Hart knows about ’everything ag’
Longtime grain markets expert retires from ISU Extension
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Even though Chad Hart grew up on a beef cattle farm in southwest Missouri, he established himself as a grain markets expert and enjoyed a lengthy career. Hart retired Aug. 14 from Iowa State University Extension and now bears the honor of professor emeritus.
"I came from a long line of moonshiners, Baptist pastors and used car salesmen. The moonshiners knew one thing you could do with corn," Hart said. "My family had a cow-calf operation and my parents ran a meat locker. I spent more time with dead cows than I did live ones."
Knowing there wasn't room for him in the family's farming operation, Hart knew he wanted to remain involved in agriculture and pursued his Bachelor's degree in economics with minors in mathematics, history and astronomy from Southwest Missouri State University. Then he enrolled at Iowa State University in 1991 to work on his doctorate degree. He graduated from there in 1999 with a doctorate in economics and statistics.
Hart fell in love with Iowa State and took his first job at the university. In all, he spent 27 years as a non-student employee and 18 years as a faculty member, he said. He started working for Extension in the summer of 2008.
"I tell folks I've had a bunch of different jobs at ISU. The only two jobs I haven't had yet at the university -- and I'm only qualified for one -- is janitor and president," Hart said. "I've loved my time at Iowa State. It's one of those classic tales I tell folks, I lucked into one of the top jobs in the country and in this case, especially with Extension, I'm the corn markets guy in the top corn-producing state in the country. So I started out with the top job. I never wanted to go anywhere else."
As the ISU Extension grain markets specialist, Hart of course focused on crops, but also made sure he was up to date on everything agriculture. His goal has always been to help farmers, but also make sure non-ag individuals could grasp what was happening in the ag markets. He has enjoyed traveling the world, meeting people and chatting with everyone.
"I had the most fun meeting all sorts of folks across the country. I've been able to shake hands with presidents, talk with senators and representatives, and had a ball running around speaking with farmers. My career at Iowa State allowed me to go on trips to various areas -- Canada, Mexico, the Ukraine," he said. "Every time I'd go out and speak, I'd be talking about the same subject, but there was always something new to talk about, something that was fostering change. The markets are always evolving and changing, and my goal was to help give folks the information they need to be more confident in the farm decisions they needed to make."
Hart said that, according to the university's rules, he should've retired mid-May, but his Extension appointment was extended through the summer so that the new hires replacing him could smoothly get on board. Four new Extension ag economists have joined the staff.
"I'm excited to see this new flush of folks filling the vacancies. Hopefully we're building an economics team that will function well," Hart said.
Considering Hart's favorite pastime is to watch sports, particularly baseball, it isn't surprising to those who know him well what he plans to do in his retirement.
"I'm a big baseball nut, so next spring, I plan to travel and watch games at all of the big Major League Baseball parks. It might take two to three months," Hart said, "and hopefully I won't run out of money."
His favorite team? The St. Louis Cardinals.
"You tend to inherit the team your grandfather rooted for and, for me, that's the Cardinals," Hart said. "I was a wee little lad when we listened to them on the radio together all the time."
While Hart's excited to enjoy some much deserved downtime, he admitted he'll miss meeting and chatting with so many different people.
"My kids are worried that I'm going to have to stand in a room and give a PowerPoint and talk to someone, anyone, the dog," Hart said. "I think this will be different, but I'll find new ways to interact with folks. I just won't be standing at the front of the room."