Submitting to the 2014 Annual Meeting
The 2014 AAEA Annual Meeting will be held at the Hyatt Regency in Minneapolis, MN, July 27-29. Submit your abstracts and session proposals through the online submission system. For more information regarding the submission categories, click on the links to the calls below.
The deadline for submitting for Selected Presentations, Organized Symposia, and Frontier Sessions is January 16 at 11:59 p.m. CST. If you have any questions regarding submissions for the 2014 AAEA Annual Meeting, please contact the AAEA Business Office at info@aaea.org or (414) 918-3190.
Altmetrics - The Buzz about Your Published Work
Citation counts, impact factors and other metrics calculated from the number of times a paper is cited are well established tools among academic researchers. Altmetrics is a developing idea that is not meant to replace citation-related measures but may supplement them with information that tries to address the societal impact of the work.
Altmetrics may more accurately be called social media metrics although some tools include news sources and other more traditional data. It has grown out of an interest in measuring the impact of research, both in the academic community and society in general. Here are a few resources that are currently being used by those interested in altmetrics:
Altmetric
Add the bookmarklet to your browser and when you are looking at an article online, click it and you will see a display of how many times it has been mentioned in blogs, Twitter, news sources, Facebook, and other online tools.
ImpactStory
ImpactStory allows individuals to set up a profile which lists publications, software, data sets, and other research products and to see whether they are discussed, cited, or saved by others, and to what extent.
Public Library of Science (PLOS) article-level metrics
For articles in PLOS, a combination of traditional citation information as well as downloads, blog posts, downloads into Mendeley, and other social media appearances.
This is a very new concept and it is not yet clear if or how it will be accepted in the academic community. However, it has caught the interest of some publishers and institutions, so it is worth keeping in mind.
Linda Eells
Julie Kelly
Coordinators, AgEcon Search
http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/
aesearch@umn.edu
Call for 2014 AAEA Award Nominations
The AAEA Awards Program recognizes excellence in the work of agricultural and applied economists. The Awards Committee, chaired by Jeffrey Dorfman of the University of Georgia, welcomes nominations for all award categories. Specific details on the criteria used to judge each award, as well as instructions on how to submit nominations for the award are available below.
The selection process for each award is administered by a subcommittee. The chairperson of each subcommittee receives all nominations and administers the review process. The chairperson will eliminate any conflicts of interest with members of the subcommittee during the evaluation process.
The deadline for nominations is February 3, 2014. All nomination materials shall be submitted via e-mail as a PDF file to the AAEA Business Office: info@aaea.org.
Restrictions
Except for the Publication of Enduring Quality Award, only one AAEA award can be received for essentially the same work. It is the nominator's responsibility to assure that no AAEA award (other than Master's Thesis or PhD Dissertation award) has already been received for the nominated work. Should a nomination be selected for more than one award in the same year (e.g. Journal Article and Research Discovery), the awardee(s) will be permitted to choose which award is received.
No member of the executive board—elected, appointed, or ex-officio—is eligible to participate as a principal recipient in competition for awards. The exclusion does not preclude participation if (s)he is a junior participant with respect to other(s) for whom exclusion from participation clearly would be a handicap.
Individual Award Criteria
The criteria for each award can be found on the AAEA website.
The award categories are:
- Distinguished Extension/Outreach Program Award
- Distinguished Teaching Award
- Outstanding Master’s Thesis
- Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation
- Quality of Research Discovery
- Quality of Communications
- Publication of Enduring Quality
- Bruce Gardner Memorial Prize for Applied Policy Analysis
Renew Your Membership for 2014
You can now renew your AAEA membership for 2014 on the AAEA website (http://www.aaea.org/membership/). Simply log in to the My Account section to renew. Completing your renewal online saves time by filling out most of the information for you automatically.
Alternatively, if you prefer to renew using the paper form, be sure to keep an eye on your mailbox as paper forms will be sent in out in early 2014.
The benefits of your AAEA membership only last through the spring of 2014, so be sure to renew soon to ensure that you keep receiving services from AAEA throughout the upcoming year.
AJAE Editor Update
New Process for AAEA Invited Papers
With the Invited Papers from the Summer 2013 AAEA & CAES Joint Annual Meeting in Washington, DC, AAEA, in coordination with the American Journal of Agricultural Economics (AJAE), have implemented a new procedure that provides expedited peer review of all Invited Papers seeking to be published in the AJAE. In order to be published in the journal, Invited Papers must meet the high scholarly standards expected of published AJAE papers. If the manuscript is received on time and the authors request expedited review, the reviewers will be asked to assess the potential publish ability of the manuscript as is or following a limited set of revisions that are feasible within a short window of time. In order to meet the tight deadlines involved we require promptness on the part of authors at all stages of the process. Invited papers that are accepted for publication will not carry the traditional disclaimer in the leading footnote informing the reader that the manuscript was not subjected to the normal peer review process.
