Master of Food and Resource Economics: Faculty and Staff Members
Jim Vercammen
Jim grew up on a grain and cattle farm in Saskatchewan, and he spent several years managing his own farming operation. After completing a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Agricultural Economics at the University of Saskatchewan, he pursued a Ph.D. in Agricultural and Resource Economics at UC Berkeley. Since arriving at UBC in 1991, Jim’s research interests have included agricultural commodity markets, agri-food policy, contracting and insurance. He teaches commodity price analysis in the MFRE program. [Click here to see Jim speaking about carbon emissions as it relates to food security.]
Pradip Ghimire (Program Coordinator)
In June, 2010 Pradip Ghimire joined the Faculty as Program Coordinator for MFRE. Originally from Nepal, Pradip comes with the perfect mix of education and experience. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Tribhuvan University, Nepal and a M.A. in Banking and Finance from the Eastern Mediterranean University, Cyprus. He has had a decade of very relevant experience in program management for education. Most recently, he has been Program Manager and Lecturer with the John Deutsch International Executive Programs at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario.  
Sumeet Gulati
Sumeet completed his Ph.D. in agricultural and resource economics at the University of Maryland in College Park, USA, in 2003. Soon after that he joined the Food and Resource Economics group at UBC. In his research, Sumeet focuses on questions related to the formation and effectiveness of environmental policies. For example, "Is it worthwhile for the B.C. government to subsidize hybrid electric vehicles?", and "Why climate change is not on India’s radar?". Sumeet teaches the course in Environmental and Resource Economics in the MFRE program.
George Kennedy (Academic Advisor)
After completing his B.A. at UBC, George went to the University of Minnesota and Purdue University in the U.S. for his Masters and Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics. He returned to UBC for a teaching/research career in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems. He became Director of Global Partnerships and founded the award winning Global Resource Systems undergraduate program. He is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty and serves as Academic Advisor and Manager for MFRE.  
Florencia Jaureguiberry
After completing her B.A. at UNLP in Argentina and working in the Ministry of Finance of the Province of Buenos Aires, Florencia went to the Pardee RAND Graduate School in the U.S. for her Masters and Ph.D. in Policy Analysis. For more than a decade, she has been carrying out statistical analyis with different data sets. She has been teaching Government and Business in the Sauder School of Business at UBC since 2007. She teaches the MRFE course in Applied Econometrics.
Rick Barichello
Rick grew up on a dairy farm in the Fraser Valley near Vancouver, after which he completed his B.Sc.(Agr) at the University of British Columbia and his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Chicago. He has taught at UBC since then, but has also worked for the Harvard Institute for International Development in Indonesia from 1986 to 1988, and has worked in most Southeast Asian countries since that time. His research interests include agricultural and trade policy, regulated markets, dairy industry economics, quota markets, international development, and rural labour markets. He teaches courses in Food Market Analysis and Policy Analysis in the MFRE program.
 
Ron Wasik
Ron received his Ph.D. in Cereal Chemistry from the University of Manitoba and his MBA from the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. He has had distinguished careers as a functional leader and a business executive in virtually every sector of the agri-food value chain from the farm gate to the dinner plate. He is President of RJW Consulting Canada Ltd and an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia, Faculty of Land and Food Systems. He teaches Agribusiness Management in the MFRE program.
Chris Bennett
Drawing on 25 years work experience with bilateral and multilateral donors, the private sector and Non-Government Organizations, primarily in Indonesia, and for shorter periods in China, Laos, Malaysia and Vietnam. Chris Bennett teaches courses in International Resource Economics and Institutions as well as Project Monitoring and Evaluation for Timely Responses (METR) to enhance aid effectiveness. Chris Bennett is an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems and a Faculty Associate of Centre for South East Asia Research. 
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