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A Letter from Our Department Head
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Welcome to the inaugural newsletter for the alumni and friends of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Mississippi State University. Our goal is to bring you the latest news and information involving our students, faculty, staff and alumni. We hope you enjoy it and encourage you to share it with others. Great things are happening in the Department of Agricultural Economics at MSU.
Keith Coble, Interim Department Head
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- Faculty Member, Dr. Alba Collart, has an Article in the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Magazine Choices
- Dr. Brian Williams, Assistant Extension Professor, gave testimony to U.S. Congress in April on Agri-terrorism
- Dave Thomas, 1987 MSU Ag Econ graduate, is named College of Agriculture & Life Sciences (CALS) 2016 Alumnus of the Year
- Faculty Presenters and Ag Econ Quiz Bowl Team represent MSU Ag Econ at the Southern Agricultural Economics Association (SAEA) Annual Meeting 2016
- Evan Gregory, Ag Business senior, received Precision Ag Scholarship
- Dr Alan Barefield, Extension Professor, was awarded a Schilling Grant from Center for Teaching & Learning (CTL)
- Caroline Kelsoe, Environmental Economics & Management (EEM ) undergrad, will participate in MS Water Security Institute this summer
- Ethan Goggans, 2015 Ag Econ Alum, accepted a position with Community Bank as an Ag Lender
- Walt Stephens, a 2007 Ag Econ Alumni, is named Mississippi Agricultural Economics Association (MAEA) President for 2016
- International Studies Minor in Agriculture Economics now offered
- Grad student, Will Maples, and Drs. Harri, Riley, Tack and Williams presented a paper at a USDA Cooperative Research and Extension Services Regional Committee meeting in St. Louis in April.
- Dr. Alba Collart, Assistant Extension Professor, received a grant from the MS Dept. of Agriculture & Commerce for her research on Enumerating Sweet Potato Marketability based on Consumer Perception of Skinning
- Dr. Jesse Tack, Associate Professor, is the author a Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) top 10 story of the year. The story focuses on the effect of warming temperatures on US wheat yields.
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Our 2016 National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) Team's product, a diaper using chicken feathers as the absorption component, makes it to the semi-finals at NAMA competition in April.
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Left Naomi Taylor, Betty Thomas, Kaylee Wells, and Ethan will all be in DC this summer for the Demmer Scholars Program through Michigan State University.
Right Ethan Cartwright is an intern for Senator Wicker this semester in DC.
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Faculty Honored at College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) Annual Awards Banquet, March 29
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Top Dr. George Hopper honors Dr. Barry Barnett with the Service Award.
Middle Dr. Jesse Tack is honored with the Scientific Publication Award.
Bottom Dr. Dan Petrolia is honored with the Most Impactful Publication Award.
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CALS students traveled to the Universities Fighting World Hunger Summit at the University of Missouri in February. Ag Econ students Naomi Taylor (front left) and Chris Wilhelms (far right) presented their research.
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FEATURED PROFESSIONAL STAFF
GAIL GILLIS
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Gail Gillis is an esteemed member of the Department of Agricultural Economics. She received her Bachelor of Science in Education in 1980 and Master of Science in Agricultural Economics in 1983 from Mississippi State University.
Her work with the department began in 1982 as a research technician. Currently, she is the department's Senior Extension Associate. Gail collects, organizes, and stores data that is used to determine Ag Use-Value Appraisal estimates and cost-of-production estimates for major row crops grown in Mississippi.
Over the years, Gail has worked with with the Mississippi Chapter of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, the Ag Econ Club, the Mississippi Agricultural Economics Association and the State Future Farmers of America (FFA) Contests. She received the Gold Plow Award for 20 years of service as the Secretary-Treasurer of the Mississippi Chapter of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, an organization she has enjoyed working with immensely.
Gail's favorite part of working in the department is the people. "The staff and faculty are the best and I love the interaction with the students. Over the years I have had over 50 students work in my office. It is great to check in with them from time to time to see what they are doing."
