Events by Type

Keynote Address
Sunday, August 12, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Hal R. Varian, University of California, Berkeley

Welcome Reception
Sunday, August 12, 8:00 pm – 10:00 pm

The Welcome Reception officially opens the meeting, immediately following the Keynote Address. All registered attendees and guests are invited to come. The Welcome Reception is the largest networking event as part of the Annual Meeting.

AAEA Business Meeting
Monday, August 13, 8:00 am –8:30 am

AAEA Presidential Address
Monday, August 13, 8:30 am – 9:30 am

Rich Sexton, University of California, Davis

AAEA Grants Center
Monday, August 13, 2:45 pm – 4:15 pm
Tuesday, August 14, 2:15 pm – 3:45 pm

The Grants Center at the Annual Meeting provides an opportunity for attendees to connect with funding agencies who provide grants to the profession. In Seattle, attendees will have the chance to stop by and chat with representatives about their funding programs and grant opportunities during the Poster sessions on Monday and Tuesday afternoons.

AAEA Awards & Fellows Recognition Ceremony
Monday, August 13, 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Join your peers in honoring the achievements and accomplishments of AAEA members over the past year. Awards will be granted in many aspects of the agricultural economics discipline, including research, teaching, extension, policy, and communication. The awards ceremony will also honor the newest class of AAEA Fellows.

AAEA Fellows Address
Tuesday, August 14, 8:30 am – 9:30 am

Laurian Unnevehr, IFPRI

AAEA Galbraith Forum
Tuesday, August 14, 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm

Daron Acemoglu, MIT Department of Economics

Closing Reception
Tuesday, August 14, 7:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Committee on the Opportunities and Status of Blacks in Agricultural Economics (COSBAE)

COSBAE Reception
Sunday, August 12, 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm

COSBAE/CWAE Speaker Series & Luncheon
This is a ticketed event. The cost to attend is $45.
Monday, August 13, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

Committee on Women in Agricultural Economics (CWAE)

CWAE Reception
Sunday, August 12, 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm

COSBAE/CWAE Speaker Series & Luncheon
This is a ticketed event. The cost to attend is $45.
Monday, August 13, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

Community Economics Network (CENET)

Post-Conference Workshop: Models for Assessing Regional Economic Impacts of Agriculture and Rural Development Efforts
This is a ticketed event. The cost to attend is $25.
Wednesday, August 15, 8:00 am – 12:00 pm

Extension Section

Graduate Student Extension Competition
Sunday, August 12, 8:00 am – 3:00 pm

Extension Section Reception
Sunday, August 12, 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm

Extension Section Speaker Series & Luncheon
This is a ticketed event. The cost to attend is $45.
Monday, August 13, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

Graduate Student Section (GSS)

GSS Case Study Competition
Sunday, August 12, 8:00 am – 3:00 pm
Monday, August 13, 1:30 pm – 4:00 pm (Finals)

GSS Extension Competition
Sunday, August 12, 8:00 am – 3:00 pm

International Section

International Reception
Monday, August 13, 7:30 pm – 8:00 pm

International Speaker Series & Banquet
This is a ticketed event. The cost to attend is $55.
Monday, August 13, 8:00 pm – 9:30 pm

Many AAEA Committees and Sections will be holding meetings in Seattle. Scheduled Committee and Section meetings are listed below.

More than 150 90-minute sessions will be presented throughout the Annual Meeting. These sessions will cover a variety of topics and formats over the course of two days.

AAEA Concurrent Sessions

Monday, August 13
9:30 am – 11:00 am
1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
4:30 pm – 6:00 pm

Tuesday, August 14
10:00 am – 11:30 am
12:30 pm – 2:00 pm
4:00 pm – 5:30 pm

You can learn more about the sessions that will be presented in Seattle in the program.

Poster Presentation Sessions

The Annual Meeting will feature over 250 Posters on-display during meeting. Posters presented during the Annual Meeting will each be on display for one day (either Monday or Tuesday) and will be part of the Poster Presentation Session on that day. During these Poster Presentation Sessions, meeting attendees will have the chance to interact with the authors of the Posters.

Monday, August 13
 2:45 pm – 4:15 pm

Tuesday, August 14
2:15 pm – 3:45 pm

Tours of Selected Posters

Ten tours will take place on both Monday and Tuesday, highlighting a total of about 100 Posters. The most popular subject codes will be used as the basis for each tour, helping to ensure that each tour will focus on a different topic. Posters will be chosen for the tours based on a wide range of criteria, and are not meant to reflect the quality of those chosen.

Tours will feature an author of each Poster presenting their research for ten minutes, followed by a short time for discussion. Each tour will be open to all meeting attendees, and will end with enough time left for attendees to visit the other Posters in the hall.

