UW Professor Named Fellow of Western Agricultural Economics Association

Chris Bastian, a professor in the University of Wyoming Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, recently was appointed as a Fellow in the Western Agricultural Economics Association (WAEA).

WAEA is an organization dedicated to promoting greater coordination, research and impact of agricultural economics in the western United States and Canada. Bastian’s induction as a Fellow recognizes his decades-long contributions to WAEA and the discipline of agricultural economics.

Bastian served as an agricultural marketing specialist for UW Extension from 1993-2005. Over the course of his career at UW, he has published 94 journal articles, one book, four book chapters and 93 peer-reviewed extension publications. He and his co-authors received the WAEA Outstanding Published Research Award in 2014 and the Outstanding JARE Article Award in 2021. He also has earned recognition at UW for his teaching and advising. 

“Dr. Bastian has strived for professional excellence throughout his career across extension, research, teaching and service to WAEA,” says Ben Rashford, head of UW’s Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics. “His accomplishments and service to WAEA not only meet but exceed the criteria set forth in the call for this prestigious award.”

Throughout his career, Bastian has served agricultural producers through research, outreach and teaching. In 1997, he co-created extension materials about managing cattle when prices and profits are low. This multistate collaboration won awards from both WAEA and the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

Bastian’s research primarily has focused on optimal livestock production; landowner and land trust motivations for using conservation easements; and experimental economic analysis of how agricultural markets perform when buyers and sellers privately negotiate prices. Most recently, he has written extension materials about fed cattle markets and negotiation skills in agriculture.

Bastian has been a member of WAEA since 1988 and has filled many roles in the organization, including serving as president from 2019-2020.