President's Column
May 2025
I want to recognize that the last few months have been difficult for many of our members. Some have lost their jobs and others have lost funding for projects years in the making. Long run plans have been upended and the future is highly uncertain. The AAEA Board understands that current events may impact folks' ability to stay engaged with AAEA. We are actively working to find ways to help folks do so. I want to talk about a few of these.
The Board decided to charge a token registration fee to the 2025 Annual Meetings in Denver for members who have involuntarily lost employment in 2025 or have signed on to the Deferred Resignation program. In this way we hope to assist members who may have had their registration paid for by their employer, but are either separated or are planning on separating in the coming months, to attend the meetings and connect with colleagues and friends.
In addition, working with Section leadership, we have increased the financial aid for members who have lost funding that might have allowed them to over the past year. As of this writing, we have allocated 33 travel grants to affected members. While demand for these Section grants exceeded available funds, we have done our best to prioritize funding for folks presenting papers at the meetings. If you would like to individually sponsor a travel grant, please reach out to me or Jeanne Rhodes and let us know. Between the travel grant and reduced registration, we hope to make attending the 2025 meetings affordable for folks who may now be paying out of pocket.
We are also working on plans for reduced membership fees for folks who have involuntarily lost employment in 2025 or have signed on to the Deferred Resignation program. While details will be announced after the annual meetings, the goal will be to minimize the burden of remaining part of AAEA. We value our membership and want to help folks stay connected.
Taking a step back, we are working with our Washington representative to communicate the value of our work to policy makers and advocate for programs on which we depend as a profession. We're focusing on preserving research funding streams, maintaining the data infrastructure on which we depend, supporting early-career professionals, and showing the value of our members' work to agriculture, food systems, and rural communities. I continue to believe that our work has never been more relevant or important. If you have the time, I would ask members to send us examples of work that has a direct impact on farmers and people working in agriculture. Communicating impact in narrative form helps us show the value of our work during these difficult times.