DRAFT OF MINUTES

S-1062 Fall Meeting

October 2-3, 2014

Royal Sonesta

New Orleans, LA

S-1062 Members Present and Institutional Affiliations

NAMES / INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATIONS
Osei Yeboah / North Carolina A&T State University
Lynn Kennedy / LSU Ag. Center
Norbert Wilson / Auburn University
Andrew Schmitz / University of Florida
James Seale / University of Florida
Mickey Paggi / Fresno State
David Bullock / University of Illinois
Amanda Leister / Colorado State University
Eric Young / North Carolina State
Parr Rosson / Texas A&M University
Flynn Adcock / Texas A&M University
Luis Ribera / Texas A&M University
Wyatt Thompson / University of Missouri
Darren Hudson / Texas Tech University
Henry Kinnucan / Auburn University
T. Edward Yu / University of Tennessee

A. Morning Activities, Thursday, November 21, 2013

Introduction and Discussion of the Agenda:

The meeting was called to order by Chairman Norbert Wilson, Auburn 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 which included state reports, officers for next year, and plan of action for a conference in 2015.

State Reports:

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. FAPRI researchers also collaborate with international researchers (Ireland, UK, European Commission, other EU nations, Turkey and nations in Africa) to develop models for market projections and policy analysis. FAPRI-MU launched a one-week PE model training course in July, 2014 for nine participants to learn commodity market modeling.

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. This is an international effort to understand the implications of EU policy. David also conducts research on precision technology and technological advancements in Argentina and Brazil as well as a variety of work in African nations.

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.

Parr Rosson, Flynn Adcock, Luis Ribera: Texas A&M University has hired new faculty in the areas of marine economics, production economics, industrial organization, property rights and the economics of the oil and gas industry. Students have also participated in study abroad opportunities in China. TAMU received a grant from USAID to work in the area of conflict and development in an effort to find innovative solutions to solve hunger. Ribera and Adcock are working on an AFRI project related to Food Safety. Other work includes transportation of agricultural commodities between the US and Mexico as well as the US dairy industry’s employment of migrant labor in production operations.

Darren Hudson: The Center for International Competitiveness at Texas Tech University assesses the competitiveness of US exports of cotton, corn, sorghum and other commodities. The impact of China’s participation in the global cotton market is also a key research topic covered by the center. 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. Students at Texas Tech also have the opportunity to study abroad in Brazil.

Lynn Kennedy: Graduate students at LSU are working on a gravity framework to model the effects of corruption on trade as well as modeling the effects of trade liberalization on rice markets. Lynn has also worked on an ERS cooperative agreement that investigates trade between the US and Mexico in sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Other work includes the impacts of a TPP agreement on international rice markets.

Osei Yeboah: North Carolina A&T State University conducts research on a variety of international issues including the welfare and trade impacts of mandatory country of origin labeling (COOL). Research related to trade and productivity in African nations includes a cross country study that examines the determinants of multifactor productivity in Africa. Osei has also been active in research that investigates the value chain of grain markets.

Andy Schmitz and Jim Seale: Research at the University of Florida includes a recently finished book on Kazakhstan, Russia and the Ukraine, impacts of greening and canker in Florida’s citrus sector, sugar and sugar substitutes, US tobacco policy, and a variety of work in the area of Benefit –Cost Analysis.

Henry Kinnucan: Henry’s work focuses on the effects of trade diversion and anti-dumping by employing a residual demand model. He has also completed work on price analysis.

Mickey Paggi: Mickey has been involved with work related to the Food Safety and Modernization Act and its impact on imports, and a project relating the effects of climate change policy on the dairy industry and dairy trade. Mickey’s research portfolio includes work with collaborators on drought, the potential effects of TTIP and TPP on Latin American countries, energy beets, pesticides and trade, KORUS, and Southeast Asia cotton demand. The Center for Agribusiness also has announced a new position in the center.

T. Edward Yu:

Edward has been working extensively on biomass feedstock development for switchgrass in Tennessee and environmental impacts of the supply chain.

Norbert Wilson: Currently on sabbatical at Cornell. He has worked on trade & food safety, NTMs, differences in trade policy effects on trade, bioeconomic modeling of the peanut sector, and how zero tolerance regulation affects trade. While on sabbatical Norbert is working on behavioral economics and food choice, food waste related to labeling of expiration dates.

The meeting then turned to discuss topics of importance for the group in the coming year.

