Research Fellow Emeritus, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI); former Chief Economist, U.S. Department of Agriculture (2008–2014)
📍 Library of Congress · Washington, D.C. · December 10, 2026 · 6 p.m. ET
Dr. Joseph W. Glauber is Research Fellow Emeritus at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, D.C., and a former Chief Economist of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. For more than four decades, he has worked where agricultural economics meets public decision-making. He analyzes how farm, trade, and food policies move through markets and explains what that means for farmers, consumers, and the world’s most vulnerable populations.
A former Peace Corps volunteer who taught mathematics, physics, and English in Mali (1976–1978), Dr. Glauber earned his A.B. in anthropology, summa cum laude, from the University of Chicago. He earned his Ph.D. in agricultural economics from the University of Wisconsin, where his dissertation received the Henry C. Taylor Award. He joined USDA’s Economic Research Service in 1984, working on how food reserves affect commodity prices and on crop insurance policy.
Over 30 years at USDA, he served as senior staff economist for agriculture on the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, as Deputy Chief Economist from 1992 to 2007, and as Chief Economist from 2008 to 2014. He took the chief economist post in the middle of the financial crisis. He also chaired the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Board of Directors and served as the chief U.S. agricultural negotiator in the WTO Doha Round. As U.S. sherpa to the 2011 G20 agriculture ministerial, he helped lead the creation of the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS), which still monitors global food and fertilizer markets today.
Since leaving USDA in 2014, Dr. Glauber has become a go-to analyst of global food markets for journalists and policymakers. He has explained the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russia-Ukraine war, U.S. tariff changes, and the 2026 disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz. He has authored more than 200 publications and has been cited in more than 13,000 media mentions since 2021. He is also a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"I always keep telling myself that we're not in the business of being the headline. We really want to be behind the headline, trying to help people understand an issue. … To be [recognized] with a lifetime achievement award by peers is very, very humbling."
“Joe Glauber not only understands agricultural markets better than most of us, but also has an incredible talent for helping to understand them and to explain how policies and external events are affecting them. His outstanding analysis and clear communication has helped inform US agricultural policies and global deliberations on agrifood topics alike. Recently he has become THE source to go to for the latest insights on how global food and ag input markets are affected by all the shocks affecting the world today."
"When lawmakers needed a straight answer on agricultural economics, Joe was who they called."
"For more than four decades, Joe Glauber has shown what it looks like to put credible science at the center of the decisions that shape agriculture. Whether he was advising a secretary of agriculture, negotiating trade rules or explaining a crisis as it unfolded, he gave policymakers, farmers and the public the evidence they needed, in language they could use. That is exactly the kind of career the CAST Lifetime Achievement Award was created to recognize."
On December 10, 2026 — the anniversary of Dr. Norman Borlaug’s acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 — CAST will present the 2026 CAST Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Joseph W. Glauber at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Glauber will be recognized for a career spent bringing rigorous, independent economic analysis to the decisions that shape agriculture and food security, and for explaining that analysis clearly to policymakers, journalists, and the public. That work spans USDA, the trade negotiating table, AMIS, and IFPRI.
Additional program details, including speaker lineup and event schedule, will be announced in the coming months. For inquiries, contact cvianna@cast-science.org.
"Dr. Ortega exemplifies the very purpose of the Borlaug CAST Communication Award. His ability to clearly explain the economics of food systems helps policymakers, decision-makers, and the public make more informed decisions."
"He publicly offers timely and data-driven economic insights during major disruptions — such as the pandemic and tariff escalation — shaping national policy discourse."
Additional program participants will be announced prior to the event.
IFPRI research fellow emeritus honored for more than four decades of analysis and communication on agricultural markets, trade and food security
Nominate a leader in agricultural science, communication, or policy. The CAST Lifetime Achievement Award recognizes individuals whose career-long contributions have advanced agricultural science and its role in shaping food, agriculture, and environmental policy. Nominations close July 31, 2026.
The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST) hosted a moving and memorable ceremony this morning honoring Ambassador Kenneth M. Quinn with the 2025 CAST Lifetime Achievement Award, held as an official side event of the World Food Prize week in Des
Supporting the next generation of agricultural science communicators.
Honoring mid-career professionals making a difference in ag science communication.
For sustained, career-long impact at the national or international level.
