President's Column
July 2025
Denver bound.
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in Denver in just a few days. The Annual meetings are an opportunity to gather as a community, see old friends, make connections, and get excited about new ideas. We have a great lineup of plenary speakers. Johan Swinnen will be giving the Gordon Rausser Keynote Address "Transforming Food Systems in Times of Global Disorder." President-Elect Brian Roe will be presenting the Presidential Address "De Gustibus Est Disputandum: The Role of Agricultural and Applied Economists in an Era of Behavior Change Initiatives and Endogenous Preferences." This year the Fellows Address is being given by Madhu Khanna who will be presenting on the "Economics of Land-Based Carbon Mitigation." Finally, Gordon Rausser is this year's Galbraith Forum speaker and will be reflecting on "The Curation of Smart Governments: A Personal Journey."
While for many of you this will be your n-th AAEA conference, for others this will be your first. As a committed introvert, I understand that being dropped into a crowd of 1500 people you don't know, but who all seem to know each other, can be intimidating. The AAEA has a number of initiatives to help make a set of big meetings feel smaller. There is a Mentorship and Health & Wellbeing Meet-Up on Sunday evening and the Health & Wellbeing task force has organized a "Walk & Talk" on Sunday and Tuesday mornings. I would encourage you to ask questions in sessions. Talk to the speakers after - this could be your next co-author! I'd also encourage newer members to attend their Section’s business meetings. This is an opportunity to meet folks working in your area and hear about plans for next year.
As of this writing, we are on track for attendance at the meeting to be the highest for a non D.C. conference in a while. This is partially due to the fact the AAEA really rallied to provide an unprecedented level of support for members affected by recent cuts to be able to attend the meetings. This was a whole of AAEA effort. We more than doubled the amount of financial assistance provided to members in need. I want to call out the efforts of Sections to provide assistance to their members. But, it's not all good news. The number of attendees from the federal government is significantly lower than it has been in previous years. In response to events, we offered a nominal registration fee to our members affected by cuts and have been working hard to accommodate our members who have been unable to travel to the meetings. Going forward, the Board is working on initiatives to help members who have left federal service or other jobs continue to remain engaged with AAEA.
I want to remind folks that if you are attending the meeting you have agreed to the AAEA code of conduct (https://www.aaea.org/UserFiles/file/AAEAAntiHarrassmentCodeofConductPolicy-FINAL.pdf). I want to remind everyone about the AAEA Lockbox (https://www.aaea.org/lockbox/). The AAEA Code of Conduct Reporting Lockbox is a secure portal for reporting any violations of the code of conduct at the meetings. Incidents reported via the AAEA Lockbox are reviewed by AAEA’s outside legal counsel and submitted to AAEA’s Executive Director for processing.
Finally, as this is my last column as AAEA President, I want to thank the membership for all the support over the last year. The AAEA has always been my professional home and being trusted by my peers to serve in a leadership role has been an honor. It was a tumultuous year, but I think the AAEA has come through it with a clear sense of purpose and mission. We have taken difficult steps to make sure the AAEA remains in good financial shape for the foreseeable future. I want to wish Brian and Titus success as they step up as President and President-Elect respectively.