About the Principal Investigator

BENEDICT (Ben) POSADAS 
B.S.B.A., M.A., Ph.D.
Extension and Research Professor of Economics -Faculty Page at Coastal Research and Extension Center 
The best way to contact me is via E-mail at ben.posadas@msstate.edu
Marine Economist - Faculty Page at Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium 
Graduate Faculty - Faculty Page at the Department of Agricultural Economics
Marine Economist - Faculty Page at Mississippi State University Extension Service

My Professional Pathway - https://www.msstate.edu/our-people/2019/12/ben-posadas 

Since 1990, Dr. Benedict C. Posadas has consistently developed and maintained the Mississippi State University Coastal Research and Extension Center’s Horticulture and Marine Economics (HME) Program, emphasizing the following major areas. 

  4. Economics of natural and technological disasters (since 2005 after Hurricane Katrina) 
  5. Seafood marketing (since 2010 after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill) 

The choice of the HME focus areas was motivated by the information needs of the coastal communities and residents, marine, horticultural, coastal-related industries, business establishments and organizations, and state and federal regulatory agencies. The specific mandates of the state and federal funding initiatives dictated some of the directions of HME programming efforts. Over the past three decades, the MSU-CREC's HME Program has been made possible by additional extramural funding from state and federal agencies totaling more than sixteen million dollars. Several requests from regional, national, and international agencies and media organizations to participate in committees, workshops, conferences, collaborative efforts, and press releases demonstrate the usefulness and recognition of the economics programs conducted by Dr. Posadas. 

The timely conduct of applied economic research on horticultural, marine, and coastal-related issues was the key to the successful HME outreach program. Results were presented at producer meetings, scientific conferences, and industry workshops. The internet and social media networks played a vital complementary function in extension programming in horticulture and marine-related issues. In response to recent natural and man-made disasters and global pandemics, Dr. Posadas posted several YouTube informational videos showing his assessments of their economic impacts on the marine and seafood industries and coastal counties in the state, region, and beyond. 

He is currently working with several horticulturists to develop a systematic methodology for assessing the economic impact of the research and extension program and evaluating consumer preferences for horticultural products. Between 2018 and 2020, he collaborated with fisheries scientists to estimate the costs of softshell blue crab pond grow-out in the United States. Collaborating with a marine ecologist, he estimated the economic impacts of marine debris on commercial shrimping in Mississippi from 2019 to 2021. He assisted aquaculture economists from several universities during the past three years in measuring the economic impacts of the aquaculture industry in the United States.

During the last five years, he has been developing economic models to measure the economic impacts of man-made and natural disasters and major economic events on commercial fisheries, aquaculture production, and coastal counties. Since last year, he has collaborated with other economists to estimate the economic impacts of the Bonnet Carre Spillway openings in 2019 on the Mississippi seafood and tourism industries.