Department News

Rural Economic Outlook Conference Features Diverse Speakers: Over 150 people attended this year’s Rural Economic Outlook Conference to hear Dick Crowder, Virginia Tech, Josh Svaty, Environmental Protection Agency, Terry Detrick, American Farmers and Ranchers Insurance Agency, Chad Wilkerson, Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, and others discuss the trends and expectations affecting the rural economy and agriculture. PowerPoint presentations from the conference are available at http://agecon.okstate.edu/extension/ruralconference.asp

Faculty Member Receives ASA Award . Associate professor Tracy Boyer has received the 2012 Educational Materials Awards Program Certificate of Excellence from the American Society of Agronomy. The certificate was presented “in recognition for the development of outstanding educational materials in the category of Publications 16 Pages and Under.” Dr. Boyer prepared “Simple Irrigation Audit for Home Lawns in Oklahoma” along with co-authors J. Moss, J. Haase, J. Vogel and D. Martin in DASNR.

Student Chosen as Member of Homecoming Royalty: Agricultural economics senior Shannon Watson (Osceola, Missouri) is one of the top five women chosen as members of this year’s OSU homecoming court. One of these women will be crowned OSU Homecoming Queen for 2012 at half time of the Iowa State football game.

Center Receives Federal Grant: The New Product Development Center at OSU for which agricultural economics professor Dan Tilley is associate director, has received a $1.9 million grant from the federal government to assist with job creation in the supply chain and market channel in the oil and gas industry. The grant is part of twenty million dollars awarded to ten public-private partnerships across America to help revitalize American manufacturing and encourage companies to invest in the United States. The New Product Development Center is a partner of the Oklahoma Manufacturing Alliance, the OSU Applications Engineering Program, the SBA program at the Center for International Trade and Development, and the Oklahoma Department of Commerce.

Congratulations to the Department of Agricultural Economics newly named Top Twenty Freshmen! Top Twenty Women include Sarah Coffey, Ag Economics, Davis, and Chacey Schoeppel, Agribusiness (Pre-Law), Fairview. Top Twenty Men include Chris Stockton, Agribusiness with Marketing focus, Duncan; Brian Highfill, Agribusiness (Pre-Law), Enid; Dalton Downing, Agribusiness (Pre-Law), Grove; and Brandon Baumgarten, Agribusiness (Pre-Law), Oilton.

Faculty Member Quoted in News Article: Agricultural Economics Assistant Professor Jody Campiche has been quoted regarding the Farm Bill delay by the U.S. Congress in a recent issue of the Stillwater News Press. Dr. Campiche has been providing analysis and training on the Farm Bill over the past few years. Read More.

Faculty Members Honored for Years of Service: Seven agricultural economics faculty members are being honored at the Fall Faculty Meeting with years-of-service awards for tenured faculty. Those faculty members receiving awards are: Shida Henneberry and Art Stoecker (25 years); Notie Lansford (20 years); Rodney Holcomb (15 years); Chanjin Chung (10 years) and Shannon Ferrell and Kellie Raper (5 years).

Graduate Student’s Article Featured in e-newsletter: The current edition of the e-newsletter Daily Yonder contains an article by agricultural economics graduate student Trey Malone and associate professor Dr. Brian Whitacre on “How Rural is Our Local Food Policy?” Read More

Ag Econ Current Issues Presentations Available for Viewing: The Agricultural Economics Current Issues presentations for Extension Educators are available for all to view on this website. Recent topics include a farm bill update, estimates for 2011 ACRE payments, crop/forage insurance deadlines, current trends in Oklahoma land values, timely software decision tools, drought management tools and resources, a current market outlook, a “Water Law” update, web presence strategies, and trends with beginning farmers. Click here for more information.

Endowed Chairs, Professors, and Donors Recognized at DASNR Event: Ten endowed faculty chairs and professors in the agricultural economics department were recognized recently, along with the donors who have established those chairs and professorships, at a medallion ceremony held by DASNR. Read more.

New Scholarships: Donors to the OSU Department of Agricultural Economics provided funding for five new scholarships this year. These new scholarships brought the total number of scholarships presented at the 2011 Agricultural Economics Department and Aggie‐X Club Scholarships and Awards Banquet to 103. These scholarships, totaling $92,950, were handed out to 70 students.

Students Honored: Five agricultural economics students were honored at the banquet for being selected as 2012 Outstanding Seniors of OSU by the Alumni Association: Jamie Andrews, Haley Baumgardner, Randy Gordon, Blake Jackson, Carly Schnaithman. These five individuals represent one‐third or 33% of the 15 students selected) These students, plus Alice White were previously named as Seniors of Significance for 2011‐2012.

SAEA Awards: Dr. Francis Epplin was presented the Southern Agricultural Economics Association (SAEA) Lifetime Achievement Award, and Dr. Derrell Peel received the Extension Individual Program Award at the SAEA meeting in February.

NACDEP Awards: A DVD, “County Government: Government Closest to the People,“ developed by the County Training Program won both the South Region and the National “Educational Technology ‐ Team Award” at the National Association of Community Development Extension Professionals (NACDEP) Conference.

Dr. Woods Honored: The Southern Rural Development Center has honored Dr. Mike Woods, agricultural economics department head, as the 2012 recipient of the Bonnie Teater Community Development Educator Lifetime Achievement Award.

Read more about these stories and others in the Spring 2012 Ag Econ Newsletter.

Departmental Administration News: Dr. Mike Woods began serving as Interim Dean and Vice-President of the Division of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources on August 1. While he serves DASNR in this capacity, Dr. Damona Doye is serving as Acting Head of the Ag Econ Department.