So, here we are again, beating on a horse that, while not dead, is already out of the barn.When asked to speak to the question of whether the word “applied” should be in the title of our association, I understood that I was to make the case for including “applied” in addition to the word “agriculture,” not replacing it. I think focusing narrowly on either “applied” or ”agriculture” needlessly reduces our options, and, in my view, excludes the preferred option. My argument is for the title, Southern Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, or SAAEA. I am making a case for that change.

Thank you for honoring me with the SAEA Lifetime Achievement Award. When I review the list of past honorees and their truly impressive contributions, I am flattered and pleased to be among them. Past honorees have used this occasion to comment on some aspects of the state of our profession. I think often about that topic and about the global forces swirling around us that challenge us to change or become irrelevant. My feeling is that, although a few in our profession might be fighting a last-ditch rearguard action, the front line of our profession is rapidly morphing into something quite different from what we thought of as agricultural economics in the past. Most of that change is both good and necessary; some of it puts us on a slippery slope. We had to change because our world has changed, and with it our clientele, our priorities, and ourselves. We see that change in the younger members of our profession: how they are trained, the tools at their disposal, their view of the world, and the problems they are addressing. The newer members of our profession likely did not come from a farm or even a rural area. Their degrees could well be in general economics or some discipline other than agricultural economics; but if in agricultural economics, those degrees are very different from the narrow focus on farm production and marketing that was typical a generation or two ago. These younger economists likely see the object of their scholarship not as a farm or farmer, but as a global food

Both Blank and Debertin start from the premise that technology increases agricultural productivity. As a result, supply increases faster than demand, driving down commodity prices and returns to factors used in agricultural production. Blank emphasizes how farmers respond to this situation by moving to higher risk, higher return commodities until eventually graduating out of agriculture entirely. These changes are accommodated by globalization which allows low-cost imports to substitute for abandoned agricultural production in the U.S. Debertin focuses on the contention that price depressing gains in productivity are due, in part, to publicly-supported agricultural research at Land Grant universities.

s Selected Papers ......................................... .... 201 Posters Presented .. ...................................... . .. 217 Organized Symposia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .............. .218 SAEA Reports Editor's Report, 1990 .. . . . . . . .......... . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . .. · .. 221 Secretary-Treasurer's Report, 1990 . . . . . . . ....... . . . .. . . .. . . .. . . . 224 Southern Agricultural Economics Association Award Recipients, 1990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 Guidelines for Submission of Manuscripts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . .229

The marketing system for agricultural products is large, complex, and highly dynamic. Despite continuous efforts of universities, research consultants, and market analysts, the marketing system has never quite reached a state of equilibrium with its environment. The pursuit of an equilibrium price by the forces of supply and demand is rather like the pursuit of a rabbit by a beagle. The position of the rabbit at any moment is the equilibrium position of the dog. By the time our beagle reaches the rabbit's original position, the rabbit is no longer there and the dog moves off in a new direction toward a new equilibrium position. If we were to watch only the dog, his movements would seem very erratic and unpredictable. If we gain sufficient perspective to see both the dog and the rabbit, the causality behind their actions becomes obvious and we discover the motivation that keeps them going. Our task as researchers is to study the behavior of this "rabbit" and plan strategies which will help our "economic beagle" to come Closer to being in the right place at the right time. One of the problems is that the researchers are often far behind in this race. Not only have they lost sight of the rabbit, they can't even see the dog. They have on occasion devoted too many resources to the finding of an equilibrium position which even the dog has long since passed--solving problems already resolved by industry. I interpret the task of this activity to be the examination of some of the changes that are occurring and that might occur, and to suggest research areas that could provide answers to the problems of real concern to individuals, firms, industry groups, and society.