Tauer, Loren William

Professor and Department Chair

I am an economist who has focused on the economics of agriculture, primarly production and finance. My research has focused on risk analysis, technology assessment, agricultural efficiency and productivity, agricultural finance, farm business organization and decisions, food safety, and animal disease. I teach a graduate course in production economics and have taught a graduate course in agricultural finance, as well as undergraduate courses in risk management in business, agricultural finance, and global agribusiness management (global field trip). These courses complement my research program.

research

research and scholarship focus

My research has focused on risk analysis, technology assessment, agricultural efficiency and productivity, agricultural finance, and farm business organization and decisions. Since dairy is an important commodity for the state of New York, much of my analysis has entailed dairy production. As agriculture moves toward less government market intervention, the risk of agricultural production may increase. I plan to continue research that measures those risks and find what risk management options would be valuable for farms to implement. New agricultural technologies will continue to be made available to farmers. I plan to continue work on technology assessment to determine how and which farmers can profitability use these available technologies. Also important is research to determine why some farms are more profitable, efficient, or productive than other farms in order to help farms become successful. As profit margins become slimmer in agriculture, opportunities to develop appropriate investment analysis techniques would be useful in agriculture. Recently, I have been completing research on the economics of food safety and animal diseases.

co investigator of

COST EFFECTIVE CONTROL STRATEGIES FOR THE REDUCTION OF JOHNE'S DISEASE ON DAIRY FARMS | Research Grant

research areas

agricultural biotechnology | collaborative research area (CALS)
applied economics | collaborative research area (CALS)
finance | collaborative research area (CALS)
food science | collaborative research area (CALS)
science and technology studies | collaborative research area (CALS)
veterinary medicine | collaborative research area (CALS)

international geographic focus

Hungary | country
Poland | country
Slovakia | country

domestic geographic focus

New York State | state

submitted impact statement

Profitability of adding supplemental amino acid to dairy rations | 2007 Impact statement
Economic costs to reduce Listeria bacteria contamination at a smoked fish plant | 2007 Impact statement
Dairy farm cost efficiency | 2006 Impact statement
Profitability of using Recombinant Bovine Somatotropin on New York dairy farms | 2006 Impact statement
An economic analysis of coffee plantings in Vietnam | 2006 Impact statement
Can the small dairy farm remain competitive in U.S. agriculture? | 2005 Impact statement
Milk prices: How they influence the entry and exit of dairy producers | 2004 Impact statement

affiliations

teaching

teaching focus

I teach our first graduate course in production economics and have taught our graduate course in agricultural finance. I have taught three undergraduate courses: risk management in business, agricultural finance, and global agribusiness management (global field trip). These courses complement my research program. I have been involved with educational projects in Central Europe, primarily Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia.

teaches

AEM 4970 - Individual Study in Applied Economics and Management (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
AEM 4980 - Supervised Teaching Experience (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
AEM 7000 - Individual Study in Applied Economics and Management (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
AEM 7900 - Graduate-Level Thesis Research (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
AEM 8900 - Master's Level Thesis Research (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
AEM 9900 - Doctoral-Level Thesis Research (TBA -) | fall 2009 class
AEM 4980 - Supervised Teaching Experience (TBA -) | spring 2009 class
AEM 7000 - Individual Study in Applied Economics and Management (TBA -) | spring 2009 class
AEM 7900 - Graduate-Level Thesis Research (TBA -) | spring 2009 class
AEM 8900 - Master's Level Thesis Research (TBA -) | spring 2009 class
AEM 9900 - Doctoral-Level Thesis Research (TBA -) | spring 2009 class

service

outreach focus

I have no formal extension appointment but I present my research results to cooperative extension educators and other professionals.

current professional activities

• President, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, 2000-2001
• Editor, Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, 1990-92
• Associate Editor, Agricultural Finance Review, 1983-89
• Director of Graduate Program for Agricultural Economics, Cornell University, 1989-93, and Applied Economics and Management, 2007-present
• Editorial Board, Agricultural and Applied Economics, 2005-08

background

educational background

Ph.D., Iowa State University, 1979
M.S., South Dakota State University, 1975
B.A., Southwest Minnesota State University, 1973

awards and distinctions

• Distinguished Member Award, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, 1993
• Extension Program Award for a Team, American Agricultural Economics Association, 1984

publications

selected publications (listing in progress)

Tauer, L. W., H. O. Fried, and W. E. Fry. 2007. Measuring efficiencies of academic departments within a college. Education Economics 15:473-89.

Bar D., Y. T. Gröhn, G. Bennett, R. N. González, J. A. Hertl, H. F. Schulte, L. W. Tauer, F. L. Welcome, and Y. H. Schukken. 2007. Effect of repeated episodes of generic clinical mastitis on milk yield in dairy cows. Journal of Dairy Science 90:4643-53.

Cho J., T. R. Overton, C. G. Schwab, and L. W. Tauer. 2007. Determining the amount of rumen-protected methionine supplement that corresponds to the optimal levels of methionine in metabolizable protein for maximizing milk protein production and profit on dairy farms. Journal of Dairy Science 90:4908-16.

Tauer, Loren W., Cameron Nightingale, Renata Ivanek, Yrjö T. Gröhn, and Martin Wiedmann. 2007. Optimal levels of inputs to control Listeria monocytogenes contamination at a smoked fish plant. Agribusiness: An International Journal 23:229-44.

Tauer, Loren W., and Ashok K. Mishra. 2006. Dairy farm cost efficiency. Journal of Dairy Science 89:4937-43.

Tauer, Loren W. 2006. When to get in and out of dairy farming: A real option analysis. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review 35(2):339-47.

Tauer, Loren W. 2006. Impact of recombinant bovine Somatotropin on dairy farm cost of production: Evidence from multiyear data. AgBioForum 9(2):79-83.

Tauer, Loren W., and Ashok K. Mishra. 2006. Can the small dairy farm remain competitive in U.S. agriculture? Food Policy 31:458-68.

Luong, Quoc V., and Loren W. Tauer. 2006. A real options analysis of coffee planting in Vietnam. Agricultural Economics 35:49-57.

Chang, Hung-Hao, and Loren W. Tauer. 2005. Semi-parametric and parametric estimations and tests of adoption: An application to bovine Somatotropin technology. Agriculture and Economics 35:1-26.

Tauer, Loren. 2005. The impact of recombinant bovine Somatotropin on dairy farm profits: A switching regression analysis. AgBioForum 8(1):33-39.

Ivanek, Renata, Yrjo T. Gröhn, Loren W. Tauer, and Martin Wiedmann. 2004. The cost and benefit of Listeria Monocytogenes food safety measures. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition 44:513-23.

Keywords: agricultural finance, applied economics and management, dairy economics, dairy farm economics, economics of food safety, efficiency and productivity, production economics, risk analysis, technology assessment