Trust Funded Programs

The AAEA Trust supports the work of agricultural and applied economists by funding programs and initiatives designed to advance the profession. Programs are chosen to receive funding based on their ability to accomplish one or both of the following goals:

• support graduate student and early career professional development
• enhance the AAEA Annual Meeting, broaden participation in AAEA, reach out to new groups, and/or broaden the horizons of the current membership

Student and Early Career Professional Travel and Development

The Student and Early Career Professional Travel and Development support category provides assistance for students and young professionals from U.S. colleges, universities, and institutions. Allocations to this category are used to provide travel grants for the Annual Meeting, general support for projects conducted by students and early career professionals, and support for the Undergraduate and Graduate Student Section’s Annual Meeting activities.

Outreach

AAEA’s Outreach efforts disseminate members’ professional analysis and information to a broad public, and promote exchanges of information among members to enhance their own teaching, extension, and other outreach efforts. These goals are accomplished through Choices Magazine.

Projects

The Trust provides support of Outreach. Those funds are normally allocated among the following programs:

• Choices Magazine Production and Distribution: The AAEA Trust is the sole funding source for Choices, providing support for editorial costs, marketing of new issues, web hosting, and AAEA staff time. Choices published eight sets of theme articles and several submitted articles which offer timely analysis on politically relevant issues.

The Council on Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics (C-FARE)

The Council on Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics (C-FARE) is a non-profit organization, headquartered in Washington, DC, dedicated to strengthening the national presence of the agricultural and applied economics profession. C-FARE projects are aimed at communicating the profession’s findings and demonstrating the value of agricultural and related applied economic research to policymakers and their staffs, as well as representing the public good interests of the profession.

Projects

The Trust provides support of C-FARE. That support makes up roughly one-quarter of C-FARE's annual operating budget. 

Other Projects

The Unrestricted support category allows the Trust to fund projects that are outside the scope of the other support categories and the Special Purpose Funds. (It also provides additional funding for other support categories as needed.) 

Projects

The Trust also supports projects outside the scope of categories in areas such as:

• AARES-AAEA Young Professional Exchange Program: This program provides travel funding for an early career professional from the United States to attend the AARES Annual Meeting, as well as an early career professional from Australia or New Zealand to attend the AAEA Annual Meeting. The winners of these scholarships (which are known as the Heading North and Heading South awards) receive support from both the Trust and AARES to offset the travel costs and registration fees associated with attending each meeting.

Scholarships and Awards

Beyond the projects highlighted above, the AAEA Trust also provides support annually in the form of scholarships and awards given by the Trust Special Purpose Funds. Special Purpose Funds are restricted use funds, meaning that any donations they receive can only be used by that fund, and will not be included with the general funds of the Trust.

On the Special Purpose Funds page, you can learn more about the different funds established, their particular area of focus, and the names of past recipients.