How Livestock Economist and Cattle Producer Danyelle Chinn Turns Complex Data into Actionable Insights for Farmers

When Danyelle Chinn isn’t busy with her family’s cattle operation in northeast Missouri, she’s working as a livestock economist with the Rural and Farm Finance Policy Analysis Center. Chinn translates statistics and market reports into layman’s terms, helping farmers and ranchers make decisions about their business.

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Meet Danyelle Chinn

Chinn grew up as the fourth generation of her family’s cow-calf operation near Green City, Missouri, and now works with her husband, Conner, and in-laws on their farm about an hour away, near Anabel.

After graduating from the University of Missouri, Chinn went to work as a legislative assistant and then director for the Missouri Department of Agriculture. She oversaw the departments, legislative needs, and policy changes affecting ag. “So much of that job was defending producers from some of the ad hoc things that people wanted to pass and throw on Missouri’s agriculture industry,” she said.

Today, Chinn is finishing her master’s degree from Mizzou and serving as a livestock economist with RaFF, turning statistics into a narrative other producers can use to make a difference in their operation.

Episode Highlights

• When she was in middle and high school, Chinn planned to study ag law, but changed her mind while at the University of MIssouri and earned an agribusiness management degree with an emphasis in public policy. She said instead of practicing law, she wanted to help shape the laws.
• She and her husband both grew up on cattle operations. They’ve started their own replacement heifer business and are planting some row crops this spring.
• Chinn handles the annual agricultural outlook for RaFF, focusing on livestock risk management tools.”A lot of the job is really just finding ways to take what is happening, data we have from USDA, what we know is happening with policy and portray that in a light that producers and stakeholders understand,” she said.
• She is the go-to person for marketing questions on her parents’ and in-laws’ farms, and says her background as a producer helps her see the data and statistics in a way that means something to other producers.

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Transcript

Please note: This transcript has not been edited.

Lisa Foust Prater: Welcome to the 15 Minutes With a Farmer podcast from Successful Farming. I’m your host, Lisa Foust Prater. My guest today is Danyelle Chinn, a cattle producer from northeast Missouri. She is also a livestock economist working for the Rural and Farm Finance Policy Analysis Center, where she interprets statistics and market reports into shareable stories that resonate with farmers and ranchers. In each episode, I have a quick 15 minute conversation with a farmer to hear their story and share their experience, expertise and life lessons.

So I understand that you are wearing many hats and sort of different aspects of agriculture, farming with your husband and family, and then also working as a livestock economist. That’s very interesting.

Danyelle Chinn: Yes, I definitely am someone who enjoys wearing many hats and you know, I think I wouldn’t know what to do if I didn’t have all those hats on my head.

Lisa Foust Prater: Well, it keeps you busy and it seems like it would use sort of different parts of your brain maybe. So it’s good to keep your whole self engaged. So that’s really interesting. So talk to us about growing up. I know you were raised on a cow-calf operation. So tell us about that.

Danyelle Chinn: Yeah, so my dad is the third generation of our family’s cow-calf operation. And I always preface by saying, you know, if we lived in Wyoming or Texas, we would be called a ranch because all we do is run cattle. We do have forage and things like that. You know, I grew up, my dad was a team roper, so I was always around horses and cattle growing up. And then being, you know, fourth generation of our family’s cow-calf operation. I always knew how much I loved agriculture, loved cattle specifically, and just wanted to be a part of that and to contribute back to that as I got older.

Lisa Foust Prater: So I read that when you went to Mizzou that you were originally thinking about Ag Law. So what changed your mind?

Danyelle Chinn: So yeah, when I was in middle school, I decided that I wanted to be an agricultural lawyer. And that was the plan all up until my final year of attending the University of Missouri. And so I had some internships that were more policy focused. And I actually had someone who was working at Missouri Farm Bureau at the time, he was a lawyer and he had said that there was a difference in practicing laws and making them.

