PhD
Howard Cowden Professor and Curators' Distinguished Professor
Division of Applied Social Sciences
Director
Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute
Research at a glance
Area(s) of Expertise
Research Summary
I lead the FAPRI team, which provides analysis of agricultural markets and policies for use by policy makers and the public. We develop 10-year projections of the farm economy and consider how changes in policy and external events affect everything from the production of corn to consumer food prices and the budgetary cost of farm programs.
Westhoff is the director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) and a professor of agricultural and applied economics at the University of Missouri. He grew up on a small dairy and hog farm in northeast Iowa. After getting his undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Iowa, he served as Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala.
He has a master’s degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Texas and a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Iowa State University. From 1992-1996, he was an economist with the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, where he worked on farm legislation and trade agreements.
Westhoff came to the University of Missouri in 1996. As FAPRI director, he heads a group that develops projections for agricultural markets and analyzes the impacts of agricultural, biofuel, trade, conservation and nutrition policies. Besides his work for U.S. policy makers, he has worked on projects in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. As an MU professor, he teaches classes in agricultural policy and advises students. He has numerous publications on agricultural policy and trade and a book on “The Economics of Food: How Feeding and Fueling the Planet Affects Food Prices.”
Educational background
- PhD, Agricultural Economics, Iowa State University, 1989
Courses taught
ABM 3230: Agricultural and Rural Economic Policy
AAE 8265: Agricultural and Food Policy