Yuan Chai
Applied Economist
Expertise:
Agricultural productivity and innovation, agricultural risk management, bio-economic pest and disease modeling
BIO:
Yuan Chai is an agricultural economist at the GEMS Informatics Center, University of Minnesota. Yuan received his MS degree in plant pathology and his PhD in applied economics, both at the University of Minnesota. As a plant pathologist, he studied rust resistance genetics in barley. As an agricultural economist, his research focuses on agricultural innovation, production, productivity, and the bio-economics of crop varietal change and production risk. He creates and applies fit-for-purpose bio-economic models to assess the consequences of and the strategies used by farmers in coping with production risks arising from climate- or pest-induced pressures on agriculture.