This year's program will feature experts discussing topics such as biofuels, commodity outlooks, climate change, recession and the Cap and Trade debate.
9:00 a.m. Climate Change and Its Impact on Agriculture
Mr. Jay Grymes, LSU AgCenter Climatologist
9:40 a.m. Carbon Sequestration and the Cap and Trade Debate
Dr. Joe Outlaw, Co-director, Agricultural and Food Policy Center, Texas A&M
10:40 a.m. The Status of the U.S. Recession: Implications for the Agricultural Sector
Dek Terrell is Director of the LSU Division of Economic Development and is the Freeport McMoRan Professor of Economics at Louisiana State University. He joined LSU in 1996 after receiving his Ph.D. at Duke University and spending five years at Kansas State University. Dr. Terrell works on numerous projects related to Louisiana’s economy. In addition to projects with private firms and local governments, Dr. Terrell has worked with the Louisiana departments of Culture Recreation and Tourism, Economic Development, Health and Hospitals, Labor and Social Services and the Louisiana Governor’s Office, Workforce Commission and the Louisiana Recovery Authority. Dr. Terrell’s nationally funded research agenda includes projects with the Urban Institute and Department of Homeland Security.
11:20 a.m. Outlook For Agricultural Input Costs
Dr. Abner Womack, Senior Economist, Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, University of Missouri
12:45 p.m. Status of Forestry Sector
Mr. Buck Vandersteen, Executive Director, Louisiana Forestry Association
1:15 p.m. Current Status of Biofuel Production
Dr. Michael Salassi is the Nelson Fairbanks Professor of Agricultural Economics in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness with the LSU AgCenter. Dr. Salassi joined the LSU AgCenter in 1994. He has a 90% research/extension appointment with the LSU AgCenter campus, with primary responsibilities in the areas of production economics, farm management and farm policy, and a 10% teaching appointment with LSU A&M campus, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in quantitative business decision analysis. Prior to coming to LSU, Dr. Salassi worked in Washington, D.C., as an agricultural economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As part of his research and extension program at LSU, Dr. Salassi has developed more than 300 articles and publications and has made more than 300 presentations to producer groups and at professional meetings. Dr. Salassi received his bachelor's degree in agribusiness in 1979 and his master’s degree in agricultural economics in 1981 from Louisiana State University. He received his Ph.D. degree from Mississippi State University in 1985.
1:45 p.m. Outlook For Louisiana’s Row Crop Sector
Dr. Kurt Guidry is the Gilbert Durbin Professor of Agricultural Economics in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness with the LSU AgCenter. Dr. Guidry joined the LSU AgCenter in 1997 with a 100% extension appointment with primary responsibilities in the areas of farm management and marketing focused on the soybean and feed grain industries in the state. Since that time, Dr. Guidry has expanded his areas of work to include risk and financial management and agricultural policy. As part of his extension programs, Dr. Guidry has developed more than 130 extension publications and newsletters and has made more than 200 presentations to producer groups and at professional meetings. Dr. Guidry currently serves as the coordinator of LSU AgCenter disaster estimates and is the state coordinator for the Trade Adjustment Assistance program. Dr. Guidry received his bachelor's degree in AgriBusiness from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1991. He received his master's degree from Louisiana State University in 1993 and his Ph.D. degree from Oklahoma State University in 1997, both in agricultural economics.
2:20 p.m. Outlook For Louisiana’s Livestock Sector
Dr. Ross Pruitt, Assistant Professor, LSU AgCenter
Presentations will be online at www.lsuagcenter.com/agoutlook