Jun 2026Ming Zhao, Sanjay Kandel, and JungKeon Jo presented our papers at the WAEA Annual Meeting in Flagstaff, AZ. New paper with Pinky Thomas on tax policies and the natural gas industry, published in Energy Sources, Part B.
May 2026 Wrapped up the Spring semester and attended the commencement. Kicked off the 2026 AgBiz Summer Fellows program, welcoming ten outstanding undergraduate students from across the nation. Our new decision tool helping Idaho farmers choose between ARC and PLC was covered by the Capital Press.
Apr 2026Spoke with KMVT about how the Iran conflict is driving up fertilizer and diesel costs for Idaho farmers.
Mar 2026Presented risk management strategies for the 2026–27 wheat crop at the Direct Seed Workshop in Idaho Falls. Led a group of eight students to Taiwan during spring break to learn about the importing side of grain supply chain.
Feb 2026Gave two talks at the East Idaho Cereals Conference: marketing crops in a challenging time, and a Marketing 101 session on tools for managing price risk. Our paper on policy uncertainty and tail risk in energy futures was accepted at the Journal of Financial Research.
Jan 2026Welcomed Jung-Keon Jo as a postdoctoral researcher working on biofuel policy and commodity prices. New AgProud Idaho column with Qi Zhang on fuel prices and what’s shaping the market.
2025
Dec 2025Presented input cost trends at the Idaho Ag Outlook in Boise and taught two wheat marketing sessions at the WSU Wheat Academy in Pullman. New AgProud Idaho column with Qi Zhang on elevated fertilizer prices continuing to squeeze farmers’ margins.
Nov 2025Joined the School of Economic Sciences at Washington State University as adjunct faculty. The Capital Press profiled my program’s work helping wheat farmers cut costs and manage risk.
Sep 2025Panelist at the Borah Symposium on great power competition and agricultural commodities, covered by the UI Argonaut.
Aug 2025Congratulations to Sushuan K C and Saurabh Bastakoti on completing their M.S. degrees; they begin Ph.D. programs at Texas A&M and Washington State.
2025Named an Idaho 500 honoree by the Idaho Business Review, and promoted to Professor at the University of Idaho.
May 2025Michael Nading, Jr. completed his M.S. on Idaho wheat producers’ marketing strategies and joined Decision Innovation Solutions as a research analyst.
Feb 2025Delivered four-hour grain risk management workshops for producers in Twin Falls and Pocatello. Our yield growth research with the World Bank was featured in the FAO AMIS Market Monitor.
2024
Dec 2024Pinky Thomas completed her Ph.D. on energy economics and joined Austin Energy as an energy market analyst. Our global food yield findings were covered by ScienceDaily, Phys.org, and Farms.com.
2024Awarded two major USDA NIFA grants: a $650K AFRI project on sustainable dairy supply chains toward net zero, and a $750K REEU program training undergraduates in commodity marketing and risk management.