Greenshields, Elco L. (Elco Lanier), 1911-1989

Elco Lanier Greenshields (1911-1989) was an agricultural economist with the Agriculture Department from 1935 to 1963. During those years he specialized in the study of land use and development policies in the United States. This experience was valuable later in his career when he served on the staff of the World Bank (1963-68), the United Nations' Food and Agri-culture Organization (1968-1973) and as a consultant to the World Bank and several other UN agencies (1973-1988). Agricultural historians will be interested in his early studies (1937-1947) of farm tenancy, the rehabilitation of worn-out land, and the concentration of control over agricultural land. Much of Greenshields' work during the second part of his career, from 1963 to 1988, involved the development and oversight of agricultural development projects, mainly in the near east and Asia. Many of these projects, sponsored by the UN's drug control program, were intended to encourage native farmers to discontinue the growing of poppies. Greenshields died in 1989 at the age of 78.

Agricultural economist with the U.S. Agricultural Dept. (1935-1963), World Bank (1963-1968), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (1968-1973), and as consultant to the World Bank and other United Nations agencies (1973-1988); served in the U.S. Navy.