Faculty of Land and Food Systems at Homecoming

Alumni & Friends Meetup: Saturday, September 21, 11:00am–1:00pm

Hosted by the LFS Young Alumni Council, unwind and enjoy a day of fun at UBC Farm! Connect with fellow alumni, students, and friends, and make lasting memories in the heart of our vibrant community. Includes fun outdoor games, fantastic giveaways, and snacks.

Saturday, September 21, 2024
11:00am–1:00pm

UBC Farm
3461 Ross Drive
Vancouver, BC
V6T 1W5 – map

REGISTER

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Niki Glenning (Pronouns: She/Her/Hers)
Alumni Relations Manager

Faculty of Land and Food Systems

The University of British Columbia | Vancouver Campus | xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Territory

Phone: Cell 604 561 0504 | Fax 604 822 6394

@ubclfs www.facebook.com/ubcLFS

Hi all,

We hope that this note finds you well!

We (Nina von Keyserlingk, and Lexis Ly) are teaching a course this fall (APBI 398) that aims to give 3rd year undergraduate students some exposure to research methods in aspects of applied biology, with the hope of preparing them for a more intensive research experience in their 4th year.

A requirement for the course is that students volunteer on a research project for a minimum of 20 hours (the specifics can be decided depending upon the needs of the mentor and mentee). This is a great opportunity to have a student assist you with an aspect of your project – it does not necessarily mean they need to have their own experiment.

We’d be very grateful if you’d be willing to help mentor one or more students. Students who take the course really enjoy it, and develop skills and interests that prepare for theses and directed studies the following year!

Over the next few weeks students might be contacting you about opportunities – we do hope you will be willing to speak with students from this course that contact you. We would be grateful if you could send us a short summary of your projects.

We are also hoping that you might be willing to give a 5-minute talk about your work to the class on Monday, September 9th at about 3:45 pm. Let Lexis (lexisly@mail.ubc.ca) know if you would be available for this!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Lexis!

Best,

Nina and Lexis

Please note that Graduate ISW on October 12, 19 & 20, 2024 will be held on the WEEKEND and not on the weekday as stated on the previous email.

Please notify your students and send this revised message to your graduate students.

The Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (CTLT) will be offering a Graduate Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW) on October 12, 19 & 20, 2024.

The Grad ISW is a 24-hour, fully participatory, and peer-based professional development workshop for graduate students that is beneficial to both new and experienced instructors.

Please note: You must attend all sessions and complete all independent work for the complete duration of the workshop, (i.e. the entire 24-hour workshop).

To apply for the waitlist for October 12, 19 & 20, 2024 ISW click here: https://events.ctlt.ubc.ca/events/graduate-instructional-skills-workshop-october-12-19-20-2024-preliminary-application/

Application opens on August 30 at 9 am and closes on October 9 at 4:30 pm. By clicking this link, you are applying for the WAITLIST only and this DOES NOT register you for the workshop. Graduate ISWs at UBC are in high demand. To create an equitable registration process all graduate students who apply for an ISW will first be enrolled on a waitlist, from which participants are randomly selected. If a participant has applied for more than one ISW waitlist, their name will appear more frequently when generating the participant list, giving them a higher chance of being selected for an ISW. If you are accepted into the workshop, you will be contacted by our office to confirm your registration. For more information and a list of all upcoming sessions visit: http://ctlt.ubc.ca/gradisw

Workshop Eligibility:

Please read the application process and workshop eligibility prior to applying.

A participant who wishes to take the Grad ISW is eligible if they are:

• a full-time or part-time registered graduate student at UBC during the academic term when the ISW is offered
• a graduate student at UBC who has completed degree requirements but has not yet convocated
• a joint degree graduate student who is enrolled at UBC and another institution
• a graduate student at UBC pursuing non-degree studies
• a visiting graduate student that is eligible to take courses

A participant who wishes to take the Grad ISW is not eligible if they are:

• not a graduate student at UBC
• a graduate student at UBC who has on-leave status
• a visiting graduate student that is not eligible to take courses

Elisa Herman
Event Coordinator
Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology
The University of British Columbia

http://www.ctlt.ubc.ca

 

Hi Everyone,

Our work-learn assistant, Claire Ma has designed an incredible KudoBoard virtual card for Rickey.

Following a conversation with Karen, I’m sharing the link with you. Please share with your mailing lists/connections: those who knew Rickey and may want to share a message/photo/video. Also please share with other staff/faculty that you think can reach out to their contacts.

This could be previous staff, industry connections, donors, students, emeriti, staff/faculty from other units/departments on campus, connections living abroad, or those who weren’t able to get on campus to sign Rickey’s hardback photobook…to name a few.

Here is the link: deadline is Sept 26.

Share a farewell and good luck message to Dean Rickey Yada

Thank you so much ????

