After more than four decades dedicated to agribusiness education, farm management research and water resource policy, Greg Perry is retiring from academia. Perry studied agricultural economics at Ricks College, Utah State University and Texas A&M University, and began his academic career at Oregon State University in 1986 before joining Colorado State University in 2011 as Department Head and Professor in CSU’s Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
Throughout his career, Perry’s research has primarily focused on water resource management, agricultural finance and farm management. His work on farm equipment depreciation became the industry standard for engineers, economists and agricultural professionals. He also studied tax policies and their impact on the competitive position of U.S. farmers.
Perry has also contributed significantly to water resource management in the West, helping farmers adopt management best practices to improve water quality and quantity. Much of this work was conducted in Oregon and the Pacific Northwest. At Colorado State, he has sought to better understand how states fund experiment stations, cooperative extension and land grant universities.
Perry’s passion for entrepreneurship began during his Ph.D. studies at Texas A&M under Ed Rister, a leading educator in agribusiness entrepreneurship. At Oregon State, he developed and taught entrepreneurship courses while gaining real-world experience through real estate development and operating a family motorsports business. In 2016, he was tapped to develop agribusiness and food innovation programming at CSU Spur in Denver, leading to the creation of the Master of Agribusiness and Food Innovation Management degree, which launched in fall 2022. The program was designed to establish Spur as a national hub for agribusiness innovation and graduated its first cohort in December 2024.
As he transitions to retirement, Perry reflects on a career spent inspiring students, fostering innovation and shaping the future of agricultural research. Colleagues and friends are invited to join him for a retirement celebration on Monday, May 5 from 12-2 p.m. in the Longs Peak room of the Lory Student Center.
A Q&A with Greg Perry
What were the most rewarding and/or most difficult aspects of your career?
Being an administrator at Colorado State University and at Oregon State University was both very rewarding and, at times, very challenging. Being able to shape the vision and direction of a department when serving as department head was very satisfying, even when obstacles would arise that would divert or delay that vision. Being able to hire some top-notch faculty was also very rewarding. Departments are only as good as the quality of faculty they hire.
As you look back on your career, what are you most proud of?
Aside from my time as department head, I’m proud of the work I did in shaping the vision for the Spur Campus, particularly as it relates to the College of Agricultural Sciences. I was heavily involved early on in designing the programming that ultimately was implemented there, as well as designing the facilities so the programs could be successful. Launching an innovative new graduate program in agribusiness entrepreneurship positions CSU well to be a world leader in entrepreneurship education.
What are you most excited about in retirement?
I hope to have many good years ahead of me as we move to our retirement home in Star Valley, Wyoming. We have a large family (6 children, 25 grandchildren) and try to see them frequently. We like to travel, particularly taking our grandchildren to see New York, Washington DC, Boston and so forth. We enjoy serving in the community and plan to do that for as long as we can. And we have some acreage to raise livestock, cats and grandkids.
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