ASSA Session: Finding a Job at the ASSA Meetings

Tuesday, August 14, 11:30 am – 12:30 pm

The ASSA Annual Meeting is a critical part of the job market for economists. Academic institutions, government agencies, and private sector firms from around the world use this meeting as a place to screen and sometimes hire applicants for job openings. For job seekers, this meeting offers an opportunity to make applications come alive through personal interviews.

This session is designed to help early career professionals find their way in this lively, sometimes confusing marketplace. Presenters include a university department head, a government agency administrator, and a new assistant professor who successfully interviewed at ASSA.

Jon Brandt, Professor and Head of the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at North Carolina State University – “The University Perspective”

Steven Sexton, Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at North Carolina State University – “The Recent Hire Perspective”

James MacDonald, Chief of the Agricultural Structure and Productivity Branch, USDA-Economic Research Service – “The Public Agency Perspective”

AgEcon Search Session: Productivity Tools for iPad/tablet

Tuesday, August 14, 11:30 am – 12:00 pm

Hear suggestions for using your iPad or tablet for collaboration and research. Learn about apps for sharing documents with others, taking notes, managing citations, tracking projects, word processing, and more.

AgEcon Search Session: Organizing a PDF Library

Tuesday, August 14, 12:00 pm – 12:30 pm

Are your electronic reprints hard to organize and even harder to [re]find? Learn about a few of the tools available for organizing and accessing your pdf files.

COSBAE/CWAE Speaker Series & Luncheon
This is a ticketed event. The cost to attend is $45.
Monday, August 13, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

Extension Section Speaker Series & Luncheon
This is a ticketed event. The cost to attend is $45.
Monday, August 13, 11:30 am – 1:00 pm

International Speaker Series & Banquet
This is a ticketed event. The cost to attend is $55.
Monday, August 13, 8:00 pm – 9:30 pm

Pre-Conference Tour: Agricultural and Food Industry Tour
This is a ticketed event. The cost to attend is $50.
Saturday, August 11, 7:30 am – 2:00 pm

Tour Leader: Dr. Andrew Corbin, Washington State University
Organizers: Andrew Corbin, Kate Halstead, and Curt Moulton, WSU Snohomish County Extension

Since 2002, the Extension Section has organized an agricultural education tour as part of the Annual Meeting. This year’s tour will be offered as a pre-conference event on Saturday, August 11. At each stop the entrepreneurs of the particular business will provide insights into the operations of the business, from production through marketing.  

• Full Circle Farm, Carnation, WA
  Full Circle Weekly Organic Produce Delivery provides consumers with year-round access to fresh, organic produce. Started in 1996 as a five-acre organic farm serving Seattle-area farmers markets, Full Circle has become a significant player in the direct-to-consumer organic home delivery market.
• Oxbow Farm, Duvall, WA
  Oxbow Organic Farm is a 25 acre mixed vegetable, tree fruit, and berry farm bordering an ‘oxbow’ lake off the Snoqualmie River. In 2010, Oxbow formalized its teaching-farm format by becoming an educational nonprofit, offering field trips to school groups and internships to young adults wishing to experience the farming life.
• Qualco Energy/Werkhoven Dairy, Monroe, WA
  Ten years ago, an unusual alliance between dairy farmers, salmon recovery agencies, and the Tulalip Tribe formed to develop an ambitious project: a digester to turn manure into power while keeping it out of local salmon streams. After the State of Washington gifted the alliance their defunct Department of Corrections dairy, years of feasibility studies and grant writing, their efforts paid off and in 2008 Qualco Energy’s digester started operating. It takes in millions of gallons of dairy manure, fish waste, cattle and chicken blood, trap grease, pulp, whey, expired beer, wine and soda, each year turning it into electricity and income while keeping these pollutants out of the environment.

Pre-Conference Workshop: Beyond Classroom Basics—Using POGIL to Engage Our Students
This is a ticketed event. The cost to attend is $75.
Saturday, August 11, 1:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Participants in this workshop will receive training and supporting materials sufficient so that they can to begin practicing POGIL methods in the coming academic year in their own courses. POGIL is an acronym for Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning. POGIL originated in college chemistry departments in 1994; there are now well over 1000 individuals using POGIL in a wide range of disciplines in US high schools and universities. POGIL uses guided inquiry – a learning cycle of exploration, concept invention and application is the basis for many of the carefully designed materials that students use to guide them to construct new knowledge. POGIL is a student-centered strategy; students work in small groups with individual roles to ensure that all students are fully engaged in the learning process. POGIL activities focus on core concepts and encourage a deep understanding of the course material while developing higher-order thinking skills. POGIL develops process skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, and communication through cooperation and reflection, helping students become lifelong learners and preparing them to be more competitive in a global market. With the 2012 AAEA meeting in Seattle we are fortunate to have access to two POGIL facilitators.

