provided by Research Papers in Economics
The WAEA-Which Niche in
the Profession?
Warren E. Johnston
The Western Agricultural Economics Association has evolved through challenges that
have had both regional and national dimensions. We continue to seek our niche in the
profession. The challenge for both current and future leadership will be to rationalize
the diversity of membership interests into a program which provides both challenge
and sustenance for all member participants. The Association should give significant
forethought to leading informed discussion and research on significant problems and
issues of the West. We should continue to address these in our annual meetings and in
our journal or alternative publications.
Key words: agricultural economics, annual meetings, publications, refereed journal, the
western region.
When President Helmers contacted me in April
to enlist my participation on the panel, “The
WAEA-Images of the Future,” it was under
the guise that there were some who felt my
position regarding the WAEA was interme-
diate to polar positions existent among the As-
sociation’s membership. That came as sort of
a surprise, but I accepted the challenge as an
opportunity to again participate in the WAEA,
a professional and social group with which I
have always had strong interest and affinity.
Having accepted the invitation, I eagerly
awaited the president’s letter in which he was
to further describe the tasks before the three
panelists, the pithy part of which is quoted
below:
There appears to be three general positions regarding
what the future role of the WAEA should be. The first
is that the WAEA is a regional association of members
who study common problems of the West. Hence, the
programs and activities of the association (including the
The author is a professor of agricultural economics, University of
California, Davis, an economist in the California Agricultural Ex-
periment Station, and a member of the University of California’s
Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics.
This is Giannini Foundation Paper No. 865.
The author acknowledges the helpfulness of Oscar Burt, Sam
Logan, and Carole Nuckton, who provided useful comments on a
first manuscript, and of anonymous Journal reviewers.
An earlier version of this paper was presented in the invited
paper session, “The WAEA-Images of the Future,” at the annual
meeting of the Western Agricultural Economics Association in
Manhattan, Kansas, July 12-14, 1987.
journal) should reflect this. A second position is that the
WAEA is a maturing profession, and regionality no longer
is important. Hence, the WAEA should expand its ac-
tivities, attempt the scope of activities of the AAEA,
and eliminate regionality as a common bond.
This brings one to the third view, which some have
suggested that you hold. That is that the WAEA not
attempt to emulate the AAEA because of the high costs
of such efforts. Hence, the WAEA should remain in
scope about where it presently is.
No further direction was given!
I, like many members, I suspect, am unsure
about the present scope of Association activ-
ities and whether they reflect the desires of the
membership. To meet the Presidential man-
date, I review the history of the Association
and evaluate its current activity and, in the
process, develop some thoughts about this As-
sociation’s problems and issues, seeking finally
to find the nonpolar view. I am not sure wheth-
er this will turn out to be the sought-after in-
termediate view, but it is a third view and my
view. Caveat emptor∖
A Historical Overview of the Growth and
Development of the WAEA
There is much to be gained from understand-
ing the historical evolution of an organization
such as ours. Three sources were used: (a) the
excellent WAEA monograph written in the late
WesternjournalofAgriculturalEconomicsl 13(1): 140-148
Copyright 1988 Western Agricultural Economics Association