Malorie Ross is an applied agricultural economist and policy analyst based in Mississippi — working at the intersection of data and dirt. Raised on a farm and trained in agribusiness and agricultural economics at Mississippi State University, her research spans food policy, well-being & poverty economics, health economics, rural development, and agricultural systems. Some of her work has appeared in Extension journals and carried her to venues including local government chambers, the Harvard Food Law & Policy Clinic, and national conference stages. She has designed grant-funded research programs, collaborated with state and federal agencies, and translated complex economic data into policy recommendations that reach governor’s offices and congressional staff. The Dirt on Policy is her space to ask the questions that rarely make it into official reports, and expose policies quietly failing American families.