Campuses:
University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler and Allen S. Levine, Dean of the College of Food, Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, cordially invite you and your guests to join them in recognizing the 2012 Laureates of the Siehl Prize for Excellence in Agriculture:
Thursday, May 24, 2012
3:30 p.m. Ceremony
4:30 p.m. Reception
McNamara Alumni Center
200 Oak Street S. E.
Minneapolis, MN 55455
RSVP by May 17, 2012 online at z.umn.edu/SiehlPrizeRSVP
or contact us at 612-624-0822 or kling175@umn.edu
Kenneth M. Quinn, former U.S. Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia, is president of the World Food Prize Foundation. The World Food Prize, awarded each October, honors people who have improved the quality, quantity or availability of food in the world.
Inspired by the vision of World Food Prize founder Norman Borlaug, Ambassador Quinn has worked tirelessly to expand the size and stature of the Prize and related events.
During his 32-year diplomatic career, he served in numerous roles for the U.S. State Department. As one of the government’s foremost experts on Indochina, he is widely acknowledged as the first person to report, in 1974, on the genocidal policies of the Khmer Rouge. Twenty years later, while serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, his plan of agricultural enhancements and rural roads led to the final eradication of the Khmer Rouge.
The Siehl Prize for Excellence in Agriculture was created in the early 1990s by a generous gift from New Ulm-area livestock breeder and businessman Eldon Siehl, a dedicated philanthropist who had a lifelong interest in agricultural systems. Siehl was concerned that people were losing touch with their agrarian roots and wanted his gift to ensure that achievements in agriculture would be recognized and celebrated. The award recognizes living Minnesota individuals who have made extraordinary contributions to the production of food and alleviation of hunger in three separate categories: production, agribusiness, and knowledge.
Recipients receive a $50,000 award as well as a sculpture and lapel pin designed by Minnesota artist Thomas Rose especially for the Siehl Prize.
Globalization, Macroeconomic Imbalances and South America’s Potential to be the World’s Food Basket organized by Terry Roe (University of Minnesota) and Munisamy Gopinath (Oregon State University) and sponsored by the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium, The Farm Foundation, and the Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy, University of Minnesota, will be one of the Pre-conference Workshops offered on August 18, 2012 as part of the 28th International Conference of Agricultural Economists (ICAE): The Global Bio-Economy in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, August 18-24, 2012.
Registration for this workshop is included in the general registration fees for the ICAE/IAAE Conference.
Please join us on Friday, April 20 at 2:00 p.m. in room 105 of the Cargill Building to remember and celebrate the life and accomplishments of Dr. Willard Cochrane who passed away on March 5 at the age of 97. Willard's obituary is available on the Star Tribune website. We will gather in the atrium at 2:00 and move to room 105 at 2:30 for a program of remembrance by Willard's family and colleagues. Afterward, we will share some appetizers and beverages to visit and reconnect.
Those who are interested in offering a contribution to the University of Minnesota in memory of Willard, may do so here. We are encouraging people to give to the Department of Applied Economics Alumni, Faculty and Friends Scholarship.
We hope to see you at this special event.
McNamara Alumni Center on the
University of Minnesota East Bank Campus
Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics at
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will present:
Breakout Sessions:
General and Student Presenters:
$90 until March 19, 2012; $110 - March 20-30, 2012
Graduate Students:
$30 until March 19, 2012; $40 - March 20-30, 2012
http://faculty.apec.umn.edu/pglewwe/Minnconf/index.html
Sponsored by
CIFAP - Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy
University of Minnesota - Department of Applied Economics
Please Join the Graduate Club of Applied Economics in Celebrating the 2012 International Dinner.
This annual traditional event celebrates the global spirit of our department through an internationally themed potluck dinner, musical performances, original trivia and an evening of fun.
Please bring a tasty dish from your home country (or any country!) to share with your colleagues. There will be prizes for the best dish in each category, so be creative and ignore your inner-economist incentive to free ride!
