Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Incoming President Dr. Karen DeLong brought meeting to order.

Introductions of the members followed.

Motion was introduced for Dr. Sunghun Lim of LSU to be the Incoming President. Motion was seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 

Motion was introduced for the Fall meeting of this Hatch project to once again be joined with the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium meeting. Motion was seconded. Motion passed.

State reports were collected and briefly discussed.

It was discussed this group would consider submitting a joined track session to AAEA for 2024 presentation.

It was discussed this group would submit a conference proposal grant to USDA NIFA on issues related to trade.

The writing committee was created and consists of Drs. Steinbach, DeLong, Lim and Kennedy. The new HATCH project writing committee was tasked with meeting objectives outlined by Dr. Salassi's notes he sent to the meeting. 

Immediate goals of the group is to write the new project. 

Meeting was adjourned. 

Reporting Participants: E Kwan Choi, Iowa State University 

Accomplishments: published one joint paper (2022), another joint paper last year (2021, but probably not reported)

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University

Michigan State University

Reporting Participants

David L. Ortega

Accomplishments

Policy Forums

1. WSJ Global Food Forum. June 2022, invited participant
2. Michigan Agribusiness Association Outlook Forum. September 2022, participant
3. Consumer Federation of America, National Food Policy Conference. September 2022, invited panelist

Select Popular Press and Outreach

1.      Agence France-Presse (AFP)/ Barron’s: How Has Surging Inflation Gripped Voters Ahead of the Midterms? October 27, 2022.

2.      Vox: Why food keeps getting more expensive. October, 13, 2022.

3.      PBS NewsHour: The major factors driving up the cost of food. October, 11, 2022.

4.      The Detroit News: Food Fight: Detroit’s struggle to improve grocery options. October 11, 2022.

5.      CNN: Grocery store prices aren’t coming down anytime soon. September 30, 2022.

6.      Marketplace: Biden pledges an additional $2.9 billion in aid to help fight the global food crisis. September 21, 2022.

7.      Quartz: Why Higher Food Prices Could be Here to Stay. September. 9, 2022.

8.      Michigan Live: Food inflation – explained through a chocolate chip cookie recipe. September 5, 2022.

9.      New York Times: Why the Dinner Tab Has Soared. Here are All the Reasons. August 9, 2022.

10.   Marketplace: Food Price Increases Show Signs of Moderating. August 1, 2022.

11.   Mashed: How Costco Keeps Its Hot Dog Combo Price Consistent. July 30, 2022.

12.   NPR: Inflation Killed the $1 Pizza Slice. Long Live the 99c Iced Tea. June 28, 2022.

13.   Gothamist: Food Insecure New Yorkers Feel the Squeeze from Rising Grocery Prices. June 28, 2022.

14.   Mashed: The Unseen Reason for the Rising Price of Food. June 20, 2022.

15.   Fox47News: Michigan State professor discusses why food prices are rising. June 16, 2022.

16.   CBC: Global food crisis fuelled by war in Ukraine could provoke unrest. May 20, 2022

17.   World Economic Forum: Food prices: Why are they increasing and when will they go back down? May 16, 2022.

18.   Futurity: When will Food Price go back down? May 10, 2022.

19.   Associated Press: Food plant fires fuel conspiracy theory. May 3, 2022.

20.   Quartz: As prices rise, consumers are treating themselves with snacks. April 27, 2022.

21.   NPR: How Americans are adjusting to record inflation. April 16, 2022.

22.   NPR: The rate of inflation made its sharpest spike since 1981. April 12, 2022.

23.   NPR: Inflation Keeps Getting Worse. Is A Recession Next? April 12, 2022.

24.   Politico: Biden’s latest supply chain hurdle: A looming Canadian rail strike. March 16, 2022.

25.   Politico Pro: Senators press Trudeau to resolve railway strike threatening key U.S.-Canada energy and agricultural trade. March 15, 2022.