To guide the review process, we instruct reviewers as follows: “Invited Papers must meet the high scholarly standards expected of published AJAE papers but they may also be broader thought-pieces, case studies and synthesis of literature that advance understanding and share emerging knowledge on topics in agricultural and applied economics likely to define future research agendas. Methodological originality is less important than potential impact on the profession. Nevertheless, papers should be substantively sound, and up-to-date, both methodologically and in policy terms. Invited papers are subject to the usual peer review process of the journal, and it is not guaranteed that all papers in an Invited Session will be published. Papers submitted for review should be close to their publish-ready state because there will not be time for multiple versions and reviews.”
From the 2013 summer meetings, 17 of the 21 Invited Papers submitted manuscripts for consideration under the new process. Decisions and revisions took place over the past several months. Manuscripts that are accepted will appear in the March 2014 issue of the AJAE.
C-FARE Update
Happy New Year from the Council on Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics (C-FARE)!
NIFA Releases Request for Applications for AFRI Foundational Program
On December 23, 2013, the United States of Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) released the request for applications (RFA) for the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Foundational Program. In fiscal year 2014, NIFA plans to award approximately $82 million to support the AFRI Foundational Program. All AFRI program information, including the RFAs, is available online. Visit www.nifa.usda.gov/afri for more information.
The AFRI Foundational Program addresses six priority areas to continue building a foundation of knowledge in fundamental and applied food and agricultural sciences that are critical for solving current and future societal challenges.
The fiscal year 2014 RFA will feature two new programs intended to address critical and emerging issues.
- The Exploratory Research Program (ERP) addresses new challenges in food security, climate change, environmental quality and natural resources, nutrition, obesity, food safety, strong families and vibrant communities, and thriving youth. The program seeks to find innovative ideas that will position U.S. agriculture at the global forefront. ERP grants will be funded up to $100,000 for one year.
- The Critical Agriculture Research and Extension (CARE) Program seeks to address critical problems that continue to impede the efficient production and protection of plants and animals. Funded projects will quickly yield solutions or practices that can be rapidly implemented by producers. CARE will fund projects up to $150,000 for three years.
AFRI will make awards in four challenge areas: food safety, food security, childhood obesity prevention, and a new challenge area, water for agriculture. The AFRI challenge areas will continue to support societal challenge areas where research, education, and Extension can achieve significant and measurable outcomes. The NIFA Fellowships Grants program will also be offered again to provide opportunities for training and workforce development through pre and postdoctoral fellowships in the agricultural sciences.
AFRI is NIFA's flagship competitive grants program and was established under the 2008 Farm Bill. NIFA anticipates the amount available for AFRI Program in fiscal year 2014 will be approximately $275 million. This amount is based on the temporary appropriations, which provide funds through January 15, 2014. Adjustments will be made to program allocations once the fiscal year 2014 appropriations are finalized. Reported by C-FARE. Source: USDA
DC Update
The House passed the omnibus on January 15, 2014. The spending measure has been sent to the Senate. Levels of some of the programs monitored by C-FARE:
- ERS: $78.0 million
- NASS: $161.2 million, of which up to $44.5 million shall be available for the Census of Agriculture
- NIFA: $772.6 million of which $35.3 million is for Integrated Activities and $316.4 million for AFRI
- AMS: $79.9 million
*This list is under development and will be periodically updated. Please visit the C-FARE webpage for more information or follow C-FARE on Facebook or Twitter.
On January 13, the House and Senate negotiators released a $ $1.012 trillion spending bill that include all 12 subcommittee bills. The bill will restore some government funding over the next year. The Omnibus contains all 12 regular appropriations bills for FY 2014.
Nomination Opportunities and Awards
C-FARE seeks nominees for the 2014 Borlaug CAST Communication Award by Wednesday, January 22. Nominations are now open for the 2014 Borlaug CAST Communication Award, an honor that recognizes professionals actively working in the agricultural, environmental, or food sectors who are promoting agricultural science in the public policy arena. This award has become an influential component in the efforts to keep agricultural issues and programs in the public eye and in front of national and world policymakers. For more information on the 2014 Borlaug CAST Communication Award, please visit: http://www.cast-science.org/borlaug_cast_communication_award/nominations/. Please submit your nomination by January 22 here.
C-FARE seeks nominees for the AAAS Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Lecture by Wednesday, January 22. 2014 Call for Nominations - AAAS, the Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Foundation (RMF), and the World Food Prize Foundation (WFPF) invite nominations for the 2014 AAAS Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Lecture to be held in June 2014 at the AAAS Headquarters. Candidates should be well-respected scientists working at the forefront of a pressing issue at the nexus of agriculture and society. They should have outstanding scientific contributions or significant policy accomplishments related to agriculture with demonstrated societal impact. The lecture carries an honorarium of $5,000. For more information on the AAAS Charles Valentine Riley Memorial Lecture, please visit: http://www.aaas.org/page/riley-lecture. Please submit your nomination by January 22 here.
