Fischer, 33, the chief economist on the committee, grew up on a farm in southwestern Oklahoma that has been in the family for five generations. He studied agricultural economics at Oklahoma State University and stayed on for a second bachelor's in business administration with a double major in accounting and finance.
After his internship on the committee, Fischer went to Cambridge University in England, where he got a master's degree in land economy. Fischer notes that he spent that year studying environmental policy and trying to understand how people without an agriculture background approach policy. He also traveled the Continent, sending Schertz a series of e-mails that began, "Greetings from across the pond."
Fischer went to Texas A&M in 2008 to get a Ph.D., and had all but finished when Lucas asked him to return to the committee in 2010 as chief economist. Fischer is on a leave of absence, but said the 1,000-page farm bill will give him plenty of material for his dissertation.