Defra and the AES want to recognise and congratulate John Walsh for a wonderful career as a government economist which comes to an end this month with his departure from the department.

John Walsh’s economics journey with the Civil Service started in 1989 when he joined the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) as an assistant economist.  Working from Whitehall Place West Block, a highlight of his time as an assistant economist was implementing an assessment framework on research and development.  Following promotion to economics advisor, John worked in MAFF’s Resource Use economics team.  This period included a spell of intense work with the emergency team established to deal with the 2001 outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease.  Since the creation of Defra in June 2001, John’s journey with the Department has encompassed working on a wide range of important agricultural and food issues such as animal health and welfare, waste and the circular economy, the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, gene editing, and food labelling.  During his long career John’s incisive economic perspectives, wide expertise, and good humour have come to be greatly valued and appreciated by the many evidence and policy colleagues who have been fortunate to work with him.

We wish John the very best for his next adventure in life – he will be greatly missed in Defra and the wider agricultural economics community as a whole.