After 43 years with USDA and 20 years as chairman of the World Agricultural Outlook Board, Dr. Gerald Bange has decided it’s time to retire.

USDA Chief Economist Joseph Glauber announced today that Bange will retire at the end of this month and Dr. Seth Meyer will become Acting Board Chair. Dr. Meyer is currently a Senior Economist in the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) and will assume his new duties June 1.

“USDA has benefited enormously from Bange’s distinguished leadership as Chair of the World Board,” Glauber said, “where he was responsible for the monthly forecasts of the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report and the Joint Agricultural Weather Facility.” Bange also served as Program Chair for USDA’s respected, largest annual meeting, the Agricultural Outlook Forum.

Dr. Bange joined the U.S. Department of Agriculture in 1971 as an agricultural marketing specialist for the Agricultural Research Service. In 1975, he transferred to the Foreign Agricultural Service as an agricultural economist where, in 1981, he became Director of the Foreign Production Estimates Division and, in January 1983, he was appointed Deputy Assistant Administrator for International Agricultural Statistics. In October 1983, he transferred to the World Agricultural Outlook Board where he served as Deputy Chairperson until March 1994 at which time he was appointed to his present position as Chairperson of the Board.