Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

A. Morning Activities, Thursday, March 26, 2015 

Introduction and Discussion of the Agenda: 

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Luis Ribera, Texas A&M University at 09:00 am. The Chair began by asking the group to introduce themselves.  He then quickly went through the outline of the agenda.

Eric Young: Gave an update on the President’s budget, which includes increases in funds for Hatch, Smith-Lever, and Evans Allen.

ESCOP: Experiment station and extension directors are pursuing jointly:

·         Water resources initiative. $100 million per year

·         Healthy Food and Healthy People: makes the length between agricultural systems and food, nutrition and health.

·         Infrastructure survey: survey currently underway to understand everything related to infrastructure investments in agricultural research and extension in the land grant system. The goal is to get additional funding to invest in renovations in agricultural research institutions. Specifically related to buildings in colleges of Ag, focused on research and teaching.

·         Futuring effort: look 20 years down the road (operational and programmatic) to see where we are and how we will meet future needs

Luis Ribera: Lead discussion regarding location for the next meeting. David Bullock moved to hold the meetings in San Antonio, Texas. Darren Hudson seconded the motion. Unanimous vote to have the meetings in October in San Antonio, Texas. (Possibly at the Menger hotel: either the week of October 12-16 or October 26-30). Ideas for future meetings include Florida, North Carolina and Augusta, Georgia and Fort Collins, CO.

Andrew Schmitz: Food Security in an Uncertain World: An International Perspective, Emerald Insight Publishing. Andy Highlighted the contributions of S-1062 members to the project. He also commented on potential future work regarding GMOs, which sparked a lively discussion among members. Topics discussed include willingness to pay for certain food products, availability of healthy food, labeling, and agricultural stabilization given government instability and military presence. Andy is inviting participation in an update of encyclopedia of agricultural sciences on the importance of trade. He also encouraged the group to consider more work on the effects of drought and trade. Eric Wailes talked about GMO rice that is drought tolerant and how that interplays with the resistance to GMO crops.

David Bullock and Norbert Wilson: Presentation on the upcoming sub-conference with GMCC15 in the Netherlands on GMOS that is funded through the AFRI grant that was awarded to the group.

Key Points:

·         November 17-18 in Amsterdam (suggestion to fly before Nov 15th to save significantly on airfare)

·         8 papers have been submitted, and a few additional papers are expected, with financial support

·         Topics include TTIP and GMO-related issues

·         Papers will be featured in a special issue in the Journal of Food and Industrial Organization

State Reports: 

David Bullock: Research at the University of Illinois includes work conducted by the European Center to assess the economic impacts of European policy, including TTIP. The Center received small grant from EU Commission to investigate the effects of TTIP on European countries that aren’t in the EU with colleagues, including Kathy Baylis, Lia Nogueria. Reviewed literature regarding how and why trade agreements come about, which was presented at IATRC. He is also starting a project with colleague at INRA on weed resistance to GMOs. Also starting a paper on why trade negotiations are secret, using a political economy model. David and colleagues continue international efforts to understand the implications of EU policy.

Osei Yeboah: North Carolina A&T State University conducts research on a variety of international issues. Osei has applied for an AFRI grant, and is finishing work with a graduate student related to TPP. He is also working on a project in Ghana with FAS cowpea value chain and trade. 

Wyatt Thompson: FAPRI at the University of Missouri covers three key areas of research and activities. FAPRI-MU develops multi-year projections of agricultural commodity and biofuel markets as part of their baseline and policy analysis research. The new baseline from FAPRI-MU just came out and is publically accessible. There is considerable work on biofuels and trade as well as international model development for livestock, dairy and crops. They are also working on climate change adaptation, food loss and waste, fertilizer markets, food loss and waste. The center has projects in Russia, Bulgaria, UK, Ireland, Turkey and may projects in Africa. 

Darren Hudson: The Center for International Competitiveness at Texas Tech University assesses the competitiveness of US exports of cotton, corn, sorghum and other commodities. Collaborates with FAPRI-MU on the baseline project. They are working on a sorghum project that will mimic their cotton model. Darren is working with a graduate student on the Chinese-Australia trade agreement will affect sorghum and livestock demand. China has become a key export market for US sorghum, given their increased demand for sorghum as livestock feed. This work is contributing to building a global model for sorghum. Work on a Department of Defense funded project relating to water scarcity linked to food production as well as projects related to sustainable food processes in Africa are also projects covered. Work also focuses on biofuels, and water markets. Darren just received a grant with colleagues to create an experimental lab, which will focus on potential for water markets.

Amanda Leister- Amanda has worked on issues related to the effects of a potential TPP on agriculture, the effects of drought on the US Livestock sector, impacts of the special safeguard mechanism and specific tariffs and has new projects relating to Japanese beef import demand, the effects of invasive species on trade and transportations costs, and changes in transportation costs given the use of the northern sea route and northwest routes for shipping. Colorado State University will be hiring an assistant or associate professor focusing on agricultural finance and agribusiness research and teaching. 

Mary Marchant:  Work at Virginia Tech is officially housed with Jason Grant and Mary, but there are several faculty who are working on trade including David Orden, Everett Peterson and Richard Crowder. Virginia has a Conference on International Trade, which has helped to establish the Program in Agricultural Trade. Jason and Mary received 2 AFRI grants covering China, and SPS measures focusing on vegetable trade. Mary, Jason and students have presented at IATRC and the southern meetings, and have several papers related to their work. 

