struggle to take it outside the box continues and the editor as well as the Advisory Board look forward to changing the magazine to fit the needs of an evolving profession.

Review of Agricultural Economics
Gail L. Cramer, Editor

The final issue of the RAE, Vol. 23, number 2, Fall/Winter 2001, under my term as editor was sent to Blackwell one month early. The issue will contain seven Applied Analysis manuscripts; four Case Studies; three Commentaries; and three Features. The features are the top three winners of the AAEA 21st Century Essay competition.

The transition to the new editors from ERS/USDA started in April. Fifteen accepted manuscripts plus three additional winners of the 21st Century Essay were shipped to ERS. ERS/USDA is currently working with some of the co-editors to make final dterminations on 64 papers which are still in review. William Amponsah, William Kost, Sarahelen Thompson, and Thomas Wahl have been excellent co-editors over the last three years. They have been professional and timely in reviewing and editing manuscripts. They deserve credit for the increased growth and quality of the RAE.

In 2001, we began working with Edward Dionne at Blackwell. According to the schedule, Blackwell was a few weeks late releasing the last issue; however, no other problems were encountered with the publisher.

The Best Paper award for 2000 went to Pter J. Barry, LeeAnn M. Moss, Nard L. Sotomayor, and Cesar L. Escalante for the manuscript "Lease Pricing for Farm Real Estate," which appeared in RAE Vol. 22, No. 1, Spring/Summer 2000.

20th Anniversary of CWAE
This summer CWAE will celebrate its 20th anniversary. It originally began as the Committee on Women's Opportunities in Agricultural Economics but later changed it to the Committee on Women in Agricultural Economics. CWAE's purpose is "to promote the welfare of women agricultural economists by representing their interests within the American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA) and by engaging in activities which will encourage the professional advancement of women agricultural economists." Since that time the number of women in the profession has grown substantially, six have been named Fellows of AAEA and two have been elected as President of AAEA.

While one might wonder whether or not CWAE has accomplished its goal to the point that it is no longer needed, there are 168 dues-paying members who feel CWAE provides a useful forum. CWAE is and has been an active organization that addresses issues relevant to women, and others, in the profession.

CWAE is celebrating this anniversary at the meetings this year. A poster that depicts the historical background and accomplishments will be presented. There will an organized symposium that will discuss the historical background, the perspectives of a seasoned professional and a graduate student, and the role of CWAE in the future. In addition, CWAE is sponsoring a symposium that will look at what happens when a professional has reached full professor or upper management.

CWAE Becomes a Section
As part of the summer 2000, the CWAE membership voted to become a section of AAEA. This had been a contentious issue because some of CWAE members worried that it would weaken our ability to make the AAEA Board aware of concerns that may be unique to women. There were some who felt that it would allow us better visibility and should be supported. In the past the decision of whether or not to become a section had been made at the business meeting of CWAE, held during the AAEA meetings. This time, ballots were sent to the members and they voted to become a section.

Tracking Survey
In 1998, CWAE began tracking survey to systematically track progress of ag economist professionals over time. The objective of the survey was to factors influencing academic progress and issues influencing change for members of AAEA. The sample included all women in AAEA, minorities and a sample of male members of AAEA. The AAEA Foundation provided funds to conduct two surveys.

Laura Cheney, Michigan State University, chaired the survey committee and Cheryl Duvyst, North Dakota State University, Susan Hine and Dawn Thilmany, Colorado State University, and Lorie Srivastava, Michigan State, conducted the first survey. This spring the committee reviewed the first survey and the comments made at the presentations of the first results. The survey was modified slightly; however, no substantive changes were made because the intent is to collect information over time. The second tracking survey mailed in late spring and the results are being analyzed. Preliminary results will be presented in a symposium at the AAEA meetings this summer.

On-going Activities
As in years past, CWAE issued three Newsletters and maintained CWAENet as a open forum for issues of concern to members. While some of the issues are more specific to women, many of them are issues with which all members of AAEA deal. For example, the issue of balancing writing time with other work responsibilities was raised. Several useful strategies were suggested and many professionals may find them useful. The issue of being able to take a sabbatical given the responsibilities of two-wage earners in the household and young families was discussed. This is an issue that many in AAEA face, regardless of gender.

CWAE will continue to host the undergraduate/professional breakfast. Finding companies willing to sponsor this activity is a challenge. Cargill is sponsoring the breakfast this year; however, it would be very helpful if we could get an endowment started to support this activity on a long-run basis.

Fiscal Status of CWAE
CWAE has accumulated reserve funds over the past three years. For several years, postage for mailing the Newsletter and expenses associated with the meetings just about completely depleted our budget.

The Newsletter is distributed electronically to almost all members so the postage expenses have dropped to $2.00 for the first quarter 2001. CWAE was fortunate in having speakers for the past couple years who were attending the meetings so there was no need to cover expenses.

One item of concern is the expense of the CWAE luncheons. Last year, the price was set before the menu was made available. The Business Office worked with the hotel to help us minimize costs; however, CWAE was close on covering the cost of the professionals and CWAE had to subsidize a portion of the graduate student luncheons.

Given last year's expenses, I contacted Nancy Herselius in January and requested prices of meals from the hotel before setting the luncheon price. This was not possible and as of now, CWAE will lose $8.00 per lunch per professional and about $15.00 per lunch per graduate student. The $8.00 per professional is more than CWAE dues. Nancy is working to bring down the cost of the luncheon but this situation cannot continue.

On-line Voting
This year the CWAE Board decided to try, as an experiment, on-line voting as an option for submitting ballots. CWAE decided to hold the elections concurrently with the AAEA elections, which are prior to the AAEA meetings. This will allow the new Board members to meet with the outgoing members at the meetings.

Meredith Soule, ERS, and Lori Lynch, University of Maryland, served on the Election Committee. They developed an outstanding slate of candidates. Ivy Sprague, AAEA Business Office worked with me to develop a secure ballot. The AAEA Business Office sent out the URL for voting to all CWAE members who were current with their dues. Paper ballots were sent to any members who either did not have an e-mail address or for whom the e-mail was returned.