And I just felt like I was in a position that I could do more for people like my family and so many other families like that. If I was able to actually influence what’s going on, and I just feel like policy has more of a, not more of a difference, but it’s a way to be more impactful in agriculture and to actually make a difference in all of those things that are affecting family farms and their finances and their livelihood.

Lisa Foust Prater: I love what you said about affecting policy, because those are the kind of things that I think people often feel like, well, that’s just the policy, there’s nothing we can do about it. Or also they feel like it’s very hard to understand. So I think having folks who you know, we’re raised in agriculture and are actively farming, ranching. Really being able to kind of translate that for the rest of us sometimes is so helpful.

Danyelle Chinn: I like to think so.

Lisa Foust Prater: So you were in your last year at Mizzou when you decided to make that change. So what did that look like for you? Did you have to add time onto your education?

Danyelle Chinn: So thankfully my degree was already agribusiness management with a public policy emphasis. So the only real change for me was just making that decision not to pursue law school. And so it was actually a very smooth transition, thankfully. And so when I graduated college, that’s when I accepted a position right out of college with the Missouri Department of Agriculture. And I was a legislative assistant. And then I think within six months of that, I was promoted to the legislative director.

I worked in Jefferson City and anytime the Missouri legislature was in session, I was the one in the Capitol with the director, of course, but I was the one managing the day to day in the Capitol and overseeing all of the departments, legislative needs, policy changes, know, defending. I always say much of that job is not just trying to pass legislation that helps Missouri’s producers and consumers, but so much of it is also defending producers from some ad hoc things that people want to pass and throw on Missouri’s agriculture industry.

Lisa Foust Prater: That is fascinating. What an amazing experience, especially right out of college. Like, that’s great.

Danyelle Chinn: Thank you. Yeah, I loved it. It was really fun.

Lisa Foust Prater: So now you find yourself up near Anabel, south of Kirksville, and you are married to Connor. So tell us about your life together on the farm there.

Danyelle Chinn: Yeah, so I, my husband and I got married in June of 2024 and we both obviously came from agricultural backgrounds. So it was no question to us that we wanted to be involved in agriculture. And so when I made the transition from the Missouri Department of Agriculture to the university, it kind of put us in a position where I could work from home a couple of days a week while at the university while getting my masters. And then that gave us a little bit more leeway while we’re both here to, you we started our own replacement heifer program about three years ago. So we raise replacement heifers, as I said, that are farm raised. And then my husband is starting some row crop up this spring. So we’re definitely getting our feet wet in the agriculture space ourselves. So we’re really excited. We’ve got a lot of big plans. 

Lisa Foust Prater: That’s awesome that he can still work with his dad and work on the family farm where he grew up, but you guys can start your own thing too.Tell me about like the things that you’re doing on the farm on a daily or around the calendar basis as far as you being active in the production.

Danyelle Chinn: Yeah. So my husband, you know, he does more of the day to day of the feeding and things like that with me being in Columbia half the time. But, you know, when I am home, I love to go out and help him feed. I’m always involved in working cattle when we do that, whether that be, you know, our cattle, or I try to help on his family’s operation with that. But, I’m very involved in the management decisions, the efficiency, the financial side of things. So we kind of divide and conquer in some ways, but I try as much as I can to be involved. You know, we’ve got all sorts of things going on here. You know, I’m always anytime I can, I’m out there helping him, but it is a little bit more challenging at times for me to be stretched in every direction.

Lisa Foust Prater: Yeah, is. It’s a lot. It’s a lot. So tell us about the day job, quote unquote, as a livestock economist. What does that mean? What do you do on a daily basis?

Danyelle Chinn: So I am a newly inspiring livestock economist, I would say. I’ve been at the university for almost two years, but I’m finishing my master’s degree in agricultural economics. So I’m still learning the ropes of some of it, but a lot of what I do is I’m a research analyst. There is my title, but essentially a livestock economist. So I say all that to say I handle our annual outlook on agriculture that we do.

