FoA 366: Agriculture, Economics, and Data with Aaron Smith, Ph.D.

Find out how Calgary is leading the agribusiness revolution: www.CalgaryAgbusiness.com

Subscribe to Ag Data News: https://agdatanews.substack.com/

Aaron Smith Website: https://asmith.ucdavis.edu/

Ag Data: Where Do I Find It?: https://asmith.ucdavis.edu/data/ag-data-where-do-i-find-it

The Artificial Intelligence Institute for Next Generation Food Systems: https://aifs.ucdavis.edu/

Alberta Veterinary Laboratories / Solvet: https://solvet.ca/

today’s episode features Dr. Aaron Smith. Aaron’s newsletter, which I highly recommend, covers a wide range of food and ag topics, so fittingly, we cover several in today’s episode as well. I have learned a lot from reading Aaron’s work, and I appreciate his approach as a data-driven teacher and communicator. Certainly part of my motivation to get him on the show was selfish, because this is an area I want to improve in as well. I’m only half-joking when I say it’s selfish, because I do think this is an area all of us will benefit from improving in. 

Aaron and I discuss increasing the accessibility of ag data, some basic research skills, his approach to ag data news, and how the data has informed some of his thoughts on topics ranging from biofuels to carbon sequestration to pineapple production and beyond. 

Some more about Aaron: he is the DeLoach Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Davis, where he has been since 2001. Originally from New Zealand, he earned his PhD in Economics from the University of California, San Diego. His research addresses policy, trading and price dynamics in agricultural, energy, and financial markets. He has over 50 publications in refereed journals, and he has been recognized with a multitude of awards and achievements which I won’t list here, but trust me it is impressive.. Aaron is also the cluster lead for socioeconomics and ethics in the AI Institute for the Food System (AIFS) and a co-director of the Center for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence Research (CeDAR).

Make sure you stay tuned to the end of today’s episode for a spotlight of Calgary-based Alberta Veterinary Laboratories / Solvet with their CEO Lionel Gibbs.