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Agricultural and Resource Economics
Outstanding Faculty
Faculty expertise and research interest cover a broad spectrum from theoretical investigations of preferences over uncertain events to extension publications on land use and water quality. A unique feature of the Department is the close collaboration between extension and research. This collaboration challenges researchers to provide meaningful analysis and provides extension faculty rigorous intellectual frameworks for the extension of research to public and private sectors. The caliber and productivity of the faculty is indicated by awards and positions held. Faculty include six Distinguished Fellows of the American Agricultural Economics Association, three Fellows of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, a Fellow of the Econometric Society, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a recipient of the John Bates Clark award, a recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Award and three former presidents of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economics, a former president and the current president of the American Agricultural Economics Association, and a president of the Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association. Faculty have served regularly in important policy positions, including five times on the Council of Economic Advisors, the Assistant Secretary of Agriculture for Economics, and various positions with the World Bank. Faculty have regularly served in editorial capacities for the most important journals in the field, including the American Economic Review, Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Environmental and Resource Economics, and many other journals. Research faculty have been innovators in the most important areas of agricultural and resource economics. New faculty have expanded the research interests of the Department to include behavioral and experimental economics and trade and the environment.
Stellar Students and Alumni
The graduate program focuses on the education of PhD students. Graduates of this program have placed in academic positions such as Minnesota, Wisconsin, University of California-Davis, Columbia, Ohio State, Maryland, Penn State, William and Mary, University of British Columbia, Iowa State, Maine, as well as national and international research organizations and universities around the world (see a list of graduate job placements).
Undergraduate agricultural and resource economics majors take classes in business management, environmental and resource policy, international agriculture, farm production, food production, government and politics, and economic theory and method. You may decide to design your own field in a foreign language, in the biological and environmental sciences, or in a particular area of agricultural production. The major offers you an opportunity to tailor your college program to your plans, abilities, and interests.
Dedication to Outreach
Nine faculty members have Maryland Cooperative Extension Service appointments. Their research and community outreach efforts cover a broad range of topics, including agricultural policy; coastal and marine resources; commodity marketing; farm and financial management; international extension; linking agriculture, natural resources, and the environment; land use and farmland preservation; sustainable agriculture; and water quality. One faculty extension assistant works full time on issues related to coastal community development, coastal hazards, and climate change.
Come See Us!
To make arrangements to visit the department, please contact our administrative office:
Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
University of Maryland
Symons Hall, Rm. 2200
College Park, MD 20742
Ph. (301) 405-1293
For more information, contact the webmaster
Last updated: 11/20/2009
New Marquee course offering for Spring 2010:
AREC 200: The Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem: Intersection of Science, Economics and Policy - Douglas Parker and Douglas Lipton, Agricultural & Resource Economics, (Life Sciences Non-Lab), CORE Life Sciences (Non-Lab) Course, Offered in the Spring, 2010.
The Chesapeake Bay is one of the most studied and monitored ecosystems in the world. To develop effective policies to restore this system to a healthier status requires integrating what we know about the biological and physical properties of the system with our understanding of the human dimension. Issues such as achieving nutrient reduction goals, restoring healthy blue crab and oyster fisheries in the bay will be used to demonstrate how economics interacts with science to guide policies that can be effective in achieving Bay restoration goals.
For more information on the course see the AREC 200: The Chesapeake Bay Ecosystem: Intersection of Science, Economics and Policy syllabus.
New Honors course offering for Spring 2010:
HONR228N: Evaluating Global Development Assistance-Vivian Hoffmann, Agricultural & Resource Economics, CORE Behavioral and Social Science (SB) Course. CORE Diversity (D) Course, Offered in the Spring, 2010.
Globally, over a quarter of children under the age of five are undernourished. A child born in a developing country is over 13 times more likely to die within the first five years of life than a child born in an industrialized country. Food production per capita in Africa has declined over the past thirty years, making the region ever more reliant on imports and food aid.
What, if anything, can rich countries do to assist poor people in the developing world? How can aid be targeted and managed to do the most good? Well-known and respected economists come to wildly different conclusions on these questions. The course will use readings, discussion, and writing assignments, to examine current debates about foreign aid specifically and about programs to help reduce poverty, more generally. Through concrete examples, students will be introduced to fundamental ideas in economics such as growth theory, public goods, and principal-agent problems. We will consider both theoretical arguments and empirical evidence, and critically evaluate some of the recent literature on aid effectiveness. We will also consider alternatives to aid such as reform of rich countries' trade and agricultural support policies.
Video-HGIC Intro
Need help in the garden? View HGIC's latest video to see who we are and what we do. Then be a good friend and share the link with others! - posted Nov 23, 2009
Are Men Always More Competitive Than Women?
AREC Associate Professor Ken Leonard has conducted research in Africa and India to try to answer that question. - posted Nov 20, 2009
What do Katie O'Malley, cover crops, and onthefarmradio.com have in common?
Answer: The Grow It Eat It Campaign! Onthefarmradio.com, promotes cover crops and the Grow It Eat It campaign with Katie O'Malley's Kitchen Garden. - posted Nov 19, 2009