The response rate was over 60 percent which is the best CWAE has experienced. CWAE will have to modify its by-laws to adopt this form of voting permanently.

Sylvia Lane Mentorship
CWAE awarded one CWAE mentorship in 2000 to Hiba Ahmend, a recent graduate of Michigan State University. There are funds to grant at least one award this summer.

Because we are now fiscally sound, CWAE will consider the option of donating some of our funds to the Mentorship fund.

Community Economics Section
John Halstead, Chair

The community economics network has interacted via several media over the
past year. First, there is the CENET list server, which serves as both a
medium for information exchange and also often hosts lively debates.
Second, members of the group meet via professional outlets, particularly at
the Southern Regional Science Meetings and the CPAN (Community Planning and
Analysis) meetings. The Community Development Society and the
Mid-Continent Regional Science Association also provide forums for
discussion. One of the major points of discussion this year has been
finding a professional publication outlet for members, a topic which has
been ongoing for some time. We have also been involved in discussions with
the Product Development Committee of AAEA to determine how the Community
Economics Section and the Association might work more collaboratively.

Sponsored Symposia
Committee members presented two successful organized symposia on data issues at the 2000 AAEA meetings. The ESIRC sponsored an organized symposium, organized by James Horsefield of USDA-ERS, entitled "Rural Information Systems: Looking Back to See Ahead." The Committee supported another symposium, organized by member David Buland of USDA-NRCS, entitled "Progress on Implementing the Recommendations of the AAEA Task Force on Commodity Costs and Returns."

Data Access Task Force
ESIRC Data Access Task Force chair Doug Young visited ERS administrators in March 2001 to monitor the data access agreement with ERS and to provide advice to USDA on other data collection and dissemination plans. The agreement provides opportunities for researchers to access unpublished USDA data through Memoranda of Understanding (MOU), Cooperative Agreements (CA), and Special Tabulations (ST). Six universities and two federal agencies are currently using the ERS-ARMS data through MOU's. Two universities and one federal agency access the data at the ERS site. All others access the data at NASS state offices near their organization. Three MOU requests were initiated then dropped. They were dropped either because the data did not meet their research needs or it became inconvenient to access the data at a NASS location. Two state universities are using data through CA's. ERS has also completed two ST's for federal agencies and one for a private research firm. Three requests for ST's and one for a MOU were in process in March. Prospective users of unpublished data under these arrangements should contact Meritt Padgitt of ERS for information on requirements and guidelines.

Doug Young also assisted ERS in reviewing their user-based ARMS and othe USDA economic statistics during March 2001.

ESIRC on AAEA Web Site
David Buland, Jerry Fletcher and Doug Young were appointed to a committee during the past year to initiate a presence on the AAEA web page for the ESIRC. ESIRC is now one of three AAEA committees represented on the web site, along with the Committee of Women in Agricultural Economics and the Committee on the Status of Blacks in Agricultural Economics.

Committee History Publication
A 35-page history of the activities and accomplishments of the ESIRC was reviewed and published on the Committee's web site during the year. The report is entitled "A Review of the Activities of AAEA's Economic Statistics and Information Resources Committee" and was authored by former member, Charles A. Kraenzle of USDA's Rural Business-Cooperative Service.

Committee Motions to AAEA Executive Board
During the Committee's meetings at Tampa in August 2000 two sets of formal motions were forwarded to the AAEA Executive Board.

The first motion stated "ESIRC encourages the AAEA Board to continue to support AAEA participation in the Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics (COPAFS) by naming a second representative." An ancillary motion was also approved: "ESIRC delegates Jerry Fletcher to pursue AAEA Board financial support for COPAFS representatives' travel expenses." Unfortunately, financial deficits at AAEA caused the Board to totally eliminate funding for COPAFS, for the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA), and for the Council of Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) in early 2001.

The second motion stated "ESIRC recommends that the AAEA Board support the AgEconSearch Archiving Project." ESIRC Board representative Bob Taylor reported that the Board discussed this recommendation but dropped it due to concerns about cost.

Activities of Represented Agencies
Detailed reports of relevant activities of the various agencies represented on ESIRC will be reported at ESIRC's annual meeting in August 2001. These activities will be summarized in the meeting minutes which will be published on the ESIRC web site. Agencies included in this report will be USDA-NASS, USDA-ERS, Bureau of Economic Analysis, USDA-Rural Business Cooperatives Service, Statistics Canada, USDA-NRCS, Grain Inspection Packers and Stockyards Administration, COPAFS, and AgEcon Search.

Extension Section
Robert Milligan, Chair

The 2000-2001 year was the second full year of operation for the Extension Section of the American Agricultural Economics Association. The primary focus was on developing and implementing a formal extension track for the 2001 annual meeting in Chicago. A secondary focus was preliminary discussion of other activities for which the section should provoke leadership.

The Executive Committee

Membership
Membership in the section continues to be strong with 261 members in 2000 or nearly 10 percent of total AAEA membership. Of this membership, 37 were located away from a main university campus, 30 were from industry or government and 8 were from foreign addresses. Current membership is somewhat lower but it is expected to increase as registration for the AAEA meetings continue.

Extension Section Program at the AAEA Annual Meeting
The extension section saw the call for track proposals as an opportunity to develop a critical mass of offerings for extension and other applied economists that could be used to increase attendance at the annual meetings. Under the leadership of Mark Stephenson, George Patrick, Ron Plain, Terry Francl and Steve Meyer the extension section program for the Chicago meeting includes:
Pre-Conference Workshop: The Saturday pre-conference workshop Distance Education in Extension - Adult Learning Styles and Remote Delivery Systems will help you:
· Discover the common pitfalls in educating adults.
· Learn to teach to students with different adult learning styles.
· Learn to harness the new technologies for remote delivery of educational information.

