Dr. James Mintert is Assistant Director of Extension for Agriculture & Natural Resources and Professor of Agricultural Economics at Purdue University. Prior to joining Purdue's faculty in 2009, Mintert was a Professor and Extension State Leader in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University for 23 years. Mintert holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in agricultural economics from Purdue University and a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from the University of Missouri. Over the course of his career, Dr. Mintert has received numerous awards including Outstanding Extension Program Awards from both the American Agricultural Economics Association and the Western Agricultural Economics Association, in addition to the American Agricultural Economics Association’s Premier Forecaster Award for his livestock production and price forecasts. Dr. Mintert is also the author of over 200 publications focusing on the economics of the livestock industry.