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CLICK HERE TO VOTE indicating your vote for President, Vice-President, and two Directors.

For President - Russell Tronstad
Russell Tronstad is a University Distinguished Outreach Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Arizona. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Montana State University and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. Dr. Tronstad has served as WAEA Director (1999-2001), Co-Editor of JARE (2000-2003), WAEA Vice-President (2007-2008), reviewer and contributor to both the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Western Economics Forum, and regular presenter of selected papers at annual meetings. He has received recognition from the WAEA for the Outstanding Extension Project Award (1997, 2005 and 2006).

WAEA Vision Statement
I have greatly enjoyed being a member of the WAEA for almost 20 years and appreciate more every year the professional information, contacts, and publication outlets the WAEA has provided me. I consider it an honor to be nominated as a candidate for President of the WAEA. If elected, I will work to preserve and enhance the experiences of both junior and senior members within our Association.

I believe the WAEA should focus on our two most successful activities, JARE and our annual summer meeting. JARE is recognized as one of the top agricultural and resource economics journals and our Association should continue to direct resources and follow policies that help bolster JARE’s reputation. Financial resources devoted to preserving and enhancing JARE should be at the top of our Association’s budget.

A key responsibility of the president is organizing the program for our annual summer meeting. These meetings should be held at attractive locations in the West, focus on economic issues facing the West, and attract widespread participation from the West. Provinces and states in the West are considered as equal in our Constitution for Council representation, yet participation from our Canadian colleagues at recent annual meetings has been very limited. If elected, I will work to bring individuals from western Canada back into the dialogue of our Association and increase their annual meeting participation. Also, some senior members that were once actively involved in the WAEA have ceased attending our annual meetings. Increasing the presence of these senior members and their interactions with students at our annual meetings is an objective I will work towards. I believe we should also continue to provide a limited number of graduate student travel grants to the summer meetings to help build goodwill and grow long-term membership and loyalty to the Association.

Writing our newsletters in a timely manner and conducting business activities of the Association are other important duties of the President. With regards to the current financial situation of the Association, the WAEA should explore avenues for increasing revenues, including the promotion of endowment funds. Policies and tools that require membership for all submitting authors of selected papers and JARE articles should also be explored to help increase membership and revenues.

For President - Larry Van Tassell
Larry Van Tassell is Department Head and Professor in Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology at the University of Idaho (1999-2007). Larry was previously a faculty member at the University of Wyoming (1991-1999) and the University of Tennessee (1987-1991). He received his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University in 1987, and his M.S. in Agribusiness and B.S. in Animal Science from Brigham Young University. Larry has served the WAEA as Published Research Award Committee Chair, 2007; Director 2002-2004; Council Member 1992-1995; Thesis Awards Committee Chairperson, 1995; Thesis Awards Committee Member, 1994; Selected Papers Committee member, 2000; JARE contributor and reviewer; and selected paper contributor and reviewer.

WAEA Vision Statement
I believe in Mayor Richard M. Daley’s philosophy on governance: First and above all, people want their garbage picked up, the snow plowed, and their streetlights to work. In other words, the basic important issues must be dealt with. Past administrations have been effective in making the WAEA a financially sound organization and have implemented several programs that benefit the membership. I would definitely want to follow their vigilant stewardship and continue on the path they have charted. The WAEA exists to serve its membership. In so doing, the association needs to provide ample opportunity for members to associate with one another and to create synergism among institutions. I believe the WAEA council is the key for bringing the membership desires and needs to the association’s governing board. The WAEA council has probably been underutilized in this capacity. Council members need to actively solicit input to a common set of questions from their department members, and have those questions explored at council meetings. This will position the leadership to be more in touch with members’ desires. Graduate student participation, both M.S. and Ph.D., also should be encouraged by continuing to offer travel assistance and providing activities that will involve graduate students in the association. For example, a graduate student presentation competition could be sponsored whereby graduate students’ presentations during regular WAEA meeting sessions would be judged by committee members assigned to attend those sessions. The first place presenter would then receive a plaque or cash award from the association. Council members should also solicit information from graduate students to determine how the WAEA can best meet their needs and facilitate their integration into the association.

