FARE Institute

Providing independent, credible, and timely policy analysis with respect to socially significant food and agricultural issues.

About The Institute

Professor Alan Ker

The Institute for the Advanced Study of Food and Agricultural Policy is housed within the Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics, OAC, University of Guelph. Professor Alan Ker is the Director.

The mission of the Institute is to attract and educate competent students to food and agricultural economics. In addition, we provide independent, credible, and timely policy analysis with respect to socially significant food and agricultural issues. To that end, we host and co-host policy conferences, support FARETalk (podcast), support FAREShare (newsletter), provide commodity price forecasting, house efficiency benchmarking tools for producers, and finally develop and maintain commodity market models for "what if" policy analysis.

Institute Outreach Activities

 

FARE Talk

Brady Deaton

The FARE Talk initiative is the brainchild of Professor Deaton, where he interviews top scholars about issues of significant public interest.

 

FARE Share Newsletter

Newsletter

The FARE Share Newsletter's mission is to provide independent, credible, & timely policy analysis with respect to socially significant food & agricultural issues. FAREShare is edited by Professor Getu Hailu.

Read the Latest Newsletter

To sign up to receive future issues of this Newsletter please contact Emily Vogelman (fare@uoguelph.ca)
View Past Newsletters

Student Achievements

One of the primary drivers of the Institute is to attract and support students in the field of food and agricultural economics. On that note, we would like to congratulate Jamie Naylor and Anna Chemeris for placing first and second respectfully in the Canadian Agricultural Economics Society (CAES) 2019 Annual Policy Conference Research Poster Competition.  In the 2019 Policy Brief Competition, Anna Chemeris and Laura Stortz placed first and second respectfully.  All students received financial support from the Institute. We would also like to congratulate Alex Cairns, Tor Tolhurst, Ken Poon, David Jacques, and Lin Yuang (all former students who received support from the Institute) for their Honourable Mention award for 2018 Best Published Article in the Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics.  The article modelled the economic impacts of a disease outbreak in the livestock sector. We would also like to congratulate Regan Artnz-Gray co-winner of the  2017 Outstanding Masters thesis award and Rebecca Eslkamp winner of the CAES 2017 Outstanding Dissertation award (awarded once every three years). Ms. Arntz-Gray's thesis was titled "Economic Implications of a Changing Yield Weather Relationship". Ms. Elskamp dissertation was titled “Bidding Behaviour in Multi-Unit Auctions: Three Essays”. Both Regan and Rebecca received financial support from the Institute during their studies at Guelph.

  

Student Sponsorships

  • April, 2019 - The Institute was pleased to provide monies for the 2019 T.K. Warley Agricultural Policy Prize for Undergraduate students.  
  • February 2019 - The Institute was pleased to provide financial assistance for students to attend the 2019 Canadian Agricultural Economics Society Annual Policy Conference, Ottawa, Ontario.
  • June 2018 - The Institute provided financial assistance for students to attend the 2018 International Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting, Vancouver, British Columbia.
  • June 2018 - The Institute provided financial assistance for students to attend the 2018 Canadian Agricultural Economics Society Annual Meeting, Vancouver, British Columbia.
  • January 2018 - The Institute provided financial assistance for students to attend the 2018 Canadian Agricultural Economics Society Annual Policy Conference, Ottawa, Ontario.
  • June 2017 - The Institute provided financial assistance for students to attend the 2017 Canadian Agricultural Economics Society Annual Meeting, Montreal, Ontario.
  • May 2017 - The Institute provided financial scholarships for students to attend the International Dairy Federation Economic Outlook Meeting, Guelph, Ontario.
  • January 2017 - The Institute provided financial scholarships for students to attend the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Conference, Ottawa, Ontario.
  • January 2017 - The Institute financially sponsored the student policy paper competition at the Canadian Agri-Food Policy Conference, Ottawa, Ontario.

    Student Reseach

  • April, 2019 - Horlick Ng, "On Technological Change and Volatility in Canadian Agriculture."
  • May, 2019 - Anna Chemeris, "Subsidized Crop Insurance and Technological Change in U.S. Crop Production."
  • June, 2019 - Danielle Mayers, "The Impacts of Non-Legume Cover Crop Use on Crop Yields and Profit Margins in Ontario."