26.   Quartz: Why most Americans see the rise in food prices more than they feel it. January 13, 2022.

On-going projects

1. Effects of Misinformation on Consumer Food Choice Behavior.
2. Creating value for Michigan’s beef traceability system
3. Demand for plant based and cultured meat and dairy alternatives in China
4. Marketability of US (Hawaii and Puerto Rico) coffee in the world market

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University: Ohio State University

Reporting Participants: Ian Sheldon

Accomplishments:

1. Revised and completed work on estiimation of trade elasticities using modern Ricardian model

2. Revised and completed work on impact of tariffs and non-tariff measures (NTMs) on food quality

3. Revised and completed work on interaction between peace and preferential trade agreements (PTAs)

4. Multiple outreach efforts relating to Russian invasion of Ukraine, and its impact on global commodity markets

 ________________

University of Tennessee

Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics

Reporting Participants

1. Edward Yu, Karen DeLong, and Andrew Muhammad

Accomplishments

Participants will continue to research international trade and policy issues. The output/outcomes of their research include several publications and presentations that enhance academic and the public’s understanding of international trade and policy. Educational output occurs through the form of academic, Extension and popular press outlets.

Intended Activities in the Next Year

Drs. Yu and DeLong are members of an USDA NIFA AFRI grant about food waste and they will publish work from that project.

Drs. DeLong and Muhammad and members of an USDA NIFA AFRI grant about US beef export markets and they will publish work from that project.

Drs. Muhammad and DeLong are members of a group researching issues related to the infant formula shortage and will pursue publications in that area.
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University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Reporting Participants

Azzeddine Azzam

Accomplishments

Developed a structural dominant-duopoloy competitive-fringe model and applied it to the world soybean export market, where the US and Brazil are the dominant duopoly and the rest of soybean exporters are the fringe. Competition is not rejected.

The article contribute to developing empirical trade models with imperfect competition as part of objective 1b.

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University

Texas A&M University

Reporting Participants

Kashi Kafle

Accomplishments

We started this project entitled “Interlinkages between climate change, agriculture, and migration” in July 2022. This is a small project that aims to understand the role of climate change on migration of small-scale farmers in developing countries. The primary objective of this project is to document the relationship between climate change and migration among farming households in Uganda, a deveoping country in East Africa.

We conducted desk reviews of existing literature and rigorous analysis of the secondary data collected by the World Bank and the Uganda Bureau of Statistics. We also consulted with local experts in Uganda and presented the preliminary findings in three different scientific workshops, one each at the Univerisity of Minnesota, the University of New Mexico, and Texas A&M University. These activities helped us achieve the project objective of understanding the role of weather shocks on migration of small-scale farmers in a developing country setting. 

Our target audience is researchers working in the area of climate change, migration, and international development, both in the United States and abroad. We presented the preliminary findings in three different US universities to more than 100 researchers. Our target audience benefitted by understanding how short-term weather shocks, which contribute to climate change in the long run, affect farmers' migration decisions. In the next several months, we plan to present these findings to researchers, development practitioners, and policymakers to highlight the importance of understanding the weather-migration relationship in designing targeted agricultural interventions in the future.

Our research is still being finalized, so we have not shared the findings and their implications with the broader public yet. Once the research is finalized, we plan to prepare a press release and a journal article to avail the research findings to the broader public in the US as well as in other countries across the globe.

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University

University of Connecticut

Reporting Participants

Sandro Steinbach

Accomplishments

1. Outreach efforts relating to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and its impact on global trade

2. Outreach efforts relating to the supply chain disruptions and U.S. agriculture

3. Research efforts related to agricultural trade and policy, foreign direct investment, and data science

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2022 Multistate Hatch Project S1072

Georgia Report – Gopinath Munisamy

Presentations/media

• Gopinath, M, “American Agriculture Needs Predictable and Equitable Trade Policies” Testimony to the U.S. Senate Agriculture Sub-Committee on Commodities, Risk Management and Trade, Washington DC, June 9, 2022. https://www.agriculture.senate.gov/hearings/agricultural-trade-priorities-and-issues-facing-americas-farmers
• Gopinath, M., “Commodity Market Impacts of the Russia-Ukraine Conflict” Understanding Ukraine, Deans’ Council Webinar, University of Georgia, March 17, 2022. (a recording of the event here.)

