The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology presented the Charles A. Black Award to Dr. Abner W. Womack, March 25, 1999 in Arlington, Virginia.

Dr. Womack is professor of agricultural economics and co-director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) at the University of Missouri at Columbia. He received a B.S. and M.S. degree in mathematics at Auburn University and a Ph.D. degree in agricultural economics at the University of Minnesota. He joined the faculty at the University of Missouri in 1979.

Prior to 1979, he was with the USDA, Economic Research Service in Washington DC. His work involved econometric models that focused on the structure of the global food system. Models were used primarily for longer run projections and policy analysis. During his tenure at USDA, he served as the Product Leader for the Forecast Support Group, an econometric team designed to complement USDA’s forecasting and farm program analysis.

Established in 1984 by a grant from the U.S. Congress, FAPRI is a unique, dual-university research program. Participants are the Center for National Food and Agricultural Policy (CNFAP) at the University of Missouri-Columbia, and the Trade and Agricultural Policy Division of the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development (CARD/TAPD) at Iowa State University, Ames. In studies ranging from the farm to the international marketplace, FAPRI uses comprehensive data and computer modeling systems to analyze the complex economic interrelationships of the food and agriculture industry. FAPRI is joined in special research by a consortium of universities including Texas A&M University, Arizona State University, the University of Arkansas and North Dakota State University.