Jayson Beckman has joined the Department of Agricultural Economics as an associate professor and the department’s faculty chair to the Clayton Yeutter Institute of International Trade and Finance. He previously worked as a senior economist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, providing policy-oriented analysis on a wide range of topics including energy and biofuels, renewable energy, fertilizers, trade, and farm policy.
In his position with the Yeutter Institute, Beckman will help provide strategic direction in collaboration with Jill O’Donnell, the Haggart-Work Director of the institute, and faculty chairs from the College of Law and College of Business. Students regularly note how the institute’s multidisciplinary approach enriches the instruction.
“Understanding the impact of rapid trade policy changes on global agricultural markets and producers has never been more important,” O’Donnell said. “Dr. Beckman’s vast experience doing just that — and explaining it to policymakers — will serve the Yeutter Institute well as we continue to train the next generation of international trade scholars and professionals, and help offer farmers and the public new insights as the trading system evolves.”
Beckman said he is especially impressed by how the institute focuses its trade analysis on Nebraska’s practical needs. His range of analytical work at the USDA similarly focused on practical application, and in a graduate course he will teach he will lead doctoral students in connecting economic theory to real-world relevance and application.
At the undergraduate level, he will teach International Agricultural Trade to help students understand ag-focused global trade including policy issues such as tariffs, quotas and plant- and animal-focused sanitary regulations.
“I want to get the students interested in getting involved in the Yeutter Institute early, getting them interested in trade and how it relates back to Nebraska,” he said. “It’s perfectly fine if you want to write about a new methodology or new trade theory, but let's make it relatable to what's going on at the institute and what people actually care about.”
Another plus, he said, is how the Yeutter Institute energetically supports its students through its trade minor as well as the intensive interdisciplinary study and networking support the institute provides its annual cohort of student fellows.
Many trade-focused institutions focus on issuing daily commentaries, but the Yeutter Institute deserves praise for how it focuses on broader, big-picture considerations to “put something together that’s meaningful,” he said.
Beckman grew up in Southern California and holds undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Arkansas and a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Purdue University. Most of his work uses a Computable General Equilibrium model providing practical policy use, drawing on data and equations linking all parts of the economy and all countries in the world.
For his work at the USDA, he received honors of distinction including the USDA Economist of the Year Award as well as the American Agricultural and Applied Economics Association’s Bruce Gardner Award and Quality of Communication Award. In 2025 he was named one of five GTAP Research Fellows out of the 10,000-member network for Purdue University’s Global Trade Analysis Project. That designation salutes specialists who make exceptional contributions to global economic modeling, data or research.
During his time at USDA, Beckman briefed policymakers including USDA Secretary Sonny Purdue; various USDA under secretaries; Darci Vetter, the ag trade negotiator for the U.S. Trade Representative, a Nebraska native; the U.S. International Trade Commission; the European Union Parliament; Euractiv TV; and the Farm Foundation.
Nebraska’s agricultural sector has important connections to the global marketplace, with soybeans, beef and corn the leading exports by value. Nebraska is the No. 1 state for beef exports and ranks third for exports of corn and feed. Overseas sales account for 30% of the state’s annual agricultural receipts. The state’s overall exports, including goods and services, totaled $8.2 billion in 2024, down from the record-high $12.7 billion in 2023. Global trade supports more than 260,000 jobs in the state.
“A big part of what I want to do is help the next generation of people who are interested in trade,” Beckman said. “There's a big push towards looking at local to global to local impacts, which is how I try to relate my work to actual people, because what Nebraska does affects the world, and what the world does affects Nebraska.”
Beckman and his wife, Shahana, are looking forward to exploring Nebraska with their children Ariyana and Myra.
CONTACT: Jayson Beckman, associate professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, jbeckman12@unl.edu.