You can stop in and see Ms. Gail Gillis on the third floor of Lloyd-Ricks-Watson.
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FEATURED ALUMNUS
WARREN CARTER
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Mississippi State University Ag Econ alumnus Warren Carter was named the Executive Vice President of the Arkansas Farm Bureau in January 2016. He joined Farm Bureau in 1987, where he was responsible for the wheat and feed grains, forestry and aquaculture commodity programs. Carter, 52, has served as Arkansas Farm Bureau’s director of commodity and regulatory affairs since 2002. In that role, he managed staff responsibilities for support of the state check-off programs, economic research in support of Farm Bureau policies and programs and the organization’s commodity market information and education programs.
Carter's goals as Executive Vice President for the Arkansas Farm Bureau are born out of his experiences with agriculture while attending MSU. "It was the early 1980's, a difficult time in agriculture, and my parents were struggling on the small farm I grew up on near Starkville. It was during that time that I changed my major to Ag Econ and made it a goal in my life to simply be in a position to help farmers like my Dad. I have been blessed to be in position that has allowed me to pursue that goal while at Arkansas Farm Bureau. As EVP, it is my main objective that we would be an organization that simply helps farmers in all that we do."
His hope for the future of the farm industry is for the success of our farmers. "I think it is important to engage consumers more in order to achieve that success... I hope we can more closely relate to the consuming public, and have them more closely relate to agriculture, by helping them understand the importance farming has in their everyday lives."
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Undergraduate Spotlight
Hannah Wright
Hannah Wright, the daughter of Charles and Pam Wright of Long Creek, South Carolina, is one of Ag Econ's most involved students. She is a junior Agbusiness major with a minor in International Studies.
In Fall 2015, she took on the task of starting a chapter of Sigma Alpha, an agriculture sorority, at MSU. Hannah has recruited members and brought them together for different events, including volunteering at Farmtastic at the Horsepark, an ag education event for elementary, middle and high school students. She also studied abroad in Peru over Spring Break 2016, where she experienced eco-tourism firsthand and was able to practice her fluent Spanish.
This summer, Hannah will be interning for a second time with FMC Corporation in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Hannah plans to graduate in December 2016 and is considering attending graduate school.
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Graduate Student Spotlight
Chris Wilhelms
Steven Christopher “Chris” Wilhelms of Vicksburg, Mississippi graduated with his undergraduate degree in Environmental Economics and Management (EEM) May 2015 and is currently pursuing his Masters of Science degree in Agricultural Economics at MSU.
During his senior year, Chris participated in the Undergraduate Scholar Research Program through College of Agriculture and Life Science (CALS)/Mississippi Agricultural & Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES). Working alongside Dr. Kalyn Coatney, Chris began his research looking to contribute a foundational game theoretic model to better understand short run decision-making behaviors of non-cooperative cattle herders grazing on a common pool resource.
The resulting paper, “Brinkmanship and the Tragedy of the Commons: An Experimental Investigation of African Pulaar Herders,” was presented at the Agriculture & Applied Economics Association's (AAEA) undergraduate research competition in 2015. Chris also presented at the Southern Agricultural Economic Association's (SAEA) annual meeting in San Antonio this past February, as well as a poster based on the paper's findings at the Universities Fighting World Hunger Summit in Columbia, MO.
Chris and Dr. Coatney hope to submit this research to a journal within the year. As a result of these efforts, Chris won the Excellence in Research-Undergraduate Student Award in March. Currently, Chris works as a graduate research assistant in the department. His thesis will focus on the strategic production decisions, impacts, and potential policy prescriptions affecting farmers in the Mississippi Delta concerning the extraction of groundwater from the Mississippi River Alluvial Aquifer.
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Left Naomi Taylor, EEM undergraduate senior, accepts the Gamma Sigma Delta Merit Scholarship Award at the Gamma Sigma Delta Ag Honor Society Initiation Ceremony this April.
Right Caroline Kelsoe, EEM undergraduate senior, received a scholarship as one of the top two initiates to the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.
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