Kansas State University

www.agmanager.info: Where The Ag World Meets

In March 2003 the website www.agmanager.info was launched to consolidate the Department of Agricultural Economics’ research and outreach materials into one convenient location. Today, an average 20,000 people use AgManager each month, making it one of K-State Research and Extension’s most frequented sites.

Department Head, Dan Bernardo, explained since the beginning, the vision for AgManager was to be the first source for ag management information in Kansas.

Weighing In On The Atkins Diet

The Atkins diet has revolutionized the dieting trend. According to Knight Ridder, an estimated 17 million Americans are currently following a formal low-carb diet and another

42 million are cutting back on carbohydrates.

The success of this diet seems to be attributed to a multitude of factors, the most important being that individuals can eat many of the foods that they love and scientific research has shown that the Atkins diet can result in weight loss.

It’s not just those who lose weight who are profiting from the Atkins diet. Beef demand in the United States has been increasing in recent years, said James Mintert, professor of agricultural economics at K-State.

Mintert recently calculated that beef demand during the fourth quarter 2003 was 10 percent higher than during fourth quarter

2002. And despite the recent report of bovine spongiform encephalitis, or Mad Cow disease, in Washington state, domestic consumer demand appears to be holding up well.

"Obviously, the beef industry is reaping the benefits of the diet," Mintert said. "The increase in beef demand has helped make producers more optimistic about the future. They love it."

The question, however, is just how much of that increase should be attributed to the Atkins diet.

"It's not the only factor driving the beef demand," he said. "What we're seeing is a reversal of a long-term trend." Mintert said although the Atkins diet has had a positive impact on the trend, other factors include intro- duction of new easy-to-prepare beef items to the market and the recent rebound of the U.S. economy.

The demand reversal began in 1998 after a nearly 20-year slump that resulted in beef demand declining about 50 percent. Since 1998, beef demand has improved markedly. Beef demand index calculations reveal that beef demand during 2003 was about 16 percent higher than during 1998. Mintert said growth in the beef industry driven by the Atkins diet is positive, but he remains skeptical as to how long it will last.

It seems the Atkins diet will leave a lasting impression. According to Forbes.com, analysts predict that the low-carb movement will continue through 2004 and then gradually decline, but that the number of people limiting carbs will actually rise.

David Hurrelbrink earned his bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from K-State in December of 1975. Nearly three decades later, the father of two finally donned his cap and gown to walk through the College of Agriculture’s commencement ceremony Saturday, May 22, 2004.

“The price was palpable almost,” he said, of watching Amy get her diploma and then taking part in the ceremonies himself. He said he wished his mother and father were still alive to see him walk across the stage.

“I didn’t even care,” he said, noting it was the 70s and being anti-establishment was cool. Add in the fact that he was a December graduate and would have had to come back for spring ceremony - the university didn’t have December ceremonies at the time - and he just never walked. “I left school, got a job, got married and then changed jobs, all by May,” he said.

It wasn’t until Hurrelbrink watched his son, Bill, participate in commencement about a year and a half ago that he realized he had missed out on something important.

“I really enjoyed my son’s graduation. I was so very proud of him and maybe just a little bit envious of his ceremony,” he said.

The idea to return for a commencement grew out of a conversation with Pat Bosco, dean of Student Life at KSU, in which Hurrelbrink expressed his regret at not having taken part in commencement. Bosco went to Beth Unger, chair of K-State’s commencement committee, who arranged for Hurrelbrink to walk through commencement this spring.

“Once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat,” Unger said.

Hurrelbrink and his wife of 28 years, Patricia, own and operate August Resources LLC in Kansas City. The company sells spare parts for military vehicles.

K-State Research & Extension Names Ag Economics Leader

K-State professor of agricultural economics, Dr. James Mintert, has accepted a four-year appointment as the Extension state leader for agricultural economics now that Barry Flinchbaugh has stepped down. Mintert is the livestock marketing specialist with K-State Research and Extension.

Sustained Effort Required For BSE Protection

Well before the first U.S. case of mad cow disease was discovered in December, Sean Fox's studies of the risks led him to warn, "the disease barrier between cattle and humans is not yet as strong as it could be."

Writing in the February 2003 edition of the agribusiness newspaper Feedstuffs, Fox said that if BSE were discovered, strengthening that barrier would "provide solid evidence to back up any claims about the safety of beef, and help minimize, to the benefit of the industry, the inevitable consumer panic."

Fortunately, the December discovery in Washington state appears to have been an isolated incident limited to one cow. But Fox, a Kansas State University agricultural economist, is sticking by his original call for more precautions. Any future incidents of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) might be more widespread and erode consumer confidence.

Fox, a Food Safety Consortium researcher who is examining BSE's effects on markets, noted several months before the BSE case discovery that the U.S. ban on feeding ruminant-derived protein to cattle and sheep would prevent a disease spread in cattle if properly enforced. But he pointed out that the General Accounting Office said that isn't being done.

The GAO also reported that some foods contain traces of bovine brain or spinal cord so it recommended that warning labels be placed on foods that might contain them. The U.S. Department of Agriculture rejected the suggestion, maintaining that warnings should be reserved for known hazards and there was no current BSE hazard.

"This 'we don't have it and the risk is low' approach has been used before," Fox wrote in Feedstuffs. "It was essentially the same approach taken in Germany and Japan where official 'BSE free' rhetoric backfired with the devastating economic consequences when the first cases were discovered."