Mainly, I feel this office would provide me an opportunity to again serve our organization. As Theodore Roosevelt said, “Every man owes a part of his time and money to the business or industry in which he is engaged. No man has a moral right to withhold his support from an organization that is striving to improve conditions within his sphere.”

For Vice President - Christopher T. Bastian
Chris Bastian received his B.S. in Farm and Ranch Management and M.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Wyoming and completed his Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics from Colorado State University. Before receiving his Ph.D. and entering a teaching and research faculty position at UW in the fall of 2005, Bastian served as the Agricultural Marketing Specialist from 1993 to 2005. He delivered extension education to agricultural producers in Wyoming and the West related to commodity marketing, integrated resource management, value-added agriculture and risk management. He has received the Outstanding Extension Award from the American Agricultural Economics Association twice (1997 & 2007) and three regional awards in extension from the Western Agricultural Economics Association (1997, 2005, 2006). His teaching responsibilities include agribusiness management and marketing at the undergraduate and graduate levels. His scholarly efforts focus on natural resource-based business economics. Bastian has been a member of the WAEA since 1987. His service to the association includes: Director (2007-2009); Outstanding Published Research Award Committee (2007); Selected Paper Referee (2008); Extension Award Review Committee (2008); Graduate Student Travel Scholarship Award Committee (2009 Co-chair with Jayson Lusk); JARE reviewer; JARE contributor; and, substitute council representative from UW (various years).

WAEA Vision Statement
The WAEA is my favorite professional organization for agricultural economists. I have found the professional development opportunities at WAEA meetings to be rewarding and intellectually stimulating. I especially enjoy the opportunity to learn from and interact with other agricultural economists interested in Western issues. High quality meetings and high quality publications such as the JARE and WEF are at the core of what the Association does and should continue to offer in terms of professional development for its members and opportunities to communicate scholarly efforts to other applied economists and clientele being served by its members. Moreover, as the Association’s niche is Western issues, the Association also must work to maintain that niche even as we collaborate with other associations and organizations. I believe we must continue efforts to develop new membership from graduate students as well as work to attract other professional agricultural economists who may have jobs focused on something other than research endeavors. For example, last year at the annual meetings, there was a pre-conference workshop related to risk management education. I believe the WAEA should continue to develop such offerings as is feasible.

The major responsibility of the Vice President is to coordinate and organize the selected paper portion of the annual meeting program. The meeting in 2010 will be held jointly with the AAEA in Denver. Part of the Vice President’s responsibility at that time will be to offer a selected paper program that will appeal to both members and non-members while maintaining WAEA’s identity at that meeting. Moreover, the Vice President should work to help the Executive Council lead and conduct the business of the Association. If elected, I will take these responsibilities seriously and conduct myself in accordance with these responsibilities and my vision for the Association.

For Vice President – Karen Klonsky
Karen Klonsky is a faculty member in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California – Davis with an appointment in Cooperative Extension. She received her BA is mathematics from the University of Michigan in 1974 and her PhD in Agricultural Economics from Michigan State University in 1985. Specializing in farm–level decision-making with respect to farming practices, Klonsky works in interdisciplinary teams providing the economic component of comparative farming systems with an emphasis on sustainable agriculture. She has been involved in over $5 million in external grants and published 75 journal articles and hundreds of Extension and trade journal publications. Klonsky is past chair of the Extension Committee of the AAEA and past member of the awards committee. Extremely active with farm organizations and government agencies, she currently serves on the California Walnut Board, the California Organic Foods Advisory Board to the CA Department of Food and Agriculture, the Management Committee of California Certified Organic Farmers, and is an editor for the Journal of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers. She has served as a reviewer for JARE and as a selected paper contributor and reviewer. Klonsky is also a soccer mom.

WAEA Vision Statement
I believe the strongest aspect of the WAEA is its unambiguous identity as an organization of professionals dedicated to problem solving targeting the unique resource and policy issues rooted in the Western United States. The primary job for the vice president is organizing the selected papers for the annual meetings. Arguably, the selected papers sessions are the backbone of the annual meetings. Therefore, maintaining the high quality and relevance of the papers is essential for the continued high rate of participation in the annual meetings and ultimately to the continued health of the organization. A critical component of a successful association meeting is assuring that papers are grouped to create coherent, issue-oriented sessions and that sessions on similar topics are not scheduled during the same time slots.

