WERA_OLD72: Agribusiness Research Emphasizing Competitiveness
(Multistate Research Coordinating Committee and Information Exchange Group)
Status: Inactive/Terminating
WERA_OLD72: Agribusiness Research Emphasizing Competitiveness
Duration: 10/01/2004 to 09/30/2009
Administrative Advisor(s):
NIFA Reps:
Non-Technical Summary
Statement of Issues and Justification
The agribusiness system is made up of three sectors: farm production, agricultural inputs, and processing/marketing. Each sector provides a different view of how agriculture and related industries impact the state. Agriculture continues to change rapidly creating challenges for members throughout the agribusiness system.
Farm production has changed dramatically over the past 150 years in America. Up until the Civil War, 90 percent of American families made their living and were entirely self sufficient from the products produced on the farm. Today, however, all farm employees (proprietors and laborers) total just over one percent of the population.
At the same time, farmers moved to industrial jobs over the past decades, there was increased growth in businesses that began to specialize in the inputs that farmers used in production agriculture which includes such items as chemicals, seed, fertilizer, feed, fuel, and machinery. There has also been tremendous growth in the service component of this sector where we have seen explosive growth in the areas of horticulture and landscape architecture.
The need for commodity processing and marketing has also moved off of the farm. The individual farmer found that it was no longer efficient to do his/her own processing of commodities grown on the farm. Technological changes that are still continuing today have instead led to the evolution and growth of processing and marketing firms. The WCC-72 Coordinating Committee continues to play an important role in tracking and facilitating these changes by promoting and facilitating research and educational workshops in the following areas: agribusiness competitiveness, strategic management, industrial organization, international trade, evaluation of business performance, analysis of consumer preferences, agricultural industrialization, transportation and logistics, supply chain management, traceability, food safety, and public policy.
The committee chooses from among these as well as other timely issues each year and brings together people from extension, research, and teaching in an attempt to better understand how agriculture participants are affected by the ever-changing environment. We always encourage graduate students to participate as well, providing them with opportunities to discuss their research efforts and get constructive feedback from the group as a whole.
Objectives
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Coordinate timely research, extension, and teaching objectives of agribusiness researchers and educators by drawing on the expertise of academic and industry professionals in the agro-food system
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Serve as a forum for industry and government decision makers in management and staff research positions to interact with land grant researchers and extension specialists to share research results and discuss implications for enhancing agribusiness organizations in food production and distribution, the environment and economic well being.
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Maintain and develop electronic communication methods that facilitate the exchange and dissemination of information among industry, government, and academia in the agro-food system
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Improve the quality and quantity of agribusiness related research and extension that is produced by participating scientists and institutions. Enhance the effectiveness of coordinating committee participants by facilitating integrated and multi-state research and extension programs and greater access to extramural funds
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Procedures and Activities
Expected Outcomes and Impacts
- Coordination of research, extension, and teaching projects among participating faculty, graduate students, government, and industry leaders that results in the publication of joint research papers and extension publications.
- Identification of critical issues facing our industry such as food safety the role of genetically modified organism and products, and Country Origin of Labeling and then finding ways to conduct joint research that can help to provide timely information to the public.
- Presentation and discussion of research findings regarding issues related to agribusiness management and competitiveness.
- Increased information exchange among participants and others through the cataloguing of completed and ongoing research and extension projects and products on the coordinating committees home page.
- Increased quality and output of research and extension products through participant collaboration in integrated and multi-state work.
Projected Participation
View Appendix E: ParticipationEducational Plan
The annual meeting of the coordinating committee provides a forum for discussion and collaboration among participants and others interested in agribusiness issues. In addition to the published output from meeting presentations, the open forum enables participants to disseminate information via presentations at other professional meetings (including WAEA, NCR-194, AAEA) as well as through extension programming conducted at participants institutions. Members also collaborate to put together seminars for underserved groups such as the financial seminars being conducted at Colorado State University with women and Spanish-speaking producers. Additionally many fact sheets are produced from the published referred research that put the more sophisticated research into a useable format for the general public.
Organization/Governance
The recommended Standard Governance for multistate research activities include the election of a Chair, a Chair-elect, and a Secretary. All officers are to be elected for at least two-year terms to provide continuity. Administrative guidance will be provided by an assigned Administrative Advisor and a CSREES Representative. WCC-72 hosts an annual meeting, typically in June.
Literature Cited