Pre- and Post-conference Workshops

You may register for a pre- or post-conference workshop while registering for the annual meeting or by calling the AAEA Business Office at (414) 918-3190. If you are registering only for a pre- or post-conference workshop or would like to add a workshop or luncheon after you register, please download the registration form and submit with payment to info@aaea.org or fax the form to the AAEA Business Office (414) 276-3349.

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Pre-conference Workshops
(July 31, 2021 at the JW Marriott Austin)

Additional details and registration coming soon

PC11 BEER Section Industry Engagement Tour – Additional details coming soon

July 31, 2021 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Note: Group meets at 11:30 am for departure and returns to JW Marriott at approximately 5:00 pm

Registration Fee $55 (space is limited)

Locations:

1. Still Austin Whisky
2. The Austin Winery and
3. Nomadic Beerworks

PC12 Private and Public Sector Employment Opportunities: Thinking Outside the Box

8:00 am - 4:30 pm
Registration Fee: $25 (Virtual $10)
Lunch provided for in-person attendees

Description:
This pre-conference workshop brings private and public sector companies to AAEA’s annual meeting. The workshop topics include awareness of private-sector hiring, the hiring process, resume building, and what the private sector employers look for in a potential employee. Potential job candidates will have the opportunity to talk or network with speakers and company representatives. Exposure and learning from this workshop will help both students and faculty in preparing students for the workplace. The goal of this workshop is to build long-term relationships between AAEA members and private sector industries, highlighting ways to increase the involvement of agribusiness firms, financial, manufacturing, and accounting firms that tend to employ agricultural economists and applied economics students. Finally, AAEA members could learn more about private companies while the companies can increase their footprint in recruiting directly from the AAEA.

Relevance to AAEA Members/Meeting Attendees:
Faculty and students benefit from this workshop by learning what private industry is looking for in students' training, resume development, and skills as it applies to a job in non-governmental, NGO, private, and international organizations. Additionally, the workshop will showcase private sector employers of the potential market for employees and bringing the private sector closer to AAEA members.

Thanks to our generous sponsors, we are able to offer Travel Grants. Travel grants will be in the form of a stipend. Stipends are for students; a total of  25 Travel Grants of up to $130 will be awarded.  To apply, submit one paragraph (no more than 200 words) explaining why you should be considered for the stipend, and complete this application form. 

Agenda

Time	Topic
8:00 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast and registration
8:30 am - 8:45 am	Welcome by organizers, what to expect Ashok Mishra, Chair ESC (in-person)
8:50 am - 9:20 am	Consumer financing and risk management companies Lynn Miller—Senior VP Santander Consumer, Dallas, TX (in-person)
9:30 am - 10:00 am	Agricultural Finance and banking Alicia English, Lead, Global Data Analytics Team & Senior Analyst, Rabobank, Netherlands (virtual)
10:10 am-10:40 am	Farm Credit Administration and rural banking industry Glenn R. Smith, Board Chairman and CEO, Farm Credit Administration, McLean, VA (in-person) Jeremy D’Antoni, Director and CDO, Farm Credit Administration, McLean, VA (in-person)
10:50 am - 11:20 am	Agribusiness firms (Bayer) Cami Ryan, Social Sciences Lead, Bayer Crop Science. St. Louis MO (virtual)
11:30 am - 11:40am	Coffee Break
11:40 am - 12:00 pm	Multinational companies Basanta Dhungana—Lead Data Science, Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA (in-person)
12:10 pm - 1:10 pm	Lunch
1:10 pm - 1:20 pm	Welcome and Remarks by AAEA President Dawn Thilmany, AAEA President (in-person)
1:20 pm - 1:50 pm	Consumer and retail industry (Tysons Food, Walmart accounts) Jennifer Travis, Vice President Sales–Walmart at Tyson Foods, Fayetteville, AR (virtual) Katherine McGraw, Customer Development, Tyson Foods, Walmart Ecommerce, Springdale, AR (virtual)
2:00 pm - 2:30 pm	Insurance companies (Air Worldwide) Julia Borman, Assistant Vice President, AIR Worldwide Corporation-Boston, MA (virtual)
2:40 pm - 3:10 pm	Large accounting firms (Price Waterhouse and Coopers) Daniel Lewis, Senior Manager, Washington National Tax Services at PwC. Atlanta, GA (virtual)
3:20 pm - 3:50 pm	Agribusiness firms (Cargill) Michael Zerr, Lead, Global Trading Analytics: Long Term Model and Animal Protein Analytics, Cargill, Minneapolis, MN (virtual)
4:00 pm - 4:30 pm	Wrap up and questions Keith Coble, Mississippi State University and AAEA Past President (in-person)