Extension Track: There will be an extension symposium in every time session.
Outlook for 2001-2002: Changes in the FAIR Act: Open discussion led by Agriculture committee staff
Livestock Outlook: Prospective market conditions for meat and dairy products by university and industry experts.
Crop Outlook: Current and prospective market conditions for crops.
Crafting a Successful AAEA Fellow Nomination: How to develop effective nomination letters and supporting materials for Fellows nominees.
Estate Planning for Farmers: Current and proposed estate tax legislation. (joint with Amer. Ag. Law Assoc.)
Structural Change in Agriculture: Focuses on the web-based interaction following last year's pre-conference. (with Farm Foundation)
Environmental Challenges for Extension Economists addresses water quality issues and integration of environmental concerns into educational programs.
Roots and Fruits of Proposals to Supplement the Legal Farm Workforce examines current issues in farm labor legislation.
Extension Luncheon: Based on over 30 years of experience, Dr. Ron Knutson will provide proactive proposals for actions for extension economists to have greater influence and earn a stronger professional position. There are right and wrong ways and Knutson indicates that he has been down both roads and has learned from his travels.
Extension Section Reception: The extension section is sponsoring a reception Monday evening after the outlook sessions for our members and for industry personnel in the Chicago area. Come, network and socialize!

We have extensively promoted the program among extension and other applied economists including email blasts to members and brochures to department chairs. A special promotion is being offered to non-AAEA member extension professionals in the Chicago area. For $45.00 they can attend the Monday afternoon outlook sessions and the extension section reception.

Fellows Selection Subcommittee
In the member survey last year the most common concern of extension section members was selection of extension economists as Fellows. Under the leadership of Pat Norris a subcommittee continues to investigate this issue. The committee made the following recommendations to the AAEA Governance Committee:
1. That the fellow selection process revert to the process used prior to 1997, in which the AAEA Board made the initial screening and then sent a narrowed list of nominees to the Fellows Selection Committee for final selection.
2. That membership on the Fellows Selection Committee be broadened to include broader representation of AAEA. This could be accomplished by having Section representation on the Committee, as will be done for the AAEA nominating committee.
3. That AAEA fellows be explicitly selected from nominations submitted for specific categories, much like is done by the Animal Science Society of America. For example, fellows nominations could be submitted in categories for teaching, extension, research, administration, industry and/or at-large.
4. That the upcoming fellows selection processes should target those categories listed in item 3 above which are currently under-represented among the ranks of AAEA fellows.

A Suggestion
The board and the association office should consider methods to increase communication with and among the sections. Sections, probably in the person of their president, need current information on discussions and decisions in the Association. Including the President-elects in the leadership brunch is a great step in this direction. Another idea is to include section presidents on mailings that go primarily to the board. Communication is also needed among sections. As sections increase the discussion of activities away from the annual meeting synergies of ideas and activities will be possible and necessary.

Financial
Section finances are sound. We had a balance of $4743 at the end of calendar year 2000. Our main expenses for the year were for work accomplished through the AAEA business office for items such as postage and entering information on the Web. We plan to utilize some of our financial resources to help sponsor a reception for section members at the Chicago AAEA meetings.

Food and Agricultural Marketing Policy Section (FAMPS)
William Lesser, Chair

1. FAMPS has 166 members for the 2001 calendar year, a good retention rate compared to the 180 dues-paying charter members in 2000. The relatively low membership fee is considered to be an important contributing factor as the Section establishes itself.
2. FAMPS is co-sponsoring (with ERS and AMS) a pre-conference in Chicago on August 4th, "Research and Policy Needs of a Chastened Agbiotech Sector"
3. FAMPS is sponsoring five sessions, and co-sponsoring two additional sessions, at the summer AAEA meetings, as follows:
   
   • E- Commerce and Agriculture Commodity Markets (PP, co-sponsor)
   • Potential and Pitfalls of Food Safety and Labeling Requirements (co-sponsor)
   • Vertical and Horizontal Arrangements in Fresh Product Markets
   • Market Information: Can Commodity Price Reporting Work in Industrialized Agriculture?
   • Innovative Contracting and Risk Management: New Developments, Challenges, Issues
   • Investments in Developing Country Value Added Trade and Protectionist Responses by U.S. Firms
   • Assessing Marketing Policy Research Needs - A Roundtable Discussion
4. The FAMPS account balance is presently $ 6,829.62, of which $ 5,177.01 is a balance carried forward from 2000. An additional $ 10,000 has been pledged by ERS and AMS which will provide a carryover for planning next year's activities after expenses for the pre-conference have been covered.
5. A FAMPS web page will be established on the AAEA site as soon as the site is made operational by the AAEA. Initial postings will include the by-laws and the 2001 program documents. Around mid-July, synoposies of presentations at the pre-conference will be added.
6. At the 2000 business meeting, the following officials were elected:
   W. Lesser, chair
   E. Jones, chair-elect
   L. Lohr, secretary/treasurer (2 year term)
   F. Beurskens and S. Thornsbury exec committee members-at-large
   The by-laws call for a chair-elect and one committee person-at-large to be elected at the 2001 business meeting, to be held August 5th.

Food Safety and Nutrition Section
Helen Jensen, Chair

The Section is "up and running". The Food Safety and Nutrition (FSN) Section currently has 76 dues-paying members and moved from probationary status to full section status within AAEA this year. The Section had three main activities this year: organizing and submitting a Track proposal for the 2001 AAEA meetings; reviewing and developing a revised set of bylaws; and co-sponsoring a conference on food safety held by Resources for the Future in May 2001.

1. FSN Section Track at the 2001 AAEA meetings. Members of the FSN Section's executive committee worked with section members to develop a Track proposal for the AAEA meetings. The track includes four organized symposia and one free session. The organized symposia are on the following topics: Potential Pitfalls of Food Safety and Labeling Requirements; HACCP-Based Meat Inspection Models - Revolution and Devolution; Food Product Innovations in Health; and Food Demand and Nutrition Analysis Using Household Micro-Data: Methodological Issues of Demand System Estimation. The free session is Rethinking How Federal Agencies Approach Valuation of Food Safety Risk Reduction. We have also scheduled the annual Section meeting during the AAEA meetings.
2. Review and amendment of the Bylaws. After one year of experience, we have a much better idea of what seems to work and what might not work for the Section. The Section's executive committee reviewed the bylaws and has proposed revised bylaws that clarify several procedural and timing issues. The revised bylaws have been circulated to members and will be discussed at the business meeting. A ballot on the revisions will be distributed to voting members following the AAEA meetings.
3. The FSN Section co-sponsored the Resources for the Future Conference on Setting Food Safety Priorities: Toward a Risk-Based System. It was held May 23-24, 2001 in Washington D.C.

