After serving in the Peace Corps in Sierra Leone, Rick attended the University of Illinois where he specialized in international development. Prior to coming to MSU in 1985, he worked for the International Rice Research Institute and Winrock International. Rick teaches development-related undergraduate (EEP 260: World Food, Population and Poverty) and graduate (AEC 874: Data Collection and Analysis in Developing Countries) courses, advises graduate students, coordinates socioeconomic research in Latin America under the auspices of the Bean/Cowpea CRSP, and is faculty advisor for the Philippine Study Abroad Program

Professional Interests

• International agricultural development
• Finance and productivity analysis
• Agricultural policy
• Agricultural systems

Selected Publications

Maumbe B., R.H. Bernsten, and G. Norton. 2003. "Social and Economic Considerations in the Design and Implementation of Integrated Pest management (IPM) in Developing Countries". Chapter in: Integrated Pest Management in the Global Arena, CAB International Publisher, UK.

Mather, D. L., R. Bernsten, J. C. Rosas, A. Viana Ruano, and D. Escoto . 2003. "The Economic Impact of Bean Disease Resistance Research in Honduras." Agricultural Economics 29 (December 2003) 343-352.

Mather, D. R.H. Bernsten, and M. Maredia. 2002. Ex-Ante Assessment of the Impact of Disease-Resistant Cucurbit Germplasm In Indonesia and South Africa. Report submitted to ABSP/USAID, July 16; and published as Staff Paper 2002-28 (October), Department of Agricultural Economics, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI.

Funded Research Projects

• Current research projects are funded under the Bean/Cowpea CRSP (2002-2005). These focus on two themes: increasing productivity in bean-based farming systems and expanding the demand for value-added bean products. Current projects which are being carried out in collaboration with graduate students include:
  • The development of a bean seed production and marketing system in Honduras.
  • The impact of bean research in Michigan.
  • An analysis of bean subsectors in Central America.
  • The potential to expand exports of value-added bean products to U.S. ethnic markets.
  • A Bean Atlas of the Americas—a GIS-based description and analysis of bean production systems in Latin America.
  • Agronomic and socioeconomic constraints to increasing bean yields in Honduras.
  • An analysis of recent trend in U.S. bean imports and exports.

In the future, there will be opportunities for Spanish-speaking students to carry out research on related themes, as they are identified.