Thursday, April 12 2012
Cocktails: 5pm
Dinner: 6pm
North Star Ballroom, St Paul Student Center
To RSVP for FREE, please fill out the following International Dinner RSVP Form by Tuesday, April 10th! (or $5 at the door)
Alcoholic beverages will be available at an additional cost of $5 per person paid in advance by Tuesday, April 10th! (payment details on RSVP confirmation page - use this link to pay by credit card or PayPal account) or $10 at the door. You need to pay $5 (or $10 at the door) only once for unlimited drink.
As part of our international theme at the dinner, we are seeking photos of our own APEC community working, studying and living abroad. Please consider contributing your photos and international music to David (smit1260@umn.edu).
If your last name begins with:
ROOM CHANGE - Now in Room 166 Continuing Education and Conference Center! The Food Industry Center Leader in the Classroom series brings to campus current food industry leaders to meet students and those interested in the food sector to talk about their firms, their career experience, and their industry perspectives. The next event in the series is coming up Wednesday, April 11 from 11:30 am - 1:30 pm. Featuring Clint Fall, President of the First District Association. The event is free but registration required.
Politics and Public BudgetingSteve Kelley, former Minnesota Senator, and Tim Penny, former U.S. House of Representative, will lead a seminar on public budgeting. This is a great opportunity to gain insight into the public budgeting process.
Where: Cowles Auditorium, Thursday, March 8 from 4:00PM to 5:15PM. Humphrey School of Public Affairs, West Bank Campus.
RSVPs to bren0191@umn.edu will help us in our planning, but please attend even if you haven’t responded ahead of time. Please forward this invitation to any of your interested colleagues.
Steve Kelley served in the Minnesota Senate 1997-2006 and the Minnesota House of Representatives 1993-1996. He was chair of the Senate Education Committee for four years. He has also run for statewide office. Currently he is senior fellow at the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs and the director of the Center of Science, Technology, and Public Policy.
During his service as a legislator, Kelley served on the Executive Committee of the National Conference of State Legislatures and co-chaired its task force on the No Child Left Behind Act. He was selected to participate in the Toll Fellows leadership program operated by the Council of State Governments.
Kelley received his B.A. from Williams College graduating cum laude in 1975 and later earned his J.D. from the Columbia University School of Law in 1978.
Penny represented Minnesota’s First Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1982-1994.
Throughout his congressional career, Penny placed an emphasis on budget issues. He chaired the Democratic Budget Group as well as the Porkbusters Coalition. Previously, he was a member of the Minnesota State Senate from 1976-82. In 2001, he was appointed to President Bush's bipartisan commission on Social Security.
Currently, Penny serves as Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation’s (SMIF) president & CEO. He is the co-author of three books: Common Cents, The 15 Biggest Lies in Politics, and Payment Due.
Evidence Driven Policy for Addressing Obesity:
What Does Economics Contribute?
Food Economics Division Director
Economic Research Service
February 24, 2012
2:00 pm
Event is free and open to the public. Video recording of the lecture available on this link: Mediasite. Photo Gallery from the lecture here.
Cargill Building for Microbial and Plant Genomics, Room 105
1500 Gortner Avenue
University of Minnesota, St. Paul Campus
Abstract: Growing health care costs and rising rates of obesity have focused public policy attention on the role of diet in health outcomes. Public health advocates have identified “best practices” for reducing obesity, but many of these entail substantial costs. Some of these practices are being implemented in federal policy, and others have been adopted by local communities. Economic research is emerging that provides insights into the costs and unanticipated consequences of these best practices, and also offers some alternative approaches that may be less costly or more effective in encouraging healthy diets. This lecture will review what is known about the economics of obesity and diet-related disease, and the economic evidence base for four high profile public policy interventions that are widely debated: food taxes, improvements in food access, calorie information provision in restaurants, and standards for foods served in school lunches.
Additional information about the speaker: Laurian J. Unnevehr is Director of the Food Economics Division in the Economic Research Service of USDA. She manages a division of over 50 professional economists who conduct research on food demand, food assistance, diet and health, food safety, and food markets. She also administers ERS investments in consumer data and in extramural research on food assistance programs. Laurian is recognized for original contributions in measuring the consumer benefits from agricultural research, the changing structure of U.S. food demand, and the cost-benefit trade-offs in food health regulation. She has received the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) awards for Quality of Communication and for Publication of Enduring Quality, recognizing contributions in food policy and food demand. In 2009, she was made a Fellow of the AAEA.