Thank you to our generous sponsors: AAEA Trust, Dr. Di Fang, Dr. Elizabeth Canales-Medina, Dr. Ashok Mishra, and the following Sections: FAMPS, INT, AFM, Senior, China, LAS

8:00 am – 12:30 pm
Registration Fee: $15 (Virtual $10)
**Attendees required to bring their own laptops**

Description:
The objective of this pre-conference workshop is to provide training in z-Tree and o-Tree, which are software tools specifically designed for conducting experimental economic studies that allow participant interaction. Attendees will leave with a better understanding of the types of research questions in Agricultural and Resource Economics that are best suited for interactive experimental studies, as well as how to build an experimental protocol from scratch using these tools. Moreover, knowledge of both z-Tree and o-Tree software will provide the pre-conference participants with the flexibility to conduct their studies both online and in research laboratories. The pre-conference workshop will include two speakers with extensive experience in using both software packages for behavioral and experimental economics research. The speakers will cover the basics of programming experimental studies using z-Tree and o-Tree as well as more advanced skills that allow for designing more complex interactive environments using this software. The information presented in this pre-conference workshop is not usually found in presentations given at the AAEA (or other) annual meetings, departmental workshops, or other academic venues. Below is an overview of the topics that will be covered:

• What type of research questions to conduct using experimental methods?
• What type of research questions involve interactive settings between the study subjects?
• When to conduct a laboratory versus online experiment?
• How to download z-Tree and o-Tree?
• Understanding the main differences between z-Tree and o-Tree
• Popular economic environments conducted using z-Tree and o-Tree
• How to locate and build off of basic templates for o-Tree
• Understanding the main interface for z-Tree and o-Tree
• Basic programming commands in z-Tree and o-Tree
• Advanced programming commands in z-Tree and o-Tree
• Coding a complete experimental study using z-Tree and o-Tree
• Can we conduct z-Tree and o-Tree experiments with eye-tracking and other biometric tools?

Relevance to AAEA Members/Meeting Attendees:
Experimental studies are widely used in economics research to address different questions of interest to our field. This experimental methodology is highly useful for investigating the preferences and purchasing decisions of consumers as well as the behavior of agents under environments that involve risk, cooperation, and prosocial choices. These topics are of great relevance to agricultural and resource economics as they reveal important behavioral regularities that can help explain the structure and performance of mechanisms designed to enhance economic outcomes. Moreover, a better understanding of individual behavior under different economic settings could greatly inform policymakers and allow for more effective intervention programs.

Intended Audience:
Our intended audience includes all AAEA members interested in utilizing experimental methodology, regardless of their specific area of research focus. Early career professionals are especially encouraged to attend.

Travel Grant
Thanks to our generous sponsors we are able to offer travel grants. The travel grant will be in the form of a stipend. A total of 10 travel grants of up to $300 each will be awarded. Preference will be given to individuals who also apply to present at the workshop. We will invite 4-6 presenters, who will receive travel grants. The remaining travel grants will be awarded to other attendees. As the workshop covers applications of zTree and oTree, presenters are invited to talk about their work on projects using these software tools, with an emphasis on experimental design and programming. For additional details and an application click here.

Thank you to our generous sponsors: AAEA Trust and EXECON Section

PC14 Leadership Development for Agricultural and Applied Economists

8:00 am – 3:30 pm
Registration Fee: $50
Lunch provided for in-person attendees

Description:
This session emphasizes the need for leadership development within the profession to enhance the skills, competencies, and vision to lead academic institutions, government units, NGOs, and professional organizations such as AAEA

Relevance to Workshop Attendees:
Declining financial support has increased the competition for scarce resources. Leaders must understand budget systems and strategic planning processes. Understanding state and national politics is also essential to successfully positioning organizations for influence and impact.

Intended Audience:
Younger and older members of the profession interested in enhancing their leadership skills.

Thanks to our generous sponsors, we are able to offer Travel Grants. Travel grants will be in the form of a stipend. Stipends are for students; a total of  5 Travel Grants of up to $200 will be awarded.  To apply, submit one paragraph (no more than 200 words) explaining why you should be considered for the stipend, and complete this application form.

