Welcome , y'all!

I am  an assistant professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness at the University of Arkansas and a crop extension economist with the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. I grew up in Floral, Arkansas working on a diverse family farm operation consisting of a cow-calf herd, broiler chickens, a greenhouse nursery, and a peach orchard. I attribute my passion for agriculture to the farmers who raised me. I graduated with my  B.S.A. in Agribusiness from Arkansas State University in 2016 and with my M.S. in Agricultural Economics from Mississippi State University in 2019. I earned my Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University in 2022 where I gained an appreciation for crop insurance participation impacts on producer behavior and determinants of crop insurance premium rates.

I have a strong interest in crop insurance and commodity programs as a risk management strategy for crop producers, and my extension programming focuses on crop risk management using crop insurance. My research focuses primarily on risk management and agricultural policy program evaluation using causal inference and applied econometrics with an emphasis on crop insurance. My current work focuses on the impacts of crop insurance participation on producer behavior and uncovering drivers of premium rate heterogeneity. My current published work in the Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics evaluates optimal risk management strategies using crop insurance and commodity programs in the 2014 and 2018 Farm Bills.

Hunter D. Biram, PhD