Mr. Hughes has a long history of analysis and price forecasting of agricultural markets, especially grains and oilseeds. He leads a team of agricultural economists within IHS Markit that focus on grains, oilseeds, vegetable oils, biofuels, meats, dairy, eggs, cotton, feed ingredients and crop production. The focus of the analysis is on fundamentals with an ultimate objective of price forecasting. The time scope goes from short-term to long-term (multiple years).

Before joining IHS Markit, Mr. Hughes spent 25 years with a large multinational food company, finishing his career as head of commodity research. His career has been spent on both sides of the Atlantic, working in the US and Switzerland. He has a bachelor's degree in applied economics from Cornell University and a master's degree in agricultural economics from the University of Illinois.