News

DePaula publishes in Environment and Development Economics

Assistant Professor Gil DePaula published an article in the most recent issue of Environment and Development Economics. DePaula authored the article "Comparing market instruments for forest conservation in Brazil using farm-level census data" with Leandro Veloso of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro.

Hayes, Dumortier cited in The 2025 Economic Report of the President

A report co-authored by Professor Dermot Hayes and Jerome Dumortier, a CARD Faculty Collaborator and Professor at Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis, was cited in "The 2025 Economic Report of the President." Hayes and Dumortier were a part of the 68 subject matter experts from 13 academic research institutions across the nation that collaborated for more than two years on the Roads to Removal report.

Ji receives funding for cellphone data research project

Research Scientist Yongjie Ji received a grant from Cornell University for the research project "Developing Standardized Nonmarket Valuation and Benefits Transfer Methods Using Cellphone Location and Foot Traffic Data." Ji will work with Dr. Catherine Kling and Dr. Wendong Zhang, both of whom are former CARD faculty and now at Cornell University. The award is incrementally funded, with $16,655 awarded in the first budget period of 8/1/2024 to 7/31/2025. The grant could total up to $50,000 if funded for two additional years.

Lence announced as AAEA Fellow

Iowa Farmland Values Fall, Breaking Five Year Trend

Commodity prices, interest rates, and input costs helped drive prices down

Media Contacts for the week of 12/1/2024

Professor David Peters was interviewed by Radio Iowa for the article "Research finds big drop in service club membership in Iowa towns." The article details findings from the Iowa Small Town Poll, which found declining membership in fraternal organizations. Peters said "When we compare 1994 to our latest data, which was last year, we see that membership in fraternal organizations---these would be groups like the Kiwanis Club, the Lions Club, Optimists, Rotary, Moose Club…Masons and the Odd Fellows, we found that membership over the last 30 years has fallen by over two-thirds."

New Study Finds Conservation and Farmers' Job Satisfaction are Related

A recent study found that while concern about the negative impacts of climate change can reduce job satisfaction, farmers who have more resilient systems were more likely to report higher job satisfaction.

DePaula publishes in Land Economics

Assistant Professor Guilherme DePaula published in Land Economics. DePaula co-authored the article "The Trade-off between Yield and Nitrogen Pollution under Excessive Rainfall" with Eseul Choi of Economic Research Institute, Bank of Korea, Peter Kyveryga of Iowa State University, and Suzanne Fey of Iowa Soybean Association. The article incorporates the effects of excessive rainfall on corn yield and water pollution into a simple economic model for managing nitrogen. The findings indicate that both optimal nitrogen application rates and environmental damage increase with excessive rainfall; and, as the marginal product of nitrogen increases under excessive rainfall, the cost of controlling nitrogen pollution escalates.

Jacqz publishes in Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists

Assistant Professor Irene Jacqz published in the most recent issue of Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. Jacqz co-authored the article "Electric Vehicle Subsidies and Urban Air Pollution Disparities" with Sarah Johnston of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. The study examines the effects of federal, state, and local electric vehicle subsidy designs and finds that a neighborhood income-targeted policy achieves lower overall reductions in carbon emissions but higher reductions in criteria pollution (NOx and PM2.5) in lower-income neighborhoods.

Chandio receives seed grant

Assistant Professor Rabail Chandio's project "Exploring a Digital Platform for Land Valuation and Agricultural Sustainability" received a $50,000 seed grant through the Digital and Precision Agriculture Applications Funding Opportunity offered through the Office of the Vice President for Research.

Iowa State Land Value Survey News Conference to be held December 17

Ames, IA – A news conference will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, December 17 to announce the results of the 2024 Iowa Land Value Survey conducted by the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development at Iowa State University and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach. The conference will take place in room 0008 of Curtiss Hall on the Iowa State campus in Ames.

Assistant Professor Hongli Feng published in the most recent issue of Scientific Reports. Feng co-authored the article "Assessing systematic biases in farmers’ local weather change perceptions" with Gaurav Arora of Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology.

Crespi authors chapter in Elgar Encyclopedia on the Economics of Competition, Regulation and Antitrust

Professor John Crespi co-authored a chapter in Elgar Encyclopedia on the Economics of Competition, Regulation and Antitrust. Crespi wrote the chapter "Agricultural Cooperatives and marketing Orders" with Professor Richard Sexton of the University of California Davis.

Hayes Recognized as a BIG 12 Faculty of the Year

Dermot Hayes was recognized as the inaugural ISU Big 12 Faculty of the Year. This is the first year the Big 12 Conference has awarded this, and said that the awarded faculty "represent and reflect all the best attributes that make a college campus a bastion for learning and growth". The Faculty Members of the Year were nominated by their institutions in conjunction with Big 12 Faculty Athletics Reps, Provosts, and other university leaders.

Feng, Chen, Du, Mitra present at HERE Workshop

Assistant Professor Hongli Feng, Postdoctoral Research Assistant Jian Chen, and PhD students Zhushan Du and Sanjukta Mitra presented at the Heartland Environmental and Resource Economics Workshop on Saturday, October 26 at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Assistant Professor Rabail Chandio co-authored the article "Government payments and farm debt utilization during the pandemic" in the most recent issue of Agricultural Finance Review. The article examines the heterogeneous relationship between ad-hoc support policies, high government payments, low interest rates and farm debt use across farms of different sizes and across farm operators of different races, genders and experiences to inform the 2024 Farm Bill discussions. Chandio's co-authors are Ani L. Katchova of The Ohio State University and Dipak Subedi and Anil K. Giri of USDA's Economic Research Service.

Research Scientist Phil Gassman published an article in PLoS ONE. Gassman wrote the article "Evaluation of flood metrics across the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin and their relation to flood damages" with Keith E. Schilling, Elliot S. Anderson, and Jerry Mount of the University of Iowa, Kelly Suttles of the Environmental Defense Fund, Natalja Cerkasova of Texas A&M,and Michael J. White and Jeffrey G. Arnold of the US Department of Agriculture Grassland Soil and Water Research Laboratory.

Professor GianCarlo Moschini published an article in American Journal of Agricultural Economics. Moschini co-authored the article "Geographical indications and welfare: Evidence from US wine demand" with Raj Chandra of Amazon and Gabriel E. Lade of Macalester College. Their article examines the effectiveness and impact of geographical indicators by studying consumers' valuation of US wine appellations within a structural model of wine demand. The authors find that over the period of interest, the welfare gain attributable to US geographic origin designation is estimated at about $5.37 billion, with wine producers and retailers capturing ~78% of this surplus.

Professor Lee Schulz recently contributed an article to Wallaces Farmer. Schulz wrote the article "More price data on beef-on-dairy crossbreds now available" in which he examines market price differences in beef-breed, dairy-breed, and beef-on-dairy breed cattle.

Postdoctoral Research Associate T. Jake Smith and Professor GianCarlo Moschini had their article "Major impacts of the US Renewable Fuel Standard on corn and soybean cultivation" published in Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.