About Callie McAdams

Some Context

I grew up in Efland, North Carolina, where my family now raises strawberries, other fruits, vegetables, cut flowers, commercial Angus cattle, Katahdin sheep, and hay at McAdams Farm. There have been McAdams’s farming there since 1885. 

 

I still help on the farm in various ways now, and, even as a young person I knew that agriculture resonated with me in a way that nothing else did. I was, and am, endlessly curious, and especially about how living and evolving systems function and flourish.

 

Starting Vibranteco, an agricultural consulting practice, developed from that curiosity. It comes after spending time in my life and career focusing on agricultural policy development and analysis, global trade policy and impacts, agricultural business strategy, and risk management for groups ranging from farmer organizations to Members of Congress to Fortune 100 companies to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

 

Professional Roles

Most recently prior to Vibranteco, my main responsibilities as a Senior Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist at USDA were to provide key recommendations and insights on rapidly evolving domestic agricultural, policy, and related issues to the Chief Economist and team, and to other leaders and teams within USDA. I served as an expert on the U.S. agricultural economy and policies, and provided economic analysis and the evaluation of policy options on complex issues affecting the relationships between agricultural policy, finance, trade, production, climate change, livestock and meat processing topics, nutrition, conservation, and energy.

 

Before my role at USDA, while serving as the Deputy Chief Economist for the Committee on Agriculture of the United States House of Representatives, I was responsible for all economic analysis for the Ranking Member of the Committee on Agriculture. I also led our team’s policy efforts on trade, international food aid issues, budget, and appropriations. I provided insights and relevant economic analysis and recommendations on issues related to U.S. farm policy, crop insurance, conservation, credit, nutrition, rural development, livestock and dairy issues, climate topics, research, and other issues as they arose.

 

I also spent time at Informa Economics (now IHS Markit Insight) as a Consultant and Senior Consultant, where I conducted market and policy research and analysis in the fields of agriculture, transportation, and renewable energy, particularly including strategy development, policy analysis, and analysis and forecasting on commodities, inputs, and specialty products.

 

These positions all came after I followed this same curiosity and passion about farms and food through 4-H and FFA, through an undergraduate degree in Animal Science and Agricultural Business Management from North Carolina State University, and through a Master’s Degree in Agricultural Economics from Texas A&M University.

 

A Few More Thoughts

I’ve traveled through many parts of North, Central, and South America, Europe and Africa, and in every place I’ve been and will go, I’m noticing, wondering, and learning more about the systems of farming and food, about what is similar and what is unique in each place. I always have questions on what I observe, and I have plenty of inspiration for more places, people, and ways of farming and sourcing food to learn from. More often than not in my travels, I’ve found that the people tending the land want to be good stewards of the resources they are tending, and I intend for the work of Vibranteco to help support that.