Niki Glenning (Pronouns: She/Her/Hers)
Alumni Relations Manager

Faculty of Land and Food Systems

The University of British Columbia | Vancouver Campus | xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Territory

Phone: Cell 604 561 0504 | Fax 604 822 6394

@ubclfs www.facebook.com/ubcLFS

FRE 603 Advanced Food and Resource Economics

What is the best use of renewable and non-renewable resources from society’s perspective? How much fish should we harvest now, and how much should we leave in the oceans to grow and reproduce? How much old-growth forest or fossil fuels should we preserve for future generations? How does the outcome change when we consider equity or climate change? After this course, you will be able to answer these questions.

We will first introduce the mathematical tools for resource economics. We then use these tools to derive the fundamental results in resource economics. Finally, we take the results to the data to see how they can help us to understand the real world.

In addition to those technical skills, you will learn about the frontiers of research in resource economics, how to present economic research, and how to write referee reports and proposals.

The class meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3:30 pm in ORCH-Floor 4-Room 4068.

Please send me an email if you have difficulties registering for this class. I am happy to help you: frederik.noack@ubc.ca

FRE 603: Advanced Food and Resource Economics
Syllabus
Frederik Noack
Office: McMl 331
Email: frederik.noack@ubc.ca
UBC, Fall 2024
UBC’s Point Grey Campus is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam people.
Please email me if you can’t register for this class.

Course Description
What is the best use of renewable and non-renewable resources from society’s perspective? Why are the farmer’s choices not necessarily desirable from society’s perspective? How much fish should we harvest now, and how much should we leave in the oceans to grow and reproduce? How much oil should we use now, and how much should we leave for the future? Should our decisions change if we consider our impact on the climate system? After this course, you will be able to answer these questions. To do so, I will first introduce the fundamental mathematical tools for static and dynamic optimization. We then discuss how these tools are used to derive the most important results in resource economics. Finally, we will apply these tools to environmental and resource problems to formulate policies that ensure optimal use from a societal perspective. Although the course will cover resource use and dynamic environmental problems, including climate change, more broadly, it focuses specifically on the use and conservation of renewable resources in developing countries including agriculture, forests, biodiversity, and fisheries. Further, it focuses on the theory of food and resource economics and how it motivates and guides current empirical approaches in this field.

Learning Objectives
By the end of the course, you will be able to

• Describe the decision problem of farmers and resource harvesters using mathematical models.
• Define the optimal use of renewable and non-renewable resources such as forests, fisheries, and fossil fuels from society’s perspective.
• Formulate efficient policies for static and dynamic environmental problems such as deforestation and overfishing.
• Formulate, solve, and visualize mathematical problems in the programming language R.
• Critically assess current research in food and resource economics.

5. Difference and differential equations
Introduction to dynamics in continuous and discrete time, steady states, and the concept of stability.
6. Dynamic optimization
Optimal control and dynamic programming.
7. Non-renewable resources and the Hotelling model
Optimal extraction of non-renewable resources with and without externalities.
8. Renewable resources and bioeconomic models
Optimal fish harvest with and without discounting, optimal timing of harvesting a stand of trees.
9. Food and resource economics policies
Taxes and quota.
10. From theory to empirics
Testing theoretical predictions empirically.

Section 2

11. Agriculture and the environment
• Foster, A. D., & Rosenzweig, M. R. (1995). Learning by Doing and Learning from Others: Human Capital and Technical Change in Agriculture. Journal of Political Economy, 103(6), 1176-1209.
• Karlan, D., Osei, R., Osei-Akoto, I., & Udry, C. (2014). Agricultural decisions after relaxing credit and risk constraints. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 129(2), 597-652.
• Taylor, C. A. (2024). Cicadian Rhythm: Insecticides, Infant Health and Long-term Outcomes. Working Paper.
12. Biodiversity conservation
• Weitzman, M. L. (1998). The Noah’s Ark Problem. Econometrica, 1279-1298.
• Frank, E., & Sudarshan, A. (2024). The social costs of keystone species collapse: Evidence from the decline of vultures in India. American Economic Review.
13. Forestry and deforestation
• Hartman, R. (1976). The Harvesting Decision When a Standing Forest Has Value. Economic Inquiry, 14(1), 52-58.
• Souza-Rodrigues, E. (2019). Deforestation in the Amazon: A unified framework for estimation and policy analysis. The Review of Economic Studies, 86(6), 2713-2744.
14. Fisheries
• Sanchirico, J. N., & Wilen, J. E. (2001). A bioeconomic model of marine reserve creation. Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 42(3), 257-276.
• Noack, F., & Costello, C. (2024). Credit markets, property rights, and the commons. Journal of Political Economy, 132(7), 000-000.
15. Economic development and the environment
• Harstad, B., & Mideksa, T. K. (2017). Conservation contracts and political regimes. The Review of Economic Studies, 84(4), 1708-1734.
• Burgess, R., Hansen, M., Olken, B. A., Potapov, P., & Sieber, S. (2012). The political economy of deforestation in the tropics. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 127(4), 1707-1754.