Several U of A students in agricultural economics and agribusiness participated in presentation contests at the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association Annual Meeting in July and combined for a team first place and individual third place finish.

A team of graduate students won the Case Study Contest while another placed third in the Graduate Student Extension category.

The case study competition allows graduate students to test their communication skills and ability to apply their knowledge of agricultural economics and agribusiness to practical situations.

The team, all students in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, included Logan Moss, Jillian Hyink and Kit Gambill.

"Jillian, Logan and Kit worked diligently for weeks to prepare for this case study competition," said Brandon McFadden, an AEAB professor and Tyson Endowed Chair in Food Policy Economics. "The case centered around increasing farmer adoption of a digital support tool. They had to research several topics, from the agricultural input industry to farmer adoption of new technologies, to develop key recommendations relevant to the case and competed against 12 other teams of M.S. and Ph.D. students from institutions all over the U.S. Winning this competition is a testament to their hard work and a fantastic reflection on the graduate training in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness at the University of Arkansas."

"This win, the first for Arkansas since Dr. McFadden's team won in 2009, just goes to show the quality of our graduate program," Moss said. "Dr. John Anderson (department head) has done a terrific job of putting together an excellent cast of faculty, staff and students in the department. I feel lucky to be a member of this program."

"I am so proud of the work my team and I put into this victory," Hyink said. "The support we felt from every member of our department has been so special to us, and I am grateful to represent the University of Arkansas. Winning this competition is a huge honor for graduate students at AAEA, and this will be a memorable landmark in the careers of my teammates and I."

Thirteen teams competed and presented in a preliminary round, with four advancing to the finals for a second presentation. The teams had to discuss the emerging agricultural tech company FieldView.

"The competition was an excellent opportunity to showcase the diversity of experience and thought in the our department," Gambill said. "The department has done an excellent job of cultivating students from a variety of disciplines that only serves to benefit the student experience as well as the department itself. I come from law, Jillian comes from environmental science and Logan from ag communications. It was great to see how our varying expertise, under the guidance of our excellent and equally diverse faculty, could work together and bring home the win."

Individually, Jack Myers, a doctoral student in agricultural policy, was third with his research presentation "The Development of a Dairy Marketing Outreach Program."

Student competitors were not the only agricultural economists with U of A and Bumpers College ties recognized at the meeting.

Courtney Cooper, a Ph.D. student in environmental dynamics with an M.S. in agricultural economics, was recognized for receiving AAEA's Sylvia Lane Mentor Fellowship, which provides an opportunity for young female scholars working on food, agricultural or resource issues to collaborate with an established expert at another university, institution or firm.

Assistant professor Trey Malone received honorable mention for best paper in the journal Applied Economics Teaching Resources, "On the Creation of Fast-Responding Extension and Teaching Content in a New Media Environment." Malone led a team of researchers in exploring lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic in providing timely, accurate information on the agricultural economy.

In addition, a cohort of AEAB faculty and several graduate students met U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee staffers and discussed Farm Bill issues.

The contests were sponsored by AAEA's Agribusiness Economics and Management Graduate Student Section.

AAEA is a not-for-profit association serving the professional interests of members working in agricultural and broadly related fields of applied economics. Members are employed by academic or government institutions, as well as in industry and not-for-profit organizations, and engage in a variety of teaching, research and extension/outreach activities. Their work addresses a broad range of topics such as the economics of agriculture, international and rural development, resources and the environment, food and consumer issues, and agribusiness.

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.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the U of A provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the U of A contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas' economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the U of A among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the U of A among the top public universities in the nation. See how the U of A works to build a better world at Arkansas Research and Economic Development News.