Johnston
WAEA:ProfessionalNiche 147
the geographic dispersion of the Association,
the cost of participation in the annual meetings
has increased significantly. The willingness-to-
pay curve reflects high attendance by selected
and invited paper authors and perhaps few
others. How can the potential liveliness of an-
nual meetings be communicated to the larger
membership?
Participation in annual meetings of both the
AAEA and WAEA within thirty calendar days
of each other is beyond the travel or meetings
budget of most academics. The concern of
DeLoach and others about opportunity for in-
teraction appears warranted. A program de-
signed to stimulate wider participation, in-
cluding that of those in the West who have
gained national prominence (but who tend to
attend the AAEA meetings), would be invig-
orating and enriching for all.
A return to more centrally located and at-
tractive sites which include family vacation
opportunities could be given more consider-
ation as a means to attract wider participation
from the general membership. (Next year’s
Hawaii experiment may give us some insight
into human behavior, but it may be difficult
to separate out the geographic proximity from
the vacation effects.) Or perhaps a shift in tim-
ing of the annual meetings would be advan-
tageous. (For example, a late June meeting
could take advantage of fiscal year-end funding
or permit both AAEA and WAEA attendance
in the same calendar year from two different
fiscal year budgets.)
There are still topical issues of the West and
policy studies that do not fit well into contrib-
uted paper efforts, particularly if attempts are
made to examine several facets or all the pros
and cons of a particular issue. There is a need
to understand these special problems of the
West and how they relate to irrigation, energy,
transportation, public lands, livestock, interre-
gional and international trade, the Pacific Rim,
resource policy, rural development, and the
like. A conscientious return to the practice of
holding regional research technical or coor-
dinating committee meetings in conjunction
with the annual meeting might facilitate wider
participation. We could take advantage of local
situations to become better informed about
regional issues with formal program treatment
and, perhaps, include postconference farm and
industry tours of the region. A picture is often
worth a thousand words, even though the words
might be refereed.
I do not mean by these comments to preempt
the presidential prerogative in designing and
selecting effective elements for programs of the
Association’s annual meetings. Rather, I am
merely suggesting possible avenues of inquiry
for consideration by executive boards and the
general membership, as we seek to enhance
Association benefits for all.
Concluding Statement
In the sixty years since its establishment, the
Western Agricultural Economics Association
has evolved through many challenges. The As-
sociation was established with clear visions of
the need for increased professionalism and
better understanding of the region’s agricul-
tural and natural resource economies. The
western association has gradually drifted away
from its western emphasis, even though its
constitution still proclaims the primary objec-
tive to be “to foster the study and understand-
ing of agricultural economics and its applica-
tions to problems in the Western United
States.”
We continue to search for our niche in the
profession, even though there have been se-
rious and considered efforts made throughout
our history to meet emerging WAEA chal-
lenges and opportunities. There are a range of
opinions about the current role and function
of this regional Association. The challenge for
both current and future Association leadership
will be to rationalize the diversity of mem-
bership interests into a program (or programs)
which provides sustenance for all member par-
ticipants. To that end, I offer a few conclusions.
I accept the fact that we have a national
journal. On balance, that is to our credit. I
reject the notion that we are, perforce, a na-
tional association. The sought-after niche may
well include both regional and national con-
tributions to the profession and even the in-
ternational contribution. However, the tilt
away from a dominant regional perspective
should not be at the expense of the primary
objective of a western focus or perspective in
our professional agricultural economics con-
tributions. An expanded agenda may well ac-
commodate both sets of interests.
I strongly believe that there is still need for
both regional and national attention to be fo-
cused on significant problems and issues of the
West. In that regard, the western association