Assistant Professor in Agricultural Economic Policy

The Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Management (NREM) in the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience (CTAHR) at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa (UHM) seeks an Assistant Professor in Agricultural Economic Policy.

This position is designed to provide critical, statewide agricultural economic analytical support for policies related to diversified, resilient, and thriving agriculture. The successful candidate will build a research program targeted to provide timely, evidence-based insights to Hawai‘i policy makers and industry leaders to drive impactful policy design and private sector decision-making that improve agricultural sector outcomes. One key effort will be developing partial equilibrium economic models that represent policies and markets accurately and can be used to generate outlook reports and policy analysis. The successful candidate will develop stakeholder-informed agile models capable of providing decision makers with timely estimates of the impacts of agriculture, trade, housing, land use, water rights, climate adaptation, biosecurity, and other policies. Other research efforts would be informed by stakeholder needs and could focus on supply and value chain analyses (e.g., identifying new market opportunities for and bottlenecks to sustainable production and food value chains; assessing infrastructural and labor needs; identifying value-added opportunities) and the impact of new technologies.

Qualifications:

• Ph.D. from a college or university of recognized standing with a major in agricultural economics or a closely related field, including academic preparation and formal coursework consistent with the subject areas of extension, research, and instruction stated above.

• Demonstrated ability to conduct applied agricultural policy research related to the adoption of innovative technologies, sustainability, and resilience of agricultural production, natural resource use, and rural community livelihoods, specifically working with economic models in the evaluation of policy impacts.

• Proven ability to work effectively with community organizations, government agencies, farmers, stakeholder groups, food industry representatives, commodity groups, private businesses, and other groups representing the agricultural industry.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills as demonstrated by authorship in peer-reviewed publications and refereed presentations.

• Ability to teach agricultural economics and policy courses.

• Demonstrated ability to collaborate on or lead academically oriented and interdisciplinary research.

• Professionalism in meeting and conferring with others.

• Record of scholarly research in agricultural economic policy analysis.

• Demonstrated ability to obtain and manage competitive, extramural, applied research and/or extension funding.

• Demonstrated experience working on policy analysis for small- and medium-scale agriculture, tropical or subtropical agricultural systems, insular areas, and rural community development.

• Demonstrated experience in teaching courses online or in a hybrid format (combination of online and in-person instruction).

• Strong record of collaborative engagement to develop and share research, impact policy, and create positive change in communities, agencies, and the environment.

• Familiarity with Hawai‘i and U.S. legislative and executive processes, preferably through employment experience with USDA, the U.S. government, or an agricultural organization.

• Demonstrated experience in successfully serving the needs of local communities and the public.

Location: Hilo, HI

Deadline: 5 December 2025

To get more information and apply