Welcome to our Member Spotlight page, where we highlight the expertise, achievements, and policy impact of our community. Our members contribute cutting-edge research and real-world insight to some of the most pressing issues in agricultural trade and policy, helping to inform discussions at national and international levels. This spotlight is updated quarterly in May, August, November, and February.
August 2026 member spotlight: Dixit Poudel
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Dixit Poudel is a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California, Davis, where his research focuses on international trade, economic development, agricultural policy, food systems, and the effects of technological, environmental, and regulatory change. He also serves as a Research Fellow at the Benson-Bertsch Center for International Trade and Security at the University of Georgia and, since 2023, as an Economist with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. His work applies econometrics, causal inference, experimental and quasi-experimental methods, and geospatial analysis to examine how policies and innovations affect workers, producers, consumers, and communities.
Dixit’s recent research examines how differences in national regulations shape international trade and public health outcomes. In a recent study published in Food Policy, he and his coauthor constructed a food-item-level dataset covering 161 countries to analyze the effects of trans fat regulations on nutrient intake and trade. The study finds that strict and enforceable regulations reduce both domestic exposure to trans fats and imports of trans-fat-rich foods, while countries with weaker regulations may experience increases in imports and intake, placing them at risk of becoming “dietary risk havens.” The findings highlight the importance of international regulatory coordination and offer broader lessons for emerging policies targeting salt, sugar, saturated fats, and other nutrients.
His broader research at UC Davis, FAO, and other institutions explores the economic consequences of fruit and vegetable imports for U.S. producers; the effects of digitalization and infrastructure on formal and informal manufacturing and exports in emerging markets; the impacts of political instability and climate stress on food security and malnutrition; anticipatory cash transfers in fragile states; and digital tools and livestock innovations designed to reduce risk and improve rural livelihoods. His research spans the United States, countries in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, and is motivated by understanding how global policies and economic changes affect local communities.
Dixit has six years of teaching experience in international trade and agricultural policy at the undergraduate and graduate levels. He also has experience working directly with farmer groups and communicating research findings to both technical and nontechnical audiences. He regularly presents his work at professional meetings, including those of the International Agricultural Trade Research Consortium, the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, and the American Economic Association.
His professional service includes leadership roles within AAEA sections. He co-leads FAO’s Junior Economists Research Club and serves as a mentor with the Association for Mentoring and Inclusion in Economics. In 2026, he received the AAEA South Asia Section Outstanding Young Scholar Award in recognition of his research and professional contributions.
Dixit earned his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia and is originally from Nepal. You can learn more about Dixit at https://sites.google.com/view/dpoudel.
May 2026 member spotlight: Shawn Arita
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Shawn Arita is an Associate Research Professor and Associate Director at the Agricultural Risk Policy Center (ARPC) at North Dakota State University, where he also serves as the Center’s Policy Lead. He directs research teams within ARPC in conducting research and analyses in areas of global commodity markets, trade disruptions, risk management, crop insurance, and farm safety net programs.
Shawn leads ARPC’s policy outreach, working directly with federal agencies and industry stakeholders across both DC and the Midwest. He briefs Congressional staff on the Hill on the agricultural policy issues of concern for Congressional offices and Midwest stakeholders, such as the ongoing challenge of high fertilizer prices and input costs, farm bill provisions, crop insurance, farm income and farm safety net developments, trade policy issues and tariff impacts, and ad-hoc farm support. His work bridges rigorous academic research with practical policy implementation, translating complex analyses into actionable insights for decision-makers across government and industry. He also leads the NDSU Ag Trade Monitor.
Before joining NDSU, Shawn served as Senior Economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Chief Economist, where he led economic analysis on global commodity markets, trade policy, agricultural supply disruptions, input costs, and farm safety net programs. He helped design ad-hoc assistance programs responding to trade and market disruptions affecting U.S. producers and provided model-based assessments for WTO trade dispute arbitration and evaluations of agricultural markets under international trade agreements. Earlier in his career, Shawn served in the Agricultural Affairs Office at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative and as a research economist with USDA’s Economic Research Service. He was named USDA Economist of the Year for his research on market disruptions affecting U.S. agriculture. Shawn earned his Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii and hails from the Aloha State.