Dr. Alejandro Plastina is an Associate Professor of Agricultural Finance and Director of the Rural and Farm Finance Policy Analysis Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia. His research studies farm business and financial management, conservation practices and carbon markets, and agricultural productivity. Prior to joining Mizzou in September 2024, he was an Extension Economist at Iowa State University for 10 years and an Economist at the International Cotton Advisory Committee in Washington DC for 7 years. He graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a Master’s in Statistics and a PhD in Agricultural Economics in 2007.