1. The Fellows' Retrospective. This year we (the Professional Activities Committee) will sponsor the third such event. In earlier years we have heard from and honored Phil Raup (Nashville) and Jim Shaffer (Tampa). Both events were immense successes. This year, we will honor Sylvia Lane, and we expect no less success. When the retrospectives were started three years ago, the PAC suggested that, the PAC, keep them until they were well established then turn them over to a "standing committee." We will need to work with this idea.
2. The "Learning Workshop" has been managed by PAC since its inception in 1990. It requires sub-committee work once an appropriate topic has been selected. What topics should we work with for 2002?
3. Masters Classes. For some years, the PAC and other sub-groups within AAEA have discussed the idea of putting on highly specialized, short-term classes for specialized audiences. Lois Willett prepared a comprehensive analysis of such efforts for last year's meeting of PAC. Discussions centered on a class in forecasting. Nothing has been done during the past year, but this theme is still very much alive. We need to take it the next step.
4. Frontier Sessions are sessions within the regular annual meeting period. PAC identifies a theme and often selects a person or a team to organize the session. This year, one such session, "Monte Carlo Integration Methods for Applied Econometrics," will be presented as an Organized Symposium.
5. Other business. This is a wide-open area. In general the PAC has worked in areas related to professional development and intra-profession communications, but the committee is not limited to such discussions. Please come with ideas related to how we as a collective of economists working primarily on agricultural and natural resource themes can continue to improve the work that we do and the way in which we present it to ourselves and to the non-economist public.

Following suggestions from prior years, Bruce Gardner, Nancy Herselius and I regrouped the 20 subject headings into 15 areas (see table). The 15 topic leaders then put together 227 reviewers for abstracts.

As Bruce noted in the latest AAEA newsletter, 749 abstracts were submitted for consideration. Ninety-two time slots were allotted for the selected papers, and so, 366 abstracts were accepted for presentation as selected papers. Thus, acceptance rate was 49%. See the following table for subject area breakdown on number of abstracts submitted and accepted:

A majority of the abstracts received three reviews, while some received only two reviews. In addition to grading the paper's relevance, methodology, discussion potential and overall quality, the reviewers were asked to clearly say whether the abstract was acceptable or not (yes/no). The decision to accept/reject was based on reviewers' grades and acceptability responses. Reviewers' comments to authors and me provided additional information for selecting papers.

Given the relatively lower acceptance rate, there wer several feedbacks. Most commented on the need for more information (basis) that led to rejection/acceptance. I suggest that we return reviwers' grading to authors. Since going electronic with submissions the grades have not been forwarded to authors. There is a greater need for transparency and Nancy notes that the AAEA office can sort this information individually for the abstracts. Another trend to keep an eye on is the number of papers withdrawn after being accepted for presentation. This year authors of 16 papers withdrew due to inability to complete paper/research work on time.

Selected Posters Committee
Leah Greden Mathews, Chair

There were 23 abstracts submitted as Selected Posters for the 2001 AAEA Annual Meeting in Chicago. Of these, 15 were accepted for presentation at the meetings resulting in a 65% acceptance rate. In addition, there were 103 abstracts initially submitted as Selected Papers that were not selected for presentation as a Paper but were considered for presentation as a Selected Poster. Fifty-three (53) of these were accepted for presentation as Selected Posters, a 51% acceptance rate. In sum, there will be 68 posters presented at the 2001 Annual Meeting.

Again this year the top three posters will receive cash prizes. A copy of the evaluation form to be used for the judging was emailed to all poster presenters in June so that they are aware of the criteria as they prepare their posters. Eleven judges will be used including myself, Kim Zeuli (University of Wisconsin, last year's Chair of Selected Posters), Wendy Umberger (Colorado State University), Cheryl Doss (Yale University), Paul MacNamara (University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana), Ward Nefstead (University of Minnesota), Lynn Hamilton (Cal Poly), Jill McCluskey (Washington State University), Frank Lupi (Michigan State University), Holly Wang (Washington State University), and Diane Hite (Mississippi State University).

Teaching, Learning, and Communication Committee

Committee Members: James Beierlein (Penn State) (Co-Chair); Mary Marchant (Kentucky) (Co-Chair); Allen Wysocki (Florida); Arlo Biere (Kansas State); C. Robert Stack (University of Arkansas-Monticello); Christopher McIntosh (Idaho); Donald Nixon (Texas A&M -Kingsville); Frank Dooley (Purdue); L. Leon Geyer (Virginia Tech); Leah Greden (North Carolina-Ashville); Molly Espey (Clemson); Penelope Diebel (Oregon State)

Committee Activities: The TLC Committee was able to build on the momentum for a greater role for teaching activities within the AAEA.

• Through the efforts of last year's TLC committee we ended the year 1999-2000 with two major events. First, we co-sponsored (with the National Association of Agricultural Economics Administrators) the AAEA's pre-conference teaching/learning workshop. Second, we helped to organize the first ever "Teaching Track" (Models for Teaching Excellence) at the Annual Meeting. The help and support of the AAEA's Executive Board and Staff was instrumental in making this successful venture possible. The members of the TLC Committee received numerous compliments on both of these efforts.
• Building on the theme of the workshop, the shifting focus from teaching to how students learn, the committee requested a name change to The Teaching, Learning, and Communication Committee. We felt this change better reflected the growing revolution in teaching/learning occurring on college campuses across America. By better understanding how students learn, we can adjust our teaching practices to more efficiently and effectively enhance student learning. College level learning occurs not just in college classrooms. In an era of life long learning, this can mean having classes with students of all ages and backgrounds from around the world. In this environment the quality of communication is vital. (In this regard we see the potential for growing cooperation with extension educators within AAEA.) Under our new name we seek to expand our efforts to keep the teaching, learning, and communication skills of agricultural economics professional (both on and off campus) ready to meet the challenges of the future.
• For the 2000-2001 AAEA Annual Meeting, the TLC Committee has two major activities. First, we are again co-sponsoring a teaching/learning conference titled Developing a Teaching Environment Where All Students Seek to Excel (with the National Association of Agricultural Economics Administrators). The purposes of this program are to bring agricultural economics teaching professionals (both on and off-campus): (1) the latest classroom management techniques that foster a learning environment where all students seek to excel, and (2) provide a place where educators can share successful learning activities with their peers. Second, we are again offering a "Teaching Track" (Models for Teaching Excellence). Our hope is that the teaching conference and teaching track will become regular parts of future AAEA annual meetings.

