About Abner

Abner Womack, Professor Emeritus of Agricultural Economics, is co-founder of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI-MU) at the University of Missouri.

In 2013, Top Producer magazine named Dr. Womack as one of the 30 “Leaders that Made a Difference: Brave Thinkers“ over the last three decades in American agriculture. In 2014, the American Farm Bureau Federation presented its highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award, to Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Dr. Womack at their 95th annual conference.

Also in 2014, the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri honored Dr. Womack by establishing an annual outlook conference in the spring of each year, the Abner W. Womack Missouri Agriculture Outlook Conference.

He received B.S. and M.S. degrees in mathematics from Auburn University and a Ph.D. degree in agricultural economics from the University of Minnesota. He joined the faculty at the University of Missouri in 1979. Prior to 1979, Dr. Womack was with the USDA Economic Research Service. His work involved econometric models that focused on the structure of the global food system and he served as Project Leader for the Forecast Support Group, an econometric team designed to complement USDA’s forecasting and farm program analysis.