AEDE’s Ani Katchova recently received an Outstanding Research/Quality of Communication Award in the agricultural finance sector by the Agricultural and Finance Management (AFM) section of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA). Katchova and her co-author Mary Ahearn, retired from USDA-ERS, were nominated for this award based on their publication, “Dynamics of farmland ownership and leasing: implications for young and beginning farmers” published in Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy in 2016.
The AAEA selection committee noted that Katchova’s overall work as chair of AEDE’s Farm Income Enhancement Program brings insight in to farm income and financial stress, land ownership and leasing, direct marketing, and young and beginning farmers. This work and this recent publication have a broad scope and substantial citations for the agricultural finance profession. Katchova has been a member and participant in the Agricultural Finance and Management section at AAEA since its inception and a member of the NC1177 Agricultural and Rural Finance Markets in Transition regional research group, chairing the group in 2006.
“I’m very grateful to my colleagues for recognizing my work and contributions to the agricultural finance field,” Katchova said.
Katchova and Ahearn’s 2016 AEPP study considers the transition into farming and growth of new farmers in U.S. agriculture by examining land ownership and leasing trends. They characterized the entire distribution by farmer age and farmer experience rather than using young versus old and beginning versus established farmer categories. Their findings show that farms operated by older beginning farmers tend to be smaller and do not tend to grow over time. Their results also show that it is mostly young farmers as opposed to all beginning farmers who rapidly expand their farm operations after entering agriculture. Their findings inform policy makers about the strategies that young and beginning farmers use to start their businesses and expand over time, and suggest more effective approaches for targeting loan programs to both young and beginning farmers.