Rate My Professor Dermot Hayes

Dermot Hayes serves as the Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Department of Economics and the Pioneer Hi-Bred International Chair in Agribusiness in the Ivy College of Business at Iowa State University, aligning with expertise in Business & Economics. He earned his Ph.D. in International Trade (minor in Comparative Economic Systems) from the University of California, Berkeley in 1986, an M.S. in Agricultural Economics from the same university in 1982, and a First Class Honors degree in Agricultural Economics from University College Dublin in 1981. Hayes began his academic career at Iowa State University as an Assistant Professor of Economics in 1986, was promoted to Associate Professor in 1991, became a full Professor of Economics in 1996, assumed the role of Professor of Finance in 1999, received the Pioneer Chair in Agribusiness that same year, and was appointed Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in 2017. Since 1995, he has served as a consulting trade economist for the National Pork Producers Association.

Hayes's research focuses on US farm policy, international agricultural trade, agribusiness, crop insurance, financial derivatives, and the potential impact of China on commodity markets. His influential publications include “Use of U.S. Croplands for Biofuels Increases Greenhouse Gases Through Emissions from Land Use Change” (Science, 2008), “Valuing Food Safety in Experimental Auction Markets” (American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 1995), “Reference-Dependent Hedging: Theory and Evidence from Iowa Corn Producers” (American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2018), “Intellectual Property in Plant Breeding: Comparing Different Levels and Forms of Protection” (European Review of Agricultural Economics, 2016), and “Resilience of US Cattle and Beef Sectors: Lessons from COVID-19” (Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, 2022). With approximately 16,000 Google Scholar citations, he ranks in the top 2% of economists worldwide and first in Iowa for economics journal publications. Hayes has received numerous honors, including Fellow of the American Agricultural Economics Association (2007), AAEA Publication of Enduring Quality Award (2006), ISU Inaugural Big 12 Faculty of the Year Award (2024–2025), Career Achievement Award from the Ivy College of Business (2022), and Bruce Gardner Memorial Prize for Applied Policy Analysis from AAEA.