UF and USDA agricultural economists receive top award in Portland
Two Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences economists and two economists from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service have received the prestigious “Quality of Research Discovery Award” from the American Agricultural Economics Association at its annual meeting in Portland.
Chuck Moss, a professor with UF’s food and resource economics department, and Grigorios Livanis, a former postdoctoral student in the department, shared the award with co-authors Vincent Breneman and Richard Nehring at the USDA’s Economic Research Service in Washington, D.C. Livanis is now an adjunct professor in the College of Business Administration at Northeastern University in Boston.
The award was presented July 31 for their article, “Urban Sprawl and Farmland Prices,” in the November 2006 issue of the Journal of Agricultural Economics.
Moss said urban sprawl and land use has been a major policy issue since the 1980s, and the article examined the effect of urban pressure on farmland values nationwide. The expansion of urban areas has reduced farmland around many major metropolitan areas, leading to a rapid increase in farmland values.
He said the article also shows how urban sprawl can affect farm income, particularly when lower transportation costs for farms close to urban markets boost net returns compared to farms in rural areas.
See the association's Web site
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