Neil Harl
Script error: No such module "Draft topics".
Script error: No such module "AfC topic".
Neil Harl (born October 9, 1933; died November 4, 2021) was an American Agricultural Economist whose work focused on agricultural law and related topics. He is best known for his work during the farm credit crisis of the 1980s, when his ideas influenced the multi-billion dollar bailout signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1998. [1] According to U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, few knew more about agricultural policy than Harl.[2] Over the course of his career he published 29 books, and gave more that 3,400 presentations in 43 states and 17 foreign nations.[3] He taught at Iowa State University from 1965 through his retirement in 2005, and remained active well into retirement. Neil E. Harl, died in Ames, Iowa on November 4, 2021 at age 88 years.[4]
Biography[edit]
Early Life and Education[edit]
Neil Harl was born in his parents’ farm home in Appanoose County, Iowa. He attended local public schools and graduated from high school in 1951. He then enrolled in Iowa State College (in 1959 this institution was renamed as Iowa State University of Science and Technology), from which he graduated with a BS degree in 1955. After a brief stint of active duty in the US Army, he enrolled in the College of Law at the University of Iowa and graduated from that institution with a Juris Doctor degree in 1961. He then enrolled in the graduate program of the Economics Department at Iowa State University and graduated from ISU with a PhD in Agricultural Economics in the spring of 1965.[5]
Career[edit]
After earning his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics, Harl joined the Iowa State University a faculty member in the Economics Department . In 1976, he was named a Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor, one of the youngest faculty to have been so recognized. He remained on the faculty at ISU until his retirement in 2005. His many areas of expertise included the organization of the farm firm, taxation, estate planning, and legal and economic aspects of farm finance.[6] In 1981, Harl became the founding president of the American Agricultural Law Association.[7] He was also elected President of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) during 1983-84.[8]
In the 1980s, when record high interest rates placed financial strains on farmers and the U.S. embargo on grain exports to the Soviet Union reduced farm revenues, Harl devised and promoted a plan to assist family farms, encouraging congressional officials to allow farmers to restructure their debts.[2][1]. Terry Branstad, Iowa's governor at the time described him as a "...a very strong advocate for agriculture and for Iowa farmers during the 1980s farm crisis."[2] Harl described his work during this period in his book, The Farm Debt Crisis of the 1980s. An independent thinker, Harl did not shrink from taking unpopular opinions. In the early 2000s he argued against the efforts of farm groups to repeal the federal estate tax, arguing that he had never seen a farm that had to be sold to pay estate taxes.[9]
Role in Agricultural Policy[edit]
In the course of his career he was appointed to seven federal commissions, including the Advisory Board of the Office of Technology Assessment, where he served as chairman in 1993-94. He was deeply involved in efforts to deal with the farm debt crisis of the 1980s, publishing a book about that period in 1990. Harl was the founder of the Center for International Agricultural Finance, which he headed from 1990 through 2004. The center played in important role in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union in educating finance and banking officials from the former Soviet bloc about Western banking practices.[2] The Center has been credited with providing needed economic and legal guidance to 33 countries formerly under control of the Soviet Union, conducting 79 programs at home and abroad for the countries' business and governmental leaders to guide their transition to a market economy.[10] His account of the Center's work was published as After the Wall Fell: A History of the Accomplishments by the Center for International Agricultural Finance at Iowa State University by Dorrance Press in 2021.[11]
Recognitions During his Lifetime[edit]
Neil Harl was the recipient of numerous awards. Among these were: Outstanding Extension Program Award, American Agricultural Economics Association; Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award, American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, 1977; Distinguished Service Award, American Agricultural Law Association, 1984; Distinguished Service to State Government Award, National Governors Association, 1986; Superior Service Award, U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1987; Fellow, American Bar Foundation, 1987; Distinguished Service to Iowa Agriculture, Iowa Chapter of the American Society of Farm Managers and Rural Appraisers, 1996; Lifetime Achievement Award, Iowa Farmers Union, 2003
Selected Bibliography[edit]
The publication for which Neil Harl is best known is his 15-volume treatise Agricultural Law which appeared during 1980-81. This work was published by Mathew Bender Company of New York City. Agriculture Law was updated twice annually from the time it was first published until Neil Harl was in his retirement years. Agricultural Law is often referred to as monumental. It was and is widely used by attorneys, legal scholars and others throughout the country.[12]
Other major books by Neil Harl include the following:
Farmland, co-authored with David Lins and Thomas Frey, 1982, Century Communications, Inc.
Agricultural Law Manual, 1985, Agricultural Law Press, Eugene, OR
The Farm Debt Crisis of the 1980s, 1990, Iowa State University Press
Law of the Land: Fundamentals of Agricultural Law, co-authored with Roger A. McEowen,
2002, Doane Agricultural Services
Principles of Agricultural Law, co-authored with Roger A. McEowen, 2005, Agricultural Law
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Neil Harl: a brilliant mind dedicated to serving agriculture". Successful Farming. 2021-11-17. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Eller, Donnelle. "Neil Harl, ISU economist and lawyer who pushed to save farms during 1980s crisis, dies at 88". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
- ↑ Guebert, Alan (2021-12-02). "Neil Harl is remembered as the smartest person in the room". Farm and Dairy. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
- ↑ "Remembering Dr. Neil Harl". Center for Agricultural Law and Taxation. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
- ↑ "NEIL HARL Obituary (1933 - 2021) The Washington Post". Legacy.com. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
- ↑ "Obituary | Agricultural & Applied Economics Association". www.aaea.org. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
- ↑ "AALA Past Presidents and Directors – AALA". Retrieved 2022-07-31.
- ↑ "AAEA Past Presidents | Agricultural & Applied Economics Association". www.aaea.org. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
- ↑ Johnston, David Cay (2001-04-08). "Talk of Lost Farms Reflects Muddle of Estate Tax Debate". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-12-29.
- ↑ "NEIL HARL Obituary (1933 - 2021) The Washington Post". Legacy.com. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
- ↑ "Iowa State Professor & Author Publishes Post-Cold War Memoir". PR Leap. Retrieved 2022-07-31.
- ↑ Eller, Donnelle. "Neil Harl, ISU economist and lawyer who pushed to save farms during 1980s crisis, dies at 88". The Des Moines Register. Retrieved 2022-07-15.
This article "Neil Harl" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Neil Harl. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.