Prior to joining ERS in 2008, Laurian was on the active faculty of the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) from 1985 to 2008, and she is now a Professor Emerita. She has served on the National Academies’ Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources, as well as the USDA’s National Agricultural Research, Extension, Education, and Economics Advisory Board. Prior to joining the UIUC faculty, she was a Rockefeller Social Science Post-Doctoral Fellow at the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines from 1982-1985. Laurian received her Ph.D. and M.A. from the Food Research Institute, Stanford University and her B.A. in Economics from the University of California at Davis.
Our favorite librarian, Louise Letnes, is retiring on January 11, 2012 after 33 years of service to the University of Minnesota.
Though we will be sad to see her go, we want to take a moment to celebrate her University career and to wish her well as she enters retirement.
Please come to a reception for Louise on Monday, December 19th at 2:30 p.m. in room 119 Ruttan Hall. Comments will be made at 3:00 p.m. and all are welcome to say a few words at this time.
Please come help us celebrate!
This gathering of the Food Industry Leader in the Classroom series will feature Mike Erlandson, Vice President for Government Affairs at SUPERVALU.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
11:30 am - 1:00 pm
Minnesota Commons Room
St. Paul Student Center
University of Minnesota, St. Paul Campus
Join us on Tuesday, November 8th for the first in a series of Food Industry Leader in the Classroom luncheons featuring Mike Erlandson, Vice President for Government Affairs for SUPERVALU.
Mr. Erlandson will provide an introduction to the company, discuss issues the company is currently facing, and take your questions. This luncheon is free, but registration is required. Seating is limited to 48 people and is first come first serve.
To register, visit our online registration page.
Developments in Non-Market Environmental Valuation: An Australian Perspective
Professor and Director, Environmental Economics Research Hub
The Australian National University
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
2.00 p.m.
Event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP here to let us know you are planning to attend.
Cargill Building for Microbial and Plant Genomics, Room 105
1500 Gortner Avenue
University of Minnesota, St. Paul Campus
Reception will directly follow the lecture.
Additional information about the speaker: Jeff Bennett is professor in the Crawford School of Economics and Government at the Australian National University. He has a Bachelor of Agricultural Economics degree from the University of New England and his PhD is from the ANU. Jeff has over 30 years experience teaching, researching and consulting in the fields of environmental, resource and agricultural economics. His specific areas of interest are non-market valuation and the role of markets in environmental conservation. Prof. Bennett is a Distinguished Fellow of the Australian Agricutlural and Resource Economics Society, was President of that Society and also co-edited the Society's journal for the past three years. He is an elected member of the Mont Pelerin Society and sits on the Advisory Board of the Centre for Independent Studies.
Abstract:
A number of recent high-profile Australian environmental policy decisions have been informed by stated preference non-market valuation studies. However this type of analysis remains controversial both in policy circles and within the economics profession. Some of the key factors that are driving the controversy include the impact on value estimates of differing scopes and scales of policy initiatives, the incorporation of different types of uncertainty, variations in questioning format and information complexity. These factors have been investigated in a number of Australian environmental policy contexts. These include irrigation and vegetation management within specific New South Wales and Tasmanian river systems as well as the whole Murray-Darling Basin, climate change, biodiversity conservation and the protection of the Great Barrier Reef.
Sponsored by:
The Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy,
The Fesler-Lampert Chair in Ecological and Environmental Economics; and
The Department of Applied Economics
Friday, October 21, 2011, 10:30 am and 2:00 pm, Ruttan Hall Room 119
Congratulations to Daniel Pearson who is the 2010-11 alumni award recipient.
Were you a student in the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics in the seventies? If so, you may know this year’s recipient of the Department’s Outstanding Alumni Award! Daniel R. Pearson received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Agricultural Economics in 1975 and 1977. Dan currently serves as a member of the U.S. International Trade Commission, to which he was nominated by President Bush in 2003. He served as Chair of the Commission 2006-2008 and Vice Chair 2008-2010.
Dan will share his insights from his position and personal reflections in two presentations on Friday, October 21, 2011 in room 119 Ruttan Hall (formerly Classroom Office Building), 1994 Buford Ave. in St. Paul.
