(09/24/24) BATON ROUGE, La. — When hurricanes and other natural disasters strike Louisiana, it’s usually not long before elected officials, industry leaders and reporters call the LSU AgCenter seeking expert insight into how widespread and serious the damage is to the state’s agriculture sector.

Economists, being familiar with the financial value and geographic distribution of Louisiana’s various commodities, are among the first AgCenter personnel to start working on these requests. In a short timeframe, they draft data-packed reports that put estimated dollar figures to the damage — numbers that can prove crucial in obtaining federal disaster aid.

Behind the scenes of these reports — and countless other projects — are the AgCenter’s Agricultural Economics Geographic Information System Laboratory and the instructor who has overseen it for much of its history, Huizhen “Jane” Niu.

From analyzing huge datasets to turning them into easy-to-digest maps, the lab plays a crucial role in putting agricultural economics into perspective. Economists today have an abundance of data about commodity prices, land use, consumer trends, trade patterns and many other issues at their disposal, and the lab helps them leverage this information in their research.

“The ability to have this kind of capacity and expertise to look at these kinds of things brings a different dimension to our research,” said Lynn Kennedy, head of the AgCenter Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness. “It brings to life things like here’s where these impacts are made, or here are the benefits of a certain policy to consumers or to producers, or where are the potential damages going to be from flooding in a hurricane? There’s huge potential. If we didn’t have this lab here, it would certainly be a loss to the department and the AgCenter.”

Technology changed the way research is done

When the lab was founded in 1988, it was the first GIS lab to be established in an agricultural economics department in the nation. Jane Luzar, a faculty member at the time, led the effort to launch the lab, seeing potential in up-and-coming computer software to boost research.

GIS, which stands for geographic information system, makes it possible to collect, analyze and visualize large amounts of data. Relying on computers to comb through the numbers, researchers can easily identify trends, draw conclusions, propose solutions and connect these findings to real-life points on a map.

An early project at the lab involved using data from 4,470 wells to help study the growing problem of saltwater intrusion in Louisiana’s rice-producing parishes.

“As efforts are made to tap the analytical potential of GIS for spatial economic analysis, undoubtedly further applications will be made,” Luzar wrote in a 1989 paper. “The challenge remains for applied economists to move GIS past its initial use as a visual depiction of research results into a role as a true analytical tool.”

Since then, computing power has only gotten stronger, enabling more detailed data collection and analysis. GIS is now an integral part of economists’ work, and they’ve found many ways to use it beyond just making maps.

“Thirty years ago, we thought it was really cool to have a map that we could put in our journal article or a poster,” Kennedy said. “But now, you’re using spatial econometrics, and it’s not just about making a map. It’s about using this information in an econometric regression to show the relationship between all these attributes of the land, the environment and the people around to see how they are affected and how they affect other things. It’s really changed the way we do research.”

Faculty, students depend on lab

Niu is modest about the important role she has played in AgCenter research programs over the past three decades. Her job, she explained, is simply to help with the spatial data aspects of projects.

“I go out of my way to showcase our GIS capabilities and encourage faculty and students to use GIS and provide the best support for their research,” she said.

Virtually everyone in the department relies on Niu when they need assistance crunching numbers or making a map.

“I can’t think of a single one of our faculty members that hasn’t seen the benefits of using the GIS lab,” Kennedy said. Undergraduate and graduate students can take advantage of Niu’s services in the GIS lab, too.

Jinggang Guo, a forestry economist, recalled working with Niu for the first time in 2021. Guo was a newer faculty member in the department, and Hurricane Ida had just hit Louisiana. He needed to determine how the storm had affected the state’s forestry sector.

“Ms. Jane is a big supporter of all of my forestry extension work, especially during the hurricane seasons,” Guo said. “She has already established huge datasets for Louisiana agriculture. She can quickly pull the data from the database, then we can do a very responsive analysis.”

He also has worked with Niu to illustrate global trade flow. This type of research and analysis is valuable because it can impact policy decisions, he said.

Rex Caffey, an economist who works with both the AgCenter and Louisiana Sea Grant, said Niu has been central to a project he has been part of for about 20 years: a spatial damage model that was launched in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“One of the things that’s unique about GIS is how it connects one discipline to another,” Caffey said. “The model says, ‘Where is the business located?’ If you have an address, Jane can geocode it, so that’s a dot on a map. Then we can bring in financial data about that firm — like its appraised value and recent production — and then combine that information with physical data on topography and elevation and meteorological data on storm intensity. These variables are used to run damage equations that allow us to estimate losses across an entire sector and determine where financial recovery funds should go to get the most efficient taxpayer allocations.”

With many tweaks made to the tool over the years, the team is now able to start running numbers and estimating potential impacts before a storm even comes ashore.

“We’ve moved away from this reactionary approach to being more proactive with GIS, to where we can frontload information,” Caffey said.

Caffey was a student in the department when Luzar started the lab. He returned as an assistant professor in 1998, the same year Niu was hired.

Like many of his colleagues, Caffey has long marveled at the ever-changing technology and the ever-increasing volume of data — and Niu’s ability to adapt.

When Niu first began working in the field after studying geography in her native China, maps were all drawn by hand. In the ag economics department’s base in Woodin Hall on the LSU campus, a special table purchased about 30 years ago specifically for sketching maps now helps corral large posters featuring Niu’s data visualizations.

The world of ArcGIS — a widely used GIS platform — has seen significant transformations over the years, driven by advancements in technology and the evolving needs of its users. Niu has kept on top of these changes.

“Imagine being in a very esoteric science like GIS without somebody central to your lab,” Caffey said. “It’d be really hard to run.”

He said Niu’s contributions have allowed faculty members to secure grants and contracts totaling $6.9 million in just the past 10 years. She also has been part of award-winning research groups and has taken on initiatives in partnership with governmental agencies and commodity organizations.

One of Niu’s latest projects is a massive undertaking: assisting AgCenter economist Qingxiao Li in building a comprehensive, nationwide database of SNAP-authorized retailers to identify SNAP deserts, or areas with limited access to these retailers. SNAP, which stands for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, provides low-income families with food benefits.

“This work is crucial for understanding and addressing food insecurity, as it may inform policymakers and help target resources to improve food access in underserved communities,” Niu said.

She enjoys these kinds of complex projects, saying they provide opportunities to continue to grow her skills and use them to help others.

“I’m glad I have a job here,” she said. “The reason I stay is because of the faculty. This is my area, my background — and I enjoy enhancing their research.”

Huizhen “Jane” Niu, an instructor and GIS manager in the LSU AgCenter Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness, is pictured in the department’s GIS lab. Photo by Olivia McClure/LSU AgCenter

A map depicting land prices in Louisiana hangs on a bulletin board in the LSU AgCenter Department of Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness GIS lab. The data used to make this map is from 1998, the same year instructor and GIS manager Huizhen “Jane” Niu began working in the lab. Photo by Olivia McClure/LSU AgCenter