New Arrell Family Chair at U of G to Focus on ‘People Side’ of Agri-Economics

A new $1-million research chair in an emerging field at the University of Guelph is intended to make agri-food production more efficient and ensure sustainable food production in Canada and around the world.  

The inaugural Arrell Family Chair in Behavioural and Experimental Economics will support students and seed projects and enable the hiring of a lab manager for a growing research lab in the Department of Food, Agricultural and Resource Economics (FARE) within the Ontario Agricultural College (OAC).  

Applying behavioural and experimental economics to the agri-food sector, the chair will be appointed as an Arrell Food Institute (AFI) chair on campus. The institute, established in 2016 at U of G with a $20-million donation from the Arrell Family Foundation, works to improve global food systems to sustainably feed a growing world population.  

The new chair will be held for five years by FARE professor Dr. Tongzhe Li, whose field and lab research aims to combine economic theory with sometimes messy and unpredictable human behaviour.  

“I want to couple human behaviour with natural sciences,” said Li. 

Tony and Anne Arrell, both U of G grads, established The Arrell Family Foundation in 1999. 

OAC dean Dr. Rene Van Acker said, “We are so grateful for the Foundation’s commitment to funding this chair and to recognizing the groundbreaking and unique work that Professor Li is doing to discover ways of facilitating the adoption of sustainability practices on farms in Canada and around the world.”   

He added, “This chair represents leadership in OAC’s efforts to achieve sustainable food production.” 

AFI chair Dr. Evan Fraser said, “The expertise and in-depth knowledge in economics and producer and consumer behaviour that Li brings will complement Arrell Food Institute’s projects immensely. The insights, connections and research from this area are incredibly important to creating more resilient and sustainable food systems for the future.” 

“The Arrell Family Foundation is excited to support Li’s innovative research, which strives to better understand and unpack the black box of economic decision-making, particularly pertaining to activities in the agri-food-environmental domain,” said Laura Arrell. “It is fantastic to have another strong Arrell Food Institute Chair working collaboratively with Evan Fraser and the AFI team to make our food system more secure and sustainable.”