BIO: Harry Vroomen is Vice President of economic services at The Fertilizer Institute (TFI), where he manages TFI’s statistical programs and conducts market analysis on agriculture and the fertilizer industry. These programs support TFI’s legislative, regulatory, and public affairs efforts and assist the association in formulating a strong and consistent case on behalf of the industry. In addition, he develops and manages TFI’s annual Fertilizer Outlook Conference. Dr. Vroomen joined TFI in 1993. Previously, he was an analyst with USDA’s Economic Research Service where he authored numerous publications on the agricultural input industries. Vroomen received his B.S. and a Master’s degree in Agricultural Economics and Operations Research from Penn State, and completed his Ph.D. in Economics at The George Washington University. Over the past year, Dr. Vroomen has made numerous presentations on the supply-demand situation for fertilizer, explaining why fertilizer prices had risen to record levels. His audiences have included commodity groups like the Agricultural Retailers Association, the National Corn Growers Association and The Wheat Growers Association, as well as other national and state commodity groups. He also briefed USDA’s chief economist and the staffs of both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees on the fertilizer situation. In 2008, Vroomen also had the honor of briefing Ed Schafer, the former Secretary of Agriculture, on the fertilizer supply-demand situation, and briefed the Office of Trade at the White House on the fertilizer trade situation.