Michael Adjemian

Michael Adjemian is Professor in the Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics at the University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences (UGA-CAES). He is an internationally recognized scholar whose expertise lies at the intersection of agricultural markets, commodity derivatives, international trade finance, and forecasting. Beyond his academic appointment, he currently serves as Associate Editor of the American Journal of Agricultural Economics, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Council on Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics (C-FARE), and as a consultant to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Education:

• Ph.D., Agricultural & Resource Economics – University of California, Davis, 2009
• B.S., Finance – University of Florida, 2001

Research Interests:

Professor Adjemian’s research program centers on understanding how information, policy, and risk shape agricultural and food markets. His work quantifies the impacts of supply disruptions (e.g., pandemics, war, biofuel mandates) on commodity prices; evaluates the performance of public and private forecasting systems; and designs improved risk-management tools for agribusiness. A recurring theme is the role of derivatives markets in price discovery and hedging, especially under regulatory change or market stress.

Article Trends (2022–2025):

Across 15 recent publications, Adjemian advances three broad thrusts: (i) macro-level analysis of agricultural supply shocks and their transmission to national economies, (ii) granular evaluation of U.S. and global commodity derivatives and policy interventions (COVID-19, Russia-Ukraine war, biofuels, carbon policy), and (iii) methodological contributions on forecast combination, supply elasticity estimation, and information rigidity in USDA reports.

Scientific Awards:

• John J. Jack Barriger Research Award, Transportation Research Forum (2022)
• NH Investments Best Paper Award, Asia-Pacific Association of Derivatives (2021)
• John E. Lee Award for Sustained Excellence in Group Economic Analysis (2019)
• American Association of Wine Economists Award of Merit (2016)
• AAEA Quality of Communication Award (2014)

Advising & Grant Context:

His doctoral students have garnered the SAEA Best Dissertation Award (Raghav Goyal, 2023) and multiple best-paper prizes at major associations. His prior federal service as Senior Economist at the Council of Economic Advisers (2017-2018) and at USDA’s Economic Research Service (2009-2019) underpins ongoing grant-funded collaborations on market information systems and policy evaluation.

Labs & Teams:

While no formal lab is mentioned, Adjemian leads an active empirical research group within the UGA Department of Agricultural & Applied Economics, integrating Ph.D. students, post-docs, and external collaborators in projects funded by federal agencies and industry partners.