Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics
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Over the past 2 decades, industrial organization (IO) research has gained substantial influence within agricultural and resource economics (ARE). We document this shift using state-of-the-art AI models and a targeted survey of IO scholars. Drawing on 18,809 articles published in the top 10 ARE journals (1975–2024) and 8,284 articles from five leading IO journals, we trace changes in thematic focus, methodological approaches, and citation trends. A central finding is that IO research in ARE has experienced a marked rise in scholarly influence since the early 2000s. We explore potential drivers of this trend and highlight areas where IO scholarship is especially uniquely positioned to shape future research. Beyond the substantive contributions, we demonstrate how AI tools can be used to map the intellectual evolution of economic subfields at scale.
Agricultural trade has been steadily increasing since the 1960s. Consequently, agricultural trade has become an important field in agricultural economics since the 1970s. This special issue article presents an overview of key trade theories, empirical trade models, the current status of multilateral trade negotiations, major disputes, and key forces that can shape future commodity trade. Agriculture was brought into global trade negotiations under the Uruguay Round; however, the Doha Round negotiations are beset with disagreements among WTO member countries. Further, with Trump’s unilateral tariff policies, global trade negotiations are under siege, disrupting trade and potentially slowing economic growth worldwide.
Commodity prices research examines how well prices reveal information, allocate resources, and transfer risk. This review surveys 50 years of work across 11 themes: price discovery, market integration and efficiency, price transmission, volatility spillovers, forecasting, derivatives and hedging, storability, futures convergence, financialization, policy effects and the informational value of USDA reports. Evidence points to nearly efficient markets, where cash and futures impound news quickly across markets related by space, time, and form. However, short-run frictions sometimes emerge. I discuss how data availability and machine learning will advance our understanding and highlight recent papers already pushing the envelope in this direction.
As the Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics marks 50 years, this article assesses the future relevance of the agricultural and resource economics profession. We analyze the evolution and current state of the field, its strengths and weaknesses, and propose strategies for enhancement. To remain vital, the discipline must increase its policy impact, embrace interdisciplinary collaborations, modernize curricula with data science and behavioral economics, and better communicate its value to students and society. We argue that focusing on societal contributions, adapting pedagogy, and engaging with emerging global challenges are crucial for the field’s continued success and relevance.
This article reviews and discusses the impact of community entrepreneurship in the context of agriculture, food systems, and natural resources. Community entrepreneurship, involving entrepreneurial individuals and enterprise opportunities, supports rural development for farmers and farming communities to initiate and engage in creative ideas, leading to resilience and prosperity. Examples such as e-commerce, agricultural cooperatives, and multifunctional operations reinforce the effectiveness of responding to multiple shocks through dynamic social networks and local/regional coordination. As new research needs evolve, many novel concepts such as technology–human integration, complex system-network analysis, and new dimensions of food and resource management deserve more attention.
This paper traces the past 50 years of evolution of behavioral economics within agricultural and resource economics, documenting how applied economists’ empirical observations of farmer behavior, environmental valuation anomalies, and food choice patterns contributed foundational insights to behavioral theory. The field’s practical orientation led to early identification of key anomalies, including the endowment effect, adoption patterns, peer effects, other-regarding behavior and stigma effects. Through analysis of publication trends across five leading journals, we demonstrate steady growth in behavioral research. Finally, we examine institutional developments, including specialized research centers and policy applications, while acknowledging ongoing challenges regarding replication, external validity, and the limitations of nudge interventions, which provides fertile grounds for future research.
In recent years, behavioral and experimental economics have increasingly shaped agri-environmental research by revealing how farmers navigate complex decisions. This article reviews key developments in three areas: behavioral insights into farmers’ social, temporal, and risk preferences and identities, norms, and motivations; experimental methods for assessing behavior and policy impacts; and methodological advances enhancing scientific rigor. We highlight contributions to more behaviorally informed agri-environmental policies, including nudges, participatory approaches, and innovative schemes. Looking forward, priorities include large-scale collaborative studies, stronger stakeholder involvement, and integrating behavioral evidence into policymaking, addressing challenges such as farmer fatigue, to design adaptive, effective, and legitimate policies.
The cattle and beef industry suffered through major declines in consumer demand during the 1980s and 1990s. Economists were instrumental in identifying the decline, but traditional times series meat demand models became less useful as heterogeneous consumer preferences evolved. New research methodologies were adopted that guided industry market innovations that resulted in numerous beef product offerings. Going forward, information will be of utmost importance to industry innovation and growth including use of artificial intelligence, real-time surveillance of consumer demand, necessary market information, and risk management. Economists will be integral in designing and assessing the viability of these developments.
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