Dr. Baumes is the Associate Director of the Office of Energy Policy and New Uses, within the Office of the Chief Economist, in the U. S. Department of Agriculture. In addition to administrative responsibilites, Dr. Baumes responsibilities focus on energy policy evaluation.

Prior to returning to the USDA in April 2006, Dr. Baumes was Managing Director of Agricultural Services for Global Insight. There he had management responsibilities for the Agricultural Group, including domestic and international agriculture sector forecasting and consulting services including three proprietary studies that looked at biofuels and implications for U.S. agriculture. Baumes has more than 30 years of professional experience conducting and/or managing domestic and international agriculture sector studies. He has broad experience, knowledge of domestic and foreign agriculture sectors and policies, agriculture commodity markets (crops and livestock), and agri-input sectors. Baumes has conducted research activities and advised agribusiness in the fertilizer industry, farm equipment sector, agricultural chemicals sector, and other agri-businesses. Baumes was a regular speaker at Global Insight’s annual agricultural roundtables and general economic conferences. He has been on the programs of various professional meetings, trade association meetings, and client planning and marketing sessions to address international and domestic agricultural issues and outlooks. He contributed to several Global Insight publications.

Prior to Global Insight, Baumes was with the USDA’s Economic Research Service (1988–1996), where he served in several branch chief (leadership) positions—the U.S. Agricultural Policy Branch, the Western Hemisphere Branch, and the Resource and Environmental Policy Branch. Baumes led work at the USDA that provided relevant input to determine trade and commodity effects of the Uruguay Round Agreement and NAFTA. Over 1989–1995, Baumes represented the United States at the OECD, where he defended U.S. agricultural and trade policies and positions, as well as argued for agricultural reform by other member countries, such as the European Union and Japan. For seven years he was in charge of the Chase Econometrics fertilizer forecasting service and related consulting activities. In addition, while on faculty at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Baumes was the principal investigator for the Agricultural Economics Department’s multidisciplinary study to evaluate the costs and benefits of pesticide use on fruits and vegetables.

Baumes holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University (1974), a Master of Science degree (1976), and a Doctorate of Philosophy degree (1978) in agricultural economics from Purdue University. Baumes’ graduate studies concentrated on quantitative methods.