Tellers Committee
Brent Hueth and Helen Jensen

Election results for 2001 have been tabulated based on 1154 (out of 2531 sent) electronic and 73 (out of 259 sent) paper ballots. The results are as follows:

President Elect: Susan Offutt
Directors: Bill Boggess and David Zilberman
Foundation Members: Roberta Cook and Alan Randall

Write-in's for each office:
President Elect: Blank, Fred White, Vernon Eidmen, Otto Doering, Paul Barkley, Andrew Novakovic, Ron Knutson, Daniel Sumner, George Norton, Nelson Bills, Anybody Else, Peter Feather

Directors: Boby Gempesaw, None, Donald Liu, Matthew Holt, Fred White Ben Senauer, Hal Harris, Thomas Johnson, Steve Deller, Carlton Davis, Doris Newton

Foundation Members: David Bessler, David Zilberman, Donald McDowell, Fred White, NONE, Ralph Christy, blank

The overall response rate for the election was 46.8 percent. Four mail ballots were postmarked past the election deadline and were left unopened; no voting irregularities were noted. In general, the ballot counting process operated very smoothly.

2001 Annual Meeting Selected Paper Abstracts

Tugrul Temel
A nonparametric hypothesis test via the bootstrap resampling
This study adapts an already existing nonparametric hypothesis test to the bootstrap framework and then applies it to test specific hypotheses on the Georgian agriculture. The test utilizes the nonparametric kernel regression method to estimate a measure of distance between the models stated under the null hypothesis.The bootstraped version of the test allows to approximate errors involved in the asymptotic hypothesis test.

Faye Ensermu Chemeda
The Role of Exports in Economic Growth with Reference to Ethiopian Country
This study applies the Cobb-Douglas function model to analyze the effects of exports on economic growth in context of Ethiopian economy. To determine the relationship between export and economic growth, an attempt will be made to use econometrics techniques of analysis (co-integration system) by using the RATES software package for the time series data from 1950 to 1986. The lack of capital stock data is overcome by using the ratio of real investment to real gross domestic product, in a place of capital stock while lack of labour force data is overcome by using the real gross domestic product per capita. The results suggest that the real export and real investment per real gross domestic product (I/Y) are co-integrated with real GDP per capita. These results support the idea that the rate of growth of real exports has a positive effect on the rate of economic growth in context of the Ethiopian economy. Even strong positive relationship exists between real export and real growth domestic product per capita in long run rather than in short run when I compare real exports with that of real investment per real gross domestic product. Thus, the contribution of real exports to economic growth in context of Ethiopian economy is greater in long run than in short run.

Petra Hellegers, Zilberman, D., Van Ierland, E.C.
Dynamics of Agricultural Groundwater Extraction
Agricultural shallow groundwater extraction can result in desiccation of nature reserves and changes in groundwater quality, whereas both externalities are often not considered. A model is developed to study socially optimal agricultural shallow groundwater extraction patterns. It shows the importance of stock size to slow down changes in groundwater quality.

Irina Bezlepkina, Alfons Oude Lansink, Arie J. Oskam
FARM FIRM MICRO-ECONOMETRIC MODELLING: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM RUSSIAN DAIRY FARMING
This study analyses the input and output allocation on dairy farms in Russia using panel data over the period 1995-1998. Special attention is given to input and output subsidies which are treated as fixed inputs in a profit function. Price elasticities, elasticities of intensity and shadow prices are analysed.

Katrin Oltmer, Raymond Florax, Peter Nijkamp
Impacts of Agricultural Policy Reforms on Land Prices: A Quantitive Analysis of the Literature
In the literature a plethora of studies comprises estimates of the impact of agricultural support measures on land prices. The empirical results of these studies vary considerably. In order to identify the factors that explain this variation in estimates of agricultural land prices, we apply meta-analytical methods. This information is of crucial importance given the current change from price support towards income support in agricultural policymaking.

Tesfa Gebremedhin, Semoa Desousa, Peter V. Schaeffer, Denny K. Smith, Dale Colyer
An Economic Analysis of the Relationship of Poverty and Income Ineqality in Rural West Virginia
Econometric models and descriptive statistical analysis will be used to develop socio-economic information and a framework for evaluating the changing characteristics in income distribution and rural poverty in West Virginia and their relationships to the well-being of rural communities. The study is expected to confirm that the descriptive analysis and expected empirical results will have numerous useful applications in decision making and policy programs to alleviate poverty and reduce income inequality.

Amit Batabyal, Basudeb Biswas, E. Bruce Godfrey
On the Choice Between the Stocking Rate and Time in Range Management
A long standing question in range management concerns the relative importance of the stocking rate versus the length of time during which animals graze a particular rangeland. We address this question by analyzing the problem faced by a private rancher who wishes to minimize the long run expected net cost (LRENC) from range operations by choosing either the stocking rate or the length of time during which his animals graze his rangeland. We construct a renewal-theoretic model and show that, in general, this rancher's LRENC with an optimally chosen stocking rate is lower than his LRENC with an optimally chosen grazing cycle length. From a management perspective, this means that correct stocking of the range is more important than the length of time during which animals graze the range. In addition, our research shows how to address questions concerning the desirability of temporal versus non-temporal controls in managing natural resources such as fisheries and hunting grounds.

Qiuyan Wang
A Technical Efficiency Analysis of Pennsylvania Dairy Farms
This study estimates technical efficiency using a stochastic production frontier based on a randomly selected cross-sectional sample of Pennsylvania dairy farms. Estimates of mean technical efficiency and appropriate technical efficiency of individual farms are computed and compared under three distributional assumptions of the efficiency disturbance terms.