Break for Lunch 

Amanda Leister: Gave a presentation on the implications of emerging shipping routes in the Arctic and how the reduction in transportation and trade costs may affect trade.

In summary:

Commercial use of Arctic routes will decrease the shipping distance between Northeast Asia (China, Japan, South Korea) and the east coast of the US (Northwestern Route) and the EU (North Sea Route)
Distance reductions are used to estimate transportation and trade cost reductions
Cost changes will affect trade and corresponding macroeconomic indicators. Northeast Asian countries stand to gain the most (in terms of GDP and Welfare), US and a subset of EU countries may gain as well.
Relatively small increases in CO2 emissions are expected and use of the NSR and NWR will put additional pressure on the Arctic environment. 

Alwin Jimenez Maldonado: from the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Agricultural Extension at the University of Puerto Rico joined for the afternoon presentations. 

Wyatt Thompson: Gave presentation on the outlook for US Ag commodity markets and trade under the new Farm Bill.

Key points:

Wyatt described the components of the 2014 Farm Bill, discussed the expected levels of payments for various crops as well as the expected changes in trade for key commodities and biofuels.  
 

Luis Ribera: Presentation on potential increase in trade between the US and Cuba.

Key points:

Luis gave a description of the history of US-Cuba relations and an overview of the Cuban market.
Grains, Processed Foods, Meats, Vegetables, and Condiments all have potential
Prospects for trade depend on tourism, nickel prices and remittances
The question remains as to whether or not Cuba is a market
US exports have the potential to double in the long run and triple in the long run
Trade patterns influenced by US policies and Cuba 

Andy Schmitdz: Jim Seale is working on China. Andy has worked on food security and health economics with a few post-docs and colleagues. He has worked on the tobacco buyout and research on peanuts. He has continued work on Benefit –Cost Analysis including how to do benefit-cost analysis for addictive goods? Andy and colleagues are also working on food guidelines. 

Eric Wailes: Just finished a 3 year project on international barriers related to GM rice including country case studies. Studies looked at BT rice, golden rice and a stacked trait relative to conventional rice. Eric is also working with USITC on the competiveness of US rice relative to the rest of the world using the RICEFLOW model. Eric is also working on a Gates Foundation project looking at Food Security in Africa. The Japanese government is also funding African research investigating rice as a new substitute for cassava and other foodstuffs, and Eric’s work through the Gates Foundation will analyze optimal strategies for African countries regarding rice and rice policy.  

Norbert Wilson: Currently wrapping up his sabbatical at Cornell. Norbert has also food on food security and has switched to behavioral economics, and has new work on coffee. Norbert is also looking at food waste on the consumer side using experimental economics. New work also evaluates grocery taxes. Henry Kunucan has continued to work on exchange rate volatility in salmon. 

Luis Ribera: Luis has continued to work on biofuel related research. Work also includes studies related to dietary guidelines and trade, as well as transportation and trade related to the new Mexican highway. Luis has two MS students analyzing crime in Mexico and livestock trade as well as the Mexican highway impact on vegetable trade, as well as work on US-Cuba relations.

Friday, March 27, 2015

Luis reconvened the meeting at 9:00 a.m. and we continued with the agenda. 

Alwin Jimenez Maldonado: Presentation on the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Agricultural Extension at the University of Puerto Rico.

Key points:

·         The Departments in the College of Agricultural Sciences includes 5 departments

o   Animal Sciences, Crops and Agroenvironmental Science, Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology, Agricultural Education, Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering

·         The Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology

o   13 Faculty Members, 3 Admin Staff, 60 undergraduate students (Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics), and 20 Masters Students

o   Several grant projects are underway with federal, state and institutional funds

o   Research and Outreach projects include the following topics: Women in agriculture, nursery market variability, developing instruction in food and ag related sciences at land grant institutions in the Pacific and Caribbean, distance education, technology and management education center for socially disadvantaged farmers in Puerto Rico, farm management, and community based participatory research to improve health in children, analysis and retrieval of data on ag commodities, exploring studies in rural sociology, modeling and controlling the spread of invasive species over heterogenous landscapes, specialty crop production, multistate research coordination, Farm Bill producer education, specialty fruit crops, specialty coffee, and more

·         Puerto Rico has 12 ports but more than 90% of imports come into the port of San Juan. The island produces 10% of consumption, and unemployment is 14%

Mario Julio Barragan: Presentation on modeling initiatives at University of Puerto Rico regarding agriculture and the economy.

Key points:

Puerto Rico is similar in size to Connecticut: similar in geographic size and population, but GDP per capita is twice as high in CT
Agricultural production on the island is diverse
Puerto Rico’s yields are lower than other Latin American countries for coffee and bananas, wages are higher, and land prices as quite lower.  
Coffee production has decreased over the last 4 years
Research efforts focus on cost of production and local marketing, consequences of ag land abandonment, explanations for the past and predictions for the future, as well as new market niches (coffee, and achachairu fruit)
 

Luis: Reviewed plans to hold the next S-1062 Project meetings in San Antonio in October, 2015.

11:00 Adjourn

Respectfully submitted,

Amanda M. Leister