The U of A's Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness students and faculty combined for four awards and 31 selected papers and posters at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting in Oklahoma City earlier this month. 

"The AEAB faculty and student awards at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting demonstrate the high quality of work being done here in the department," said John Anderson, professor and department head. "Our faculty are recognized by their peers as leaders within the profession. Our students are being given the opportunity not just to learn from these outstanding scholars, but to work alongside them, developing into well-trained, competent agricultural economists. It's exciting to see both our faculty and our students rewarded for the great work that they are doing on behalf of our stakeholders here in the state." 

The SAEA Outstanding Teaching of a Course Award was presented to associate professor Nathan Kemper. He was selected for his course AGEC 1103 Principles of Agricultural Microeconomics. 

For the SAEA Emerging Scholar Award, assistant professor Jada Thompson was selected as the recipient. Thompson earns this award for her various research and publications regarding bird flu's economic impact.  

For the Outstanding Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics Article, assistant professor and extension agricultural economist Hunter Biram, assistant professor Eunchun Park, Keith H. Coble, Ardian Harris and Jesse Tack received the award. They were selected for their article "Mitigating Price and Yield Risk Using Revenue Protection and Agricultural Risk Coverage."

For the SAEA Poster Award, first place was awarded to AEAB graduate student Jack Myers, assistant professor Trey Malone, professor and Tyson Endowed Chair in Food Policy Economics Brandon McFadden and Christopher A. Wolf. They were selected for their poster "Consumer Choice Effects of Confusion Associated with Banning the Word 'Milk' on Non-Dairy Beverage Labels." 

"I am honored and humbled to be named as a recipient of the SAEA outstanding poster award," Myers said. "Receiving this award means more than just a ribbon; it signifies we are generating research results, and disseminating them, in a manner that reflects the purpose and intent of a land-grant institution."  

Along with the winners, there were also a combined 31 posters and papers selected. All the selected works were written and advised by students and faculty in the Department of Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness in U of A's Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences. 

Selected Posters: 

• "Do Rice Subsidies in Mauritius Help Alleviate Food Insecurity?"- professor Lawton Lanier Nalley, Roshini Brizmohun-Gopaul, Sophia Ultes, program associate Wei Yang, associate professor Alvaro Durand-Morat 

• "The Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Security in Mauritius"- Abigal Burch, Lainey Deitrick, Ultes, Lexie Burris, Juliann Phillips, Amy Farmer, Brizmohun-Gopaul, Lanier Nalley 

• "Evaluating the Economic and Environmental Feasibility of Electrochemical Nutrient and Energy Recovery from Municipal Wastewater"- Leah English, Karla Morrissey, associate dean Jennie Popp, Greg Thoma, Lauren Greenlee 

• "Economic Impact of COVID-19: A Regional Analysis of Arkansas' Agriculture and Forestry Sectors"- J. Popp, English, Matthew Pelkki, Rebecca Montgomery, Nana Tian 

• "Identifying Barriers of Entry for Food Pantry Participants"- Alexis Skinner, Di Fang, Rudy Nayga, Lanier Nalley, Yang, program associate Shelby Rider 

• "Consumer Choice Effects of Confusion Associated with Banning the Word 'Milk' on Non-Dairy Beverage Labels"- Jack Steven Myers*, assistant professor Trey Malone, professor Brandon R. McFadden, Christopher A. Wolf 

• "What Came First, the Feed or the Chicken: A Spatio-Temporal Evaluation of the Delmarva Broiler Industry"- Elizabeth Anne Thilmany, assistant professor Jada Thompson 

• "Integrating Economic Analysis into a Decision Support Tool for Improved Sustainability of Manure Management Systems"- Erin Elizabeth Scott, Sudharsan Varma Vempalli, Jacob Hickman, Richard Stowell, Teng Lim, Greenlee, Thoma, Gilbert Miito, J. Popp 

 Selected Papers: 

