Agricultural Economics

At OSU since 2020 with a focus on farm management and agricultural finance.

Research Interests:

Bir's research focuses on farmer and rancher decision making related to production possibilities and finances. By eliciting consumer preferences for agricultural products, and analyzing the potential for farmers to incorporate these preferences profitably, Bir is working to bridge the gap between consumer preferences and farmer possibilities. Additionally, she is working towards increasing producer use and awareness of farm financial planning in the state of Oklahoma.

Mckenzie Boyce is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University. Her work focuses on quality of life as an economic development strategy, aiming to better understand how local assets contribute to thriving rural areas. Her work aims to inform both local decision-making and broader policy discussions around rural community development. She holds a PhD in agricultural and applied economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, a MS in agricultural economics from Mississippi State University, and a BS in agribusiness and a BS in agricultural communications from Oklahoma State University. 

Research Interests:

Rural Development

Community Development

Quality of Life

Business Retention and Expansion

Entrepreneurship

Econometrics
Futures Markets
Precision Agriculture

Cynda R. Clary joined Oklahoma State University as associate dean for the Ferguson College of Agriculture in July 2012. She provides leadership for the college's instructional budget, undergraduate and graduate academic and advisement programs, faculty development and support, student recruitment and retention, the Student Success Center, college alumni relations and student scholarship support. Before joining the division, Clary served for 19 years at New Mexico State University, where she served in several administrative positions in her college and across campus. Her commitment to teaching and advising has earned her awards from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Oklahoma FFA, National Alpha Zeta organization, National Agri-Marketing Association and Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, among others.

JC Hobbs is Extension Specialist for Ag Tax and Farm Management for OSU Extension, and is part of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University. He has been an OSU Extension Specialist since 1985 and provides leadership to the OSU Farm & Business Tax Institute. 

Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics
Assistant Director & McLaughlin Family Endowed Chair, OSU Food & Agricultural Products Center

Education:
1997: Ph.D., Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University
1991: B.S., Agricultural Economics, Texas A&M University

Dr. Rodney Holcomb is a Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and the Charles B. Browning Endowed Professor of Food Studies with the Food & Agricultural Products Center (FAPC) at Oklahoma State University. He has been on the faculty at Oklahoma State University since March 1997. His research interests lie in the areas of value-added manufacturing economics and market evaluations. His goals are to identify economically feasible activities and business structures for adding value to regional agricultural commodities, along with determining the impacts of these activities on local and state economies. From 2020 through 2022, he served as director of the Oklahoma SBDC Data Center, overseeing the collection of market and industry data for small businesses planning their growth in Oklahoma. He is an appointed board member for Oklahoma AgCredit and chairs the audit committee for that association. He is also the instructor of two Agribusiness Management courses, in which students develop business/marketing plans for Oklahoma companies as their class projects.

The primary technical services he provides are food business trainings, industry analyses, market evaluations, and venture feasibility assessments. His programs have received awards from commodity organizations, professional associations, industry groups, the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension Service, Oklahoma State University, and the Oklahoma Governor's office. He has also received the USDA Plow Honor Award for Exceptional Service, the highest award given by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

Research Interests:

Agribusiness Development
Commodity Organizations and Cooperatives

Todd Hubbs is an economist specializing in agricultural commodity markets. He holds a Ph.D. from Purdue University.  He recently served as a Senior Outlook Analyst at the Economic Research Service (ERS) of the USDA. Prior to his time at USDA, he was at the University of Illinois, focusing on commodity marketing extension and research.

Todd's research interests include commodity price analysis, biofuels markets and policy, risk management, and agricultural policy. He has published extensively in academic journals and is an active speaker on agricultural markets.

Microeconomics
Research Methods and Methodology
Spatial Econometrics
Technology Innovation and Adoption

Regional economics

Survey design & analysis

Dr. Jayson Lusk is the vice president and dean of OSU agricultural programs. He leads the Ferguson College of Agriculture and two state agencies: OSU Extension and OSU Ag Research. Dr. Lusk has published more than 290 scientific articles, six books, and travels extensively for speaking engagements and media appearances. Prior to returning to Oklahoma, Lusk served as head of the agricultural economics department at Purdue University.  He is a fellow and past president of the Agricultural and Applied Econonomics Association (AAEA) and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).  He serves on the Board of Agriculture and Natural Resources (BANR) for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.  

Research Interests:

Lusk is a food and agricultural economist who studies what we eat and why we eat it. Since 2001, he has published more than 290 articles in peer reviewed academic journals, six books, and seven book chapters. According to Google Scholar, his published works have been cited more than 28,00 times and he has an H-index of 89. His research has primarily centered on the following topics.

• Food Policy: Although food and agricultural policies are often motivated by noble intentions, economic analysis provides a framework for estimating consequences and understanding tradeoffs. Lusk has analyzed the consequences of various policies ranging from food labels, to bans on controversial agricultural technologies, to food assistance programs, to fat and soda taxes.
• Emerging Food Issues: Food preferences and technologies are constantly evolving, and as such, much of Lusk's research has focused on providing economic analysis and insight into consumer preferences for emerging food issues such as animal welfare, biotechnology, cloning, nanotechnology, growth promotants, local foods, etc.
• Consumer Behavior: Predicting consumers' responses to food marketing and policy initiatives requires an understanding of why people do what they do, which means studying preferences for risk, time, fairness, social status, etc. A key question driving much of Lusk's research is: why do consumers say they will do one thing in a survey but do something entirely different when shopping in the grocery store?
• Livestock and Meat Technology and Marketing: Animal agriculture represents the highest share of farm cash receipts, and as such, Lusk has researched livestock, poultry, and meat marketing and the impacts of technologies on these sectors.
• Research Methods: Lusk has created and improved experimental, survey, and statistical methods to better understand how consumers will react to food marketing and policy initiatives. He helped create new consumer research methods such as inferred valuation, incentive compatible conjoint, calibrated auction-conjoint, vignette conjoint, calibrated choice experiment, and basket-based choice experiment methods, and his work has led to further developments in best-worst scaling, choice experiments, and experimental auctions.

Dr. Radmehr is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University, USA. He earned his PhD, master's, and bachelor's degrees in Agricultural Economics. His research focuses on tackling key challenges in agricultural and environmental sustainability, resource management, food security, and climate change through quantitative modeling and economic analysis.