So I focus on some livestock risk management tools like livestock risk protection, LRP, LGM, some things like that. And so a lot of the job is really just finding ways to take what is happening, data we have from USDA, what we know is happening with policy and portray that in a light that producers and stakeholders understand it and just help kind of communicate that to them of, here’s what we’re expecting the economy to do. And no one ever really knows, right? 

Just more or less helping them to kind of figure out how to navigate those hardships. You know, net farm income has been insane over the past couple of years. You know, it skyrocketed in 2022. And so we’ve seen some unprecedented times between COVID, super high commodity prices, and then of course they’ve plummeted. So just kind of learning how to navigate that and help producers understand what that means for them and their financial positions.

Lisa Foust Prater: Right. That’s such an interesting time for you to be getting started in your career and during your education with, like you said, with COVID and the highs and the lows and everything that has happened the past few years. How do you, when you’re putting your reports together, and I’m sure you’re thinking about the farmers and ranchers who are going to be reading what you’re writing, and if the outlook is not so good, how do you do that? I mean, that’s tough.

Danyelle Chinn: So one thing I will also preface by saying is I often feel like I don’t fit the academic role just because I came from such a production background and I’ve been on the side of things where I’m looking at it from a producer standpoint. That’s all I’ve known my whole life. So for me, being able to share that with them and kind of navigating how to go about it, I feel like it’s easy for me to apply it of how my husband will look at it, how my dad will look at it, how my father-in-law will look at it. And so you have to be careful, obviously, not to give any false hope and just be very candid, but at the same time, you look to find the positives in it. So maybe net farm income has been down, but cattle prices are through the roof. So we know that that’s not great for the grain guys, obviously. And so you kind of have to take turns highlighting the pros and cons of each side and just remind everybody that we’re all in this together. And so I think that that’s a huge aspect of it is just being able to see it from a producer or a stakeholder standpoint and just kind of plug all the pieces together for everyone.

Lisa Foust Prater: Right. And these things are cyclical, you know, I mean, everyone who’s done it for any amount of time knows that, but it is tough when you’re heading down or when you are down and you’re looking around you and not not being sure which path to take or what exactly to do. And, you know, it’s important, obviously, that they get the straight information. But it can be tough to take, especially if you need a little translation. So it’s amazing that you’re able to provide that you know, that feedback from a producer standpoint and talk to them in terms that make sense to producers.

And you know, with those downturns, especially in times when things are a little rougher, it seems like it’s less attractive. The industry is less attractive to, you know, young people, students. And, you know, that can be kind of a hard sell. Like the ag economy is terrible. You should be a farmer or you should like join the ag industry. It’s tough. It’s a tough sell.

So, you know, how do we handle that? know, how do we get young folks interested in ag when, especially when times are hard?

Danyelle Chinn: I feel like if you have grown up in agriculture, it’s usually no questions asked, that’s where you want to be. You understand the purpose, you see your parents’ passion. So I feel like for most kids, it comes pretty naturally.

But I also feel like, you know, it kind of goes without saying, making sure that schools maintain their agriculture education programs. So many of my good friends are ag teachers. And I just, I applaud them for what they do because when you’re in high school, that really is kind of what sets the stage. Whether that be through livestock judging or, you know, you’re just practicing CDEs or things like that, learning the FFA creed. I feel like all of that kind of instills it in you and that’s a point in your time where you’re shaping up to go to college and you’re figuring out what you’re passionate about. And so I just feel like kids having that opportunity for one to take those ag classes, to learn more about agriculture and just kind of have the opportunity to solidify that passion is so important. But I also feel like, you know, so much, so many times I feel like people go into agriculture not expecting to get rich.