Jeffrey Prestemon, John M. Pye,David T. Butry, Thomas P. Holmes, D. Evan Mercer
Economically Optimal Wildfire Intervention Regimes
Wildfires are costly to the U.S., generating direct damages and suppression and vegetation management costs. Land managers and policy makers have proposed vegetation management approaches to reduce these impacts. An optimization technique is applied with a stochastic climate measure, generating a distribution of optimal regimes of vegetation management.

Stephane De Cara, Pierre-Alain Jayet
Agriculture and climate change in the European Union: Greenhouse gas emissions and abatement costs
We estimate the costs of reducing GHG emissions from agriculture in twelve EU countries. From the dual and primal solutions of farm-type LP models, we derive marginal and total abatement costs at EU and country levels. We thus identify potential low-cost reductions and discuss their contribution in meeting Kyoto targets.

David Hennessy
Planting Decisions and Uncertain Consumer Acceptance of Genetically Modified Crop Varieties
There exists much uncertainty about consumer attitudes towards genetically modified foods. If varietal prices are equal, consumers will weakly prefer traditional varieties. At planting time, rational growers endowed with real options will recognize this arbitrage constraint. We identify conditions under which increased demand-side uncertainty increases acres planted to traditional varieties.

Samarendu Mohanty, John Beghin, Phil Kaus
Impacts of Federal Support Programs for Sugar and Peanuts Compared to Corn and Wheat on U.S. and World Markets
This study examines the impacts of federal support programs for sugar, peanuts, corn and wheat on U.S. and world markets, using a multi-country, multi-commodity, partial equilibrium world agricultural model. A five-year baseline projection is developed assuming past policy will continue. Four policy reform scenarios are then conducted. Each scenario considers the removal of federal programs such as loan rate, loan deficiency payments and other trade restrictions for each commodity (sugar, peanuts, corn and wheat). A fifth, and last, scenario looks at the impact of jointly eliminating the wheat and corn support programs. Federal programs appear to have the maximum impacts on the sugar market, followed by the peanut market. As compared to sugar and peanuts, wheat and corn markets appear to be the least affected by federal support programs.

David Hennessy
Location, Land Quality and Rental Volatility
It appears to be widely believed that returns on low quality land are more sensitive to commodity prices. We identify conditions on the production technology such that rent volatility varies in a monotone manner with land quality measured by proximity to market and productivity. The relationship is estimated with Iowa county data during 1994-2000.

Vera Bitsch
Qualitative Research in Agricultural Economics: Paradigm, Purposes, and Evaluation Criteria
The qualitative research paradigm is not widely discussed in agricultural economics, although research strategies are applied. The purpose of this contribution is (1) to elaborate on the paradigm of qualitative research; (2) to introduce into purposes of qualitative research and provide examples; and (3) to discuss criteria of scientific rigor applicable.

Cesar Escalante, Peter J. Barry
Farm-Level Evidence on the Risk Balancing Hypothesis from Illinois Grain Farms
This study provides farm-level empirical support to the Risk-Balancing Hypothesis using Illinois grain farm data. The results indicate that risk-balancing farmers comprise more than half of the sample. These farmers tend to be older, have higher leasing ratios, are less financially efficient and manage risk through crop specialization, enterprise diversification, and marketing strategies.

Conrad Lyford, Todd Hicks, Clem Ward, Jim Trapp, Derrell Peel
The Effect of Contracting on Pricing Dynamics in the Fed Cattle Market: An Experimental Simulation Approach
This article uses an experimental economics approach to study the effects on prices of systematic variations in contract levels within the fed cattle market. Pricing dynamics changed considerably with increased levels of contracting, but mean price levels were found to be not determined by contract level.

Timothy Richards
Commodity R&D, Patenting and Promotion

Dragan Miljkovic
U.S. Food Exports at the State Level
Real exchange rates and foreign incomes matter for exports of food products at the subnational level. We construct the variables using state-specific trade weights, and examine their in-sample and out-of-sample explanatory power in a panel data set of the food and kindred product exports of the fifty states, with annual observations over 1990-1999.

PAUL ARMAH
The Determinants of Eco-level Usage in the Organic Produce Market of Northeast Arkansas
This study used consumer intercept interviews at organic produce establishments in northeast Arkansas to determine eco-label usage in organic produce markets. The results provides a more current picture of the major determinants that influence eco-label usage among consumers which will be valuable as USDA proposed organic standards are implemented.

Andrea Cattaneo
Environmental Quality Incentives Program: Why Are So Many Contracts Being Cancelled?
This paper analyzes why the Environmental Quality Incentives Program has a high rate of withdrawal once contracts are approved. Using a logit model we examine if this is linked to: (i)farmers bidding for payments that are to low, (ii)a learning phase about the program, (iii) contract-types having higher withdrawal rates.

Liesbet Vranken, Erik Mathijs
The Allocative Efiiciency of Land Rental Markets in Transition Agriculture
This paper examines the functioning of the Hungarian land rental market. The allocative inefficiency of the land rental market is determined by calculating the marginal value productivity of land and using rental prices. Regional differences in allocative inefficiency are correlated with demographic and socio-economic variables and with labor market-related factors.

Amilcar Serrao
Agricultural Productivity Assessment in European Countries
This research work examines levels and trends in global agricultural productivity in fifteen European Union countries and four East European countries that have already applied for European Union membership. This study makes use of data collected from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and covers the period 1980-1998. An approach based on Data Envelopment Analysis is used to provide information on the peers of the (inefficient) i-th country and to derive the Malmquist productivity indices. These results indicate that there is not a degree of catch-up due to improved technical efficiency along with growth in technical change in European Union Countries and four East European countries.

Wanhong Yang, Madhu Khanna, Richard Farnsworth, Hayri Onal
Cost Effective Targeting of Land Retirement to Improve Water Quality: A Multi-Watershed Analysis
An integrated watershed framework that combines hydrologic, economic and GIS modeling is developed and applied to examine cost effective land retirement in multiple watersheds to reduce off-site sediment generation. The costs of abatement under uniform and non-uniform abatement standards and with alternative land rental instruments are compared.