• Gopinath, M. “Georgia’s Agricultural and Rural Economy Outlook” Ag Issues Summit, House-Senate Agriculture and Consumer Affairs Committee, Perry, Georgia, August 30, 2022.
• Interviewed for “Farmers Feeling the Effects of Russia-Ukraine Conflict" April 6, 2022 https://www.gfb.org/media-and-publications/news.cms/2022/1242/farmers-feeling-effects-of-russia-ukraine-conflict
• Annual Meeting of the American Agricultural Economics Association.

Khadka, S., and M. Gopinath. “Anomalies and Recoveries in Agricultural Trade” Selected Presentation, July 2022, Anaheim, CA.

Students and Trainees

• Master’s – Ashish Adhikari and Bimal Karki (Spring 2022)
• PhD – Sei Jeong (Fall 2022)
• Fulbright-Nehru Post-Doctoral Fellow (Fall 2022, India)

Michigan State University

1. Ufer, D., Ortega, D., Wolf, C., McKendree, M., Swanson, J. (2022). Getting Past the Gatekeeper: Key Motivations of Dairy Farmer Intent to Adopt Animal Health and Welfare-Improving Biotechnology. Food Policy, forthcoming.
2. Herrington, C., Maredia, M., Ortega, D.L., Taleon, V., Birol, E., Sarkar, A.R., Rahaman, S. (2022). Rural Bangladeshi Consumers’ Willingness to Pay for Rice with Improved Nutrition via Zink Biofortified Rice and Decreased Milling Practices. Agricultural Economics, forthcoming.
3. Ufer, D. J., Christensen, S. A., Ortega, D. L., Pinizzotto, N., & Schuler, K. (2022). Stamping out wildlife disease: Are hunter‐funded stamp programs a viable option for chronic wasting disease management?. Conservation Science and Practice, forthcoming.
4. Maredia, M., Goeb, J., Ortega, D., Synt, N.L.K., Zu, A. M. (2022). Preferences for pandemic recovery policies: Perspectives of Myanmar agri-food system participants. Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, forthcoming.
5. Ortega, D., Sun, J., Lin, W. (2022). Identity labels as an instrument to reduce meat demand and encourage consumption of plant-based and cultured meat alternatives in China. Food Policy, 111, 102307.
6. Ortega, D.L, Lin, W., Ward, P. (2022). Consumer Acceptance of Gene-Edited Food Products in China. Food Quality and Preference, 95, 104374.
7. Ufer, D., Ortega, D.L, Wolf, C., Swanson, J., McKendree, M. (2022). Market Acceptance of Animal Welfare-Improving Biotechnology: Gene-Editing and Immunocastration in U.S. Pork”. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, 47(2), 444-461.

Iowa State University

Yoonho Choi and E. Kwan Choi, “Why Exchange Rate Pass-Through Matters in Foreign Exchange Market, “ Economic Modelling, May 2022 (110), 105795 

Yoonho Choi and E. Kwan Choi, “Selling High-Tech Inputs to the Enemy,” April 2021 (234), 108040 

(I do not understand why page numbers are not given. There must have occurred a format change.)

