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J.B. Penn is a son of the South. A native of Lynn, Ark., where his mother and 100-year-old grandmother continue to live independently, the cadence of his speech gives him away. So does his name. When he was born, the fashion for naming children was to give them two first names like Joe Bob, or just plain initials like J.R. and J.B., a custom that must have caused heartburn among those who give standardized tests.
So how did J.B., initials only, end up as our under secretary for farm and foreign agricultural services? Fittingly, it was economics of a personal nature.
“I originally wanted to be a lawyer, but could only get a scholarship in agriculture. And my Dad, who was a farmer and a livestock trader, said that would probably be a good thing to do and I did. And after I got into agriculture I looked around at all the various fields--and economics was the only one that had any great appeal to me,” Penn said.
One of his first jobs was at USDA in the 1970s when he was deputy administrator for economics with the Economics and Statistics Service, essentially managing what is now the Economic Research Service. He was part of a team that produced a then-seminal work called “The Structure of Agriculture,” which among other things showed that even back then, farm programs were skewed to benefit large farms.
After 20 years in the private sector, J.B. was tapped by Secretary Ann M. Veneman to become part of her subcabinet. And here, in his first year, he again played a key role in producing a decisive work that describes agriculture today: “Food and Agricultural Policy--Taking Stock for the New Century.”
“We’ve had this focus on farms and policy that assumes every farm is the same. And one of the things we tried to do with ‘Food and Agricultural Policy’ was to look at just how diverse agriculture really is and point out that this policy--that we talk about in Farm Bills--is really oriented to only about 25 percent of agriculture. And we’ve got another 75 percent that is not addressed by this policy. And then that whole 100 percent sits in rural America. And we were trying to make the point that all of this needs to be addressed,” he said.
In addition to the book, which remains a blueprint for agricultural policy, Penn said, “We have accomplished so much in three years’ time, it’s amazing. We got the Farm Bill and got that implemented quickly; we got a supplemental assistance package piled on right after that, we’ve completed seven new trade agreements since I’ve been here, and we got the Doha Round on trade launched and back on track again.”
Penn credits these accomplishments to Secretary Veneman’s policy team and dedicated career professionals. “Secretary Veneman has done a good job of making sure that we operate as a team. She has insisted that we all be present once a week for subcabinet staff. That’s been a really good experience.
“And the second group is the career people. I have an extremely high regard for them. Most around here work hard, try to do a good job, are very conscientious--we certainly saw that after the BSE incident when people worked through the Christmas holidays, they worked weekends, they traveled at a moment’s notice. People are pretty dedicated,” he said.
--Patricia KlintbergLast Book Read: “Theodore Rex,” by Edmund Morris
Last Movie Seen: “The last movie I saw, I can tell you, was on an airplane with the sound off.”--“Under The Tuscan Sun”
Hobbies: Reading
Favorite Weekend Breakfast: “That’s probably brunch somewhere where there is a wide variety of food, you know: smoked fish, shrimp, mimosas….”
Priorities in the Months Ahead: “We want to reopen markets that have been closed because of BSE and AI [avian influenza]. That’s a top priority. We want to continue the smooth operation of the farm programs and we want to focus on getting stronger sanitary and phytosanitary regulations [international animal and plant health standards] in all the trade agreements because people are now not adhering to sound science. It’s very, very disruptive and we have to do something about it.”