2010 Ag Forecast

Speaker Bios

Dr. John McKissick, Director, UGA Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development

John McKissick, a nationally recognized economist, is director of the University of Georgia's Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development and Extension program coordinator for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences’ Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. His expertise includes price and profit outlook, cost and return analysis through enterprise budgets and records, marketing alternatives, market planning and feasibility analysis.

The CAED is a college-wide center that provides feasibility and other short-term studies for current or potential agribusiness firms and emerging food and fiber industries. The center also offers agricultural, natural resource and demographic data and policy studies for private and public decision makers.

McKissick has delivered at least one invited presentation in each of Georgia’s 159 counties. He has twice received the American Agricultural Economics Association’s Distinguished Extension Program Award, the Western Agricultural Economics Association and Southern Agricultural Economics Association Outstanding Program Award, as well as the Distinguished Service Award of the National Association of County Agricultural Agents. McKissick won the D.W. Brooks Faculty Award for Excellence in Extension and the 2004 Agricultural Alumni Association Outstanding Faculty Award, as well as the University’s top Public Service Faculty recognition - the 2005 W. B. Hill Distinguished Achievement Award. In 2006, he was named the first Distinguished Professor of Agricultural Marketing by the University System of Georgia, Board of Regents.

Born and raised on a dairy farm in Walton County, McKissick was a third generation Master 4-H'er. He earned bachelor and master degrees in Agricultural Economics from UGA and received his Ph.D. in Economics from Auburn University.

Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development: http://www.caed.uga.edu/index.html

Michael P. Doyle

Dr. Michael P. Doyle is a Regents Professor of Food Microbiology and Director of the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia. He is an active researcher in food safety and security. He works closely with the food industry, government agencies and consumer groups addressing issues related to the microbiological safety of foods. He serves on food safety committees of many scientific organizations.

He has served as a scientific advisor to many groups, including the World Health Organization, the Institutes of Medicine, the National Academy of Science-National Research Council, the International Life Sciences Institute-North America, the Food and Drug Administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Doyle is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology, the International Association for Food Protection and the Institute of Food Technologists, and is a member of the National Academies Institute of Medicine.

Dr. Larry R. Beuchat

Dr. Beuchat earned a B.S. degree in Horticulture at Pennsylvania State University. His M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Food Science, with a minor in Microbiology and Public Health, are from Michigan State University. After working in research and development at Quaker Oats Company, he joined the University of Georgia in 1972, where he is now a Distinguished Research Professor in the Center for Food Safety and Department of Food Science and Technology.

Dr. Beuchat’s current research interests include the microbiology of fruits, vegetables, and nuts; methodologies for detecting and enumerating pathogenic bacteria, yeasts, and molds in foods; metabolic stress and injury of foodborne microorganisms; relationships of water activity to microbial growth; and efficacy of disinfection and preservation technologies.

He has written, edited, or co-edited 5 books and authored or co-authored 86 chapters and monographs, 476 refereed scientific journal articles, 110 miscellaneous scientific publications, and 527 abstracts in the area of microbiological safety and spoilage of foods. He served as an Associate Editor of Journal of Food Science from 1989 to 1994 and coeditor of Journal of Food Protection from 1994 to 2001, and is a member of the editorial boards of International Journal of Food Microbiology and Food Microbiology. Dr. Beuchat is a Fellow of the International Association for Food Protection, Institute of Food Technologists, and American Academy of Microbiology.

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