AMES, Iowa – Dhamu Thamodaran, retired executive vice president, chief strategy officer and chief commodity hedging officer for Smithfield Foods, will present the 2021 Carl and Marjory Hertz Lecture on Emerging Issues in Agriculture on April 12 at Iowa State University.
Thamodaran will present, “Emerging Issues in Global Markets and Trade.” The lecture will be streamed live at 7 p.m. Guests may watch the streamed lecture in the Sun Room of the Iowa State University Memorial Union, or online.
A respected global leader in agriculture, Thamodaran received his doctorate in agricultural economics from Iowa State in 1983. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in agriculture from India’s Tamil Nadu Agricultural University and a master’s degree in agricultural economics and statistics from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute.
Thamodaran is a renowned speaker at national and global food and agricultural industry events because of his expertise in world agricultural markets, macroeconomics and the pork value chain. During his time at Smithfield Foods, the company grew to become the world’s largest swine producer and processor.
At the time of his retirement in 2020, Thamodaran was leading strategy development for Smithfield’s vertically integrated business. He also managed the company’s commodity hedging activities and global economics commodities research and analysis group. Thamodaran joined the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group’s Agricultural Markets Advisory Council in 2019, the same year he received the Iowa State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Henry A. Wallace Award.
The Carl and Marjory Hertz Lecture on Emerging Issues in Agriculture was created in memory of the founders of Hertz Farm Management Inc. to inspire generations of industry leaders, research scientists and young professionals to reach their full potential.