Welcome to our Department

Welcome to the Oregon State University Agricultural and Resource EconomicsDepartment's (AREc) web site. AREc has a proud history of research and education in agricultural economics and is a leader in developing the resource economics field. Recent reviews of research productivity have ranked AREc in the top five agricultural and resource economics departments in the nation and econphd.net ranked Oregon State in the top ten in the world in resource and agricultural economics (www.econphd.net/rankings.htm).

We're particularly proud of our world class faculty. Rich Adams was selected for inclusion in the 4th edition of Blaug's, Who's Who in Economics. Rich joined his colleague Rolf Fare who first appeared in the 3rd edition of Who's Who in Economics and has been selected again for inclusion in the 4th edition. Most recently, Rich Adams received the AAEA 2008 Publication of Enduring Quality Award.

The Department is home to five Fellows of the American Agricultural Economics Association: Rich Adams, Steve Buccola, Paul Barkley, Emery Castle and Bruce Weber. Many faculty have also received the highest recognition from the Western Agricultural Economics Association.

AREc consists of 22 faculty, 6 professional faculty and staff, 35 graduate students and over 175 undergraduate student majors linked by their dedication to scholarship and education. The department offers undergraduate degrees at the Corvallis campus and at Eastern Oregon University in La Grande in Agricultural Business Management (ABM) and Environmental Economics Policy and Management (EEPM).

AREc also offers both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees, specializing in natural resource and environmental economics, international trade and marketing, rural economics and poverty, and productivity analysis and measurement. Historically, 60% of our Ph.D. degree recipients have been placed in academic positions. Many of these have gone on to become leaders in the profession including six Fellows of the American Agricultural Economics Association–Walt Armbruster, Sandra Batie, Bruce Beattie, Dan Bromley, Derek Byerlee and Alan Randall.

In addition to teaching, departmental faculty conduct extensive research and extension education programs focusing on the economic and policy dimensions of climate change, marine fisheries, endangered species, biodiversity, public lands management, land use, water allocation, water quality protection, agricultural and marine market structure and performance, agricultural competitiveness, international trade and policy, value-added agricultural products, productivity analysis and measurement, and rural economics, poverty and hunger.

I'm proud of our tradition of excellence, our outstanding people and our cutting-edge programs and I invite you to explore our web site. In it you will find information on AREc's faculty and the Department's undergraduate, graduate, extension and outreach programs and this link to Departmental Strategic Plan [PDF].

If you would like additional information about the department please contact me by phone at (541) 737-5639 or by email at Susan.Capalbo@oregonstate.edu. When you are in the Corvallis area, please feel welcome to visit our department.

Sincerely,

Susan Capalbo, Professor and Head