woman in grocery store

Research

An intentional approach to problem-solving

Impactful By Design

We conduct society-relevant, applied research on economic issues related to agriculture, the environment and natural resources. Whether focusing on water quality or agricultural policy or investigating the impact of biotechnology or the supply and demand of agricultural commodities, we address questions and deliver solutions for real-world problems.

Multi-disciplinary in scope, we partner with food scientists on food safety, horticultural scientists on marketing crops and biological and agricultural engineers on waste management, just to name a few. And students play a prominent role in our globally-ranked scholarship, driven by well-respected and well-published faculty and sustained by state and federal grants.

Our Ph.D. program is one of the best in the world. In rankings based on quality-adjusted journal citations, our program ranked #5 internationally in Resource and Environmental Economics, #5 in Agricultural Economics, and #6 in Resource and Agricultural Economics. It also ranked 2nd among economics Ph.D. programs by the Southern Economic Journal in the field of agricultural economics and 5th in a ranking based on peer evaluations.

Faculty Research Highlight

Through their research, our faculty address questions and provide answers to real-world problems — whether focused on water quality, agricultural policy, renewable energy or food systems. This research impacts local, regional, national and international communities in meaningful ways.

Studying How NC Gets Goods to Market

Heidi Schweizer studies agricultural commodity markets with an emphasis on transportation. The process of getting agricultural goods to the final consumer usually involves many modes of transport (trucks, trains, and boats) before it reaches the final consumer. The transportation system is a critical link between agricultural producers and global markets.

Some of her current projects include data-driven analyses of how the 2016 Panama Canal Expansion affects U.S. domestic soybean flows and how ethanol production affects local transportation demand. Since coming to NCSU in August 2018, Heidi has started looking into how the sources of supplementary feed supply in North Carolina may impact local prices. These projects combine methodologies from economics, transportation, and operations research to address how transportation infrastructure and policy can influence marketing opportunities and flows of agricultural goods.

Learn more about Heidi Schweizer

Top 10 Ag Econ Department in the World

RePEc.org, December 2017

Our Active Grants

  1. Doctoral Fellowships in Agricultural Policy. Koch Foundation Barry Goodwin, Wally Thurman.
  2. Understanding Global Forest Product Market Effects of Trade Measures to Address Illegal Wood Fiber Sourcing. USDA Barry Goodwin
  3. NRT-INFEWS: Agricultural Biotechnology in Our Evolving Food, Energy & Water Systems (AgBIOFEWS) NSF Zachary Brown, Kelly Zering
  4. A Comprehensive Approach to Growing Successful Beginning Meat Producers. USDA Andrew Branan
  5. Product Liability and Product Contamination Insurance: Improving Food Safety, Ensuring Market Access, and Boosting Profitability for Specialty Crop Producers. USDA Kathryn Boys, Barry Goodwin
  6. A Supply Chain Approach to Finding Win-Win Sustainable Solutions for Edible but Unharvested Food. USDA Kathryn Boys
  7. Assessing Public Perceptions of Gene Drives for Invasive Species and Pest Control USDA Zachary Brown
  8. Mid-Atlantic Biomass Sorghum Collaborative to Optimize Agronomic Production and Grower Profitability. USDA Kelly Zering
  9. Sustainable Strategies to Manage Spotted Wing Drosophila in the United States Food Crops. USDA Zachary Brown
  10. Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Spot Check List Program on Reducing Crop Insurance Fraud and Abuse. USDA Xiaoyong Zheng, Rod Rejesus, Barry Goodwin
  11. Collaborative Research: Prices, Peers, and Perceptions: Field Experiments on Technology Adoption in the Context of Improved Cookstoves. NSF Zachary Brown
  12. Estimating the Benefits of Stream Water Quality Improvements in Urbanizing Watersheds: An Ecological Production Function Approach. EPA Roger von Haefen
  13. Contemporary Organic Policy: Implications for Food and Ingredient Markets and Trade. NIFA Kathryn Boys.
  14. Housing Market Shocks and Recovery and the Impacts on Structural Relationships among Lumber Markets. USDA Barry Goodwin
  15. Create eLearning in NIFA Challenge Areas to Transform Education of Controlled Environment Animal Production (eCEAP) for Sustainability. NIFA Kelly Zering
  16. Ammonia Recovery from Swine Urine Liquid with Selective Membrane Technology. USDA Kelly Zering
  17. Wastewater Infrastructure Tipping Points: Prioritizing Implementation of Climate Adaptation Plans in Decentralized Systems. NOAA. Eric Edwards
  18. Semi-Nonparametric Methods for Improved Understanding of Planting Density and Risk. USDA-NIFA. Zheng Li, Rod Rejesus and Xiaoyong Zheng.
  19. North Carolina Corn Basis Fundamentals North Carolina Corn Growers Association. Nicholas Piggott, Heidi Schweizer
  20. Challenges and Opportunities for Agroforestry Systems to Participate in State Preferential Property Tax Programs for Agriculture and Forestry. USDA NRCS Andrew Branan
  21.  Economic Benefits of Soil Health Management Systems in the Northeast U.S. USDA Forest Service. Rod Rejesus
  22. Quantifying The Effects of Foreign Acquisitions in the U.S. Agrifood Industry. USDA-AFRI. Ivan Kandilov, Rod Rejesus.
  23. Estimating Recreation Value and Recreation NED Benefits for Federal Shore Protection Projects. USACE. Roger von Haefen
  24. Assessing the Agronomic and Economic Performance of Non-Bt Corn Hybrids to Encourage Refuge Planting in the Southeast. USDA AFRI CPPM. Zack Brown, Nicholas Piggott, Rod Rejesus.
  25. Real-time Farmer Learning on Benefits of Cover Crops for Managing Soil Health, Economics, and Water and Nutrient Dynamics. USDA-NRCS. Rod Rejesus.
  26. CucCAP2: Harnessing Genomic Resources for Disease Resistance and Management in Cucurbit Crops. USDA. Daniel Tregeagle.
  27. Strengthening and Expanding Muscadine Markets. NCDA. Daniel Tregeagle.
  28. Economic Impact of Citrus Greening and Import Competition on U.S. Citrus. ERS. Daniel Tregeagle.

Seminars and Workshops

We offer multiple opportunities for students to interact with renowned experts in the field as well as their peers. To be exposed to diverse, cutting-edge research as well as present their own. Search our seminars and workshops to learn something new.