Tom Slayton

Visiting Fellow
tslayton@cgdev.org

Education

Slayton received his Masters degree in Latin American Studies from Columbia University’s School of International Affairs in 1974 and is a 1972 graduate of the University of Idaho in political science.

Background

Tom Slayton is a leading authority of on the international rice market and the former publisher of The Rice Trader and The Rice Trade Report, with more than three decades of experience in Asia. Slayton worked for the Foreign Agriculture Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for 13 years (1974-86). His introduction to the world rice market began during in Indonesia where he worked as Assistant Agricultural Attaché in 1977-80. Slayton was USDA’s senior rice trade analyst from 1980-84, when he worked on implementation of the U.S.-Japan rice agreement and negotiations with Taiwan on its subsidized rice exports. He also served as the U.S. delegate to the Food and Agriculture Organization's Intergovernmental Rice Group (1981, 1983, and 1984). From 1984-86, Slayton was the U.S. Agricultural Attaché in Thailand.

From 1986-91 Slayton has worked as a market analyst for the U.S. Rice Millers' Association, where he also provided analytical support for the association’s two Section 301 trade petitions calling on Japan to drop its ban on rice imports. In 1991, he founded Slayton & Associates, a consulting firm specializing in monitoring developments in the world rice market. Slayton & Associates had clients in 15 countries which included virtually all of the major international rice trading firms, the leading export firms in several of the major markets, international banks, governments, etc. Slayton was a key speaker at several conferences hosted by both the Thai Rice Exporters' Association and IBC Asia. In August 2006, Slayton sold The Rice Trader and The Rice Trade Report to The Rice Trader LLC. In 2008, Slayton joined the Center for Global Development as a visiting fellow.

Slayton received his Masters degree in Latin American Studies from Columbia University's School of International Affairs in 1974 and is a 1972 graduate of the University of Idaho in political science. Slayton and his wife, Cheri, have two children and reside in Alexandria, Virginia.