OMAHA -- The agricultural community of the US was stunned last week to learn about the death of University of Tennessee Extension farm management specialist and Marine Corps veteran Christopher R. "Chris" Narayanan, dubbed as the "Wall Street Cowboy."
Narayanan's death left those who knew him well or only through occasional professional or social media connections struggling with the loss.
A former Marine infantryman with close ties to his alma mater, Texas A&M, Narayanan, 46, had been working as a farm-management specialist in west Tennessee since July 2020 after an extensive career as a commodities analyst who made connections nationally.
He is survived by his wife, Aparna Basu Narayanan; his parents, Kanthi and Nani Narayanan of New Jersey; his brother and sister-in-law, Raj and Shivani Narayanan; and his nephew, Milan Narayanan. Narayanan was pursuing a doctorate at the University of Memphis and conducting research on food and national security.
While at A&M, he competed on the university's rodeo team. He rode saddle bronc and was a member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. He carried his PRCA card in his wallet long after he stopped riding.
Narayanan worked for various agricultural consulting firms and brokerages. Working for AgriLogic Inc. in College Station, Texas, he designed and organized a team for a contract with USDA's Risk Management Agency to develop a cow-calf decision support tool. He later worked for John Deere to help develop risk-management tools for its customers. After completing his MBA at the University of Texas, he worked for a hedge fund in Dallas and then later at Morgan Stanley. From 2011 to 2016, he was head of Agricultural Commodities Research at Societe Generale (Soc Gen) investment bank in New York.
He was profiled in 2014 on the Business Insider as a commodity analyst on the Pro Farmer Crop Tour. He talked about the willingness to get into fields to get his hands and boots dirty.
Narayanan became a voice in the agricultural industry for his market insights, appearing frequently on CNBC, Bloomberg and in the Wall Street Journal. In 2017, Texas A&M's Department of Agricultural Economics awarded him with its highest honor, inducting Narayanan into the Tyrus R. Timm Honor Registry.
Recently he posted on Twitter that he had started an introductory essay looking at the intersection of agriculture and national security. The paper looked at the research question of conflicts to gain natural resources, making the case for incorporating food and agricultural concerns into a country's national security strategy. Narayanan's brief posting on his paper called for an interdisciplinary approach to researching the question.
"This author believes that factors including (but not limited to) growing population, particularly in urban areas that are far removed from their food and agriculture production sources; climate change; supply chain disruptions; and trade all contribute to national security concerns, with respect to food and agriculture security. Indeed, in addition to the issues surrounding threats to a nation's energy supplies (i.e. oil and natural gas), the ebb and flow in the supplies of 'wheat and other essential grains feed fears of the future and raise the specter of civilization as we know it disappearing altogether'" said Darren Hudson, agricultural professor at Texas Tech University
"He had really honed-in on the context of food and national security, and I wanted to see what we could do to help work on that paper," Hudson said.
Ashley Stokes, dean of the University of Tennessee Extension said: "He began his career with us last July and has been a tremendous asset to agents and producers. As a member of our excellent Extension Farm Management team, Chris was always eager to share his expertise with farmers, ranchers and rural agribusinesses in person and on social media. He brought a diverse background to UTIA, ranging from service in the Marines to Wall Street," Stokes said. "Chris' passing leaves us with a heavy heart and we ask that you keep his family in your thoughts and prayers."
