Food and Resource Economics graduate student Faith Aiya was awarded Outstanding Student Poster from the Agriculture and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) in the Specialty Crops Economics section. 

The specialty crops section of the AAEA conference focuses on crop economics, including marketing, production, trade, policy, risk management and other issues faced by specialty crop producers. 

Aiya’s poster was entitled “Why is the Implementation of the Actual Production History Crop Insurance Policy Flawed for the Case of Florida Citrus?” Her co-author was FRE associate professor and UF/IFAS Extension economist, Ariel Singerman.   

The poster examines the Florida citrus fruit crop’s actual production history insurance policy. Specifically, the researchers used historical yield and price data for oranges produced in Polk County, Florida, to make statistical inferences. Their results provide empirical evidence to show how the current policy would lead to inflated insurance premiums and indemnity payments for citrus growers when they experience losses.  

“Our work is important because it could potentially help the Risk Management Agency reevaluate its rate-making procedures for this policy to reduce the burden of these overpayments to taxpayers who subsidize crop insurance policies,” said Aiya. 

Aiya is currently a student in the Master of Science with thesis program in the UF/IFAS Department of Food and Resource Economics. To be considered, her poster had to be nominated and was weighed against other nominees by a panel of reviewers. 

“I feel happy to have received this award,” Aiya said. “I am very grateful to my advisor, Dr. Singerman, for his guidance and support towards my thesis research, for believing in the quality of our work, and for encouraging my intentions to participate in the competition.” 

Aiya will also present the poster at the 2022 AAEA annual conference in Anaheim, California, at the end of July during the Applied Risk Analysis Section.   

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