Pre-Conference Workshop: Public Policy Education
This is a ticketed event. The cost to attend is $65.
Saturday, August 11, 2:00 pm – 9:00 pm

Sponsored by Senior Section, Extension Section, American Farmland Trust, Farm Foundation NFP, and Southern Extension/Research Activities (SERA 39): Public Policy Issues Education

This workshop will explore the process for objectively addressing public policy issues utilizing the time-tested options and consequences approach. This policy education process contrasts with advocacy of particular options. The basic premise of the policy education process is that, if given an objective set of options and factual consequences, the public, including elected and appointed government officials, are in the best position to make policy choices. The Workshop will explain the process and apply the concepts to examples of key policy issues, which policy educators, teachers of policy courses, or policy researchers may be expected to address.

Organizers

Ronald Knutson, Texas A&M University Emeritus; Walt Armbruster, Farm Foundation, NFP Emeritus; Katherine (Kitty) Smith, American Farmland Trust; James Novak, Auburn University; Larry Sanders, Oklahoma State University; Rodney Jones, Oklahoma State University; Steven Klose, Texas A&M University; Bradley Lubben, University of Nebraska

Background and Objectives

In the absence of the National Public Policy Education Committee (NPPEC), there is an increasing number of people, who are responsible for public policy education, but do not appreciate the history of what public policy educators have learned about the policy education process. As a result, there is more advocacy and less use of the options and consequences approach, and less true public policy education (PPE). This issue was discussed by the AAEA Senior Section (SS) and in a SS Organized Symposium in Pittsburgh. The SS and the Extension Section decided to initiate some PPE training/retraining. We plan to demonstrate how PPE can be used to address a variety of issues, thereby, generating PPE sets that could be adapted/used in the tradition of the NPPEC.

Post-Conference Workshop: Models for Assessing Regional Economic Impacts of Agriculture and Rural Development Efforts
This is a ticketed event. The cost to attend is $25.
Wednesday, August 15, 8:00 am – 12:00 pm
Sponsored by the Community Economics Network Section (CENET)

The objective of this workshop is to educate participants about appropriate models for measuring local and regional impacts of value to local, State, and national policy makers. This will be accomplished by sharing consistent methodological information about the modeling approaches in the following dimensions: necessary assumptions, appropriate applications, major model outputs, and data requirements. Presenters may draw on specific applications to highlight their methodological points, but will not focus on the study results of any specific study. The presenters were chosen because of their expertise in a variety of approaches to regional modeling and include a discussant from USDA’s Rural Development agency who has experience in using regional modeling to inform policy decisions. These presentations will help to draw out the special features of impact modeling that is most relevant to good policy design.

Panel Presenters:

• Jason Brown, USDA-Economic Research Service
• Dawn Thilmany McFadden, Colorado State University
• David Swenson, Iowa State University
• Tom Johnson, University of Missouri
• David Hughes, Clemson University

Discussants:

• Paul Johnson, USDA-Rural Development
• Stephan Goetz, Penn State University and Director, Northeast Regional Center for Rural Development

Post-Conference Workshop: Gates Foundation Policy Portfolio for Smallholder Farmer Productivity Growth
This is a ticketed event. The cost to attend is $20.
Wednesday, August, 15, 7:00 am – 1:00 pm

Last year Gates Foundation members reflected on the Foundation’s role in agricultural development by conducting a year-long analysis of the evolving agricultural development landscape in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia and agriculture’s powerful and volatile relationship to poverty reduction. This process resulted in an evolution of the Foundation’s strategic focus and reaffirmed the essential role of policy in pursuing agriculture-led poverty reduction.

This workshop will describe the role of the Foundation’s Agricultural Policies portfolio in achieving its vision of poverty reduction in the context of the Agricultural Development Program’s refreshed strategy. Seminar participants will participate in three interactive sessions that review the Foundation’s grant making in the area of policies and discuss priorities for future policy work.

• Session 1: Better data for better decisions: how the digital revolution can support improved agricultural statistics
• Session 2: Policies for effective and efficient smallholder agricultural development
• Session 3: Ensuring agricultural productivity results in sustainable environmental and social outcomes for the poor

The Reunions & Receptions provide a chance for Universities and Institutions to host a social event for Meeting attendees. These events are a great way for attendees to network, meet up with old friends, and relax at the end of the day. The Reunions & Receptions will all take place on Monday and Tuesday from 9:00 pm – 11:00 pm. A list of participating organizations will be available soon.

If you're interested in hosting a Reunion & Reception, you can learn more at the Reunion & Reception page.