Bill Golden: Advisory Partner, Farm Management

Bill Golden is on the faculty in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. He holds a BS in Agricultural Engineering from Texas A&M University, a Master’s in Agricultural Business and a PhD in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State University. Prior to joining Kansas State University, he was actively engaged in farming and the agricultural and irrigation equipment business on the Gulf Coast of Texas. He is also actively involved in his family’s farming operation in North Central Texas. In his early years, he worked for Valmont Industries in sales and new products.

As an extension agricultural economist, Bill’s goal is to assist farmers, policy makers, and other stakeholders throughout Kansas in developing and implementing conservation policies associated with the state’s water resources. He also works extensively with land-water-related issues such as valuing irrigation water rights. Current research and extension efforts are evaluating producer and community impacts associated with alternative water conservation policies and the impacts of climate change on our water resources. Bill also focuses on increasing the profitability of those involved in irrigated agriculture production on the High Plains. This emphasis includes consulting on land ownership and leasing, machinery management, and technology adoption issues. Bill also works closely with producers and the Risk Management Agency of the USDA in developing tools and policy options for economic risk management issues at the farm level, and the risk and profit expected of new production and management technologies associated with reduced irrigation. Bill has advised Chess Ag since the summer of 2010 and became an Advisory Partner in the summer of 2011.