And I feel like if you’re doing it to get rich, it may make people mad by saying this, but you’re probably not in it for the right reasons because there is money in it, but there’s a lot of times that you’re going to ride the lows. And so I say that to say, I feel like most people who are in it are passionate about it and they know it’s going to be hard. And so I think that’s huge, but also acknowledging that it is so hard. There’s so many barriers of entry for young farmers. And so the Missouri legislature in particular has passed some legislation to help beginning farmers and the USDA has programs to help beginning farmers. And so I think we’re at a point now where we’re acknowledging that their barriers to entry are very challenging. And I feel like the economy stakeholders, policymakers are doing what they can to make that a little bit easier while not, you know, just essentially giving. You have to be careful, right? Like anything with a subsidy or a payment, you have to be careful. But I think we’re definitely at a good starting point of helping young farmers get more into it.

Lisa Foust Prater: I just want to touch a little bit on, like I mentioned earlier, how it feels like your two roles use different parts of your brain, you know. And so talk to me a little bit about that. Like, do you do you feel like like you’re taking off one hat and putting it away and then putting on another hat? Or do you feel like this all just kind of jives together in your life?

Danyelle Chinn: I would honestly say a lot of it jives together and some of that could be what you know I’m very privileged at my job and in my master’s program that I’m doing that I kind of get to focus in on what I’m passionate about. You know while it does use very different parts of my brain it all kind of jives together. I’ve centered everything I do around livestock, specifically cattle.

And while I, in some ways, am very, very grateful for that, I’ve probably pigeonholed myself in other ways. But for example, my thesis is on feeder cattle pricing. And so all of that is taking, without getting too nerdy, the economic factors of, you know, we all know that live cattle futures affect feeder prices. But taking some other variables like precipitation or corn price, the supply of calves in the coming year, things like that, and tying all of that into it to see how that affects producers. So I’m working on things like that that can be applied to what I would call real life scenarios, like what my family is in. So while that probably makes me sound like I’m working for my own personal gain, I’m not. It’s just so many times, you know, I’ve grown up on a cow-calf operation, like I said, and so there was a lot of talk about how cow-calf producers were the ones doing all the hard work and getting none of the return. And so it kind of led me to this research on feeder cattle prices, because feeder calves are more or less the, they’re kind of the contingency point, right? They’re touching everyone, whether you’re the cow-calf producer or you’re the feedlot, you need feeder cattle. 

And so you know, that’s where a lot of it stemmed from was just kind of trying to pin down what I feel like needed to be focused on. And so back to your original question, I feel like it does really go together because I’m able to apply the things I’m testing and learning about at work into real life situations. And so when I come home and I’m on the farm with my husband, you know, we’re able to talk about what the markets are doing. We’re talking about whether we want to enroll in LRP for this new group of backgrounders that we’re bringing in. And the same can be applied. My family calls me and we talk about markets, we talk about where cattle prices are at, we talk about what the economy is projected to do. And so I think in a way I am able to take that hat off and be a little less technical. At the same time, it never really stops. So I’ve kind of positioned myself to be, hopefully to become an asset to his family’s farm, our farm, my family. And so there are different hats, but the hats growing into one bigger hat at the same time. Yeah, one giant.

Lisa Foust Prater: One giant hat. I love that. As an economist, you know, what goes into the, to the livestock market and as a producer, having that, having that economist background is so helpful. So I think you’ve just found an amazing combo there.

Danyelle Chinn: The passion for me really just lies in being able to help producers.Working for the state of Missouri, I got to see all kinds of things that producers dealt with. And so that really kind of helped paint the picture and opened my eyes and just want to be able to serve them. And so, like you said, it isn’t just my family, it’s about everyone’s families. You know, Missouri is very unique in that it’s a top producer in a lot of commodities, I think over 14, last I looked. And so there’s a lot of people affected by it. And so I just love the idea of being able to consult with them and help them and that’s really what it’s all about for me.

Lisa Foust Prater: Yeah, that’s perfect. Well, Danielle, it’s been so fun to talk to you today and to get to know you and see all that’s going on and just keep up the fantastic work.

Danyelle Chinn: Thank you so much, Lisa. It was great talking to you as well.