As a member of the WAEA Executive Council, my primary objective would be promoting increased and diversified membership. We should target non-land grant faculty with programs in agricultural economics such as California Polytechnic State University. Economists working for state and federal agencies such as the EPA and the Department of Fish and Game are another untapped pool and could be invited to present the results of their analyses of Western resource management issues. We must continue to encourage graduate student participation through travel grants and increasing awareness of the $5 annual fees for students. Finally, we must look within the ranks of the land grant faculty to get more people from more campuses to attend the annual meetings through invited paper sessions and selected paper sessions focused on Extension education and research.

For Director (choose 2) – Christopher McIntosh
Christopher McIntosh is a professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology at the University of Idaho. He previously served as assistant and associate professor at the University of Georgia and coordinated the University of Idaho’s off campus agribusiness degree program in Idaho Falls, ID. He earned B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Idaho and a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University. Dr. McIntosh has served the WAEA as a contributor, reviewer and frequent participant in the annual meetings. He has served as general chair of the WAEA awards committee (2008) and is currently serving on the WAEA council. Over his career Dr. McIntosh’s has received numerous awards and recognition for the quality of his teaching and research.

WAEA Vision Statement
The WAEA provides significant value to its membership and preserves its unique identity through the publication of the JARE and WEF through consistently excellent annual meetings. The annual meetings provide opportunities for networking, professional development and with the travel-grants program, opportunities for graduate students to be engaged in our professional organization. I believe that strong continued support for these activities is essential. The WAEA can be strengthened by increasing membership and fostering increased participation by agricultural economists from all facets of the land grant mission: teaching, research and extension. A major focus for the board should be to maintain the quality of our journals and annual meetings, while keeping the membership and registration fees reasonable. The board should also make efforts to increase the visibility and stature of our journals and annual meetings. I am excited to have this opportunity to serve the association and look forward to working with all of you to maintain our standards of excellence while continuing to build on our past successes.

For Director (choose 2) – Brad Lubben
Brad Lubben is an Assistant Professor and Extension Public Policy Specialist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He earned his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University in 2005 and received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from UNL in 1989 and 1992. He has been at UNL since 2005 and specializes in agricultural and public policy as part of an integrated program of teaching, research and extension efforts. At present, Lubben teaches an introductory policy course and advises both graduate and undergraduate students in the department. His Extension efforts are focused on agricultural policy issues, including the development and now implementation of new federal farm policy and the co-organization of a national train-the-trainer conference for Extension specialists and educators on the new farm bill within one month of the new bill being completed. His policy research efforts include leadership of the national producer preference survey in advance of the debate on what became the 2008 Farm Bill as well as research on the economic impacts of farm programs and mandatory country-of-origin labeling. Lubben has been an active member and leader in several organizations and committees, including former chair of the National Public Policy Education Committee and member of the new SERA39 (Southern Research Coordinating Committee and Information Exchange Group on Public Policy Issues Education).

WAEA Vision Statement
I look forward to the opportunity to serve as Director of the WAEA. The WAEA has been a strong association that has served its members will with two valuable publications, the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics and the Western Economics Forum. The JARE has been a high-quality outlet for research work on issues both in the region and in the broader profession. The WEF has added a new avenue in its first few years for publication of timely research information and emerging issues that may be fundamental to future research and policy directions. With the increasing uncertainty and complexity in agriculture today over market outlook and volatility, the status of trade agreements and conflicts, the role of agriculture in the energy sector, the interrelationship of resource management and environmental issues, and the evolving structure of the consumer and marketing system, there are numerous areas where WAEA can be a primary source of valuable information and analysis of key issues and in particular, of their regional impacts. I would encourage a focused issue of the WEF or even the JARE to develop a timely analysis that contributes to the contemporary issues of the day with an academic rigor that provides a timeless reference of theoretical and empirical understanding. Beyond the association's publications, I would also work to maintain the continued strength of the association's annual meeting. Whether the meeting is separate or joint with another association, such as with AAEA in Denver in 2010, it is important that WAEA work to maintain its identity and niche with sessions and topics that highlight the unique issues and contributions of the region and the WAEA membership.

