Ames, Iowa
November 26, 2007
 An
Iowa State University
economist who has provided grain marketing information and
advice to Iowa producers for nearly 41 years will retire Dec. 3.
Robert Wisner joined the Department of Economics in February
1967 as an assistant professor and extension economist in grain
marketing and outlook.
"Bob Wisner has been the preeminent grain economist in the
United States for much of the last 40 years," said Arne Hallam,
economics department chair. "His analysis has informed the
decisions of multiple generations of agricultural producers and
firms. He has provided exceptional service to farmers,
government agencies and agribusinesses."
Wisner earned both a bachelor's and master's degree at Michigan
State University and a doctorate at the University of Tennessee
before coming to Iowa State. He was named a University Professor
in 1997 and the Coles Professor of International Agriculture in
2005.
Wisner has made presentations at more than 2,200 conferences and
meetings in 38 states and 18 foreign countries. He has authored
more than 1,500 publications.
Over the past four decades, Wisner has become well-known as an
innovator in market outlook, and in analysis of marketing and
risk-management strategies. He was the first, and still one of
the few outlook specialists, to present probability-based grain
price forecasts. He also is recognized as someone who provides
market research and analysis in a form that can be easily
understood and used by producers.
Since 1967, Wisner has provided grains marketing information
through the popular Iowa Farm Outlook bimonthly newsletter. To
deliver this and other educational material, Wisner developed
and provides regular updates to a Web site that receives more
than 50,000 hits each month. These informational materials will
continue to be offered after Wisner's retirement, but changes
will take place during a transition period.
Hallam said Wisner's willingness to adapt his program to the
needs in the field is a key to his success. "One of the things
that impressed me the most was his decision about 10 years ago
to get more involved in research and issues related to options
markets, not shying away from new or different concepts. He made
important contributions to the knowledge base," Hallam said.
Many of the revenue assurance contracts now offered by crop
insurance companies are based on concepts Wisner and others at
Iowa State developed and tested. During the 1990s, Wisner worked
with crop insurance industry leaders to educate insurance agents
and producers about the benefits of integrating two risk
management tools - forward pricing and harvest-price revenue
insurance.
Wisner is recognized around the world. His writings on risk
management and marketing of genetically modified crops have been
translated and widely used in Japan and China, and have helped
shape research on identity-preserved marketing in Europe.
Wisner's shoes are big ones to fill. For the past year, Iowa
State has been actively recruiting candidates with expertise in
grains and energy crops marketing. The plan is to bring
candidates from this national search to campus in early 2008 and
have someone in place by summer. In the meantime, the questions
Wisner is used to answering for producers, policymakers,
agribusiness and the media will be fielded by others in the
economics department.
Wisner, after a few months break, plans to do some work for the
Agricultural Marketing Resource Center on the Iowa State campus.
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