Thank you to our generous sponsors Senior and NAAEA Sections

Leadership Development for Agricultural and Applied Economists
7:45 am	Breakfast available
8:30 am	Welcome and opening comments Moderator: Steve Turner, Southern Rural Development Center, Mississippi State University Setting the Stage: Opportunities for Agricultural and Applied Economists to Lead Jay Akridge, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Diversity, Purdue University
9:00 am	Moderator: Mary Ahearn, Consultant Successful Leadership in Good Times and Bad Matt Holt, Virginia Tech          Moderator: Barry Barnett, University of Kentucky Skills, Competencies, and Confidence Eluned Jones, South Dakota State University
10:00 am	Break
10:30 am	Panel: Important Issues for Leaders in Agricultural and Applied Economics Moderator: James MacDonald, University of Maryland Increasing Raising Funds from All Sources Joe Parcell, University of Missouri Government Relations and Collaboration Lowell Randel, The Randel Group LLC Importance of Communications  Michael Nepveux, American Farm Bureau Federation
12:00 pm	Lunch
12:45 pm	Panel: Needed Skills and Experience for Staffing Leadership of Highly Ranked Organizations Moderator: Paul Patterson, Dean, College of Agriculture and Director, Agricultural Experiment Station, Auburn University Spiro Stefanou, Economic Research Service, USDA Joy Harwood, Farm Production and Conservation Mission Area, USDA Robbin Shoemaker, National Institute for Food and Agriculture, USDA (retired) Andrew Muhammad, University of Tennessee
2:30 pm	Looking Forward to Facing Future Challenges and Leadership Needs Moderator: Steve Turner, Southern Rural Development Center, Mississippi State University Leadership to Address Future Challenges for the Profession Jayson Lusk, Purdue University Open discussion and next steps How Might Agricultural & Applied Economists Provide More Visible Leadership within Various, Diverse Venues? Should the AAEA Place Higher Priority on Leadership Development within the Profession? What are Important Components of a Leadership Development Program?
3: 30 pm	Adjourn

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Post-conference Workshops
(August 4, 2021 or after, beginning at JW Marriott )

PC53 Food for Thought: Economic Analysis in Anticipation of the Next Farm Bill

8:00 am – 5:30 pm
Registration Fee:

• Student & Early Career Professional Members: $15
• General: $30
• Virtual: $20

Lunch provided for in-person attendees

Description:
The 2018 Farm Bill will expire in 2023.  Typically ideas for a new farm bill begin to percolate a couple of years in advance.  The proposed post-conference is meant to get our profession focused on relevant topics so that our work will be useful to the upcoming debate.  If approved, we plan to make a call for papers in late January open to AAEA members.  Papers deadline would be June 15.  Rather than a traditional paper format, a template focused on lay audiences will be provided.  All papers would be made available on a shared access website, and a selection committee will pick three papers per session for presentation during the workshop.  Selected papers will be posted on the Extension Section website for broad access and distribution. Papers presented at the pre-conference will be eligible for publication in AEPP; authors will need to submit their manuscripts for consideration after the conclusion of the meetings.  Each session will also have a discussant experienced in policy analysis.  Please see the attached preliminary agenda for the post-conference.  We hope to get participation from leading economists and policy professionals from USDA and Capitol Hill to speak and interact with attendees.

Relevance to AAEA Members/Meeting Attendees:
We hope to accomplish several goals with this conference.  First, we want to engage the profession in the Farm Bill policy debate in a timely fashion.  Second, we want to facilitate real engagement between policy professionals and AAEA members.  Finally, we hope to provide an opportunity for bringing together knowledge of the policy process among long-time policy researchers and working policy staff, with new approaches and ideas of younger members of the discipline and the policy arena.

Intended Audience:
We hope to reach a broad mix of experienced and younger members of the AAEA, including graduate student members.  The idea is to encourage a creative mix of practical knowledge and innovative ideas by engaging AAEA members of all levels of experience in both academic and applied environments in thinking about policy for the next farm bill.  Given the timing and the topic, we also believe this workshop will interest the media following farm and food policy.

The AAEA Extension Section and Senior Section, along with the USDA Office of the Chief Economist and Texas A&M Agricultural and Food Policy Center are sponsoring a post-conference workshop following the AAEA 2021 meetings to encourage and highlight economic analysis in anticipation of the next Farm Bill. 

