I recently retired form Federal Service with 32 years of experience as an economist in USDA. My entire career was spent examining the many facets of how economics intersects with Federal and state water policies, environmental services, water availability and supply, and how all this influences, and is influenced by, irrigated agriculture and agricultural water quantity and quality. As a result of this long-term commitment to an analytical focus, I can provide a level of insight beyond those that specialize in single disciple analysis.

Prior to my USDA career, I spent almost 10 years at New Mexico State and the University of Nebraska conducting independent, supervised almost exclusively grant-funded research. The research was mainly farm-level analysis using partial budgeting of irrigated crops to drive models (linear programming, dynamic programming, process and simulation) to evaluate the impacts of reduced water availability on the agricultural sector, but with implications for water-related eco-system services.

The middle 20 years of my career was at a research agency where I utilized statistical and process models to analyze irrigation water use and the decisions behind irrigation water applications. I also evaluated Federal policies during this period but with only a few exceptions the policy evaluation was ex post in nature.

The last 12 years was at a “Program Agency” responsible for developing and implementing farm conservation policy. Here my work shifted to conservation policy and program evaluation that was both ex ante and ex post. During this period, I provided expertise on economics, irrigation water use, and conservation policy to senior Agency Leaders.