Policy & Law

Aug. 15, 2024

Alejandro Plastina

Plastina is the Director of the Rural and Farm Finance Policy Analysis Center (RaFF) at the University of Columbia-Missouri. His area of specialization is agricultural production and technology, with an emphasis on farm business and financial management. He has received multiple awards, including the 2023 Iowa State University (ISU) ANR Extension Team Award, the 2023 Outstanding Choices Magazine Article Award from the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association, the 2022 Dean’s Citation for Extraordinary Contributions to the ISU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the 2021 Farm Foundation Agricultural Economics Fellowship, the 2021 ISU Office of the President Excellence in…

Nov. 3, 2022

Adrienne Ohler

Educational background Ph.D. Economics, Washington State University, 2009 Courses taught ABM 4360: Energy Markets and Regulation…

July 14, 2021

Rui Yao

Rui Yao’s research focuses on consumer and family financial decision-making and well-being. Specific topics include financial resilience, debt management, saving and investment behavior and motives, risk tolerance, financial capability, consumption patterns, employment-leisure decisions, as well as mental and physical health outcomes of financial events. Her interdisciplinary work targets at providing implications to stakeholders of consumer and family well-being and impacted millions of consumers and families through her publications, presentations, and media interviews. She received the best paper award from the CFP Board, AARP, American Council on Consumer Interests, and American Association of Family & Consumer Sciences. She is the editor…

Jan. 22, 2021

Ben Brown

Educational background M.S., Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Missouri, 2017 B.S., Agricultural Economics with Agronomy Specialty, Kansas State University, 2015…

Sep. 27, 2018

Robin M. Rotman

Educational background J.D. Law, Yale Law School, 2009 M.S. Water Science, Policy, and Management, Oxford University, 2005 B.S. Geology, Sewanee: The University of the South, 2004…

Feb. 26, 2018

Hua Qin

Educational background Ph.D., Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (Environmental and Resource Sociology), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2009 M.S., Statistics. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007 M.S., Sociology, China Agricultural University, 2003 B.A., International Business and English, China Agricultural University, 2000 Courses taught ABM/NAT_R/PEA_ST/SOCIOL 1120: Population, Environment and Sustainability ABM/NAT_R/SOCIOL 4370/7370: Society, Environment and Natural Resources AAE/NAT_R/SOCIOL 8287: Seminar on Sustainable Development AAE/NAT_R 8510: Interdisciplinary Quantitative and Mixed Research Methods AAE 8436: Community, Natural Resources and Sustainability…

Feb. 26, 2018

Mary K. Hendrickson

Hendrickson is Professor in Rural Sociology at the University of Missouri and serves as Director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Food Security. She is a rural sociologist whose passion is making the world a better place through food. As Director of the ICFS, she focuses on building resilient, food secure communities across Missouri and beyond. Hendrickson has been a leading scholar on consolidation and concentration in the food and agriculture system, the impacts of such a system on farmers, workers and communities, and new ways of conceptualizing policy responses around anti-trust. She is also recognized for her work examining food…

Feb. 26, 2018

Patrick Westhoff

Westhoff is the director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) and a professor of agricultural and applied economics at the University of Missouri. He grew up on a small dairy and hog farm in northeast Iowa. After getting his undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Iowa, he served as Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala.   He has a master’s degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas and a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Iowa State University. From 1992-1996, he was an economist with the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, where…

Aug. 28, 2017

Julian Binfield

Binfield has over 20 years of policy analysis experience with the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute. Over that period, he has used dynamic partial equilibrium models to analyze a range of policies including trade policies and domestic support policies, as well as the impact of external factors such as weather and changes in the macroeconomy. He has coordinated several long-term research projects with international colleagues in Europe and Africa. Binfield teaches two policy related undergraduate classes and advises at the postgraduate level at the University of Missouri. Educational background Ph.D., Agricultural Economics, University of Missouri Courses taught ABM 3272:…

Aug. 9, 2017

Michael Sykuta

 Sykuta’s research interests span the fields of organizational economics and law and economics, with a focus on political economy and the role of formal and informal institutions in shaping economic behavior. This includes such topics as contract design, organizational governance, and value chain coordination; as well as market structure and performance, antitrust regulation, and energy market regulation and policy.  Educational background Ph.D., Economics, Washington University, 1994 M.A., Economics, Washington University, 1990 B.S., Economics, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 1989 Courses taught AG_EC 4971: Agribusiness Management Strategy AG_EC 4990: Economic Analysis of Policy and Regulation AG_EC 8520: Economics of Transactions & Contracting…