Book excerpt: Rising from humble beginnings, the life of Neil Harl shows that with hard work and perseverance anything is possible. About the Author Dr. Neil E. Harl is a Charles F. Curtiss Distinguished Professor in Agriculture and Life Sciences and Emeritus Professor of Economics at Iowa State University. He received a bachelor of science degree from Iowa State in 1955, a Juris Doctor (law) from the from the University of Iowa in 1961, and a PhD in economics from Iowa State University in 1965. He served as director of the Center for International Agricultural Economics Association Foundation. He served as president of the American Agricultural Law Association, the American Agricultural Economics Association, and the American Agricultural Economics Association Foundation. He served as director of the Center for International Agricultural Finance from its founding in 1990 through 2004. He served on six federal commissions, including the task force on Farm Tax Policy (1967); the Advisory Committee to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (1979-80) the Advisory Committee on Agricultural Biotechnology (2000-2002), and the Commission on the Application of Payment Limitations for Agriculture (2003). Dr. Harl was named the first Farm Leader of the Year by the Des Moines Register and received the Iowa Distinguished Service Award from the State of Iowa, The Distinguished Service to State Government Award from the National Governors’ Association, and the designation of Fellow from the American Agricultural Economics Association. In 2006, Dr. Harl received the Award for Service to American and World Agriculture from the National Association of County Agricultural Agents. Dr. Harl is the author or co-author of more than 450 publications in legal and economic journals and bulletins, and more than a thousand in various farm and financial publications. He has spoken widely on income tax, estate planning, debtor-creditor relations, and organization of the farm business, with more than 3,400 speaking appearances in forty-three states and seventeen foreign countries. He has received two national awards in retirement-one Estate planning Hall of Fame by the National Association of Estate Planners and Councils and the other National Farmers Union. This is his thirty-first published book.