Purdue Agricultural Economics

09/19/2026

New episode of Rooted & Restless! 🎙️ I talked with Brenna Ellison with Center for Food Conservation & Waste Reduction about food waste — and why it's about way more than your kitchen trash can.

We covered "Best By" vs. "Use By" confusion, surplus crops and "imperfect" produce that never hits store shelves, and simple ways to waste less and stretch your food dollars.

Link in comments below to listen. 🎧

09/18/2026

Glaciers. Waterfalls. Puffins. Geothermal pools. And a whole new perspective on agriculture.

Traceson Gearhart (Agribusiness; Claypool, IN) spent 10 days exploring Iceland with 15 fellow Boilermakers through the College of Agriculture’s “Agriculture & Natural Resources in Iceland” study abroad program.

🔗 https://ag.purdue.edu/department/agecon/undergraduate-program/success-2026-27/navigating-agriculture-in-icelands-rough-terrain.html

Purdue Study Abroad Purdue University Agriculture Study Abroad

09/17/2026

Indiana farmland values are holding relatively steady in 2026, though trends vary considerably across the state.

Purdue Agricultural Economics’s latest Purdue Farmland Values and Cash Rent Survey looks at current farmland values and provides a forecast for what’s ahead.

Although farmland values were comparatively stable this year the market continues to show signs of adjustment following the rapid increases seen from 2020 to 2022.

Learn more from both Purdue University and Purdue Center for Commercial Agriculture experts. Link in comments.

09/17/2026

🎓 Riley Baker (Ag Econ; South Windsor, CT) has traveled all over the world during her time at Purdue.

“Purdue alumnus and astronaut Eugene Cernan said, ‘Enriched by a singular event that is larger than life, I no longer have the luxury of being ordinary.’ By choosing to participate in just one unfamiliar activity, you open the door to transformative experiences that can change your entire present and future.”

🔗 https://ag.purdue.edu/department/agecon/undergraduate-program/seniors-2026-27/riley-baker.html

09/16/2026

09/16/2026

With lettuce recording the sharpest reversal in this policy brief series to date and crude oil moving abruptly after July reports, Ken Foster and Bernhard Dalheimer’s latest brief reviews the August 2026 CPI and PPI reports. Their analysis finds that while the late-July energy shock is beginning to appear in inflation data, the food pipeline remains relatively resilient.

🔗 https://ag.purdue.edu/commercialag/home/paer-article/the-august-2026-cpi-and-ppi-reports-the-late-july-energy-spike-arrives-and-the-food-pipeline-still-holds/

Brownfield Ag News // Farm Policy // Hoosier Ag Today // KCUR 89.3 // Marketplace Business News

09/16/2026

🚂 Kentaro Yamauchi (Applied Agricultural Economics; College Station, TX) spent the summer with GDM as a production research intern in Decatur, IL.

“My summer responsibilities were 70% in the field and 30% in the office. I mainly counted corn stands, rated corn herb/disease vigor, and noted daily pollinating tassels and silking ears. This data feeds into hybrid production decision-making. My summer project was to evaluate stand accuracy and perform a cost-benefit analysis on drones vs human counts. Through the project, I learned more about Excel and understood how inaccuracy in research affects corn hybrid production.”

09/16/2026

09/15/2026

The Indianapolis tour continues for Purdue Agriculture!

Last week, colleagues from across the department explored our new home at the Sigma Theta Tau building. Today, we gave the dean’s office a grand tour of our growing presence in Indianapolis!

09/15/2026

“I’m really glad I came here, because the center I’m employed at — the Purdue University Center for Food and Agricultural Business — does Purdue Extension on a different level,” she says. “Before, my main Extension audience was farmers, but here the main audience is executives and agribusinesses along the supply chain. This really opened my eyes to how far impacts go.”

🔗 https://ag.purdue.edu/news/department/arge/2026/09/postdoc-feature-xiurui-iris-cui.html

It wasn’t until she was actually in a veterinary hospital, attempting to give an injection to a small, wriggling dog, that Xiurui 'Iris' Cui realized she didn’t want to be a vet after all. “It was quite a realization,” she says, laughing. “It was definitely not for me.” As an undergradua...