MEET DARREL GOOD

Darrel Good, a professor in the department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics, is marking his 33rd year with the University of Illinois, and much has changed since he first came here in 1976.

"There was a time period in the early seventies when grain markets changed dramatically," said Good. "Russia started importing grain, prices just exploded to the upside and there was renewed interest in markets and prices. I was hired to help develop a very extensive educational program in marketing and risk management."

Good and two other faculty members developed a seminar called "Price Forecasting and Sales Management," and took it to the people as an in-depth, sixteen hour workshop. That was supplemented with programs over the Telenet system, and a lot of county meetings. All told, Good estimates that those meetings reached between 3,000 and 4,000 people a year.

"Today," said Good, "the subject matter hasn't changed a lot, but the delivery mechanism has changed considerably. The Internet has really become our primary outreach instrument at this point. We have a lot fewer meetings, but we probably reach many more people than we used to."

Good is one of the founding members of the farmdoc team. He writes one of the featured newsletters on the farmdoc site, Weekly OUTLOOK , and he is a primary contributor to the AgMAS section.

Good received his master's degree from Southern Illinois University in 1969 and his PhD from Michigan State in 1972. He spent four years at Cornell before coming to the U of I in 1976.

Good has no immediate plans for retirement, but "Certainly, when you hit the thirty year mark, you start thinking about some alternatives," he said. "I suspect within the next five years, I'll probably do the retirement thing."

Darrel and his wife Nancy live in Urbana. They have two sons, Kevin and Keith, both in Urbana, and seven grandchildren. Goods' parents still live on the home farm in Edgar County, so Good says, "I don't envision leaving Illinois anytime soon."

When not at work, Good said he spends his time with his grandchildren, involved in church activities, and watching sports - mainly basketball. The Fighting Illini?

"Of course."

To learn more about Darrel Good, visit his homepage here.