Utpal Vasavada

Utpal Vasavada is Chief of the Production Economics and Technology Branch in the Resource and Rural Economics Division. As Branch Chief, he manages a program of economic research addressing the determinants and effects of farm production decisions, including the adoption of existing and emerging agricultural production practices, management systems, and technologies. Topics covered by the Branch's research program include agricultural biotechnology adoption, agricultural chemical use, organic production, agricultural land and water use, bioenergy, and climate change. The Branch also collects production practice and input use data through commodity versions of the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS Phase 2) to facilitate computation of national cost of production estimates for selected commodities.

Utpal joined ERS in 1993 and has served in numerous capacities: as a visiting scholar, an economist, a section leader, and currently as Branch Chief. Utpal's research covered such topics as determinants of capital investment in agriculture, cost and profitability implications of restricting chemical use, invasive species management, economics of foreign direct investment, and sustainability.  While at ERS, Utpal served as Associate Editor of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics , on the Advisory Board of the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP), and as the US delegate to the OECD's JWP on Agriculture and the Environment..  In addition to his work at ERS, Utpal has also served as an Economist at the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U.S. Department of Commerce, and a detail at the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget (OMB-OIRA). Before joining ERS, Utpal served on the faculty at the University of Georgia and Laval University.

Utpal received a Ph.D. and an M.S. degree from the University of Maryland, College Park. Utpal also received M.A. and B.A. degrees from Pune University, India.

Erik O'Donoghue, James MacDonald, Utpal Vasavada, and Patrick Sullivan, "Changing Farming Practices Accompany Major Shifts in Farm Structure," Amber Waves. November 16, 2011.

Wen-yuan Huang, William McBride and Utpal Vasavada, " Recent Volatility in U.S. Fertilizer Prices," Amber Waves, Vol. 7/1 (March 2009): 28-31.

Dayton Lambert, Glenn Schaible, Rob Johansson and Utpal Vasavada, "The Value of Integrated CEAP-ARMS Data in Conservation Program Analysis," Journal of Soil and Water Conservation, Vol. 62 (2007): 1-9.

Michael Roberts, David Schimmelpfennig, Elizabeth Ashley, Mark Ash, and Utpal Vasavada, " The Value of Plant-Disease Early Warning Systems: A Case Study of the USDA's Soybean Rust Coordinated Framework," Economic Research Report, ERR-18 (April 2006), 46pp.

Robert Johansson, Joseph Cooper, and Utpal Vasavada. "Greener Acres or Greener Waters? Potential U.S. Impacts of Agricultural Trade Liberalization," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Vol. 34/1 (April 2005): 1-12.

Joseph Cooper, Jason Bernstein, Utpal Vasavada and Jean-Christophe Bureau, "The Environmental Byproducts of Agriculture: International Policy Responses," in Global Agricultural Policy Reform and Trade, edited by Joseph Cooper, 2005, 11-38.

John Sullivan and Utpal Vasavada, " U.S. Environmental Regulation and the Location of Hog Production," Agricultural Outlook, AGO-274 (September 2000): 19-23.

Mark Smith, Mark Peters, Utpal Vasavada, and Tom Worth, " Curbing Nitrogen Runoff: Effects on Production and Trade," Agricultural Outlook, AGO-271 (May 2000): 19-21.

Munisamy Gopinath, Daniel Pick, and Utpal Vasavada, "The Economics of Foreign Direct Investment and Trade with an Application to the U.S. Food Processing Industry," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 81 (1999): 442-452.

James Hrubovcak, Utpal Vasavada, and Joseph Aldy, Green Technologies for a More Sustainable Agriculture, Economic Research Service, AIB-752 (1999).

Munisamy Gopinath and Utpal Vasavada, "Patents, R & D, and Market Structure in the U.S. Food Processing Industry," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Vol. 24 (1999): 127-139.

Munisamy Gopinath, Daniel Pick and Utpal Vasavada, "Exchange Rate Effects on the Relationship between FDI and Trade in the U.S. Food Processing Industry," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 80 (1998): 1074-1080 (Invited Paper).

Last updated: Monday, October 22, 2012

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