Justin Benavidez ’13 ’16 ’18 named U.S. Department of Agriculture chief economist
Texas A&M former student to lead market, policy and global agricultural decisions
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins announced Texas A&M University former student and former Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service agricultural economist Justin Benavidez, Ph.D., as the chief economist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA.
The Office of the Chief Economist provides independent economic analysis to inform USDA decision-making, including market outlooks, policy evaluation and global agricultural assessments that support U.S. agriculture and food systems.
As USDA chief economist, Benavidez will lead the department’s economic analysis and forecasting efforts, ensuring USDA’s policies and programs continue to be informed by sound, data-driven economic research that supports America’s farmers, ranchers and rural communities, according to a USDA press release.
“I am pleased to welcome Justin Benavidez to USDA as our new chief economist,” Rollins said in a USDA press release. “Justin brings strong policy experience, deep roots in production agriculture, and a clear understanding of the economic realities facing farmers and ranchers. I look forward to working with him as we continue to put farmers first and ensure USDA’s work is guided by sound, data-driven analysis.”
The road to D.C.
Prior to being named chief economist, Benavidez was serving as chief economist for the majority staff of the U.S. House Committee on Agriculture, where he provided economic analysis on farm bill policy, commodity markets and agricultural legislation.
Before his service on Capitol Hill, he served as the AgriLife Extension economist in the Texas Panhandle, based at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center at Amarillo. He primarily focused on farm and ranch management, production economics and policy analysis.
A Tulia native, he earned his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees at Texas A&M in agricultural economics, with specializations in livestock economics and agricultural policy. He also has a certificate in international trade and agriculture.
Benavidez also completed a fellowship with AgriLife Extension in the Texas A&M Department of Agricultural Economics and the Agriculture and Food Policy Center at Texas A&M in College Station in 2018, further strengthening his experience at the intersection of research, Extension and policy.
During his time as a graduate assistant, Benavidez provided research assistance for a USDA grant to examine the economic impacts of pioneering beef processing technology to mitigate E. coli.
Benavidez served as an intern in the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture. While there, he conducted econometric modeling and price prediction, as well as assisted in economic policy analysis, specifically, crop insurance and the actual production history adjustment, or APH.
