Postdoctoral Associate, Agricultural Finance and Climate Resilience

Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management

Cornell SC Johnson College of Business

Cornell University 

The Cornell SC Johnson College of Business invites applicants for a Postdoctoral Associate on Agricultural Finance and Climate Resilience with a 1-year renewable term position in our Applied Economics and Policy area, intended for placement in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, with an intended start date of July 1, 2021. The position will be based in Ithaca, NY. 

Responsibilities of the position include (1) conducting independent research in coordination with a research team across various institutions, (2) collecting, curating, and linking farm-level, climate, and other geospatial datasets, (3) conducting econometric analysis related to farm financial performance and climatic shocks and (4) drafting manuscripts for submission to peer-review journals.

The ideal candidate will possess a PhD in finance, economics, agricultural and resource economics, or related field, and be able to satisfactorily draw from the relevant theoretical and empirical finance literatures. In particular, the candidate should be able to effectively communicate project objectives and progress with team members and stakeholders with expertise in climate economics, finance, agricultural policy, and farm management. Note that the faculty supervisors will provide subject matter guidance as needed but a demonstrated interest in agriculture, finance and climate is strongly preferred.

The Postdoctoral Associate will work directly with Professors Ariel Ortiz-Bobea (Cornell University) and Jennifer Ifft (Kansas State University) in close collaboration with researchers at the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the University of Minnesota.

The research will be related to two new projects: (1) one funded by the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability titled “Investigating the financial impact of extreme weather on Midwestern farmers over time and by farming system” and (2) one funded by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) titled “Evolving agricultural credit markets and resilience of the U.S. farm sector”. The first project aims to quantify the effect of variable weather and climate change on farm financial performance. The work will inform EDF’s work of enhancing the resilience of the agricultural financial sector in a changing climate. The project will harness a unique long-term dataset developed by the Kansas Farm Management Association (KFMA) with detailed production and financial information for farmers across Kansas since the 1970s. The second project will use data on local and regional farm lender performance and composition to assess financial resilience of agriculture to weather shocks. The research collaboration also involves studies on impact of nonfarm policies (i.e., macroeconomic policy) on agriculture and capitalization of countercyclical subsidies into farmland values. The postdoctoral research associate would be a collaborator in this broader effort, which includes faculty across multiple land grant institutions and the USDA.

This position is well suited for junior researcher with a strong training in econometrics and with experience managing and analyzing large datasets and with a strong commitment to transparency and reproducible research. The project team expects that the research conducted by the candidate to lead to at least two peer-review publications.

There is rapidly growing interest in the U.S. farm and financial sectors to improve its preparedness for managing emerging climatic risks. A substantial group of farm sector stakeholders are interested in the results of this project. We anticipate that the successful candidate will be in a competitive position for the academic job market following this position and the faculty advisers are committed providing both research and professional mentoring.

The Cornell SC Johnson College of Business (established on July 1, 2016) combines three Schools: the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management (Johnson), the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management (Dyson), and the School of Hotel Administration (Hotel School). Dyson houses a top-ranked undergraduate business program as well as graduate programs that award Ph.D., M.S. and M.P.S. degrees. Areas of faculty research include management; environmental, energy and resource economics; food and agricultural economics; and international and development economics. Faculty members in the Dyson School frequently collaborate with colleagues in Computer and Information Sciences, Economics, Engineering, Natural Resources, and other units on campus.

For full consideration please ensure that your application is complete by May 31, 2021. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position has been filled.  Applications received after May 31, 2021 will be reviewed if the position has not been filled.

Competitive Annual Salary

The following materials are required:

1. Letter of interest, with clear indication of position being applied for
2. Curriculum vitae
3. Up to three research papers
4. Three recommendation letters
5. Statements on Contributions to Diversity

Visit the below website for more information on our required statement on contributions to diversity:

 https://facultydevelopment.cornell.edu/department-resources/recruitment/contribution-to-diversity/

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