Conference: David Bullock described the AFRI Conference Grant that has been received for the group, which includes funding of $49,600.00

David and the conference committee plan to advertise for the conference, which will be held in November next year in Netherlands as a sub-conference within GMCC15 (which meets every two years.) There will be competitive travel stipends awarded for papers accepted for the conference that relate to TTIP and TPP and relationship between that and GMOs. Accepted papers will also be featured in a Special Issue in the Journal of Food, Agriculture, and Industrial Organization

Mickey Paggi: Gave a presentation on the drought in California and explained how the drought impacts on agriculture may affect trade.

In summary:

1.  Major problems in natural resource management (water) will be a continued challenge

2.  Potential changes in crop mix have implications for industry and linkage to global markets

3.  As crop mix decline overall, export market dependence may intensify

Break for Lunch

Henry Kinnucan- Presentation on the effects of trade diversion and anti-dumping by employing a residual demand model.

Key Points:

·  Import supply elasticities are important in determining the effectiveness of antidumping measures

·  Antidumping measures are most effective when the named import supply is perfectly elastic and unnamed countries is perfectly inelastic and the opposite leads to ineffective antidumping measures

David Bullock- Presentation on the effects of TTIP on Norway and Switzerland.

Key Points:

·  Current research including PE and CGE models expect significant gains resulting from a TTIP agreement

·  TTIP is different than typical trade agreements in that the key focus is reducing input costs of producers

·  Current economic models are insufficient to assess the economic and political impacts of the potential TTIP agreement

Luis Ribera- Presentation on fruit and vegetable trade between the US and Mexico with specific detail focused on transportation.

Key points:

·  US is becoming more dependent on fruits and vegetables

·  Food safety is a major concern

·  Increased produce trade with Mexico is expected

·  More infrastructure and personnel needed at the border

Friday, October 3, 2014

Norbert reconvened the meeting to order at 9:00 a.m. and members began discussing the location for the next meeting. San Juan, Puerto Rico was the choice for the next meeting in the end of March. The Intercontinental Hotel in Carolina, Puerto Rico was suggested as a good hotel. The middle to the end of March was decided as the preferred timeframe for the next meeting (perhaps March 26-28?).

Eric Young: Gave a summary of the recent Experiment Station Directors Meeting. There is a good chance that both sides will agree on an omnibus bill for appropriations, which would be a good thing. NIFA is expected to continue with all lines of funding related to land grants with continued or increased funding levels, AFRI funding goes up by 7%, Hatch and Smith-Lever both increase slightly. The meeting included a lot of discussion related to the Farm Bill. Industry is beginning to have a lot of say in what spending within the Farm Bill is allocated to. The Foundation for Food and Agriculture, a separate research foundation from USDA, has their board directors in place. $200 million given to foundation as a one-time allocation, and now must find funding from industry or other private donors. Once the foundation matches the $200 million given from Congress, can start allocating grants. The intention is to engage industry. There are ex-officio, non-voting USDA members of the board. There is a request for comments to allow any commodity organization to propose to AFRI RFA’s that are fully funded by the commodity group and have AFRI conduct the grant process.

S-1062 Project specific: Termination report is in process. The impact statement from the termination report will trigger the impact writer at universities to create impact brochures and that will also go into the impact statement database that is for national research and extension. www.LandGrantImpacts.org. This database is a searchable by tags, fields and free text.

Eric described International Germ Plasma Exchange- FAO treaty sitting in the Senate to be ratified. Research directors discussed the ramifications of this treaty. Dictates how genetic material is to be traded among countries. There are provisions in this treaty that are negative for US Universities and plant breeders. If the US ratifies the treaty, then we will have an opportunity to negotiate to change the terms of the treaty. There is a list of 64 major commodities covering almost all major crops except: soybeans, peanuts and cotton. Are there any ramifications related to trade for these three commodities that are exempt from the treaty?

Darren: Not a large effect on cotton lint given the fact that the seed is removed before the lint is traded.

Norbert updated Eric with the group’s plans for presenting food security issues at the SAEA meetings as well as the conference regarding TTIP, TPP and GMOs.

Norbert: Executive Committee Leadership was nominated and elected for 2014-2015

Director: Lynn Kennedy

Secretary: Amanda Leister

Chair: Luis Ribera

Parr Rosson: Thanks and congratulations to Norbert for successful leadership of the group for the past four years. His service has been exceptional and much appreciated.

11:00 Adjourn

Respectfully submitted,

Amanda M. Leister

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