SOUTHERN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS
JULY, 1989
THE SAEA: AFTER TWENTY YEARS
J. B. Penn
I very much appreciate the invitation to par-
ticipate in the meetings on this special occa-
sion, the twentieth anniversary of the
Association’s founding. It is always a pleasure
to return to the South and especially to par-
ticipate in the work of the SAEA, for which I
have strong interest and affinity.
My charge from President Batie was
somewhat general. She suggested that a
twentieth anniversary presents a good oppor-
tunity to review our history, check our course,
and perhaps to speculate about what lies
ahead. That is the general nature of my
remarks today.
I hope to do four things here today. The first
is to present a brief overview of the relatively
short history of the Association. Then, I want
to go back and recall the motivation and fac-
tors that led to the creation of the SAEA in
the late 1960s, together with the objectives
and expectations the founders had in mind.
After that, I will comment on the
Association’s performance over the 20 years,
and its status at the present time. I will con-
clude by suggesting some issues that may be
of importance to the SAEA as it looks to the
future.
OVERVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF
THE SAEA
The SAEA’s two-decade history is relatively
short, especially compared to the Western
Agricultural Economics Association (WAEA)
which is more than 60 years old and the
American Agricultural Economics Association
(AAEA) which was formed more than 80
years ago.
The SAEA can trace its origins somewhat
indistinctly to an organization formed in 1899
in Atlanta, Georgia, the Cotton States
Association of Commissioners of Agriculture.1
That group was formed to address problems
common to the southern states and which
presumably could be more effectively resolved
through united actions. Very shortly
thereafter (1905), that group became the
Southern States Association of Commis-
sioners of Agriculture. It then expanded to in-
clude the work and participants from the state
universities and the state agricultural experi-
ment stations, and again modified its name in
1907 to reflect its broader membership,
becoming the Southern States Association of
Commissioners of Agriculture and other
Agricultural Workers. That name did not last
very long either. Four years later (1911), it
became the Association of Southern
Agricultural Workers (ASAW). That name,
the ASAW, did take hold and lasted until 1972
when the present name was assumed, the
Southern Association of Agricultural Scien-
tists (SAAS).
The records indicate that the original
organization, the Cotton States Association of
Commissioners of Agriculture, very early
began discussing economic issues and events
and devoted considerable attention to these at
various sessions over the years. By the
mid-1920s, an Agricultural Economics Section
was a part of the program for the annual
meetings of the ASAW. Rural sociology was
incorporated into the Agricultural Economics
Section in 1933 and was reflected in the name,
the Agricultural Economics and Rural
Sociology Section. A separate Marketing Sec-
tion was formed in 1937 to focus on the
regulatory aspects of marketing. Those two
sections, Agricultural Economics and Rural
Sociology and Marketing, were increasingly
J. B. Penn is a Vice President and Head of the Washington Division of Sparks Commodities, Inc., McLean, Virginia.
Invited paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Agricultural Economics Association, Nashvffle, Tennessee, February 6-8,
1989. Invited papers are routinely published in the July SJAE without editorial council review but with review of the copy editor (as per Ex-
ecutive Committee action June 25, 1982).
Copyright 1989, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
1The historical information presented here is taken from Joseph Havlicek, Jr.’s 1984 Presidential Address, “The Southern
Agricultural Economics Association: Past, Present, and Future.”
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