Molly Espey, Kwame Owusu-Edusei
Demographics and the Value of Park Proximity in Greenville, South Carolina
The demographic characteristics of the demand for neighborhood parks is estimated for Greenville, South Carolina using a unique data set of single family homes sold between 1990 and 1999. Proximity to small, neighborhood parks has a positive impact on housing prices that is strongest for lower income neighborhoods.

Nigel Key, William McBride
Does Contracting Raise Farm Productivity? The Impact of Production Contracts on Hog Farm Performance
Data on 472 hog operations are used to identify determinants of farmers. decisions to contract and also identify factors influencing several measures of farm productivity and costs. A sample selection model accounts for the fact that unobservable variables may be correlated with both the decision to contract and farm productivity.

Octavio Ramirez
AUTOREGRESSIVE CONDITIONAL HETEROSKEDASTICY UNDER ERROR-TERM NON-NORMALITY
The impact of conditional error-term non-normality on the performance of the Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedastic (GARCH) model is evaluated. A non-normal-error GARCH model is proposed and evaluated in comparison to the standard GARCH under various non-normal error-term distributions. The empirical advantages of the non-normal-error GARCH are illustrated in several applications.

Hans Andersson, Demcey Johnson, Tomas Nilsson
Price Pooling and the Gains from Hedging: Application to a Swedish Grain Cooperative
Optimal hedging strategies are analyzed for a cooperative operating a price pooling system in the presence of price and quantity risk. A three-period model, accounting for default risk and storage, is developed. Hedging allows the cooperative to increase the pool price offered to the farmers by 2.8 - 4% for moderate risk parameters.

Stavroula Malla, Richard Gray
An Analytical and Empirical Analysis of the Private Biotech R&D Incentives
The analytical framework uses a search/ imperfectly competitive model to examine the incentives for private biotechnology crop research when firms develop differentiated products for sale to heterogeneous farmers. An econometric analysis, using data from the canola industry, provides empirical evidence consistent with the propositions derived from the analytic model.

Martin Linde-Rahr
Rural Shadow Wages, and Labour Supply and Agricultural Production Under Imperfect Markets: Empirical Evidence from Viet Nam
This paper analyses two farming systems separately under entry restrictions and market imperfections. We find that non-separability holds and households are therefore restricted in choosing crop patterns and limited in their allocation of labour -using aggregated agricultural production information will mislead policy conclusions on for example labour supply.

Octavio Ramirez, Sukant K. Misra
ARE CROP YIELDS NORMALLY DISTRIBUTED?
Corn Belt yield non-normality conclusions questioned in a recent AJAE article are verified under recent data and alternative heteroskedastic specifications. Texas cotton yields are also found to be non-normal. A procedure to jointly estimate aggregate and farm-level yield distributions is illustrated, and the consequences of incorrectly assuming normality are explored.

Brian Gould, Ricardo Sabates
The Structure of Food Demand In Urban China: A Demand System Approach
Chinese food demand is examined via a 10 equation AIDS. The data used for this analysis are household level survey data for 3 urban Chinese provinces. Demographic translating is used to incorporate demographic characteristics into this system. One of the demographic variables included is an endogenously determined adult equivalent scale variable. The system of AIDS share equations and an expenditure function are jointly estimated using FIML techniques.

Shenggen Fan, Cheng Fang, Xiaobo Zhang
How Agricultural Reserach Affects Urban Proverty in Developing Countries: The Case of China
The objective of this paper is to analyze how agricultural research and development have affected urban poverty using China as an example. Agricultural research lower food prices, and therefore help urban poor by lowing their food cost.

John King, Cassandra Klotz-Ingram
Patent Protection and Project Management in the Development of New Crop Varieties: Case Study of the High Pectin Tomato
Intellectual property is only one element of successful R&D. Our case study tracks a GM crop variety from R&D to processing and retailing. One finding that emerged was the importance of factors besides patent protection for developing a new technology, such as effective partnering and supply chain management.

Ching-Cheng Chang, Yuan-Jen Ou Young, Deng-Shing Huang, Tsu-Tan Fu
Intra-industry Trade between Taiwan and ASEAN-5 in Agro-Food Sector: Patterns and Determinants
This paper identifies patterns and determinants of IIT between Taiwan and ASEAN-5 in agro-food sector. Both demand and supply factors are considered in our country-specific and industry-specific regressions. The indirect effects of trade liberalization on income and preference convergence are found to play a more important role in shaping IIT.

Jeffrey Reimer, Paul Preckel
Trade policy, food price variability and the vulnerability of low-income households
We utilize a global trade model to generate distributions of commodity and factor prices based on observed uncertainty in rice production. This is done for three trade policy regimes. We then assess their impact on domestic price variability and the likelihood of marginal households falling into poverty in four countries.

Gerald Shively
Technical Change, Factor Bias, and Input Adjustments: Panel Data Evidence from the Philippines
A random effects, stochastic frontier production function is used to study impacts of irrigation on low-income rice farms in the Philippines. Irrigation precipitates release of labor and increased use of fertilizer and pesticides. We study the dynamics of adjustment by measuring convergence of factor proportions to optimal levels over time.

Timothy Haab, John C. Whitehead, Ju-Chin Huang
Absolute versus Relative Risk Perception: An Application to Economic Values of Seafood Safety
The impact of perceived absolute and relative risks on consumption of seafood, meat and poultry are studied. Revealed and stated data are combined to estimate demand changes in response to absolute and relative risk reductions. Our results confirm that individuals respond to multiple risks nonlinearly.

Stanley Thompson, P. Michael Schmitz
The Real Rate of Protection: The Stabilizing Effect of Price Policies and Direct Payments
Traditional indicators of protection refer to the level effect of price policies on income and ignore the stabilizing effect. We derive a measure of the real rate of protection which incorporates these dual effects. Computed real protection rates for several developed countries are found to differ importantly from traditional measures.

Mitch Renkow
Worker Mobility, Residential Choice, and the Allocation of New Jobs
We estimate a regional labor market model that accounts for inter-county commuting - in addition to within-county labor market adjustments - when an exogenous labor demand shock occurs. Econometric results indicate that the adjustment of labor supply to new employment opportunities is accounted fairly evenly between changes in commuting flows and migration.

