UF Agricultural Economist Relocates To UF Indian River Research And Education Center In Fort Pierce

By:
Chuck Woods (352) 392-1773 x 281

Source(s):
Mike Martin mvm@mail.ifas.ufl.edu, 352-392-1971
Jimmy Cheek jgc@mail.ifas.ufl.edu, 352-392-1961
P.J. van Blokland PJvanBlokland@mail.ifas.ufl.edu, 352-392-1845 ext. 408

View Photo
View Photo

FORT PIERCE, Fla.—P.J. van Blokland, a professor of food and resource economics at the University of Florida in Gainesville, has joined the faculty of UF’s Indian River Research and Education Center in Fort Pierce.

The transfer, which coincides with the beginning of the fall semester at UF, was announced by Mike Martin, UF vice president for agriculture and natural resources.

Martin said van Blokland, who joined the faculty of UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences in 1976, is an outstanding professor in the food and resource economics department where he teaches courses in agribusiness management and finance.

Martin said van Blokland’s move from Gainesville to Fort Pierce will strengthen the UF’s growing teaching, research and extension program in food and resource economics at the research and education center.

Jimmy Cheek, dean of UF’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, said he was pleased that van Blokland has agreed to lead the revitalization of the agribusiness academic program at the Fort Pierce center.

“I have tremendous confidence in Dr. van Blokland’s ability to lead this program into the future,” Cheek said. “He is ideally suited for this vital position by virtue of his outstanding credentials as a professor and as a classroom teacher, his extensive experience agribusiness management and finance, his scholarly record in research and extension in agribusiness, and his reputation for getting important things done.”

Van Blokland completed his bachelor’s degree in agriculture at University of Reading in England in 1963. He completed two master’s degrees, one in farm management from University of the West Indies in 1966 and another in agricultural economics from University of Illinois in 1974. He received his doctoral degree in agricultural economics at the University of Illinois in 1976.

His professional experience includes farming in Malawi, Swaziland, Tanzania and Trinidad for 12 years, producing tung, wattle, rice, sugarcane, citrus, vegetables, milk and beef. Van Blokland also has conducted more than 1,000 workshops, seminars, talks and presentations to agribusiness groups throughout the world.

-30-

0

Avatar photo
Posted: August 29, 2003


Category: UF/IFAS



Subscribe For More Great Content

IFAS Blogs Categories