For Director (choose 2) – Dragan Miljkovic
Dragan Miljkovic is Professor of Agricultural Economics in the Department of Agribusiness & Applied Economics at North Dakota State University. He also served on the faculty at Missouri State University (1999-2004), and as Research Fellow at Montana State University (1997-1999). Dr. Miljkovic holds B.S. (1985) and M.S. (1990) degrees in Economics from the University of Belgrade, and Ph.D. (1996) in Agricultural Economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Research areas of interest include agricultural price analysis, international economics, and agricultural and food policy including human nutrition, obesity, and food safety. Dr. Miljkovic authored more than 40 peer reviewed journal articles, edited three books in the area of international agricultural trade and development, and presented his work at more than 50 domestic and international conferences and universities in North America, Europe, Asia, New Zealand, and Australia. His teaching responsibilities have included undergraduate classes in agricultural prices, agricultural policy, and international trade, and graduate classes in advanced econometrics, mathematical economics, and consumer behavior. Dr. Miljkovic is the Founding Editor and Editor-In-Chief of the Journal of International Agricultural Trade and Development (JIATD), and has also served as the Associate Editor of the Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics (JAAE). He is an active member of numerous professional organizations and associations including the AAEA, WAEA, SAEA, NAREA, AARES, the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium (IATRC), and regional projects NCCC-134, WERA-72, and S-1016.

WAEA Vision Statement
I am honored to be nominated to serve as a director of the WAEA. There are many reasons why the WAEA has been the prime regional association in our discipline. WAEA publishes two high quality publications, JARE and WEF. JARE is highly selective research outlet that publishes papers of highest quality and as such has second highest impact factor of all agricultural economics journals published in the United States. This high ranking of JARE has perpetually attracted professionals from not only Western United States but entire country to submit and publish their best research in the Journal. WEF is highly accessible research outlet providing valuable information to those interested not only in research but outreach and extension as well. High quality and visibility of WAEA’s journals coupled with low cost of annual dues has helped maintain current membership and attract new membership from Western and other states. I would be promoting these two journals in their current format and low annual dues for members since they create good image of the WAEA. I also support WAEA meetings to be separate from other meetings since there is enough interest among current and potential membership to have well attended and successful conferences. The identity of WAEA will be best served and protected by primarily discussing many issues pertinent to our region. Given the size of the Western United States and its agricultural, geographic, and demographic diversity, our annual meetings are certain to be attractive not only to professionals from this region, but to agricultural economists from the entire country, and even globally. WAEA annual meeting should serve to prompt collaboration among the members as well as to serve as a powerful tool to attract other professionals to join the WAEA.

For Director (choose 2) – Jonathan Yoder
Jonathan Yoder is Associate Professor in the School of Economic Sciences at Washington State University. He received his Ph.D. in Economics from North Carolina State University and his Masters degree in Applied Economics from Montana State University. His Bachelor’s degree is in Biology and journalism from Indiana University. Yoder’s primary research interests are natural resource and environmental economics, and the economics contracts and policy design. Yoder has published in the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics (JARE) and the Western Economic Forum, and has served as a reviewer for JARE, and has participated in the WAEA annual meetings as a presenter, reviewer, and moderator. He also served on the WAEA Master’s Thesis Award Committee in 2006. For more details, please visit http://www.ses.wsu.edu/People/yoder.htm .

WAEA Vision Statement
The WAEA and its journals have solid and useful niches in the agricultural economics profession for Western North America. Although limited electronic access has improved in recent years for JARE in particular, there is room for further improvements to extend the scope and interface of electronic access. In addition, the impending editorial staff changes for JARE provide an important opportunity to maintain and improve its status as the premier regional agricultural economics journal in the country.

The Association has done well in recent years to improve its unique identity in part by choosing interesting and family-friendly locations for its annual meetings, while at the same time maintaining connections with the American Agricultural Economics Association in other years. This is an important balance, and I would do my best to help maintain this tradition while taking care to insure that all members feel as well represented as possible in the choice of meeting locations.