Summer is typically a quiet time in the department and on campus...

Many faculty and graduate students are busy conducting relevant research. Many make plans to travel to conferences to present their work. And, of course, most of our undergraduate students are off doing other things during the summer break. This summer, however, has been particularly busy for the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics.

How so?

For starters, we welcomed aboard Michael Cary, who recently completed his Ph.D. in Resource Economics at West Virginia University. Michael is a research assistant professor, although his appointment includes research and Extension duties; much of his work will be with our Data Science for the Public Good (DSPG) program. In addition, he will work with Extension agents, specialists, and others in and out of Virginia Cooperative Extension looking to use Big Data methods to enhance community economic development, viability, and well-being. His other research interests include air pollution and the implications of policies to mitigate its effects. We are pleased to have him join our ranks.

We also welcome Nicolas Legrand as a research assistant professor affiliated with the Center for Agricultural Trade. In 2016, Nicolas completed his Ph.D. in Economics at the Paris Institute of Technology. In 2017 he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Empirical Economics at the Toulouse School of Economics. Nicolas is also a permanent Research Fellow at the National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRAE). He has done extensive work on the role of storage in commodity markets and commodity price volatility. We are pleased that Nicolas will officially be joining us later this summer. 

Lastly, we are pleased to welcome Pedro Querioz, who will start in August as an instructor in agribusiness. In 2021, Pedro completed his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Since July 2021, he has served as an agribusiness lecturer at Clemson University, where he taught classes in introductory agricultural economics, agricultural sales management, agricultural marketing, and intermediate microeconomic theory. In his role at Clemson, he also served as the academic advisor to many agribusiness majors. His research interests include land use, remote sensing, and the impact of technical change on agricultural production. We are pleased to welcome him aboard.

In other news, we have been exploring forming agreements with other regional colleges and universities to allow their students to complete a 4+1 master's degree with us. While these agreements are still in process, qualified students at other institutions will be allowed to dual enroll in our M.S. program at an appropriate time. These agreements are a win-win for all parties involved. Importantly, we will develop new pipelines for qualified candidates to complete our M.S. program, allowing them to become alumni of our excellent department and university.

We are also enjoying an increase in enrollment. The department expects over 70 new students, including first-year students and transfers, to join us this fall. These numbers are a record for us, and we could not be happier. As alumni of our department, if you know high school students we should recruit, please let us know by filling out our short interest form. 

Our department is growing and doing many exciting things. I look forward to giving you more updates in upcoming newsletters. 

Reports and Forecasts

Efforts to restore a healthy Chesapeake Bay have operated under a relatively simple assumption: Ongoing actions to reduce nutrient pollution on the landscape would improve water quality. But a new report says results are both more difficult and uncertain than originally thought. Read what Kurt Stephenson, AAEC professor and co-author of the report, had to say. 

In its World Agricultural Supply & Demand Estimates report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture analysts forecast record global soybean production for the 2023/24 crop year at nearly 410.6 million tons, up almost 11% from last year.  Watch the interview with Jason Grant, W.G. Wysor Professor of Agriculture and Director of the Center for Agricultural Trade.