Title and Responsibilities: Barb has advised USDA top leadership on managing sugar supplies since 2002 including: the 1-month period in 2005 when Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma hit cane country, the Savannah refinery explosion in 2008; the massive undertaking to dispose of surplus sugar in 2013; advising Commerce in the preparation of the Suspension Agreement in 2014 and its revisions in 2017; how to react to Vermont’s 2016 requirement to label all GM goods entering the state; the major beet losses in 2019 and the high world prices to date. While she has been trusted to provide sound advice, she is not the ultimate decision-maker.

She also oversees other senior economists responsible for the domestic sugar, dairy, livestock, cotton, peanuts, grains and oilseeds programs and provides guidance to the Secretary of Agriculture in the formulation and implementation of national policies and procedures, as well as economic and budgetary impact analysis of those programs.

Education: Barbara received a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Purdue University at West Lafayette, Indiana in 1994.

Background: She was born and raised in Chicago, IL, and lived for almost twenty years in central Illinois. She has three children, five grandchildren and now lives in Arlington, VA, with her husband.