{"id":5021,"date":"2024-05-09T21:07:00","date_gmt":"2024-05-09T21:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/?post_type=purduetoday&p=5021"},"modified":"2024-08-03T14:47:54","modified_gmt":"2024-08-03T18:47:54","slug":"jacob-ricker-gilbert-to-be-honored-with-lowell-s-hardin-award-for-excellence-in-international-agriculture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/2024\/Q2\/jacob-ricker-gilbert-to-be-honored-with-lowell-s-hardin-award-for-excellence-in-international-agriculture","title":{"rendered":"Jacob Ricker-Gilbert to be honored with Lowell S. Hardin Award for Excellence in International Agriculture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.<\/strong> \u2014 Throughout his career,\u00a0Jacob Ricker-Gilbert<\/a>, professor and interim associate head of Purdue University\u2019s\u00a0Department of Agricultural Economics<\/a>, has demonstrated a passion for and commitment to global agriculture and food systems. For this persistent pursuit, Purdue\u2019s College of Agriculture will award Ricker-Gilbert\u202fthe 2024 Lowell S. Hardin Award for Excellence in International Agriculture on Friday (May 10). The award, named in honor of Professor Lowell Hardin, recognizes significant contributions of\u00a0College of Agriculture<\/a>\u00a0faculty members to international activities.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been curious about why people make certain decisions and the interconnectedness of the world,\u201d Ricker-Gilbert said. \u201cInternational agriculture has given me the opportunity to search for solutions to real issues and the motivation to make an impact.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After earning his bachelor\u2019s degree in community development and applied economics at the University of Vermont, Ricker-Gilbert completed his master\u2019s in agricultural and applied economics at Virginia Tech, where he also started working with USDA economic research in Bangladesh. While earning his doctorate at Michigan State University, Ricker-Gilbert pursued his passion for international agriculture. Working on his dissertation, \u201cSubsidies for Fertilizer for Farmers in Malawi,\u201d set the course for his international work at Purdue.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGoing to the field and seeing the issues firsthand and trying to understand those issues is something that motivates me,\u201d Ricker-Gilbert said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since joining the faculty at Purdue in 2011, Ricker-Gilbert has developed a well-funded and internationally recognized research program around the economics of sustainable smallholder agricultural intensification, mainly focused on sub-Saharan Africa. His curiosity about why people make certain decisions and his observations regarding the interconnectedness of the world have driven him to search for real solutions.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cProfessor Ricker-Gilbert\u2019s work has made a significant contribution to increasing awareness of development issues in Africa in general, and raising awareness and understanding of the economics of post-harvest (PH) technologies and PH losses in the developing world and sub-Saharan Africa in particular,\u201d said Tahirou Abdoulaye, principal scientist and director of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture\u2019s Sahel Africa hub in Mali. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeyond contributing to the academic literature, his research has had an impact on decisions made by policymakers and the private sector in Africa, as well as on international donors,\u201d said Holly Wang<\/a>, professor of agricultural economics.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the core topics Ricker-Gilbert studies are the economic and livelihood impacts of subsidies and farmland markets in Africa, the economics of smallholder farm households\u2019 post-harvest decisions and farm household adaptations to climate change.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPurdue\u2019s College of Agriculture is recognized worldwide for our important contributions to problem-solving,\u201d said Gerald Shively, associate dean and director of Purdue\u2019s International Programs in Agriculture<\/a>. \u201cThis stellar global reputation doesn\u2019t arise by accident. It results from the tireless efforts of individuals like Professor Ricker-Gilbert who are working to improve agriculture, rural economies and the human condition. It is extremely fitting that we honor Jake\u2019s work with this award for his outstanding contributions in international research, teaching and engagement.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ricker-Gilbert also works closely with numerous graduate students, and they are an important component of his international research program. He has chaired or co-chaired committees for 11 MS students and eight PhD students. His graduate students have gone on to work for such international organizations and universities as the World Bank, Catholic Relief Services, Malawi University of Science and Technology, and the University of Arizona.\u202f\u202f <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn addition to his directly impactful research, Professor Ricker-Gilbert has been committed to training young African scholars,\u201d Abdoulaye said. \u201cIn his 12 years at Purdue, he has advised graduate students from Malawi, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria and Cote d\u2019Ivoire. His work has been recognized professionally and he now serves as co-editor of Agricultural Economics, the flagship journal of the International Association of Agricultural Economists, and (as) a member of the editorial board of the African Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, the flagship journal of African Association of Agricultural Economists.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always chased opportunities when they arise, and this is something I tell my students. Be prepared to jump at an opportunity when it\u2019s in front of you,\u201d Ricker-Gilbert said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Office of International Programs in Purdue University\u2019s College of Agriculture will host a ceremony and reception in Pfendler Hall, Room 241, from 1-2:30 p.m. ET Friday (May 10) to honor Ricker-Gilbert.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

About Purdue University<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Purdue University is a public research institution demonstrating excellence at scale. Ranked among top 10 public universities and with two colleges in the top four in the United States, Purdue discovers and disseminates knowledge with a quality and at a scale second to none. More than 105,000 students study at Purdue across modalities and locations, including nearly 50,000 in person on the West Lafayette campus. Committed to affordability and accessibility, Purdue\u2019s main campus has frozen tuition 13 years in a row. See how Purdue never stops in the persistent pursuit of the next giant leap \u2014 including its first comprehensive urban campus in Indianapolis, the new Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, and Purdue Computes \u2014 at https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/president\/strategic-initiatives<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agriculture News Page<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. \u2014 Throughout his career,\u00a0Jacob Ricker-Gilbert, professor and interim associate head of Purdue University\u2019s\u00a0Department of Agricultural Economics, has demonstrated a passion for and commitment to global agriculture and food systems. For this persistent pursuit, Purdue\u2019s College of Agriculture<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":5022,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"department":[6],"source":[29],"purdue_today_topic":[],"coauthors":[61],"class_list":["post-5021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","department-agriculture","source-purdue-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5021"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7746,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5021\/revisions\/7746"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5021"},{"taxonomy":"department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/department?post=5021"},{"taxonomy":"source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/source?post=5021"},{"taxonomy":"purdue_today_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/purdue_today_topic?post=5021"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purdue.edu\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=5021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}