Beth Bechdol

Title: Deputy Director-General

Biography

Beth Bechdol is the Deputy Director-General at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In this role, she advances global food and agriculture efforts, overseeing FAO’s work on Emergencies and Resilience, which includes providing emergency agricultural assistance, addressing acute hunger, and supporting countries in food crises. She also leads FAO’s work on Resource Mobilization and South-South and Triangular Cooperation, and oversees technical work on land, water and plant production and protection. Additionally, she manages FAO’s main technical advisory body on agriculture, the Committee on Agriculture (COAG), and also the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) Secretariat.

Before joining FAO, Ms. Bechdol held several important roles in her home state of Indiana. She was President and CEO of AgriNovus Indiana, the Midwestern State’s economic development initiative focused on advancing the agbioscience sector and fostering next-generation talent. Previously, she was Director of Agribusiness Strategies at Ice Miller LLP, where she helped build the firm’s dedicated legal practice to food and agribusiness clients. She also served as Deputy Director of the Indiana State Department of Agriculture.

Ms. Bechdol’s dedication to public service in agriculture and her extensive trade and farm policy experience started in Washington, D.C. where she served in key roles as Chief of Staff at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and as Economist on the Senate Agriculture Committee.

She began her career at Informa Economics, where she became the firm’s first female Vice President. In this role, she advised clients on global trade negotiations, federal farm policy, agricultural technology, farm structure, and risk management. She also contributed market expertise to international development projects in Egypt, North Macedonia and Ukraine.

Ms. Bechdol is known for building unconventional alliances and connecting people across sectors. She has served on numerous boards and commissions, including the National FFA Board of Trustees, the Purdue Research Foundation and the Farm Foundation Round Table.

Raised on a multi-generation grain farm in rural Indiana, she holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University in international law and international affairs and a master’s degree from Purdue University in agricultural economics.