Karl M. Rich

Dr. Karl M. Rich serves as Director of the Master of International Agriculture Program (MIAP) in the Ferguson College of Agriculture and Professor of Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University, holding the Humphreys Chair in Global Studies. Previously, he worked for 16 years overseas, most recently at the International Livestock Research Institute's West Africa Regional Office in Dakar, Senegal, where he led multidisciplinary teams conducting applied research to inform livestock sector strategy in developing countries.

• Ph.D. and M.S. in Agricultural Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• B.A. in Economics, University of California, Berkeley

Dr. Rich's research cuts across disciplinary boundaries, integrating agricultural and livestock policy analysis, global agribusiness issues, animal and aquatic health, and methods development. He has pioneered specialized participatory tools to develop systems models and impact assessments with stakeholders to co-conceptualize problems and co-create solutions. His work spans urban agriculture planning in New Zealand, socio-economic drivers of animal disease in multiple developing countries, nutritionally-sensitive marketing channels in South Asia, livestock value chain development in Nicaragua, Myanmar, and Ghana, and climate-smart agriculture in Senegal.

His recent publications demonstrate a consistent focus on agricultural economics, livestock disease modeling, food safety practices, and value chain analysis in developing countries, with particular emphasis on participatory approaches and system dynamics modeling. These works often examine the intersection of economic, social, and environmental dimensions in agricultural development contexts.

Dr. Rich has successfully advised 14 M.S. and Ph.D. students during his career and has raised over $20 million in external grants in the past ten years through collaboration with multidisciplinary research teams. His current grant portfolio includes projects like the West Africa Aquaculture Program Fund and initiatives focused on climate change and local sovereignty.

He has traveled to 87 countries with applied research and teaching experience in over 30 countries and long-term residence in nine. His work consistently involves collaboration with veterinarians, epidemiologists, animal scientists, and crop experts on applied research topics around the world, providing contextual guidance on socio-economic drivers of behavior and empirical evidence of benefits and tradeoffs across economic, social, and environmental dimensions.