Conferences Hosted

  • "Big Data, Changing Climate, and Agriculture", Guelph, May, 2017.

Conferences Sponsored

food agricultural issues

Food and Agricultural Issues

 

COVID-19 and the Canadian Agricultural and Food Sectors 

The Institute assisted in finanically sponsoring the special issue of the Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics regarding the implications of COVID-19 on the Canadian Agricultural and Food Sectors.   The issue consists of 18 articles covering topics such as food security, trade, labor, supply chains, and risk management.  See Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics 

The second issue "COVID-19 and theCanadian agriculture and food sectors: Thoughts one yearinto the pandemic" consists of  16 articles can be found in Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Volume 69, Issue 2.  An introduction to the issue can be found here.

 

Business Risk Management and Canadian Agriculture 

Professor Alan Ker was invited and submitted a brief to the Standing Committee on Agricluture and Agri-Food's study on Business Risk Managment programs.

 

Agricultural Economics, Major with the 2nd Lowest Unemployment Rate

USA Today recently found that individuals with an Agricultural Economics degree had the 2nd lowest unemployment rate, 0.74%, of all college programs.  The low unemployment rate combines with an average salary of USD$71,634, indicating there is high demand for individuals with the tools and skills developed within an agricultural economics degree. 

 

NAFTA 2.0, CUSMA, USMCA

 

National Food Policy for Canada

The federal government has announced plans to create a Food Policy for Canada. In this special issue, I asked five experts to provide their thoughts on various aspects of a National Food Policy for Canada.
 

 

Debt in the Agriculture Sector and its Effects

Three Institute professors were invited to Parliament Hill to share important research that will help to shape effective public policy for Canadian agriculture. Brady Deaton, Alan Ker and Alfons Weersink each made testimonies to the Standing Committee on Agriculture and Agri-Food in the House of Commons this spring. Currently, the Committee is studying the effects of debt in the agriculture sector.
 

  

Recent Presentations

  • "An Early Assessment of COVID-19 and the Canadian Agriculture and Food Sector", FARE Talk, April 2020
  • "BRM Under Review: A Study of Syntax and Mythical Changes", CAES Policy Conference, Ottawa,  January 2020
  • "Modelling the Economic Impacts of an ASF Outbreak on Ontario’s Pork Sector", CAES Policy Conference, Ottawa,  January 2020
  • "Economic Impacts of an ASF Outbreak in Ontario's Pork Industry", OMAFRA, Guelph, November 2019
  • "An Economic Model of Ontario's Pork Industry", Ontario Pork, Guelph, October 2019
  • "Impacts of Trade Liberalization in Canada's Supply Managed Dairy Industry", CAES Annual Meeting/ AAFC/ Canadian Dairy Commission, Ottawa, July 2019
  • "Developing Commodity Models for Policy Analysis", OMAFRA, Guelph, April 2019
  • "Impacts of Trade Liberalization in Canada's Supply Managed Dairy Industry", Dairy Farmers of Ontario, Mississauga, March 2019
  • "Current Trade Issues for Canadian Agriculture", Keynote Address, Ontario Canola Growers Association annual meeting, February 2019.
  • "Current Trade Issues for Canadian Agriculture", FarmSmart 2018 Conference, Guelph, January 2018.
  • "Modelling the Canadian Dairy Industry", AAFC, Ottawa, June 2018.
  • "US Crop Insurance Program", OMAFRA, December 2017.
  • "BRM Policy Options and Efficacy", Risk Management Workshop, Winnipeg, November 5 2017.
  • "Land and Water: Issues and Approaches in Canada, First Nations and Abroad.", 9th Annual Daryl Kraft Lecture, October 25, 2017.
  • "Modeling the Dairy Sector and Trade Implications” , Canadian Dairy Commission, Ottawa, October 23, 2017.
  • "Precision Agriculture in Ontario: 2017 Precision Agriculture Services Dealership Survey", FARE Working Paper Series, October 2017
  • "Changing Climate, Technology, and Yield Volatilities", School of Agriculture and Food Science, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. March 2017
  • "The Fingerprint of Climate and Innovation on Yields", Agricultural and Agri-Food Canada, January 2017.

  

Selected Published Papers