Robert L. Thompson
Nonresident Senior Fellow, Global Food and Agriculture
About Robert L. Thompson
Robert L. Thompson is professor emeritus at the University of Illinois, where he held the Gardner Endowed Chair in Agricultural Policy. He is also a nonresident senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. Previously, Thompson served as director of rural development at the World Bank (1998 to 2002); president of Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development (1993 to 1998); dean of agriculture (1987 to 1993) and professor of agricultural economics (1974 to 1993) at Purdue University; assistant secretary for economics at the US Department of Agriculture (1985 to 1987); and senior staff economist for food and agriculture at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers (1983 to 1985).
Thompson received his BS degree from Cornell University, MS and PhD degrees from Purdue University, and holds honorary doctorates from Pennsylvania State University and Dalhousie University in Canada. He is a fellow of the American Agricultural Economics Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry and the Ukrainian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He is chairman emeritus of the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council and a former president of the International Association of Agricultural Economists.
