Jock R. Anderson left his home farm near Monto, Queensland, Australia, to study agricultural science, at the University of Queensland, and pursued this with a twist towards economics as a PhD student in agricultural economics at the University of New England, Armidale, Australia, where he stayed on as a staff member, including as Professor of Agricultural Economics, and Dean of the Faculty of Economic Studies. He joined the World Bank in 1989 where he served as Adviser, Strategy and Policy in the Agriculture and Rural Development Department. He is a Fellow of: the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science; the American Agricultural Economics Association; the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society.