University of Tennessee

1. Yenerall, J.N., K.L. Jensen, X. Chen, and E. Yu. 2022. “COVID-19 Risk Perception and Restaurant Utilization after Easing In-person Restrictions.” Food Policy, 107:102266, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodpol.2021.102206.
2. Sharma, B., E. Yu, B.C. English, and C.N. Boyer. 2021. “Economic Analysis of Developing a Sustainable Aviation Fuel Supply Chain Incorporating with Carbon Credits: A Case Study of the Memphis International Airport.” Frontiers in Energy Research, 9:802, http://doi: 10.3389/fenrg.2021.775389.
3. Jensen, K.L., J.N. Yenerall, D.W. Hughes, C. Trejo-Pech, and L. DeLong. 2022. “Demographics, Alcoholic Beverage Purchase Patterns, and Attitudes Driving Hard Cider Expenditures.” Journal of Food Products Marketing, 28(5):228-241.
4. DeLong, K.L. and C. Trejo-Pech. 2022. “Factors Affecting Sugar-Containing-Product Prices.” Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 54(2): 334-356. https://doi.org/10.1017/aae.2022.12
5. Smith, K.V.¹, L. DeLong, A.P. Griffith, C.N. Boyer, C. Martinez, S. Schexnayder, and R.T. Trout Fryxell. 2022. “Costs of Horn Fly (Diptera: Muscidae) Control in Tennessee and Texas, 2016.” Journal of Economic Entomology, 115(1): 371-380. https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/toab239
6. Cheng, H., D.M. Lambert, L. DeLong, and K.L. Jensen. 2022. “Controlling for Inattention and Availability Bias in Attribute Premium Estimation for a Biobased Product.” Agricultural Economics, 53: 274-288. https://doi.org/10.1111/agec.12679
7. Muhammad, A, M Prince, KL DeLong, T Gill (2022) “Effects of Timing, Customer, and Location on Smallholder Broiler Sales in Rwanda” Journal of Applied Poultry Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.japr.2022.100268
8. Muhammad, A, & J Thompson (2022) “Whiskey, Brexit, and the Trade War” The International Trade Journal. https://doi.org/10.1080/08853908.2022.2111006
9. Muhammad, A, SA Smith, & JH Grant (2022) “Can China Meet its Purchase Obligations Under the Phase One Trade Agreement?” Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy 44: 1392-1408. https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13180
10. Muhammad, A, & A Countryman (2021) “Safeguard Measures and Fresh Produce Trade: The Case of U.S. Blueberry Imports” Q Open. qoab018. https://doi.org/10.1093/qopen/qoab018

University of Georgia

• Jeong, S., and M. Gopinath. 2022. “International Market Information and Agricultural Commodity Price Dynamics.” Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies (forthcoming).
• Wang, J. Chandrasekaran, F. Haberkorn, Y. Dong, M. Gopinath and F. A. Batarseh, "DeepFarm: AI-Driven Management of Farm Production using Explainable Causality," 2022 IEEE 29th Annual Software Technology Conference (STC), 2022, pp. 27-36,

doi: 10.1109/STC55697.2022.00013.

University of Connecticut

1. Heidi Schweizer, Sandro Steinbach and Xiting Zhuang (2022). “A Portrait of Firms that Trade in Meat Products,” Western Economics Forum, forthcoming.

2. Soojung Ahn, Dongin Kim and Sandro Steinbach (2022). “The Impact of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine on Grain and Oilseed Trade,” Agribusiness: An International Journal, first published online.

3. A Carter, Sandro Steinbach and Xiting Zhuang (2022). “Supply Chain Disruptions and Containerized Agricultural Exports from California Ports,” Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy (first published online).

4. Soojung Ahn and Sandro Steinbach (2022). “The Impact of COVID-19 Trade Measures on Agricultural and Food Trade,” Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy (first published online).

5. Sandro Steinbach (2022). “Port Congestion, Container Shortages, and U.S. Foreign Trade,” Economics Letters, 213: 110392.

Texas A&M

Kafle, Kashi and Yuanhang, Wang. 2022. “Do weather shocks induce migration among small-scale farmers? Evidence from Uganda”. Draft. In preparation for submission to American Journal of Agricultural Economics.

Ohio State University

1. Sheldon, I.M. 2022. “The US’s Power-Based Bargaining and the WTO: Has Anything Really Been Gained?” Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 44(3): 1424-39.

2. Heerman, K., and I.M. Sheldon. 2022. “Sustainable Agricultural Production, Income and Eco-Labelling: What Can Be Learned from a Modern Ricardian Approach.” Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 44(4): 1614-36.

3. Sheldon, I.M. 2022. “Ukraine: The Breadbasket of Europe,” Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspective, Ohio State University.

4. Sheldon, I.M. 2022. “Filing WTO Violation and Non-Violation Complaints: A Possible Solution to China’s Market Access Commitments?”, Working Paper, Andersons Program in International Trade.

5. Chow, D.C.K., and I.M. Sheldon. Forthcoming 2023. “A Private Bargaining and Efficient Breach Approach to the Problem of U.S.-China Trade: Bringing a Non-Violation Case in the WTO.” Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law.

University of Nebraska Lincoln

Azzam, A. and S. Dhoubhadel. 2022. "A Dominant-Duopoly Competitive-Fringe Model of the World Soybean Export Market." International Journal of Trade and Global Markets (in press).