On April 30, 2018, the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics held its annual meeting.

The guest speaker was Soren Bjorn, president of Driscoll’s of the Americas. His talk, “California Berries: Adaptation and Innovation in Rapidly Evolving Labor and Product Market," was the last presentation of the evening.

Foundation Director and UC Berkeley Professor Brian Wright began the meeting with a slide presentation that introduced new Foundation members Ellen Bruno, Berkeley ARE Cooperative Extension; Bulat Gafarov, UC Davis ARE faculty; Marco Gonzalez-Navarro, UC Berkeley ARE faculty; and Tina Saitone, UC Davis ARE Cooperative Extension. Also reviewed were mini-grants and 2018 conferences supported by the Foundation, including the annual Giannini Foundation of Agricultural and Resource Economics Student Conference in April and the upcoming National Bureau of Economic Research Trade and Agriculture Conference in May.

UC Davis Professor Emeritus Phil Martin discussed a Giannini-sponsored publication in the works, California Agriculture: Issues and Dimensions. This book is a summary of essays by leading agricultural economists meant to provide an introduction to California agriculture. Each chapter will include basic data, trends over time, and current issues.

UC Berkeley Assistant Professor Thibault Fally gave a presentation titled “Gathering Data on Primary Commodity Production, Trade, and Price.” After the Driscoll's presentation, dinner was served. The meeting ended with Giannini Foundation members enjoying a Q&A session with Bjorn.