Extension Economist Receives National Recognition

Auburn, July 8, 2003 --- Dr. James Novak, Alabama Cooperative Extension System economist and Auburn University professor of agricultural economics, has been chosen president-elect of the American Agricultural Economics Association, Extension section.  He also received the Farm Service Agency/USDA Administrator's Award for his work with the Farm Bill Education Program.

The American Agricultural Economics Association is a professional organization that seeks to advance the study of economics as it relates to agriculture, rural communities and natural resources.  The association also serves as the nation's leading clearing house for the most recent agricultural economics research, education and policy issues.

Dr. Novak will assume the presidency of the Extension section in 2004.  As president-elect he will work with the president and officers of the Extension section throughout the nation to develop education programs for Extension economists from universities and agribusiness.

The Farm Service Agency/USDA Administrator's Team Award was presented to Dr. Novak for his involvement in a multiagency partnership whose goal was to train farm bill educators including Extension personnel, lenders, representatives of commodity organizations, and others who were entrusted with providing accurate information to farmers, ranchers and others about how they would be affected by the 2002 Farm Bill.

Dr. Novak, who came to Auburn University in 1985, is one of the nation's leading experts in risk management and policy, an area in which he has received national recognition on several occasions.  His views about agricultural risk and policy have been featured in many Extension-produced articles that have appeared in several major farm publications.

Last year, he received the National Public Policy Education Committee and Farm Foundation's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Public Issues Education for working with Extension economists at several other major land-grant universities to develop a survey to gauge farmers' expectations of the then-pending 2002 Farm Bill.

In 2001, he received the Distinguished Extension Program Group Award from the American Agricultural Economics Association.  As Southeast coordinator for Risk Management Education, Novak was one of six agricultural economists throughout the nation to receive the award.  He and the other award recipients were recognized for the critical role they played in establishing the National Risk Management Education program.

A native of South Dakota, Dr. Novak received his bachelor's and master's degrees in resource economics from the University of New Hampshire.  His doctorate in applied economics is from Clemson University.

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