PODCAST: Ag Law & Farm Economics Merge in New Partnership
(Top Left) Nicole Olynk Widmar. (Top Right) Miki Pike Hamstra
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowFierce competitors academically and athletically, but agriculturally Indiana University and Purdue University have forged a partnership. They developed a first-of-its-kind dual degree that focuses on agricultural law.
Purdue’s Department of Agricultural Economics and IU’s McKinney School of Law have created the first Master of Jurisprudence-Master of Science program that brings together law and agricultural economics.
“The concept of more law knowledge within ag Industries has been growing for a long time,” said Nicole Olynk Widmar, said Purdue professor of agricultural economics.
Olynk Widmar, who also serves as graduate program chair, says during the Ag+Bio+Science podcast presented by AgriNovus Indiana the partnership is a natural fit.
“The MS is preparing someone from the agriculture economy perspective to be able to do higher-level analytics. And then if you add the MJ component, then you’re also giving someone the capacity to talk about law within that organization,” explained Olynk Widmar to Inside INdiana Business and podcast host Gerry Dick.
Graduates would receive an MJ to develop a comprehensive understanding of the operation of law as it applies to agriculture. However, it is not a license to practice law.
“Expanding the power of law to non-lawyers in this particular program has been really exciting,” said Miki Pike Hamstra, assistant dean of graduate programs at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. “And cultivating a partnership with Purdue was a great fit for both institutions.”
The program will help prepare students who work in the vast production agriculture, food production, and agribusiness sectors when it comes to regulatory oversight.
“The law is not just for lawyers. Our American legal system is an integral part of our society and economy,” said Pike Hamstra. “The more legal knowledge people in the field have, the better that they can do their job and make an impact.”
Students would first receive an MS degree from Purdue after completing 21 credits from Purdue’s Department of Agricultural Economics and 15 credits from the IU McKinney School of Law. After completing an additional set of 15 law credits from IU McKinney School of Law, the student would receive the MJ degree.
“I think these MJ-MS students with multidisciplinary education at ag law will be able to make the kinds of creative and significant contributions to the farm, the industry and the policy levels that we need them to do,” said Pike Hamstra.
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