THE WAEA -- WHICH NICHE IN THE PROFESSION?



Johnston


WAEA: Professional Niche 141

1960s by Bart DeLoach, (è) Association min-
utes contained in the 1969 through 1975 pro-
ceedings issues, and (c) WAEA minutes sup-
plied by Maurice Baker for the post-1975
period (except those for 1976, 1977, and 1979,
which were apparently disposed of by an over-
ly conscientious janitor). My brief review,
however, should not deter those seriously in-
terested in the Association’s history from read-
ing the DeLoach monograph. It is extremely
informative and recommended most highly.

Professor F. B. Headley, of Nevada, provid-
ed the leadership in establishing the Western
Society ofFarm Economics. The first meeting
was held in Reno in June 1927 as a section of
the eleventh annual meeting of the Pacific Di-
vision of the American Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science. Headley’s two objec-
tives for the society were:

(1) to familiarize the members with important work
others are doing “along lines in which they may per-
sonally not be interested ... [thereby to] broaden our
point of view and give a general idea of the agricultural
problems as a whole”; and (2) to provide an opportunity
for every economist to participate in round table dis-
cussions on “range management, cost of production
studies, extension work in economics, marketing proj-
ects and problems, etc.” (DeLoach, page 8)

The 1928 Constitution of the Western So-
ciety ofFarm Economics formalized the basic
objectives: “... to promote acquaintance and
intercourse among those who are engaged in
the work of investigating the problems of ex-
tending a knowledge of agricultural economics
in the 11 western states, to cooperate with oth-
er institutions engaged in similar or related
activities, and in general to promote the
professional interests of the members” (De-
Loach, p. 9). Thus, from the outset, there were
strong social and professional objectives in the
minds of the founder(s) of this Association.

There was identifiable tension between the
regional and national associations in the early
years. Among reasons cited were the high cost
of attending national meetings (usually held in
eastern states) and specific regional needs, in-
cluding those of irrigated farming. Henry Erd-
man, in 1930, argued that “every farm econ-
omist should give serious consideration to
becoming members (sic) if interested in a
professional career.” (DeLoach, p. 10). But
when the western association subsequently
sought affiliation with the American Farm
Economics Association, it was rebuffed by the
AFEA’s insistence that all regional association
members had to be AFEA members. The
AFEA∕WFEA split remained until 1944, when
Karl Brandt led an initiative for cooperation,
leading to the publication of some WFEA pa-
pers in the
Journal of Farm Economics (JFE)
and the possibility of joint membership that
would benefit both associations. The Iirstjoint
meeting of the western regional and national
associations of farm economists was subse-
quently approved and held in 1949 (DeLoach,
pp. 18-21).

Writing at the end of the 1960s, DeLoach
identified eight special problems, though sev-
eral appear to be long-term ones, which were
effectively resolved by 1969. By the end of the
1960s, the Western Agricultural Economics
Association had matured to a stable organi-
zation of the thirteen western states (with the
addition of Alaska and Hawaii), sponsored an
annual meeting with awards competition and
published a single proceedings volume. The
constitution of the Western Agricultural Eco-
nomics Association in 1969 contained the fol-
lowing statement:

Article ∏. Purposes and Objectives. The purposes and
objectives of the Western Agricultural Economics As-
sociation shall be to foster the study and understanding
of agricultural economics and its applications to prob-
lems in the Western United States; to promote unity
and effectiveness of effort among all concerned with
those problems; to promote improvement in the profes-
sional competence and standards of members; to co-
operate with other organizations and institutions en-
gaged in similar or related activities; and to increase the
contribution of agricultural economics to human
welfare.” (DeLoach, pages 43-44)

The eight problems identified by DeLoach
(pp. 38-43) were: (α)
Cooperation with Amer-
ican Agricultural Economics Association.
This
was an issue which was apparently resolved
satisfactorily,
(b) Regional research and WAEA.
This concern was whether growing regional re-
search and the opportunity for research inter-
action might dilute the need for the WAEA.
(c)
Social activities of the WAEA. DeLoach
seemed to reflect the opinion that locations for
annual meetings ought to be selected to ac-
commodate family vacation plans. He noted
that the extension of the “contributed paper”
system as a means of obtaining travel funds
for members had not tended to lower the qual-
ity of papers read at the meetings,
(d) The
WAEA proceedings.
This was recognized as a
major financial outlay of the Association. Pub-
lication of a journal was being considered,
(e)



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