Fox acknowledged that because the risk to human health from BSE is so low, a ban on nervous tissue or the use of warning labels would probably not have much impact in protecting public health. However, in June 2003 in The Kansas City Star, he argued that if BSE were dis- covered in the U.S., a ban on nervous tissue might be a good economic strategy because "by offering additional reassurance to consumers, it could reduce the cost of a BSE case for the beef industry, the fast food sector and the taxpayer."

In the Star commentary, Fox also called for the introduction of a national animal identification system. In January, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman told a congressional committee that USDA would work to speed up development of a national identification system, a project that has been in the works since mid-2002.

The infected Holstein that was discovered in Washington was traced back to a farm in Alberta, but Fox said the present system does not guarantee results in all cases.

"At this time, we do not have the capability to reliably trace a cow back to its farm of birth and, equally important, to find all its cohorts or offspring and eliminate them from the food chain," he said. "The ability to do so would reassure consumers and export markets that all potential cases related to one found could be detected and prevented from entering the food system."

A national identification system is very complex to establish and the current USDA effort started from scratch, Fox explained. European nations that have a system in place established theirs decades ago. In the U.S., several pilot projects are going on in different states in various stages of progress, he said.

The U.S. ban on feeding ruminant-derived protein to cattle and sheep, implemented in 1997 by the Food and Drug Administration, is similar to a 1988 ban that was enacted in the United Kingdom, which Fox said failed because of cross-contamination between ruminant and non-ruminant feed. By 2001, the European Union completely banned feeding meat and bone meal to all farm animals and fish, followed by Japan.

"It seems unlikely that the FDA ban provides adequate assurance that ruminant feed does not contain prohibited material," Fox said.

David Norman 2004 Commerce Bank Distinguished Faculty Award Recipient

Internationally recognized scholar in international agricultural development is K-State's 2004 Commerce Bank Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award recipient. The honoree, David Norman, professor of agricultural economics, will receive a $2,500 honorarium. The award is supported by the William T. Kemper Foundation and the Commerce Bancshares Foundation and is coordinated through the KSU Foundation.

As the Distinguished Graduate Faculty honoree, Norman will be officially recognized at the fall 2004 commencement ceremony for the Graduate School. He also will each present a public lecture about his area of scholarship to the university community during the 2004-2005 school year.

"We're pleased to present this prestigious award to Dr. Norman and want to thank Commerce Bank and the William T. Kemper Foundation for helping K-State honor this out- standing faculty member," said Jon Wefald, K- State president. "The international expertise and reputation that Dr. Norman has earned in his field is why he is among K-State's most outstanding teachers and scholars."

Norman has earned recognition for his work both at K-State and abroad. He teaches international agricultural development and an undergraduate course on the global agricultural economy, hunger and poverty. He also has taught production economics.

Norman conducts research through K- State Research and Extension. His expertise is in farmer-based research, sustainable agriculture and farming systems research and extension. In addition, he is the major profes- sor for several students at both the master's and Ph.D. levels and often serves as an advis- er overseas, including in Africa, Asia, the South Pacific, Latin America and Europe. His advisory work includes making presentations, conducting training courses and designing and evaluating research and development projects and programs in conjunction with national programs or through international organizations or agricultural research centers. "David Norman is one of the world's most renowned scholars in the area of international agricultural development," said Daniel Bernardo, head of K-State's department of agricultural economics. "Dr. Norman is recog- nized as a co-founder of the farming system approach to agricultural development, which has remained one of the dominant developmental strategies aimed at improving the agricultural productivity of developing countries for more than 20 years.

"He has shared his expertise in more than 90 countries and today still spends much of his time traveling the globe to assist in the planning and assessment of agricultural development projects," Bernardo said.

Norman first became associated with K-State as a member of a rural economic research team at Ahmadu Bello University in northern Nigeria. He officially joined K-State as an assistant professor in 1968 but continued with his work at the Nigerian university. He was promoted to associate professor and moved to Manhattan in 1976. He earned the rank of full professor in 1978. From 1982 to 1990 Norman headed an agricultural technology improvement project in Botswana. The $12.9 million project, through the U.S. Agency for International Development and the Mid- America International Agricultural Consortium, involved implementing a farming systems research program in two areas of eastern Botswana. K-State, a member of the consor- tium with four other universities, served as the lead institution for the project.

His international experience has also benefited K-State's graduate program in agricultural economics, Bernardo said.

"Because of his international reputation, students come from across the globe to work and study with Dr. Norman. In the last 13 years he has served as major adviser to more than 30 graduate students in the departments of agricultural economics and economics. His students leave K-State with outstanding training and impressive publication records. As a result, they are highly sought by international agencies, private consulting firms and universities," Bernardo said.

Norman is the author or co-author of more than 200 publications and more than 50 consultancy reports. His work has been nominated for the American Agricultural Association Award for Publication of Enduring Quality.

In both 1999 and 2000 he was nomi- nated for the World Food Prize, the highest individual honor for outstanding achievement in improving the world's food supply. In 2002 he was given a Special Award by the International Farming Systems Association for outstanding scientific contributions, dedication and commitment to farmers and communities worldwide. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts in the United Kingdom.

At K-State, he received a Faculty of the Spring Semester Award in 2000 from the College of Agriculture for his contributions to the college's undergraduate program. He also received the university's first International Education Award in 2003.

Norman has been a member of Sigma Xi, the scientific research society, and Phi Kappa Phi, a national academic honor society. He graduated from Wye College of the University of London in England. He earned a master's degree and a doctorate from Oregon State University.