10:30 a.m. - Trade and Development Seminar
“Economics and Global Trade: Issues of Interest to the United States and China”
2:00 p.m. - Award Commencement and Presentation
“Applying Economics to Public Policies: Observations from the Front Lines”
Reception to follow the presentation and comments.
We hope you will join us for this event! The event is free, but we ask that you RSVP for planning purposes. We are always looking for opportunities to honor alumni in this way. If you have suggestions on future award recipients, please share that with us as well.
Friday, October 7, 2011, 1:00 - 5:00 pm
Maroon & Gold Room, McNamara Alumni Center, Minneapolis Campus
Registration is Free, but required.
Food Policy Challenges and Opportunities 2011 and Beyond.
A Political Economy Perspective (PowerPoint slides)
H. E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy,
J. Thomas Clark Professor of Entrepreneurship, and
Professor of Applied Economics at Cornell University
Friday, Sept. 30, 2011
2:00 p.m.
Event is free and open to the public. Please RSVP here to let us know you are planning to attend.
Cargill Building for Microbial and Plant Genomics, Room 105
1500 Gortner Avenue
University of Minnesota, St. Paul Campus
Reception will directly follow the lecture.
Additional information about the speaker: Professor Per Pinstrup-Andersen is the H. E. Babcock Professor of Food, Nutrition and Public Policy, and the J. Thomas Clark Professor of Entrepreneurship at Cornell University, plus Professor of Agricultural Economics at Copenhagen University. He is the 2001 World Food Prize Laureate. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and a Fellow and past president of the American Agricultural Economics Association. He served 10 years as Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute, and seven years as a Department Head; seven years as an economist at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Colombia; and six years as a Distinguished Professor at Wageningen University.
His research includes economic analyses of food and nutrition policy, globalization and poverty, agricultural development and research and technology policy. Dr. Pinstrup-Andersen’s publications include more than 400 books, refereed journal articles, papers and book chapters, including recent books on Ethics, Hunger and Globalization, Agricultural Trade Liberalization and the African Food System and its Interaction with Human Health and Nutrition. A Food Policy textbook is forthcoming (September 2011).
Sponsored by:
The Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy
&
The Department of Applied Economics
It's that time again to welcome our new students! The Welcome Picnic will be on September 1st, at 5pm at the Highland Park Picnic Pavilion. Please return the attached form to 248-A Ruttan Hall (mailbox).
Information about Highland Park Picnic Pavilion venue.
CIFAP SEMINAR, Wednesday, August 10, at 1:30 pm in 119 Ruttan Hall - Yacov Tsur, Dept. of Agricultural Economics & Management, Hebrew University, will present "Time Perspective and Climate Change Policy." Pdf of paper.
Abstract:
The tendency to foreshorten time units as we peer further into the future provides an explanation for hyperbolic discounting at an inter-generational time scale. We study implications of hyperbolic discounting for climate change policy, when the probability of a climate-induced catastrophe depends on the stock of greenhouse gasses. We characterize the set of Markov perfect equilibria (MPE) of the inter-generational game amongst a succession of policymakers. Each policymaker reflects her generation’s preferences, including its hyperbolic discounting. For a binary action game, we compare the MPE set to a ‘‘restricted commitment’’ benchmark. We compare the associated ‘‘constant-equivalent discount rates’’ and the willingness to pay to control climate change with assumptions and recommendations in the Stern Review on Climate Change.
"...My picture of the world is drawn in perspective... I apply my perspective not merely to space but also to time" — Ramsey.
SPECIAL SEMINAR, Friday, August 5, from 12:00 noon to 1:30 pm in 230 Ruttan Hall – Paul Fackler, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, North Carolina State University, will present "Solving Dynamic Environmental and Resource Management Problems."
Abstract:
This workshop will discuss the use of dynamic programming to address dynamic environmental and resource management problems. Recently developed software (using Matlab) will be highlighted. In addition to standard DP models, the talk will cover models with multiple stages, spatial models, models with uncertainty in parameters and models with uncertainty in the value of the state variables. To tie the presentation together, these various approaches will be illustrated using the management of an invasive species as an example.