• "Economic Feasibility & Soil Health Implications of Alternative Nutrient Management Strategies on Nutritive Value and Productivity of Annual Warm-Season Forages"- IvaNelle Meyer, Christine Nieman, professor Michael Popp, animal science professor Ken Coffey 

• "Economic Feasibility of Grazing Stocker Cattle on Bermudagrass, or Sod-Seeded Sorghum Sudangrass With or Without Cowpea"- Meyer, Nieman, M. Popp, Coffey 

• "The Substitution Between Natural Capital and Other Capital: Evidence From a Hedonic Analysis of Groundwater in Arkansas"- Kent Forrest Kovacs, Rider 

• "The Role of Peer Irrigators on the Use and Share of an Irrigated Farm in Irrigation Practices in the Arkansas Delta"- Forrest Kovacs 

• "Analysis of Factors Associated with Time to Adopt Irrigation Best Management Practices"- Evelyn Osei, professor Qiuqiong Huang 

• "A Historical Assessment of the Number of Days Required to Plant the Arkansas Rice Crop"- Bayarbat Badarch, professor Brad Watkins 

• "Assessing the Value of 'Wildness' to U.S. Consumers with Application to Farm-Raised and Wild-Foraged Mushroom Demand"- Courtney Fay Cooper, Malone 

• "The Future of Public and Private Plant Breeding"- Lexie Burris, Nalley, Yang, Jayson Lusk, Jesse Tack 

• "Marketing Channel Selection of Small-Scale Fruit and Vegetable Growers"- Grace Mahamba, M. Popp, J. Popp, Brooke Anderson, Malone 

• "Using a Choice Experiment to Measure Consumer Confusion about CBD Oil"- McFadden, Benjamin Campbell, Adam Rabinowitz, Tyler Mark 

• "To Determine if Large Export Sales Reports Move Commodity Market Prices"- professor Andrew M. McKenzie, William Johnson 

• "Agricultural Producer and Citizen Perceptions about Crop Residue Burning: An Examination of the U.S. With a Focus on Arkansas"- Jillian Hyink, McFadden, Ryan Bresnahan, Aaron Shew 

• "A Meta-Analysis of Tree Canopy and Property Values in the United States"- Forrest Kovacs, Grant West, Robert Haight  

• "Impact of Cover Crop Adoption on Farm Risk and Crop Insurance Premiums"- Rajan Dhakal, assistant Lawson Connor 

• "Employment, Production, & Networking Effects of the Paycheck Protection Program"- Aaron Staples, Kristopher (Kit) Deming, Craig Carpenter, Malone 

• "Solar Investment Analysis: Effects of Investment Tax Credit, Electricity Rate Structure, and Financial Leverage on Profitability"- Morgan King, M. Popp, Douglas Hutchings, professor and department head John Anderson 

• "The Global Rise of a Protein: 50 Years of Heterogenous Poultry Production Changes"- Elsbeth Hamilton, Thompson 

• "Substitution Effects of Carbon Emission Labeling"- Sara Gardner, McFadden, Nalley, Durand-Morat, Shew, Rudy Nayga 

• "The Importance - Or Lack Thereof - of 'Localness' for Farmed versus Wild-Caught Seafood in the United States"- Malone, Richard T. Melstrom, Myers, Courtney Fay Cooper, Eric Abaidoo 

• "Do Sustainability Standards Affect Consumers WTP? The Case of Ghanaian Rice"- Vera Adabrah-Danquah, Durand-Morat, Nalley 

• "Voter Evaluations Regarding the Tradeoffs between Water Quality and Food Production"- Marceline Azem, Melstrom, Malone 

• "Cover Crop Non-Linear Effects on Yield Resilience to Extreme Wet and Dry Weather Events"- Connor, Dhakal 

• "Examining the Effect of Allowing an Escape Hatch in Questions Scales Commonly Used in Food Economics Research"- Emily Schlichtig, McFadden, Caroline May, Lusk

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture. For more information about Bumpers College, visit our website, and follow us on Twitter at @BumpersCollege and Instagram at BumpersCollege.