Halbrook to head UA Agricultural Economics and Agribusiness Department
July 15, 2008Contact Information:
Mark Cochran, Associate Vice President—Research, Division of Agriculture, University of Arkansas System, 479-575-8703
Howell Medders, Communications, Division of Agriculture, 479-575-5647, hmedders@uark.edu
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Steve A. Halbrook, vice president of Farm Foundation in Oak Brook, Ill., has been appointed professor and head of the department of agricultural economics and agribusiness in the University of Arkansas System’s Division of Agriculture and the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences at the University of Arkansas, effective July 28.
Farm Foundation is a publicly supported organization that serves as a catalyst for sound public policy by providing objective information and fostering a deeper understanding of issues shaping the future for agriculture, the food system and rural regions. At Farm Foundation, Halbrook has worked with all facets of the industry.
The department of agricultural economics and agribusiness conducts statewide Division of Agriculture research and extension programs and academic programs for bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Bumpers College at the U of A.
Mark Cochran, former head of the department and now the Division of Agriculture’s associate vice president for research, said Halbrook will assume his duties July 28.
“We are extremely pleased to have attracted such an excellent leader to this position,” Cochran said. “Dr. Halbrook is recognized nationally as a scholar in the economics and law of agriculture. He brings enormous experience in agricultural policy. He has been at the forefront of finding innovative solutions to the critical issues facing agriculture, the food system and rural communities.”
Halbrook is immediate past president of the American Agricultural Law Association and has served on the governing board of the Southern Agricultural Economics Association. Prior to joining Farm Foundation in 1992, he was a sole practitioner working primarily in regulatory matters related to the dairy industry. He has worked as an economist for two federal agencies and served as executive vice president of the National Dairy Promotion and Research Board.
The son of the late Waymon Halbrook, who was a faculty member in the agricultural economics department at the U of A from 1966 to 1992, Halbrook has a B.A. degree in economics from the U of A. He has a Ph.D. degree from Iowa State University in economics and a J.D. degree from Drake University School of Law. He is admitted to the practice of law in the District of Columbia.
Halbrook and his wife, Diane Ronning Halbrook, have two adult children.