The 2018 Farm Bill will expire in 2023, and typically ideas for a new farm bill begin to percolate a couple of years in advance.  This post-conference workshop is intended to focus our profession on relevant topics so that our work will be useful to the debate that is likely to get underway later this year.

The workshop aims to engage AAEA members with policy professionals in a format organized around key program areas covered by the Farm Bill and will join analytical paper presentations by AAEA members with discussants experienced in policy analysis and farm programs.  Our goal is to bring together knowledge and experience of the policy process with new approaches and ideas, across a wide spectrum of experience with policymaking.

Travel Grant
Thanks to our generous sponsors; we are able to offer Travel Grants. Travel grants will be in the form of a stipend. Stipends are for students and Early Career Professionals; a total of 20 Travel Grants of up to $200 each will be awarded.  To apply, submit one paragraph (no more than 200 words) explaining why you should be considered for the stipend, and complete this application form.

Thank you to our generous sponsors: Office of the Chief Economist and Senior Section

Time	Event
8:00 am	Welcome from Senior Section and Extension Section Chairs Anne Effland, Senior Section
8:15 am	Session 1 Farm Safety Net Status Quo and Alternatives What sort of a safety net do the current mix of farm programs provide? Patrick Westhoff, Youngjune Kim, and Mar Rosenbohm, Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, University of Missouri Impact of Government Payments on Farm Operations Anil K. Giri, Dipak Subedi, and Tia M. McDonald, USDA, Economic Research Service; Will Maples and Keith Coble, Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University Simplifying the Farm Safety Net Bart Fischer, Joe Outlaw, and Henry Nelson, Agricultural & Food Policy Center, Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University Pivoting the Commodity Safety Net to a Whole Farm Safety Net Carl Zulauf, Professor Emeritus, Ohio State University
9:45 am	Break
10:00 am	Session 2 Farm Safety Net and Crop Risk Management Alternatives Supplemental Insurance Coverage Programs: Impacts and Implications for the Next Farm Bill Nick Paulson, Juo-Han (Becky) Tsay, and Gray Shnitkey, Agriculture and Consumer Sciences, University of Illinois The Economics of Supply Management for Major Field Crops Nathan P. Hendricks, Department of Agricultural Economics, Kansas State University Integrating prevention into the risk management policy toolkit: A strategy for improving resilience to extreme events Katherine Baldwin and Anne Effland, USDA, Economic Research Service
11:15 am	Wrap up discussion
12:00 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm	Session 3 Conservation, Specialty Crops, and Organics Policy Alternatives Potential Role of the Farm Bill in Combating Climate Change and Fostering Sustainability Justin R. Benavidez, Agricultural & Food Policy Center, Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University Precision Conservation: Linking Set-aside and Working Lands Policy Scott Swinton, Department of Agricultural Food, and Resource Economics, Michigan State University What’s Next for Specialty Crops and the Farm Bill? Suzanne Thornsbury, USDA, Office of the Chief Scientist; Sharon Sydow, USDA, Office of the Chief Economist; Sharon Raszap Skorbiansky, USDA, Economics and Policy Analysis Division, FPAC; Anne Effland, USDA, Economic Research Service Organic Innovation in the Next Farm Bill  Kathleen Merrigan, Catherine Greene, and Esteve Giraud, Swette Center for Sustainable Food Systems, Arizona State University
3:00 pm	Break
3:15 pm	Session 5 Livestock, Beginning Farmers and Ranchers, Research, and Trade Policy Alternatives Potential Livestock Topics for 2023 Farm Bill Discussion David Anderson, Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University; John Anderson, Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Department, University of Arkansas; Chris Bastian, Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wyoming;  Scott Brown, Agricultural Economics, University of Missouri Extension; Steve Koontz, Agricultural & Resource Economics, Colorado State University; Josh Maples, Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississippi State University, and Derrell Peel, Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Oklahoma State University Opportunities to Support Beginning farmers and Ranchers in the 2023 Farm Bill Becca B. R. Jablonski, Dawn Thilmany, Martha Sullins, Allie Bauman, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Colorado State University; Joleen Hadrich, Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota; Nigel Key, USDA, Economic Research Service; Sarah Campbell, USDA, Beginning Farmer and Rancher Program Reimagining the Cornerstone and Funding of U.S. Agricultural Research Carl Zulauf, Professor Emeritus, Ohio State University, and Jonathan Coppess, Agricultural & Consumer Economics, University of Illinois Analysis of Agricultural Trade Promotion and Facilitation in the 2018 Farm Bill Luis Ribera and Bart Fischer, Agricultural & Food Policy Center, Department of Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University
4:45 pm	Wrap up discussion and conference summary
5:30 pm	Adjourn

PC54 2021 AAEA Mentoring Research Workshop

August 4-5, 2021 Two-day workshop; must attend both days
Registration fee: $40 You must apply to participate in this workshop
Space is limited

The objective of this workshop is mentor junior faculty (less than 5 years) to transition to agricultural and applied economic departments by providing an orientation to expectations for research, teaching and outreach and develop effective strategies for success. The workshop will focus on constructively criticizing research in progress. Mentoring will include networking, information about the profession, and discussion of current research trends and topic areas.

