Dr. Stephanie Mercier is the chief economist for the Democratic staff of the Senate Agriculture Committee, a position she has held since March of 1997.  Previously, she served as team leader for the Trade Policy and Programs area of the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  In her nine years at ERS, she worked on both domestic commodity programs and trade policy issues.  She has also worked more than eleven years on the Hill, and the key issues she currently covers for the Committee include international trade policy, crop insurance, disaster programs, and farm programs. An Iowa native, Dr. Mercier has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Washington University in St. Louis and a Ph.D. in agricultural economics from Iowa State University.

Anne Simmons is a Senior Professional Staff member on the House Agriculture Committee's Democratic staff. She is responsible for issues related to program crops, conservation, energy, credit and research for the Committee's Chairman, Collin Peterson of Minnesota's 7th District. She was responsible for the same issues for the former Ranking Democrat on the Committee, Charlie Stenholm of Texas and former Chairman, E (Kika) de la Garza, also of Texas. She joined the Agriculture Committee staff in 1993 and served as staff director of several subcommittees, while then Congressman, now Senator Tim Johnson of South Dakota was the chairman of each.  Prior to joining the Ag Committee, she was a member of Johnson's congressional staff. Anne was raised on a corn, soybean, and livestock farm near Spencer, Iowa, and graduated from Cornell College.