Dr. Hal Harris: Lifetime Achievement Award

Hal Harris grew up on a dairy farm in Montgomery County, Alabama. He received his B.S. from Auburn University in 1961. After a 2-year stint as an officer in the Seventh Cavalry, he returned to Auburn, completing an M.S. in Agricultural Economics in 1965. Hal served on the Auburn faculty for a year as Instructor, then attended graduate school at Purdue University where he was granted the Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics in 1971. His Ph.D. dissertation, "The Economic Outlook for the Independent Dairy Company," foretold 3 decades of structural upheaval in the milk processing industry.

Hal joined the Virginia Tech Agricultural Economics faculty in 1970. Five years later he moved to Clemson University as Associate Professor in the Agricultural and Applied Economics department. He was promoted to Professor in 1978. Dr. Harris' extension and research areas have covered a broad array of topics in the public policy and marketing fields of the profession, including commodity policy, market structure, dairy marketing and policy, producer marketing strategy, grain marketing, wetlands and endangered species issues, animal waste policy, agribusiness management, and international trade and trade policy. He has authored over 300 research and extension reports, bulletins, book chapters, proceedings papers, and journal articles.

In 1992-1993 Hal spent 14 months in Washington, DC on sabbatical leave as National Program Leader, Public Policy with the Extension Service (now CSREES)-U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). While in Washington, Hal strengthened USDA's communication links with public policy educators in the land grant university system. He played an important part in the creation of the Council on Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economies (C-FARE). C-FARE now plays a pivotal role for the agricultural economics profession. Dr. Harris served on the C-FARE Board of Directors from 1993 through 1999 and as Vice-Chair for 1998 and 1999. He secured ES funding for the creation of the Agricultural and Food Marketing Consortium, now a section of the American Agricultural Economics Association (AAEA). With Kitty Smith, he sowed the seeds for the formal formation of the USDA Economists Group. He co-chaired a National Task Force that developed educational materials used widely in the debate over the 1996 Farm Bill and served on the steering committees for similar projects for the 1990 and 2002 Farm Bills.

Dr. Harris has been an active member in our professional organizations. Hal served two 3-year terms on the Extension Committee of the AAEA. He has also served on the Extension Awards Committee, the Nominations Committee, various ad hoc committees, and as a nominee for Director. For the past 3 years, he has served on the Choices editorial board. A member of the Southern Agricultural Economics Association (SAEA) since 1970, he has participated in scores of sessions at the Association's annual meetings. He served as SAEA Vice President in 1978-1979.

In 1999, Hal was elected President-Elect of the SAEA and served on the Board of Directors for 3 years as President-Elect, President, and Past-President. In his presidential address, he continued his career-long needling of the profession about the need for relevance in our research and in all our publications. During his term on the Board, he was instrumental in restructuring Board member duties under the new constitution and bylaws, and in developing a system of sound financial planning for the Association.

Hal has served as Chair of the National Public Policy Education Committee, two terms as Chair of the Southern Extension Public Affairs Committee, and as Chair of the Southern Extension Marketing Committee. His honors include induction into a number of honorary societies, including Sigma Xi, Omicron Delta Epsilon, Phi Kappa Phi, Gamma Sigma Delta, Phi Tau Sigma, and Epsilon Sigma Phi. His awards include the 1983 Clemson University Cooperative Extension Superior Performance Award and the 1988 Southern Legislative Conference Leadership Award for Agriculture and Rural Development. In 1995 he was presented the Clemson University Alumni Association Distinguished Public Service Award, which is the most prestigious recognition awarded to an extension educator at Clemson each year. In 1999 he was named recipient of the R. J. Hildreth Award for national leadership in public policy education. In 2000, he was inducted into the South Carolina Dairy Hall of Fame, the only agricultural economist so honored over 50 years.

Hal has been named a recipient of the Clemson Board of Trustees Faculty Excellence Awards in 6 of the 7 years since its inception. In 2001, he retired from Extension, but continues his service to the university and our profession in the classroom and in University Public Service and Outreach. Last, but by no means least, he continues to stimulate the thoughts of fellow agricultural economists, students, agricultural businessmen, and policymakers by "telling it like it is."