Mentees will be divided into small groups assigned to one or more mentors. Small group sessions will involve short research presentation by each mentee followed by feedback on their research by the group.

To apply for this workshop, submit a 250 word description of motivations for participating and desires for learning outcomes via email to mannen@aaea.org. If you have any questions, contact Mary Annen at 414-918-3190.

Mentors (subject to change)

• Titus Awokuse, Michigan State University
• Stephen Devadoss, Texas Tech University
• Deacue Fields, University of Arkansas
• Madhu Khanna, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (organizer)
• Jill McCluskey, Washington State University
• Rudy Nayga, University of Arkansas (organizer)
• Junjie Wu, Oregon State University
• David Zilberman, University of California, Berkeley (organizer)
• Julie Caswell, University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Robbin Shoemaker, Retired NIFA

Initial Agenda
Wednesday, August 4
8:00 am - 8:30 am	Registration/Check-in and Breakfast
8:30 am – 8:45 am	Welcome
8:45 am - 10:15 am	General Session 1 -  Orientation to an Agricultural and Applied Economics Department: Research, Teaching and Outreach Expectations
10:15 am - 10:30 am	Break
10:30 am - 12:00 pm	Small Group Sessions  – will involve presentations by mentees about their working papers and feedback from mentors and other participants
12:00 pm - 1:00 pm	Lunch
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm	General Session 2 – How to Develop an Effective Research Program in an Ag and Applied Economics Department: Strategies for Making an Effective Transition, Publication, and Tenure
2:30 pm - 3:00 pm	Break
3:00 pm - 4:30 pm	Small Group Sessions - will involve presentations by mentees about their working papers and feedback from mentors and other participants
5:00 pm - 6:30 pm	Networking, Mentors-Mentee Ice Breaker
6:30 pm	Dinner
Thursday, August 5
7:00 am  - 8:00 am	Breakfast
8:00 am – 9:30 am	General Session 3 -  Big Research Questions in Agricultural and Applied Economics by field that can attract Grant Funding
9:30 am - 9:45 am	Break
9:45 am - 11:15 am	Small Group Sessions - will involve presentations by mentees about their working papers and feedback from mentors and other participants
11:15 am – 12:00 pm	Concluding Session: Wrap-up on Key Takeaways

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Virtual Workshops
To be held at later dates...

October 1 and 8
11:00 pm - 4:00 pm CST

Description:

In this post-conference workshop, the Food and Agricultural Marketing and Policy (FAMPS) and Food Safety and Nutrition (FSN) Sections of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) call attention to the challenges of, and opportunities for, implementing data intensive research programs that focus on the intersection of consumer spending, marketing outcomes (e.g., prices and availability), health, nutrition, and public policy.

FAMPS and FSN propose formalizing our field’s advancements in linking data sets and developing validated metrics and measurements that can be used in laying the groundwork for evidence-based policymaking. Thus, the aim of this submission is to propose a sponsored post-conference workshop following the 2021 AAEA Annual Meeting in Austin, TX that focuses on training researchers in state-of-the-art data linkage methods and showcasing the many data resources available to researchers.

Relevance to AAEA Members/Meeting Attendees:
We anticipate that this workshop fits within the objectives of the Economic Statistics and Information Resources Committee to help members access data for research needs. We also think that this workshop highlights an additional opportunity for the AAEA to establish another committee devoted to initiating and nourishing industry partnerships -- an Industry Insights Committee -- that can yield fruitful collaborations, including proprietary company data, for AAEA members.

Intended Audience:
Overall, our intended audience is anyone interested in learning about opportunities for linking data sets often used by agricultural and applied economists and participating in hands-on training. We expect that those interested in this workshop span across multiple sections in the association.

Important Dates

July 15, 2021

• Advanced Registration
• Hotel Booking