Featured Faculty
Jeff Dorfman Wins Award
The Southern Agricultural Economics Association ( SAEA) selected Dr. Jeff Dorfman to receive the 2004 SAEA Distinguished Award for Teaching of a Course in recognition of his teaching AAEC 4760 – The Economics of Agricultural Processing and Marketing. The class helps prepare students to work in a wide array of food industry jobs, including the processes applied to food after it leaves the farm until it is consumed. Students learn to apply basic economic principles to real world situations and are prepared to solve economic and management problems that will likely face them while working in the food industry.
Dr. Dorfman has been recognized previously for teaching excellence. He has received five departmental teaching awards during his fourteen years at the University of Georgia. Dr. Dorfman teaches classes on microeconomic theory and economics of the food industry. His research is concentrated on economic topics of importance to Georgia and U.S. agriculture.
Dr. Dorfman received a B.S. in Agricultural and Managerial Economics and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics, both from the University of California, Davis.
Empty Pastures by Terence J. Centner
The University of Illinois Press announces the publication of a new book by Terence J. Centner entitled Empty Pastures: Confined Animals and the Transformation of the Rural Landscape. The book probes the extraordinary, worrisome changes that are taking place in our rural landscapes. Dwindling numbers of livestock in the American countryside are a symptom of a broader transformation, one with serious consequences for soils, waters, food, small towns, and inhabitants.
Empty Pastures investigates the environmental, social, economic, and political impact of the rise of large-scale animal feeding operations. Inspired by largely abandoned traditional practices rather than a radical and unrealistic vision of a return to an idealized past, Centner proposes a series of pragmatic reforms for bolstering rural communities. He advocates that governmental assistance to agriculture be redirected from selected producers to infrastructural development and communities. New policies can halt ecological degradation, revitalize rural communities, and enhance our countryside.
Curt Lacy
Dr. Curt Lacy joined the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics as an Assistant Professor/Extension Economist - Livestock in August 2001. His responsibilities include the development and implementation of educational programs in farm management and livestock/forage production economics. He develops forage and livestock budgets and works with producers and county extension agents to improve the profitability of livestock and forage enterprises in Georgia. He also keeps agents and producers informed about changes in government programs related to livestock, conservation, and farmland preservation.
Dr. Lacy received a B.S. in Agricultural & Extension Education in 1990, an M.S. in Agricultural Economics in 1992 and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics in 2001 from Mississippi State University.
Before joining the department, Dr. Lacy worked for the University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service as an Area Specialist-Farm Management. In 1996, he was chosen as the Outstanding New Extension Agent by the University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service. In 1997, he was chosen as the Outstanding New Extension Agent by the Western District, Tennessee Association of Agricultural Agents & Specialists. Also in 1997, Dr. Lacy was chosen as the Outstanding Swine Extension Agent by the Tennessee Pork Producers Association. He was awarded the Lovelace-McKinny Extension Fellowship by the University of Tennessee Agricultural Extension Service in 1999.
In his leisure time, Dr. Lacy enjoys hunting, fishing, golf, weight-lifting and going to the beach (when he gets the chance). He attends the First Baptist Church in Tifton. His wife, Lisa, and he have one son, Keaton.
