THE FRYAR CENTER
Who We Are
Center Faculty
Lanier Nalley, Director
Dr. Nalley holds a Bachelor of Science in Agricultural and Development Economics, with minors in Development Studies and Eastern European History, from The Ohio State University. He earned a Master of Science in Agricultural Economics from Mississippi State University and completed his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University, specializing in international policy. Dr. Nalley currently serves as the Department Head of Agricultural Economics and Director of the Fryar Price Risk Management Center of Excellence at the University of Arkansas. He has authored over 110 peer-reviewed publications, secured over $6 million in competitive research funding, and was honored as a Fulbright Scholar in Laos in 2020. Dr. Nalley is a Fellow of the Agricultural and Resource Economics Association and has also earned a litany of honors for his work, including three John W. White Awards — a 2013 team award; 2021 Outstanding Teaching Award, 2023 Research Award, plus earning the Jack G. Justus Award for Teaching Excellence in 2017.
Andrew M. McKenzie, Associate Director
Fryar Endowed Professor in Risk Management
Andrew McKenzie is a native of South Shields, Tyne and Wear, England. He specializes in price risk management, futures and options markets, grain marketing and applied time series analysis. Andrew joined the faculty of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness at the University of Arkansas in December 1998. His research interests include price risk management strategies, basis trading, grain marketing, price analysis in poultry and cattle markets, behavioral economics, and the informational role played by financial and commodity markets in transmitting price signals. He has published numerous journal articles about commodity futures markets and is a nationally recognized expert in grain basis trading. His research relating to financial and commodity futures market information and efficiency has been published in some of the most prestigious economics journals, including Journal of Applied Econometrics, American Journal of Agricultural Economics and Journal of Futures Markets.
Eunchun Park, Assistant Professor
Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, Risk Analysis and Management
Park completed his Ph.D. at Oklahoma State University in 2017 in agricultural economics. His research interests are mainly on applied econometrics and agricultural risk analysis, including crop insurance and commodity futures and options market. Much of his current work focuses on crop insurance rating and spatial smoothing using Bayesian inference. He is currently extending his work on the Bayesian modeling to density smoothing based on climate and soil type similarity
Andrew Anderson, Assistant Professor
Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness
Andrew Anderson joined the Fryar Price Risk Management Center at the University of Arkansas in 2023 after completing his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University. Raised in a farming community in Southeast Idaho, he focuses on applied research questions relevant to agriculture and food industries. His work examines how prices respond to shocks—such as supply disruptions, transportation constraints, and government policies—and how those price changes shape the decisions of firms and consumers. Recent projects have analyzed the effects of barge freight costs on grain basis values, feed prices on cattle feedlot efficiency, and consumer responses to egg price spikes during recent supply disruptions.
James Mitchell, Assistant Professor
Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, Livestock Marketing and Risk Management
Dr. James Mitchell joined the Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness at the University of Arkansas in 2020 as an assistant professor. He is also the livestock marketing extension specialist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. James has B.S. and M.S. degrees from Oklahoma State University and a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University.
James leads integrated extension and research programs that address issues that span the livestock and meat supply chain. Some of Mitchell’s recent research focuses on basis risk in price risk management products for livestock, price discovery in fed cattle markets, extreme weather and Arkansas soybean basis, and highly pathogenic avian influenza effects on poultry and egg markets. His extension programming primarily focuses on livestock marketing and risk management. James has delivered over 150 presentations to regional, national, and international audiences on commodity markets, risk management, international trade, and farm policy topics. James has written over 100 extension articles, research articles, and book chapters. Both farm and popular press outlets highly cite his work.
Affiliated Faculty
Alvaro Durand-Morat, Associate Professor
Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, policy and trade
Bradley Watkins, Professor
Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, production practices and risk
Bruce L. Ahrendsen, Professor
Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, financial management and risk
Lawson Connor, Associate Professor
Department of Agricultural Economics, farm management and crop insurance
Michael P. Popp, Professor
Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, financial management and risk
Qiuqiong Huang, Professor
Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, production practices and risk
Ron Rainey, Professor
Extension, Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, and director Southern Risk Management Education Center, Outreach and Development
Sun Jin Ahn, Research/Instructor
Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, behavioral economics and risk
University of Arkansas Instructors
Fryar Center Advisory Board
Fred Seamon
Executive Director in Agricultural Markets
Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group
Arthur Neal
Deputy Administrator
Federal Grain Inspection Service, USDA
Brice Elnicki
Senior VP Grain and Business Development
Ag Partners Coop, Inc.
Kyle Guziec
Commodity Director – Commodity Purchasing Group, Poultry
Tyson Foods