USDA World Agricultural Outlook Board Chair Dr. Gerald Bange will retire from the department on May 31, according to an agency’s news release. Dr. Seth Meyer will be the acting board chair. Dr. Meyer is currently a senior economist in the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) and will assume his new duties June 1.
“USDA has benefited enormously from Dr. Bange’s distinguished leadership as Chair of the World Board,” Joe Glauber, USDA’s Chief Economist, said, “where he was responsible for the monthly forecasts of the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report and the Joint Agricultural Weather Facility.” Bange also served as Program Chair for USDA’s respected, largest annual meeting, the Agricultural Outlook Forum.
“Meyer is well-prepared for the demands of the post,” Glauber said. Meyer joined USDA’s Office of the Chief Economist in 2013 as a senior economist for domestic agricultural policy. Prior to joining USDA, Meyer was an economist in the Economic and Social Development Department at the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization. Meyer also served as a research associate professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at the University of Missouri-Columbia as part of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute
