2012-2013 Seminar Series
September 27, 2012 - Dr. Clayton Yeutter, Dr. Yeutter is an alumnus of the Department of Agricultural Economics, former Secretary of Agriculture and U.S. Trade Representative
October 5, 2012, 1:00 in 210 Filley Hall - Dr. Qiuqiong Huang, University of Minnesota "The Effects of Well Management and the Nature of the Aquifer on Groundwater" Paper
October 18, 2012, 11:00, East Campus Union- Dr. Keith Fuglie, Branch Chief for Resource, Environmental and Science Policy, USDA-Economic Research Service “Productivity Growth and Technology Capital in the Global Agricultural Economy” Paper
November 2, 2012 - Dr. Timothy Dalton, Kansas State University "Explaining Ambiguity Aversion in Three African Countries: Results from Behavioral Experiments" Abstract
January 25, 4:00 in Law College Auditorium - Dr. Will Martin, World Bank and President-elect International Assoc. of Agricultural Economists "The Role of Agriculture in the Doha Development Agenda"
February 8, 2013 3:00, 210 Filley Hall - Dr. Benjamin Gramig, Purdue University, "Environmental and economic tradeoffs in a watershed when using corn stover for bioenergy"
Abstract: There is an abundant supply of corn stover in the U.S. that remains after grain is harvested which could be used to produce cellulosic biofuels mandated by the current Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). This research integrates the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) watershed model and the DayCent biogeochemical model to investigate water quality and soil greenhouse gas flux that results when corn stover is collected from alternative cropping systems. Together with economic estimates of the cost of each alternative, multiple watershed-scale optimizations are performed for individual pollutant-cost minimization criteria; we compare these results with a purely economic optimization that maximizes stover production at the lowest cost without taking environmental impacts into account. We illustrate tradeoffs between cost and different environmental performance criteria, assuming that nutrients contained in any stover collected must be replaced. The key finding is that stover collection using the practices modeled results in increased contributions to atmospheric greenhouse gases and sediments to waterways while reducing nitrate and total phosphorus relative to the status quo without stover collection. Our results suggest that additional information is needed about (i) the level of nutrient replacement required to maintain grain yields and (ii) cost-effective management practices capable of reducing soil erosion when crop residues are removed in order to avoid contributions to climate change and water quality impairments as a result of using corn stover to satisfy the RFS.
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March 1, 2013 3:00 in Law College Auditorium - Dr. Kym Anderson, the George Gollin Professor of Economics, University of Adelaide, and Professor of Economics at the Australian National University "Recent and Prospective Developments in Agricultural Trade Policies"
Abstract: For decades, earnings from farming in many developing countries have been depressed by a pro-urban bias in own-country policies, as well as by governments of richer countries favouring their farmers with import barriers and subsidies. Both sets of policies reduced global economic welfare and agricultural trade, and almost certainly added to global inequality and poverty. Progress has been made over the past three decades in reducing agricultural protection in high-income countries and agricultural disincentives in developing countries, but the propensity of governments to insulate their domestic food market from fluctuations in international prices has not waned. Both food-importing and food-exporting countries engage in insulating behaviour, which contributes to the amplification of international food price fluctuations yet does little to advance their national food security. Thus much scope still remains to improve economic welfare and to reduce poverty by removing remaining trade distortions. This Lecture will summarize indicators of these trends and fluctuations in farm trade barriers before examining what unilateral, regional or multilateral trade arrangements, together with complementary domestic measures, could help advance global food security without risking sociopolitical unrest.
April 3, 2013, 3:00 East Campus Union Columbine Room - Dr. Robbin Shoemaker, the National Program Leader in Economics responsible for economic programs; the Policy Research Centers and exploring science policy theory and analysis. He is in charge of NIFA’s Policy Centers grants and of the Ag Economics and Rural Development Foundational grant program which includes Trade and Competitiveness. "Current and Emerging Issues for Agriculture and Resource Policy"
April 12, 2013 - Dr. Keri Jacobs, Iowa State University, "The Effect of Conservation Priority Areas on Bidding Behavior in the Conservation Reserve Program" Abstract