Preparing Farmers for a Changing Climate
William Hohenstein is the Director of USDA’s Climate Change Program Office, within the Office of the Chief Economist. The Climate Change Program Office provides coordination and policy development support for the Department’s climate change program. It serves as the focal point for all support to the Secretary of Agriculture on the causes and consequences of climate change, as well as strategies for addressing them. In this role, Mr. Hohenstein chairs the Department’s Global Change Task Force which is made up of representatives of thirteen USDA agencies and offices. Mr. Hohenstein serves on United States delegations to international negotiations on climate change. He has also has been a United States representative to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Mr. Hohenstein is also currently serving as the Acting Director of the USDA Office of Environmental Markets, also within the Office of the Chief Economist. The Office of Environmental Markets (OEM) was established in direct response to provision of the 2008 Farm Bill. OEM’s central mission is to facilitate the participation of farmers, ranchers, and forest land owners in emerging environmental markets.
Efforts within OEM focus on the development of technical guidelines and science-based methods to quantify environmental benefits, and guidance for use in developing environmental benefit registries.
Before arriving at USDA, Mr. Hohenstein served as a Division Director in EPA’s National Center for Environmental Economics. Mr. Hohenstein has a B.S. in Natural Resource Management from Cook College, Rutgers University and a M.E.M. in Resource Economics from Duke University’s School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.