Specific Area of Interest

The specific area of interest for this section is specialty crop economics including marketing, production, trade, policy, risk management and other issues of specialty crops (fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, horticulture, floriculture, and nursery crops).  

Scope and Purpose

The proposed section’s objective is to bring together and offer a forum for the AAEA members who are interested in the cross-cutting areas of marketing, trade, policy, farm and agribusiness management, sustainability and risk management as they relate to specialty crops. Working with specialty crops, with an emphasis on economics, requires expertise and most research problems are transdisciplinary in nature and can only be addressed by large teams of researchers from multiple disciplines. A section focused on specialty crop economics would provide researchers with a platform in which they can discuss the current issues and opportunities, advantages and disadvantages of different research methods, challenges that may arise, and share their experiences.   

This section also aims to facilitate collaboration among AAEA members and other professionals on economic issues related to specialty crops. It will facilitate the conversation between junior professionals with more experienced researchers and extension economists. Junior individuals could receive advice on research topics and methodologies, and simultaneously experienced individuals could introduce to new ideas and innovative methods for research and extension. The intended outcome of this section is greater success of economists in solving specialty crop problems and more transdisciplinary teams being led by economists.

Membership

You can learn more about joining AAEA by visiting the AAEA membership page. If you are already a member of AAEA and would like to join the Specialty Crop Economics Section, you can do so by logging in to the My Account section and completing the Online Section Form