The National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) is pleased to announce Krista Swanson joined the organization as Lead Economist. Swanson will serve as the economic analyst resource for NCGA and its state affiliates. She will be responsible for developing analysis and research needs on a wide variety of economic and political issues which impact corn farmers.
Swanson comes to NCGA from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where she served as a Research Specialist for the Gardner Agricultural Policy Program. Her responsibilities there included researching data on economic and policy topics, designing models for projecting future farm income under specific policy scenarios, and writing articles and budgets for the farmdoc website.
“As NCGA moves forward with defining economic sustainability for corn growers, Krista’s background in economic analysis—with specific emphasis in corn--will assist us with initial goal-setting, benchmarking and measurement,” said NCGA Production and Sustainability Vice President Nathan Fields. “We are likewise excited to be able to call on her expertise as we approach the next Farm Bill.”
Swanson also brings experience from her time at Integrated Financial Analytics and Research LLP (iFAR) where she consulted on projects for Field to Market, farm credit associations and NCGA. A graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor’s degree in Crop Science and master’s degree in Agricultural and Applied Economics, she specializes in production economics and agricultural policy analysis.
Swanson and her husband, Brett, farm in Oneida, Illinois. As a team, the two received American Farm Bureau Federation Young Farmers & Ranchers 2020 Excellence in Agriculture Award (Fourth Place).
