The Global Food and Agriculture Program at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs is saddened by the passing of former-Senator Thad Cochran, a champion of domestic and international agriculture. Senator Cochran died on Thursday, May 30, 2019 at the age of 81.
Senator Cochran was a Senator from Mississippi from 1978 to 2018, a service of 40 years. He served as Chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee from 2003 until 2005 and Ranking Member of the Committee from 2013 to 2015. He was also Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee twice.
In addition to a number of areas of leadership, Senator Cochran will always be known as the creator of the Cochran Fellowship Program, a highly successful program that encourages training opportunities for agricultural professionals from academia, government, and the private sector in low- and middle-income countries that helps to strengthen trade linkages and agricultural interests between their home country and the United States. Since Senator Cochran created the Fellowship program in 1984, more than 18,000 agriculture professionals from 126 countries have participated and several have gone on to senior-level positions in their own governments. One Chicago Council report characterized the impact of the Cochran Fellowship in this way: “A significant number of agricultural ministers around the globe have been educated in the United States. This has garnered the US unmeasurable goodwill and influence.”