In 1938 Earl Orel received a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural economics and agronomy from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. In a year he became a Master of Science in agricultural economics.
Gallery of Earl Heady
Ames, IA 50011, USA
In 1945 Heady received a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, United States.
In 1938 Earl Orel received a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural economics and agronomy from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. In a year he became a Master of Science in agricultural economics.
Earl Orel Heady was an American professor and world-renowned agricultural economist.
Background
Earl Orel was born on January 25, 1916, in Chase County, Nebraska, United States; the sixth of eight children of Orel C. Heady and Jessie (Banks) Heady. He grew up on a farm. His father, schooled only through the fifth grade, encouraged his children’s education as something no one could take from them.
Education
In 1933 Heady graduated from Chase County High School in Imperial, Nebraska, United States, where he quarterbacked champion football teams for four years. In 1938 Earl Orel received a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural economics and agronomy from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. In a year he became a Master of Science in agricultural economics. In 1945 Heady received a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, United States.
Because of the Depression, Heady worked for a year on the family farm before entering the University of Nebraska, where he supported himself by working in the Agronomy Department, at test plots, and at other jobs as well as participating in numerous organizations and winning many honors. Earl Orel worked for a year with the Federal Land Bank in Omaha and York, Nebraska. In September 1940 he became an instructor in agricultural economics at Iowa State College in Ames, Iowa, United States.
By the time Heady was appointed full professor in 1949, he had developed a strong research program with many graduate students under his supervision, during his career, he supervised 359 scholars from approximately 50 countries. Because he was a hard taskmaster, his graduates were well trained and in high demand all over the world, and because of the reputation thus created, the best students flocked to study with him. Heady was even more demanding of himself. Writing in longhand-working until 2 a.m. every night-he produced 26 books and about 800 journal articles, research bulletins, and monographs. Best known was his 1952 textbook, Economics of Agricultural Production and Resource Use, better known as “the Bible of Agricultural Economics,” which was translated into languages that spanned the globe.
As Heady’s thinking and endeavors evolved along with changes in technology and social and agricultural conditions, his emphasis shifted from revitalizing Iowa State’s farm management and research programs to assisting individual farmers through computerized linear programming and regression analysis models that could measure total inputs and production for cost-benefit evaluation and management. As computers developed from the 1950s, he was able to enlarge his scope from farm production to macroeconomic regional analyses for policy research and development. His book Agricultural Production Functions, in 1961, became a classic in this field. As nonfarm environmental matters, work safety, and energy impacts on the food and fiber sector were brought into the mix, and as trade issues were incorporated and international interactions increased, three other books marked his evolution, Goals, and Values in Agricultural Policies, 1961, examined the limits of economic analysis, Agricultural Policy Under Economic Development, 1962, was an extensive evaluation of changes in agriculture induced by national and international economic development, and Agricultural Problems and Policies of Developed Countries, 1966, anticipated complicated problems in agricultural development and diagnosed causes and cures.
Life experience enlarged Heady’s world. A 1947 trip to England for the Seventh International Conference of Agricultural Economists kindled an enhanced interest in international research and service. Although Heady remained deeply involved with U.S. agriculture and served on a number of presidential and congressional committees, by the 1960s his base in Ames became a mere interlude between trips to developed and developing capitalist and Communist countries. Eventually, his name was better known in developing countries than in the United States, and he found his work in Eastern Europe to be especially satisfying.
In 1957 the Iowa state legislature created the Center for Agricultural Adjustment at Iowa State, and Heady was named director. It eventually became the Center for Agricultural and Rural Development in 1971 and gained recognition as one of the premier economic research institutions in the world. CARD became Heady’s primary arena for research, and its network of consultation and aid grew to encompass more than 40 countries on six continents.
Throughout his projects, Heady’s humanitarian impulse informed his work. He challenged the conventional agricultural economic theory that focused on controlling domestic supply and price supports. He called for a broader policy vision to attack poverty, increase food production, and improve its distribution, both domestically and internationally. The lists of Heady’s professional activities, memberships, and honors fill several tightly packed pages of fine print, and his name appears in a variety of professional, scientific, and other directories.
Despite frequent offers from other institutions, Heady chose to remain at Iowa State until a heart attack on December 16, 1983, forced his retirement. A year earlier, a new economics building at ISU was dedicated as Heady Hall, and its bronze plaque proclaimed, “Few have done so much to improve the well-being of so many throughout the world.”
Earl was a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Statistical Association, Center Advanced Studies in Behavioral Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Econometric Society, American Agricultural Economics, Association (Special award 1978).
Heady was a member of the Soviet All-Union Academy Agricultural Science, Canada Agricultural Economic Society (vice-president), American, Western economic associations, Econometrica, American Farm Economics Association (vice-president, editorial council, research and publication award 1949, 1953, 1956, 1959, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1980), Canadian Agriculture Economics Association (vice-president), International Agriculture Economics Association, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (honorary), Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (honorary), Sigma Xi, Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Alpha Zeta, Gamma Sigma Delta (Iowa Distinguished Service award) Clubs: Kiwanis.
Connections
On March 1, 1941, Earl Heady married Marian R. Hoppert. They had three children, Marilyn Heady Kling Heady, Stephen Heady, Barbara Heady Erickson Heady.
Father:
Orel C. Heady
Mother:
Jessie (Banks) Heady
Spouse:
Marian R. Hoppert
Son:
Stephen Heady
Daughter:
Marilyn Heady Kling Heady
Daughter:
Barbara Heady Erickson Heady
References
The Biographical Dictionary of Iowa
Iowa has been blessed with citizens of strong character who have made invaluable contributions to the state and to the nation. In the 1930s alone, such towering figures as John L. Lewis, Henry A. Wallace, and Herbert Hoover hugely influenced the nation’s affairs.