Outstanding Scholarship Opportunity! Apply Today for the Cooperative Leadership Fund Scholarship from the Ralph K. Morris Foundation. The Ralph K. Morris Foundation Cooperative Leadership Fund provides financial support to help cover costs associated with training, professional development and educational programs for rural young leaders interested in the future of cooperatives and rural communities. Funds can be used to attend the National Council of Farmer Cooperatives 85th Annual Meeting & the Legal, Tax & Accounting Meeting next month.
Information about the meetings:
- What: National Council of Farmer Cooperatives 85th Annual Meeting & the Legal, Tax & Accounting Meeting
- When: Wednesday, February 12 to Friday, February 14, 2014
- Where: Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans, LA
- For more information on this “must attend” event, please see: www.ncfc.org/events.
All scholarship recipients will receive the early-bird registration rate of $400. Interested young leaders can receive scholarships for in the neighborhood of $500 to $750. However, the deadline for application - Monday, January 20 – is fast approaching. If you are interested in applying for a scholarship to attend, please visit: http://www.ralphkmorrisfoundation.org/morris_app_guide.asp. For more information on the scholarship and event, please contact Jayne Wilgus at: wilgus.jayne@dorsey.com.
Data Webinar Videos Are Available
Agricultural commodity markets are driven by products and information. In November 2013, the webinar 'Unraveling Uncertainty in Ag. Markets' highlighted the role of federal data sources in agricultural commodity markets - including dairy, livestock, and major grain and oilseed crops. Videos are now available here: http://www.cfare.org/2013datawebinar/.
The webinar, which highlights Choices Magazine stand-alone articles, was organized by C-FARE and cosponsored by The American Statistical Association; Association of Academic Survey Research Organizations; Association of Public Data Users; Consortium of Social Science Associations; Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics; and National Association for Business Economics.
See more about Choices Magazine here: http://www.choicesmagazine.org/.
January 2014 - C-FARE Specific Activities
C-FARE is hosting its second webinar in the value of data series. The webinar is called “Forecasting a Healthy Future, A Webinar Highlighting the Value of Fruit and Vegetable Market Data”. It is scheduled for Friday, January 24, 2014 at 2:00 PM-3:00 PM ET.
Registration: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3448876961495549698
Summary: Fruit and vegetable markets are driven by consumer demands, weather, prices, and trade policies. Federal data products from the National Agricultural Statistics Service and other related organizations provide baseline information about essential market variables. Market outlooks compiled by both federal and private entities on fresh and processed fruit, vegetable, tuber, and pulse crops, as well as specialty crops integrate federal
data products with information about the policy and market environments. These outlooks provide a valuable resource for growers, purchasers, and retailers for greater optimization of short and long-term decision making in the fruit and vegetable sector. Today, the nation’s data and statistical agencies face unprecedented pressure to assess and reduce their costs. As a result, there has been suspension, aggregation, and even, in some cases, an elimination of data and statistical assessments critical for alleviating market volatility and uncertainties. The expert speakers will present information on the role of federal data sources in fruit and vegetable markets.
Speakers:
- Katherine Smith, Executive Director, Council of Professional Associations on Federal Statistics (COPAFS) (Moderator)
- Gary Lucier, Agricultural Economist at the World Agricultural Economic and Environmental Services. Former Coordinator of Vegetables and Melons Outlook at the Economic Research Service
- Matthew Salois, Chief Economist and Director of Economic & Market Research at the Florida Department of Citrus
- George Hoffman, Chief Executive Officer of Restaurant Services, Inc.
Workshop: On Tuesday, January 28, 2014, C-FARE is hosting a Workshop on Agricultural Commodity Futures and Options. In light of impending reauthorization of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Council on Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics (C-FARE) will provide a hands-on workshop featuring two experts in the agricultural futures markets. The experts will provide interactive presentations for congressional staff and policymakers, covering the fundamentals of agricultural futures markets. Those attending the workshop will have the chance to experience the decisions and choices associated with market participation. Workshop Speakers: Dr. Wade Brorsen, Regents Professor and A.J. and Susan Jacques Chair, in the Oklahoma State University, Department of Agricultural Economics; and Dr. Andrew McKenzie, Professor of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, in the Department of Agricultural Economics & Agribusiness at the University of Arkansas. Both speakers will also visit their congressional delegations. Congressional staff can RSCP to info@cfare.org for more details.
Save-the-date! C-FARE’s Annual Spring Internship Call will be held on February 14 from 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET. Please stay tuned for more details.