President’s Column
August 2026
Shaping What Comes Next
Kansas City was a particularly meaningful AAEA annual meeting for me. Thirty years ago, in 1996, I attended my first AAEA meeting in San Antonio as a graduate student at Texas A&M. This year, I had the privilege of standing before the Association as its President. What made that full circle moment even more meaningful were the people I encountered. I talked with professors who taught and mentored me, colleagues with whom I once stayed up all night working on course assignments and projects, and former students and mentees who are now making their own contributions to our profession. Those conversations reminded me that a professional association is more than meetings, publications, and programs. It is a community that connects us across generations and helps shape our professional journeys. AAEA has certainly shaped mine, and I am deeply grateful for it.
That experience led me to think about what we will pass on to the generations that follow us. The profession they inherit will be very different from the one I entered thirty years ago. We are navigating significant changes in public policy, federal support for our work, technology, markets, higher education, and how we connect our knowledge with decision makers. These changes present both challenges and opportunities, and they raise an important question for AAEA: How should our profession evolve to meet this moment?
In my Presidential Address, I introduced the idea of bounded openness. The address focused on global value chains and agrifood trade and investment, but the underlying idea is simple. Openness to markets, ideas, innovation, people, and partnerships creates opportunities. But openness alone does not ensure that its benefits will be broadly shared or sustained. Institutions matter. So do our ability to adapt and how risks and opportunities are shared.
I believe this idea also provides a useful lens for thinking about our profession. During the coming year, I would like us to consider what the next stage in the evolution of agricultural and applied economics should look like. What emerging questions should our research address? What knowledge and skills will the next generation need? How should our teaching and curricula evolve? How can Extension and outreach strengthen the connections among our scholarship, the people we serve, and the decisions our work seeks to inform?
These are not questions for the President or the AAEA Board alone. Over the coming year, I hope to use our sections, committees, meetings, and other member forums to listen, gather ideas, and explore these questions together. Our goal should be to draw on the collective knowledge and experience of our profession to identify where AAEA can make the greatest contribution.
This conversation is especially timely because federal research policies, priorities, and funding are changing. One example is Office of Management and Budget’s proposed revisions to the Uniform Guidance, which shapes how federal grants are administered. AAEA can help members understand and navigate these broader changes while bringing the expertise of our profession to the policy discussion.
Our membership in the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA) provides one resource. AAEA members can receive COSSA's Washington Update and members only communications on federal policy developments affecting the social and behavioral sciences. I encourage you to take advantage of these resources and stay engaged.
We should also examine AAEA's external engagement. How can we strengthen our government relations efforts and communicate the value of agricultural and applied economics more effectively? Where might deeper engagement with the private sector and other organizations increase the reach and impact of our work?
These questions bring me back to bounded openness. We should remain open to ideas, evidence, new questions, partnerships, and change while strengthening the foundations that allow our members and our discipline to thrive. There is no single blueprint for doing that. We will need to shape it together.
Thirty years after attending my first AAEA meeting as a graduate student, I am deeply optimistic about what this community can accomplish. We have an opportunity not only to respond to change, but also to help shape the future of our profession for those who will follow us. I look forward to hearing from you, learning from you, and working with you during the year ahead.