Bumpers College Hosts Farm Bill Forum

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FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The national legislation known as the “Farm Bill,” currently stalled in Congress, will be the subject of a forum hosted by the department of agricultural economics and agribusiness in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas. 

The event is being held in conjunction with the college’s Distinguished Alumnus of the Year ceremony. It is free and open to the public.

The forum will begin at about 3:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 27 in Room 102 of the Home Economics Building on campus. It will be led by Eric Wailes, who holds the L.C. Carter Endowed Chair in agricultural economics in Bumpers College; Brad Watkins, associate professor in agricultural economics, working at the Rice Research and Extension Center in Stuttgart; and James Richardson, co-director of the Agricultural and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M University.

Wailes is a member of the faculty since 1980. His current research includes the U.S. farm bill, focusing on policy for price and income support, environment, trade, energy and biotechnology. He earned his bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics at Cornell University and his doctorate in agricultural economics at Michigan State University. He served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia for two years.

Watkins joined Bumpers College in 2002, and specializes in production economics and farm management. He earned his bachelor’s degree in agricultural business and master’s degree in agricultural economics from the University of Arkansas, and his doctorate in agricultural economics from Oklahoma State University. 

Richardson is a Regents Professor and Texas AgriLife Research Senior Faculty Fellow in the department of agricultural economics at Texas A&M University. His farm-level policy analysis research has been used by Congress to compare the impacts of alternative farm program options. The Agricultural and Food Policy Center has developed a database of representative crop, cattle and dairy farms, which has been used to analyze each farm bill since 1983. Richardson earned his doctorate in agricultural economics from Oklahoma State University in 1978.