William McBride, Nigel Key
Factors Affecting Contractor and Grower Success in Hog Contracting
This study uses a national survey of U.S. hog producers to examine factors affecting contractor and grower success in hog contracting arrangements, within the principle-agent framework. Type of contractor, contract terms, and grower characteristics affected financial performance. Several factors had differential impacts on contractor and grower returns.

Olga Isengildina, Clay Ward, Fred C. White
Comparison of Conventional and Transgenic Technologies Under Alternative Cultural Practices for Cotton in Georgia
This study evaluates allocative efficiency of various combinations of technology and tillage practices for cotton production in South Georgia. A data envelopment analysis model was used to compare costs and returns associated with various combinations of technology and tillage. The results of the analysis demonstrate that the efficiency frontier was dominated by fields that utilized genetically modified cotton varieties and conservation cultivation practices.

Paul M. Patterson, Timothy J. Richards
Retail Contracting and Grower Prices
The franchising model of Lafontaine and Slade is used to characterize contracts between produce shippers and retailers and is tested using firm-level, survey data. Larger, growing shippers with concentrated sales are more likely to contract. Contracting shippers receive lower prices, suggesting a form of risk sharing.

Laura McCann
Estimating Determinants of Student Evaluation Scores to Improve Teaching
Student evaluations are used for both formative and summative assessment of teachers. This paper provides a method to make more effective use of these student evaluations. Data on three years of evaluations in two courses were used to develop regression models to explain overall effectiveness of teaching.

David Abler, James Shortle, Jeffrey Carmichael, Richard Horan
Climate Change, Agriculture, and Water Quality in the Chesapeake Bay Region
Several studies have examined the effects of climate change on environmental externalities from agriculture. However, they have not considered economic responses by farmers to climate change. This paper analyzes impacts of climate change on agriculture and water quality in the Chesapeake Bay Region, taking into account economic responses by farmers.

Seung-Ryong Yang, Won-Jin Lee
Exporters' Market Power in Agricultural Import Markets in Korea
This study determines if the U.S. and other exporters have market power in Korea's agricultural import markets. Import loyalty and market power of exporters are estimated. If the major exporters possess monopolistic power in the pricing mechanism, maintaining minimum production capacity and import diversification are suggested to enhance food security.

Liesbeth Dries, Karen Macours
Transition and Agricultural Labour
The objective of this paper is to analyse the differences in agricultural labour adjustments during transition and to identify their causes. The results show that the different patterns are due to a combination of initial conditions (i.e. pre-reform characteristics) and differences in reform policies.

Emmanuel K. Yiridoe, David M. Nanang
An Econometric Analysis of the Causes of Tropical Deforestation: Ghana
Deforestation is modeled in two stages, as an interaction of interlinked key sectors in the Ghanaian economy (including forest products exports, fuelwood energy consumption, cocoa production, and food crop production), which compete for forest landuse or forest products. The effects of the different first- and second-level causes of deforestation analyzed are discussed.

Olga Isengildina, Darren Hudson
Factors Affecting the Use of Hedging and Other Marketing Strategies by Cotton Producers
This study provides an analysis of factors that motivate cotton farmers in their selection of a primary marketing strategy. The most important factors that explain the selection of marketing strategy were off-farm income, government payments, farm size, and producer preferences and perceptions about market efficiency. Crop insurance and risk aversion also had an impact on the choice of a primary marketing strategy.

Yoav Kislev, Zvi Lerman, Alon Kriss
Agricultural Output and Productivity in the Former Soviet Republics
The paper reviews agricultural development in the fifteen former Soviet republics over the period 1965-1997. Production functions are estimated and productivity differences and changes calculated. Large differences were found in terms of productivity and growth between the republics. The differences grew after 1990 reflecting variation in reform policies

Michael Ollinger, Sang Nguyen
M&A and Productivity in the U.S. Meat Product Industries: Evidence from Micro Data
This paper uses a unique dataset at the U.S. Census Bureau to examine the productivity performance of meat and poultry plant acquisitions from 1977-92. Results indicate that plant productivity and plant size are positively related to ownership change and that productivity growth improves for acquired plants after mergers.

Andrew Plantinga, David Lewis, Gary Hunt
Public Conservation Land and Economic Growth in the Northern Forest Region
There is heightened interest in increasing the amount of public conservation land in the Northern Forest region. To identify impacts on local economies, we estimate a model of simultaneous net migration and employment growth and include among the set of exogenous variables the share of the land base in public conservation uses.

Bhavani Shankar, David Hadley, Colin Thirtle, Tim Coelli
Financial Exposure, Technical Change and Farm Efficiency: Evidence from the England and Wales Dairy Sector
There is compelling evidence to indicate that farm financial aspects affect production processes. A literature has developed that uses various measures of divergence between debts and assets in explaining technical efficiency differences across farms. We test for the several hypotheses in this literature using a stochastic frontier methodology and a panel dataset of UK farms.

Andrew Plantinga, William Provencher
Internal Consistency in Models of Optimal Resource Use Under Uncertainty
In many studies of optimal resource use under uncertainty, resource prices (or values) are assumed to evolve according to an exogenous stochastic process. We investigate the internal consistency of price processes for timber by examining if the optimal behavior of individual resource managers reproduces the price process in the aggregate.

Thomas Marsh, Ron Mittelhammer, George Judge
Empirical Likelihood Estimators of the Linear Simultaneous Equations Model
Information theoretic estimators are specified for a complete system of linear simultaneous equations, including maximum empirical likelihood, maximum empirical exponential likelihood, and maximum log Euclidean likelihood. Monte Carlo experiments are used to compare small and medium sized performance of the estimators to traditional estimators such as three stage least squares.

Thomas Marsh, Ron Mittelhammer, George Judge
Empirical Likelihood Estimation Applied to Wheat by Class
Derived demand models are specified for wheat by class. Maximum empirical likelihood, maximum empirical exponential likelihood, and maximum log Euclidean likelihood estimators are applied to a simultaneous equations model of wheat. Results are compared to traditional estimators (two and three stage least squares) and to previous findings in the literature.

Brian