This interview is with Lovell S. (Tu) Jarvis, Emeritus Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics. Tu was born in Kansas and received his BS in Economics, Summa Cum Laude, from the University of Kansas in 1964. He then obtained his Ph.D. in Economics from MIT in 1969.
Tu started his academic career in 1969 as an Assistant Professor of Economics at UC Berkeley. On sabbatical in 1972-73, he was Program Advisor in Economics for The Ford Foundation, Santiago, Chile. He returned to UCB until 1984, when he joined the UCD Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics. At UCD, he was the Faculty Director of the UCD Global Center for Latin America and the Caribbean, 2018-2020 and Faculty Director of the Live Sciences Innovation Center (UCD Chile Center), 2019-2021, on RECALL.
He was active in the UCD Academic Senate, chairing the Committees of Public Service and of Research. He also served on the Systemwide University Committee on Research (UCORP), the Academic Council Special Committee on the National Laboratories (ACSCONAL), and chaired the Steering Committee, Industry-University Cooperative Research Program (IUCRP).
Tu’s research focuses on the economics of livestock, animal health management, agricultural research and technical change, the International Coffee Agreement, food and nutrition policy, and Chilean agricultural development, including land reform and agricultural modernization. He has received grants and awards from NSF, USDA, the Fulbright Foundation and the Social Science Research Council.
Tu is being interviewed by his long-time friend and colleague, Professor Emeritus of Plant Pathology, Jim MacDonald.
